Originally intended as a direct-to-video production, the 1992 crime thriller One False Move received so much advance praise from critics that distributor I.R.S. Releasing (the short-lived film branch of music label I.R.S. Records) opted to give it a limited theatrical run first. While the movie ultimately made only a pittance at the box office, it lingered in the memories of those who had seen it, and decades later maintains a reputation as a key title from the early ’90s indie boom.
Looking back on it now, One False Move may be most notable as the breakout film – both as an actor (he’d previously had some bit parts in mostly forgettable fare) and a screenwriter – for Billy Bob Thornton. Despite its meager financial earnings, buzz from this movie allowed Thornton to pick up acting gigs in bigger mainstream productions such as Indecent Proposal and Tombstone, and paved the way for his even-more-acclaimed Sling Blade four years later, for which he’d receive a couple Oscar nominations.
| Title: | One False Move |
| Year of Release: | 1992 |
| Director: | Carl Franklin |
| Watched On: | 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray |
| Available On: | Blu-ray Various VOD purchase and rental platforms |
His first produced screenplay, Thornton co-wrote One False Move with collaborator Tom Epperson as a way to give himself some decent acting work. Even so, whether of his own choosing or a requirement of the financiers, he doesn’t play the lead. That job went to slightly more established star Bill Paxton (Weird Science, Aliens), while Thornton plays the scumbag villain of the piece. Arguments can be made over which part is juicier. Thornton’s character certainly doesn’t lack for memorable screen time.
In a way of looking at it, One False Move is a lovers-on-the-run tale in the vein of Bonnie & Clyde or Badlands. After stealing a bunch of cocaine and cash from a drug dealer, Ray (Thornton) and girlfriend Fantasia (Cynda Williams) flee Los Angeles and head to Arkansas, where they both have roots, with authorities on their tails. However, far from some misunderstood antihero, Ray is a stone-cold psycho who won’t hesitate to murder anyone who has something he wants or gets in his way. His relationship with Fantasia shows few signs of love, and is based entirely on his need for dominance over someone he can control.
The couple are also joined in their journey by Ray’s even colder and more calculating partner Pluto (Michael Beach), who plans to help them offload the drugs. Pluto sees Fantasia as extraneous and a liability, and she both distrusts and fears him in turn.
When detectives in Los Angeles discover a clue that points them to rural Star City as Ray and Fantasia’s destination, they send advance word to local police chief Dale “Hurricane” Dixon (Paxton) and fly to Arkansas ahead of the fugitives to await their arrival. Dixon couldn’t be more thrilled. In all his time on the job, he’s never had to pull his gun; the most action he ever sees is rousting the town drunk and dragging the guy back home to his wife two or three times a week. Hurricane is eager – frankly, too eager – to work with a pair of L.A. cops on a criminal manhunt, and sees this as his ticket to join the big leagues of real police in a major city. For their part, Detectives Cole and McFeely (Jim Metzler and Earl Billings) mostly find Dixon well-meaning, if naïve, and try their best to subtly and gently discourage those fantasies without hurting his feelings. Meanwhile, Ray is coming, and he’s more dangerous than Hurricane understands.
Produced on a modest budget of about $2.5 million, One False Move is more character piece than action thriller. Suspense is mostly suggested rather than played out in elaborate set-pieces. Lacking flashy spectacle or pyrotechnics, the film burrows down into its characters and their relationships. Paxton is great fun as Hurricane, in many ways a charming idiot who doesn’t realize until too late just how far out of his depth he is, or how the dark skeletons in his own closet have come back to haunt him. Thornton’s performance may be a little one-note as the slimeball Ray, but he’s suitably menacing.
Williams has perhaps the trickiest role. Fantasia (or Lila, as she’s later known) is a very troubled young woman with secret motivations, but she’s no femme fatale. If the movie’s script has a failing, it doesn’t make enough effort to explain how she got saddled with Ray or why she hasn’t tried to leave such an obvious piece of garbage, when she herself is more sympathetic and seems to have some redeeming qualities. On the other hand, the story’s climax suggests that a girl of her background and in her situation likely learned at a very young age to latch onto stronger men (whomever she could) as a desperate survival tactic.
Considering some of the competition it was up against in 1992 – both huge studio thrillers like Basic Instinct (still at the top of the box office almost two months after release as this came out) and buzzier indies like The Crying Game later in the year, that One False Move flew under the radar with most audiences should come as little surprise. The movie has neither the deliriously overwrought hysteria of the former nor the stunning plot twist of the latter. Yet, as helmed by Carl Franklin, a former TV supporting actor who’d segued into directing, the film has a powerful connection to its characters and a devastatingly tragic climax on its own, smaller terms. One False Move is the type of movie that gets under your skin and sticks with you.
The 4K Ultra HD
One False Move joined the Criterion Collection as spine #1187 on both Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD in July of 2023. The latter edition comes in a 2-disc set with the movie on both formats. Liner notes in the included booklet credit the video restoration work to Sony Pictures Entertainment.
On the 4K disc, the 1.85:1 image is very sharp and detailed, yielding a discernible improvement over the accompanying Blu-ray copy. Color and contrast also look a little richer and more naturalistic in the HDR grade. On the other hand, grain is quite pronounced in 4K. Some viewers may love that, but I wouldn’t be surprised if others favor the slightly tamer appearance of grain on the Blu-ray disc.
The movie’s soundtrack is encoded in lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 surround. Clarity and fidelity of the musical score are pleasing, and the few gunshots interspersed throughout are piercing, but the film has mostly understated sound design. The surrounds are reserved almost entirely for ambience. Dynamic range is limited, with no deep bass of note.
The only bonus feature on the 4K disc is a 1999 audio commentary by director Carl Franklin, originally recorded for DVD. That track is repeated on the Blu-ray, which further adds a new (filmed in 2022) conversation between Franklin and writer/star Billy Bob Thorton, as well as a trailer. The enclosed booklet offers an essay on the film by crime fiction author William Boyle.
Related
- Bill Paxton
- Billy Bob Thornton
- Thematically Similar 1990s Thrillers
Note: All screenshots on this page were taken from the standard Blu-ray edition of the film and are used for illustration purposes only.
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