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d. James Foley; pr. Don Guest, Elliott Lewitt; scr. Nicholas Kazan; ph. Juan Ruiz Anchia; ed. Howard E. Smith; cast. Sean Penn, Christopher Walken, Mary Stuart Masterson, Stephen Geoffreys, Chris Penn, Millie Perkins, Tracey Walter, David Straithearn, Candy Clark, Crispin Glover, Keifer Sutherland (111 mins)

AT CLOSE RANGE FACTS: PROMOTION - Stressing the patriarchal nature of the drama the marketers went with the provocative generation rebellion motif for the tagline "Like father. Like son. Like Hell." (read more); FILM TALES - Christopher Walken's character was based on true life murderer Bruce Johnston Sr.; Originally, the role of the father was offered to Robert DeNiro but DeNiro turned it down, claiming the character was much too dark, something that did not dissuade Christopher Walken; Sean Penn took the track "Live to Tell" performed by his then wife Madonna and inserted it into the film soundtrack from where it soon reached #1 on the Billboard charts; SPONSOR DETAILS: This review of Ghost Dog is sponsored by Inkstone Digital - the latest ebooks for as low as $8.95 with new titles added weekly (read more); Experimental Canon - latest poetry anthology release is Ivan Rehorek's A Rare and Vacant Hour (read more); Scrolling News Ticker by Mioplanet;

There was a trend in the mid-1980s towards the powerful and cynical dissection of what amounted to youthful criminal amorality as evidence of the failure of patriarchal socialization.

In total opposition to the popular John Hughes romanticization of teenage years in such as The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink, these works were far bleaker in their assessment of human nature and the dangers posed to youth by unstable and even psychotic role models. There was a fear that somehow moral indifference was consuming the youth of the land – that small town ordinary America was breeding a generation of young men incapable of relating to each other on a level of common humanity. The key films in this trend were River’s Edge and At Close Range, the latter ostensibly inspired by a true story and offering star Sean Penn a chance to develop the kind of tortured disillusionment he had earlier essayed so well in the detention-center film Bad Boys (not to be confused with the dire Will Smith action vehicle). Significantly, US Patriarchy was here monstrous although Penn was charged with almost purging it. It was this hope for justice and purification that made At Close Range a more optimistic film than the truly dispiriting River’s Edge. Nevertheless, both films testify to a palpable fear of youthful inhumanity and At Close Range remains a remarkable assessment of the horrifying legacy of the father.

At Close Range stars real life siblings Sean and Christopher Penn as brothers, living with their single mother. They hang out with a bunch of friends (the excellent ensemble of Crispin Glover, Stephen Geoffries and Keifer Sutherland) and Sean develops an interest in a young girl (Mary Stuart Masterson).

The brothers idolize their absent father, Christopher Walken, a petty criminal with greater criminal aspirations. When pressure at home mounts between Sean Penn and his stepfather (who loathes Penn’s aimless defiance) Penn leaves to stay with Walken and his circle of petty criminal acquaintances. Penn wants to live with Masterson but needs money. To which end he wants to join Walken’s crew, although Walken is insistent that his sons prove themselves first before he trusts them with the details of the operation. Thus, Sean Penn organizes his friends into thieves in the hope of finally impressing Walken. Walken admits Sean Penn into his gang although things start to go wrong. There is an informer in the neighborhood and Walken treats him in a manner which finally reveals to Sean Penn that the people he has chosen to be with are “no good”. Hoping to raise money, he again uses his friends but is captured by police. Walken is so afraid that his son will testify against him that he goes after Masterson. Soon Penn must face the most important decision of his life in regards his bond to his father.

At Close Range initially dissects the codes and behavior of youthful anarchy, with Sean Penn seemingly obsessed with pride: as if pride alone is power, a psychosis evident also in Walken and perhaps a paternal legacy.

In Penn’s arrogance and reckless defiance are rooted his inability to adapt to his absent father. His need to impress Walken extends finally into pathological proportions – he needs such pride to sustain himself. Yet director James Foley is careful to reveal that however misguided Penn may be, he is capable of moral choice and the second half of the film concerns his discovery of such and his decision to act on his own – to defy the legacy of the proud father he now realizes is a monster. The move to such self-assertion is skillfully intertwined with the notion of betrayal, the idea that Penn can only achieve freedom from the father by betraying him – the act of betrayal thus a form of humility. The film sees this as a primary strength of character and much of the film’s tension comes from whether or not Penn can deal with the failure of his sense of pride. The need to purge the bad father is a dominant theme in this film. Penn initially believes in the defiance of authority and the film charts his acceptance of moral consequence so that his defiance is targeted with experience. His realization of human morality as more important than even family ties propels this film: humility over pride.

The film cleverly juxtaposes Sean Penn’s relationship with Masterson with his loyalty to Walken.

Masterson humanizes him somewhat and emphasizes his dilemma as a man faced with a mature but tortuous choice, that between his misguided awe for his father and the promise of a free and loving life with a young woman. He tries to have both but Walken will seek to destroy all hope for his son, so horrendous is his ultimate selfish pride that he would consider his own children expendable. Walken represents the monstrous, unconscionable Patriarchal pride that threatens to consume Penn if he chooses incorrectly. Walken is thus something of a Mephistophelian figure, a predator not above preying on his own children to advance his smug superiority sustained by arrogance. Yet there is something alluring about his easy, corrupt lifestyle – the appeal of the outlaw anti-hero – that the film also seeks to explore (indeed director Foley would return to this theme in his under-rated The Corruptor over a decade later). Foley hopes that his youthful hero, however misguided, will not imitate and repeat the sins of the father. The film is thus full of dread, fear and apprehension about Penn’s relationship to Walken, championing the young man’s need to reject the old as a crucial move as it essays the sociological basis of criminality as rooted in malfunctioning Patriarchal pride.

Vision
The visual transfer on this DVD is exceptional, wonderfully preserving the original widescreen compositions and group vs. individual dynamics as it charts Penn’s need to both belong with and be apart from the people in his life. Thus, he seems always uncomfortable and restless and his nervousness infects the film’s style. It is a noir-ish film, the night scenes especially capable of icy and reflective surfaces. It is always a good and clean transfer with deep shadows and silhouette effects. The landscapes are fine throughout in an almost pristine image marred only by slight artifacts in the form of print speckles. At Close Range is a brooding film, slightly fearful of what it reveals and is capable of perfectly rendering the directionless defiance of youth. Locations and costumes subtly underlie the economic and social deprivation that the film implies as at the core of the problems of a malfunctioning socialization process. Compositions stress Penn’s dilemma in terms of his relation to other characters and his struggle against his environment. It is never deterministic in the true film noir sense, but uses this for an effective background style. Foley uses Masterson well as a symbol of the alternative possible in Penn’s life, making her fate with Walken a demonstration of Walken’s pathological equation of pride and power – the film’s real theme and one that Foley would return to frequently.

Sound
The sound design is also truly exceptional, capable of enormous subtly in the original mix and levels in this ideal Dolby digital Surround transfer. The stereo surround is crisp and delicate, with sly directional effects in the use of background sounds. It has a fine sense of both street-life and the almost desolation of this part of America, where the sounds of a quiet and even unassuming nature are frequently found in the background: as a subtle counterpoint to the indifference and hostility in human nature. Sudden noises are effective and crisp (glass breaking and welding sounds for instance) and the score always works: dynamic moments flow naturally into quieter and almost reflective pauses. As a kind of rural noir, the film makes use of the juxtaposition between nature and humanity. The surround is used to flesh out individual locations (bars, restaurants) in which there is a subtle crowd presence as the film again flows between an awareness of the outside world and Penn’s more subjective sense of seclusion: the suggestive balance between objective and subjective is masterfully maintained and never over-stressed – it is the key to the film’s audio theme of innocent nature and foul humanity, with not only Penn, but especially Masterson in the balance. The end credits feature a Madonna song “Live to Tell” (she was at the time still romantically involved with Sean Penn) which serves the film well.