An OK action/modern Western movie. Nick Nolte was wasted in this role. His character was humorless, stern, and utterly one-dimensional. Rip Torn was at his best in his role, and Powers Boothe plays his usual villain. Special kudos to Maria Conchita Alonso, who looked and sounded absolutely lovely. But her character was under-utilized. The action scenes were pretty good for the time, quite Peckinpah-esque. Pretty good. not great.

"48 Hrs" director Walter Hill's modern-day, macho western "Extreme Prejudice" emerges as a bloodthirsty tribute to writer & director Sam Peckinpah. For the record, Hill adapted the Jim Thompson cult novel as a screenplay for Peckinpah's superb Texas bank robbery saga "The Getaway" (1972) co-starring Steve McQueen, Ali MacGraw, and Ben Johnson. You can spot some of the ideas that Hill appropriated from that memorable Peckinpah masterpiece and put into this uneven but above-average actioneer. The bank robbers use explosives to distract the local constabulary while they waylay the bank and they cut the local communication lines to keep the authorities from knowing about their audacious deed. Unfortunately, the problem with "Extreme Prejudice" is that Hill and his scribes struggle to streamline two movies into one. One plot concerns an "A-Team" of military soldiers deployed to perform ultra-secret missions that would otherwise embarrass the government. The second plot focuses on the relationship between the hero and the villain who were once the best of friends and are not rivals for the love of the same woman. Despite the uneven, complicated nature of this contemporary western, Hill has fashioned a good crime thriller that maintains attention throughout its 104 minutes with compelling characters, exciting shoot-outs and showdowns, and atmospheric settings."Extreme Prejudice" casts Nick Nolte as lean, mean, and incorruptible Texas Ranger Jack Benteen, while wolfish Powers Boothe is at his villainous best as Benteen's chief adversary Cash Bailey. Cash decks himself out in virtuous apparel with a white Stetson, slacks, and jacket. As it turns out, Benteen and Bailey grew up together in Texas. They played football together, dated the same girl, and smoked marijuana right under the noses of Benteen's Texas Ranger father and Benrey County Sheriff Hank Pearson. Times have changed for both men and Benteen wants Cash to stop selling dope and clear out. While these two lethal opponents circle each other warily with blood in their eyes, a squad of officially dead military soldiers under the command of Major Pat Hackett (Michael Ironside of "Starship Troopers") blow into Benrey to rob the city bank. Initially, the two plots appear to intertwine. As Hackett tells one of his men, "We're robbing the bank to cover what we're getting out of the safety deposit boxes. It's a case of national security." Hackett and his men plan to hold up the bank where Bailey stashes his money and records. These men case not only the bank, but they also case the local sheriff's office. Indeed, two of the team--Sgt. Buck Atwater (William Forsythe of "Out for Justice") and Sgt. Luther Fry (Dan Tullis Jr. of "Harlem Nights")--start a fight so authorities will arrest them for disorderly conduct and assault. Once they are confined to jail cells, they scope out the facilities.The other members of Hackett's team masquerade as Lone Star Armored Car guards so they can enter the bank armed with guns. Naturally, Hackett accompanies them. The robbers don pantie hose to blur their facial features. The flaw in their best laid plan occurs when Sergeant Declan Patrick Coker (Matt Mulhern of "Junior") and Buck wind up stuck momentarily in a gully and cannot make it back to town in time to dispose of one of Cash's henchmen. Cash's henchman Hector (Gary Carlos Cervantes of "Scarface") ambushes Sergeant Fry as he is exiting the bank lugging suitcases of loot. Hector riddles him with a submachine gun and grabs the luggage. While all this is transpiring, Coker and Buck have established a diversion with a hydrogen tanker that they obliterate with explosive charges. Careening back into town late, Coker and Buck run afoul of Benteen. Benteen learns afterward that Coker, Buck, and Fry were listed as dead by the government. When Benteen tracks down Hackett, the major explains that Cash Bailey once served as the DEA's number one, deep-cover informant. Cash has been using the bank in Benteen's own town to launder and stockpile his illicit drug money. Somehow, Hackett convinces Benteen to release Coker and Buck so they can rejoin Hackett, Sergeant Biddle, and Sergeant McRose and head south to Mexico and liquidate Bailey. Ostensibly, Benteen wants to reason with Cash, but he also wants to bring back his girlfriend, Sarita Cisneros (Maria Conchita Alonso of "Predator 2"), who had gone back to Mexico with Cash.Everybody in "Extreme Prejudice" talks tough and looks intimidating. The salty, profane dialogue that these tough guys snarl with venom at each other predated Quinton Tarantino by several years. As the Benrey County Sheriff, Rip Torn has what is possibly the best line: "Only thing worse than a politician is a child molester." The second best line belongs to William Forsythe's flinty character Buck when he flirts with a woman: "As long as I got a face, you got a place to sit!" The bullet riddled confrontation in old Mexico near the end of this R-rated shoot'em up evokes memories of Peckinpah's magnum opus "The Wild Bunch," while the corrosive friendship between the hero and the villain is reminiscent of Peckinpah's "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid." Hill and his writers slip in a few surprises along the way, particularly in the treacherous character of Major Paul Hackett. If you're looking for a blazing guns entry with virtually everybody biting the dust, then "Extreme Prejudice" is designed with you in mind. The other tale of the Texas Rangers in a contemporary setting that compared favorably with "Extreme Prejudice" came out about four years earlier was director Steve Carver's "Lone Wolf McQuade" (1983) with Chuck Norris in his best bad ass role.

What we have here is one hell of a film. Which goes without saying when you have John Milius writing the script and Walter Hill directing it. Also an ensemble cast that includes Nick Nolte , Powers Boothe , Michael Ironside, Clancy Brown , William Forsythe, Maria Conchita Alonso, the dude who played Lamar in Revenge Of The Nerds and more. Extreme Predudice is pretty much The Wild Bunch set in the 1980's on the U.S./Mexican border . It is almost as good as The Wild Bunch also which is a huge compliment as The Wild Bunch is one of the best films ever made. The pacing on this is quicker. Expect lots of action , great dialogue and stellar performances . Most of Walter Hill 's movies are underrated in my opinion and this is one of his finest works. This is also my favorite western in a modern day setting . I also really like Lone Wolf McQuade, which John Milius wrote also( and is my favorite Chuck Norris film). If you are a fan of action films or westerns this is one movie you should check out.

"The only thing worse than a politician is a child molester." - Sheriff Pearson (Extreme Prejudice) Directed by Walter Hill, "Extreme Prejudice" stars Nick Nolte as Jack Benteen, a Texas Ranger who works the Mexican border. Benteen's biggest problem is Cash Bailey, a powerful crime lord who lives over in Mexico and who is responsible for a number of crimes on Jack's side of the border.Hill's script was written by John Milius ("Apocalypse Now", "Red Dawn"), so of course things quickly get political. A large portion of their film revolves around a "mission impossible" styled subplot in which a group of off-the-grid soldiers plot to take Cash out themselves. One of the great things about the script is the way Milius juggles both story arcs, and then merges them during the film's grand finale. In an age of cookie-cutter action plots, its nice to find a genre film that keeps us gripped; an hour into the film and we still don't quite know what's going on, or how things tie together.But most of all, "Extreme Prejudice" is director Walter Hill's love letter to Sam Peckinpah. The film plays like a combination of "Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia" and "The Wild Bunch", Hill serving up brutal gun fights, strained romances, slow motion squib-operas and the kind of sweltering Mexican heat that Peckinpah's best films ooze. This is a film filled with men weathered and beaten by the Texan sun, haunted by an inability to get things right and willing to lay their lives down on matters of principle. Incidentally, the character of Cash Bailey is based on Orson Welles' corrupt lawn man in "Touch of Evil". "Touch of Evil" was itself set on the Mexican border, and featured a similar cast of sweaty gringos and snarling Mexicans.7.9/10 - Hill's early films were visceral genre pictures several inches ahead of the curve. His later films, however, concede to, rather than challenge, the conventions of action cinema. This film is a bit different, though. Skip its poor first act and ignore Milius' stupid politics (the whole film is right winger's extra-judicial, "pop an immigrant" fantasy) and you have an atmospheric rift on Peckinpah's "Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia" combined with the apocalyptic ending of "The Wild Bunch".Worth one viewing.