Tequila Sunrise

Directed by Robert Towne, Tequila Sunrise details the love triangle that ensues between a police officer (Kurt Russell’s Nick Frescia), a drug dealer (Mel Gibson’s Dale McKussic), and a restaurateur (Michelle Pfeiffer’s Jo Ann Vallenari). It’s clear, ultimately, that Tequila Sunrise fares best in its deliberate yet involving first half, as filmmaker Towne, armed with his own screenplay, does an effective job of establishing the disparate protagonists and the appealingly melodramatic scenario in which they find themselves – with the watchable atmosphere heightened by Conrad Hall’s lush, striking visuals and the predictably stellar efforts of the three leads. (It doesn’t hurt, either, that Towne has elicited top-flight work from such scene-stealing periphery players as J.T. Walsh, Arliss Howard, and Raul Julia.) There’s little doubt, then, that Tequila Sunrise‘s hold on the viewer is loosened considerably by a wheel-spinning, progressively convoluted midsection that contains few compelling attributes, which, despite the inclusion of a high-octane climax, paves the way for a final stretch that peters out to a fairly distressing (and palpble) extent – with the end result a decent-enough piece of work that ultimately feels like it should be much, much better.

**1/2 out of ****