Product Description

A teenage farm boy looking for excitement finds himself on a collision course with his smooth-talking gang leader father in this "powerfully disturbing (Newsweek) tale based on the story of real-life killer Bruce Johnston. OscarÂ(r) winner* Sean Penn (Dead Man Walking) and OscarÂ(r) winner** Christopher Walken (Pulp Fiction) star in this "hot, horrifying saga of an American criminal family" (Los Angeles Times)! Juvenile delinquent Brad Whitewood, Jr. (Penn) knows about petty theft, but he wants big moneyenough to blow the lid off his boring life, enough to get out of town and to find his ol' man (Walken). He wants to be like his dad, a big-time thief, who knows "the business." Seductive and sinister, Brad's father is full of toxic wisdom that makes his illicit life appear eerily sexy. But when Brad witnesses his father deliberately killing someone, he realizes he may not only be in over his head he may also lose it for good. *2003: Actor, Mystic River **1978: Supporting Actor, The Deer Hunter

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11592 in DVD
• Brand: MGM HOME VIDEO (UNDER FOX)
• Released on: 2000-12-19
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: Spanish, French
• Dubbed in: Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 111 minutes

Features

• A teenage farm boy looking for excitement finds himself on a collision course with his smooth-talking gang leader father in this "powerfully disturbing" (Newsweek) tale based on the story of real-life killer Bruce Johnston. Oscar nominee Sean Penn (Dead Man Walking) and Oscar winner Christopher Walken (Pulp Fiction) star in this "hot, horrifying saga of an American criminal family" (Los Angeles Ti

Amazon.com
One of the overlooked films of the 1980s, perhaps because it is such a downbeat tale of an amoral family. Sean Penn plays a kid whose small-time criminal impulses are stoked to a new level when he falls in with his father (Christopher Walken), a vicious career criminal for whom no problem is so large that it can't be solved by a murder. At first exhilarated by the attention from his father (and the jobs he gives him to do), he gradually catches on to just what a bad guy Dad really is. But when he tries to extricate himself, he discovers that Dad now has him squarely in his sights. Penn is terrific in a role of emotional complexity, while Walken, king of the creeps, is positively frightening as this soft-spoken but highly lethal patriarch. --Marshall Fine

Customer Reviews

The Devil in Blue Suede Shoes
The film purports to be based on true events. The saga of the Johnston gang, a "family" of burglars based in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and reigned circa 1980 and then unfolded into murder happened while I was in high school. The story got big play in the Philadelphia region and some national coverage. Oddly enough this movie was filmed in Tennessee. Also noteworthy is that when this film was released in 1986 it didn't even get a theatrical run in Philly. I had to wait until it was released later that year on home video before I saw it. Bear in mind that at the time Sean Penn was not the esteemed Academy award winning actor he is now but was better known as Madonna's husband. Christopher Walken, despite the Oscar he won for "The Deer Hunter", was a marketing challenge for Hollywood. As for the film itself, it perfectly captures the essence of the events and the place it occurred. I worked near Lancaster County around that time and my late brother-in-law was from the area and came to Philly because the mills had closed there. You can imagine if you were a young person at that time the desolation you might feel and Penn perfectly captures that restlessness. You can also imagine how someone like him would be drawn to a charismatic, albeit evil, father figure as assayed here by Walken. Walken's Brad Sr. is one of his great portrayals in an impressive career. With little histrionics or tics Walken embodies evil incarnate. There is also an excellent supporting cast here with Mary Stuart Masterson as Penn's innocent girlfriend, Chris Penn and Crispin Glover as Penn's buddies, and Tracey Walter as Walken's brother as standouts. This is most definitely one of the better and more underrated films of the eighties. Credit should also go to director James Foley and scriptwriter Nicholas Kazan for not only delivering a powerhouse film but for also getting it right.

A tug-of-war between father and son in a small town with no opportunities other than crime
At Close Range, which is based on a true-crime story from the 1980's, centers on the relationship between Brad Jr. (Sean Penn) and Brad Sr. (Christopher Walken). The younger Brad has a mess of a life, has no direction, and lives with his mom and a boyfriend who resents her pot-smoking grown children. Along with his brother Tommy (played by Penn's real-life brother, Chris Penn), Brad Jr. turns to his dad as a father-figure for an intro to the family business of small-time crime. Tensions run high has Brad Jr. is forced to faced the true demon his father is, and Brad Sr. has no qualms about hurting or murdering anyone, including Tommy (the bastard son) and his own son's girlfriend.

The is a gritty movie with great questions about family ties and what to do with your life when you have no real options. Most of the cast was relatively unknown at the time, so check out actors like Kiefer Sutherland, Crispin Glover, and Mary Stuart Masterson at the beginning of the careers.

Is this the Family Gun, Dad?
One of the best films of the 1980's, At Close Range tells the true story of the Johnston Family gang (changed here to Whitewood) which terrorized Delaware, Maryland and Pennsylvania in the 1970s by stealing tractor parts and generally being hoods. While the story may sound not too compelling, this film gets a huge boost from some great ensemble acting. This is the movie that got me over my aversion to Sean Penn and Christopher Walken delivers one of the most believably evil people in movies. I grew up in the town this all took place in and Bruce Johnston (Christopher Walken=Brad Whitewood) lived next door to my Uncle. And my Uncle said that Walken nailed this guy's persona. Scary Thought. What saves At Close Range from being just another crime movie is the flair that James Foley brings to the direction. It's often gorgeous, thank to Juan Ruiz Anchia's brilliant cinematography and in no small part to Patrick Leonard's haunting score, keyed to the melody of Live to Tell. How come there was never a soundtrack? Do yourself a favor, check it out and be reminded that evil does exist and in forms more insidious and banal than serial killers and possessed little girls.