“Staff Picks” is a deeper look into movies that we love here at Video CULTure. Each edition of this column will focus on a single film that we think you should check out, either for the first time or for a long-overdue revisit.
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By Matthew Essary (Twitter: @WheelsCritic)
“That’s the beauty of gold. It never tarnishes. Lasts forever, too. You can twist it, pound it, even piss on it but it’s always the same gold. It was here long before we were and it’ll be here a long time after we’re gone.”
The desire for gold and the pursuit of wealth is the driving force behind the 1992 thriller from director Walter Hill, TRESPASS. The film begins when two Arkansas firefighters, Vince and Don played by Bill Paxton (ALIENS) and William Sadler (DIE HARD 2) respectively, are handed a map while on the job by a guilt-stricken thief in a burning building. They quickly discover that the map leads to a long lost cache of stolen Catholic gold.
Being “blue-collar” workers with mounting bills to pay, the two men decide to take the map, grab some tools, and head out to seek their fortune. It leads them several hours away to a dilapidated warehouse in East St. Louis. As they search the building with a metal detector, a crew of street criminals arrive at the isolated location with the intent to discreetly carry out a retaliation hit on a rival.
Of course, Vince and Don stumble across the grisly murder as it happens and while trying to get away, end up cornered in the building with one of the criminals as their hostage and only bargaining chip for safe passage out. The gold is still hidden somewhere nearby though and that hostage just happens to be the little brother of the criminals‘ leader, “King James” played by rapper Ice-T (SURVIVING THE GAME). Trapped now in a deadly standoff, the two firefighters must figure out a way to escape the building with the treasure and, more importantly, their lives.
TRESPASS shares a lot of DNA with other films, most notably THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE, starring Humphrey Bogart. That classic about two broken down Americans searching for gold in Mexico has obvious parallels. Both stories feature desperate men going to an unfamiliar land to seek gold and are met with violence and more desperation. Even the quote from TRESPASS that leads this review feels like it could have easily come from the original 1927 story on which the Bogart film was based. Both stories also touch on the idea of white colonialism exploiting other marginalized groups’ resources for personal gain. This is illustrated most clearly in TRESPASS with a couple of key moments. At one point in the film, Victor and Don stumble across a homeless man, “Bradlee” played by Art Evans (DIE HARD 2), living in the building where the central conflict takes place. In a panic, they restrain him by tying him to a chair but once things get hairy, Paxton’s Vince tries to get his help by offering him a meager forty dollar for his assistance and as an apology for disrupting his makeshift home. Bradlee barks back asking what is he going to be offered next, a mule? This is a reference to the meager reparations offered by the US government to black former slaves in the aftermath of the American Civil War. The other key moment comes when Ice-T’s King James states that he will not let anyone come into his territory and take what doesn’t belong to them. To James, Vince and Don are invading forces looking to pillage and he won’t allow that.
TRESPASS also blends elements from earlier works in Walter Hill’s filmography. You have the “fighting to survive in a foreign environment” aspect like his 1981 film SOUTHERN COMFORT. This also applies to 1979’s THE WARRIORS. Echoes of that film can even be seen in James’s street crew as well when considering some of their more outlandish elements, like Tiny Lester’s (FRIDAY) baseball shoe-wearing enforcer named “Cletus” (get it?) or the camcorder-wielding “Video” played by T.E. Russell (TOY SOLDIERS). If you wanted to stretch, you can find traces of the idea that “sudden wealth is a burden” which was explored in a much more light-hearted way in Hill’s 1985 remake of BREWSTER’S MILLIONS.
All these homages and references would be detrimental if TRESPASS could not stand on it’s own as a competent thriller. Thankfully, it does. The script, even though it feels like a Walter Hill original, surprisingly comes from the men behind THE BACK TO FUTURE trilogy, Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis. The gritty tone can be attributed to the fact that the duo originally penned the screenplay in the late 1970s and we’re only able to get it into production after they found massive commercial success with their sci-fi trilogy. The script, originally titled “Looters”, only went through minor updates and revisions before landing with Hill. It possessed all the grit of the 1970’s style with the sparseness and “show don’t tell” aspect that personifies so much of Hill’s output.
The script is brought to life by an exceptional cast of actors. The late Bill Paxton is who first drew me into seeing TRESPASS and he does strong work here. He nails the vibe of the everyman who’s clearly gotten in way over his head and is terrified but still trying to take action. Anyone who has seen a lot of Paxton’s work knows that there are few better at playing panicked desperation. His frazzled energy is balanced out by William Sadler. Sadler is just as desperate, but it manifests itself as unwavering determination to get the loot and get away scot-free even if it means having to shoot his way out. Both men turn in great performances that will leave you wishing they had headlined more projects.
On the other side of the conflict, we have Ice-T in only his second big role after breaking out after the success of NEW JACK CITY. He is all business, dressed in a flashy, wonderfully “90’s” suit complete with a matching fedora. Ice-T’s character doesn’t see himself as a gang leader but as a community leader and when his brother is taken hostage. His concern and anger feels genuine. King James is a three-dimensional character and that’s almost completely due to Ice-T’s performance. It’s no surprise from viewing his work here that he’d go on to be just as successful in acting as he was in music.
Supporting Ice-T is another rap legend in Ice Cube as James’s second in command, “Savon”. Cube was fresh off his own breakout film with BOYZ N THE HOOD. Savon is the quick-tempered “yin” to King James’s calculating “yang” and it’s a lot of fun to watch these two legends bounce off each other so early in their acting careers. The production was able to score both men because apparently, they are massive fans of THE WARRIORS and simply wanted the chance to work with Hill.
The rest of the cast is made up of a great selection of talented black actors like De’voreaux White (DIE HARD), Glenn Plummer (TV’s SONS OF ANARCHY), and Stoney Jackson (ANGELS IN THE OUTFIELD). Everyone gives their characters a “lived in” quality that helps them feel like more than just stock bad guys. Whether it’s a small detail of how they carry their gun or the way they speak in shorthand and laugh with each other. None of them feel flat.
Walter Hill takes all these quality elements and turns in the kind of film you would expect from him: lean, urgent, and deadly. There are no unnecessary scenes or bits of information. Once the film starts it barrels toward a fiery, violent conclusion. That’s not to say the film is perfect though. There are some choices that feel jarring 25+ years later. Mostly, it’s the choice to cut occasionally to the footage that the character of “Video” is recording of the events in the film. In 1992, I’m sure this felt cutting edge in the wake of the Rodney King assault but, through modern eyes, these cutaways to grainy black and white video footage feel jarring and cause the film’s momentum to slow more than it should. Also, with so many antagonists, some of them drop out of the film suddenly and with little explanation.
Minor issues aside, TRESPASS still packs a helluva punch after all these years and is ripe for a re-evaluation and discovery by a whole new generation of hard-boiled film lovers.
To find out where this film is available to stream, click here: Just Watch