Rush (1991 film)
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_cover.jpg) DVD cover |
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| Directed by | Lili Fini Zanuck |
| Produced by | Gary Daigler Richard D. Zanuck |
| Written by | Kim Wozencraft (book) Pete Dexter (screenplay) |
| Starring | Jason Patric Jennifer Jason Leigh Sam Elliott |
| Music by | Eric Clapton |
| Cinematography | Kenneth MacMillan |
| Editing by | Mark Warner |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Release date(s) | United States: December 22, 1991 |
| Running time | 120 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Rush is a 1991 American crime drama film directed by Lili Fini Zanuck (wife of producer Richard Zanuck) and based on a novel written by Kim Wozencraft. It stars Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jason Patric as two cops who go in too deep on a case: a narcotics detective and his inexperienced partner go after an elusive drug dealer. They become drug addicts themselves and, failing to get the evidence they need, use falsified evidence.
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[edit] Plot
The film begins as seasoned undercover narcotics police officer, Jim Raynor (Jason Patric), greets his police superior, Lt. Dodd (Sam Elliott). The two walk over to a nearby track, where a number of recent police academy graduates are jogging. From this group of officers, Raynor must choose a partner to join him in his undercover investigation, which has been ongoing for two years. His choice of Kristen Cates (Jennifer Jason Leigh) surprises Dodd, but Raynor is confident she is the right fit for what he needs in a partner.
Upon leaving the track, Raynor drives Cates to a deserted canyon to observe her skill as a marksman. He explains to her that all they will have is each other in this assignment. They are caught between the legal world and the illegal underworld, belonging to neither and only able to trust one another. This is a difficult and demanding job, one that will take them both to the brink. Though initially startled by Raynor's intensity, Cates insists she is capable of doing whatever it takes to get the job done. Later at Raynor's apartment, he teaches Cates how to properly shoot up heroin. Cates informs Raynor that she was instructed how to expertly fake drug use at the police academy, which arouses a strong negative response from Raynor. He informs her in no uncertain terms that she will be put in situations where she will have to take the drugs they will be buying. The drug dealers they will be doing business with are not stupid, and if she tries to fake drug use in front of them, she will get both of them killed.
Raynor and now Cates's main objective in their operation is to take down the cunning, mysterious, and powerful drug lord Will Gaines (Gregg Allman). While Raynor (and the Tyler police department) is certain Gaines is the main drug boss in Tyler, Texas, Gaines is an expert at avoiding detection, and deeply mistrustful of Raynor. Raynor and Cates begin frequenting the bar Gaines owns, but still come no closer to penetrating his inner circle.
Unable to secure access to Gaines, Cates and Raynor buy large quantities of illegal drugs from minor dealers in Tyler. These drugs are cataloged and given to Dodd, along with information detailing who they bought the drugs from. Raynor and Cates quickly go from pretending to be lovers to the real thing, and fall passionately in love.
As Raynor predicted, Cates is soon put into a position where she is forced to inject drugs in front of a drug dealer. Raynor tries to intervene and tell the dealer that "his lady doesn't fix", the dealer insists at gunpoint. Cates first tries nervously to talk her way out of the situation, then yanks off her jacket and with shaking hands begins to prepare a heroin shot as Raynor had taught her. Seeing her high level of anxiety, Raynor takes the prepared needle from her and injects it into her arm. While the dealer watches approvingly and laughs, Cates quietly vomits offscreen.
Soon enough, Cates is addicted to the drugs she has to use to maintain her cover, and Raynor arrives home one day to find Cates combing the carpet, desperately searching for any crumbs of drugs that may have fallen. Raynor nurses Cates through her withdrawal, steadfastly murmuring empathetic words of support, and holding her through the worst of it. While he appears largely unaffected by his own drug use at this point, over the course of the film he becomes even more addicted than Cates. His downward spiral and eventual withdrawal scenes later are among the most powerful and intense in the film. Eventually, both characters are able to get clean, however both have been traumatized and scarred by their drug experiences. Raynor, filled with shame about the abundance of track marks that scar the crook of his arm, burns them off with a hot iron in a pivotal scene.
Though they have successfully infiltrated Tyler's drug underworld, Raynor and Cates are no closer to obtaining evidence against Gaines. Under pressure from the Tyler police department, they falsify evidence against Gaines in order to secure his arrest and indictment. They move into a small trailer awaiting the day they will have to deliver court testimony in an effort to convict Gaines. Cates is startled awake one evening by the barrel of a shotgun gliding across her face. She wakes up Raynor and a gunfight ensues in which Raynor is shot in the thigh, striking his femoral artery. Cates frantically races outside in an effort to get help, then returns to the trailer to find Raynor ghostly pale and barely conscious. She holds him and pleads with him not to die as he breathes his last in her arms.
An unspecified amount of time later, Cates is on the witness stand at Gaines's criminal trial. She begins her testimony by sticking to the fabricated story Raynor and she concocted, and appears to have the jury and courtroom spectators firmly supporting her version of events. When she finally looks directly at Gaines, he slides two fingers down the bridge of his nose, mimicking the movement of the shotgun that eventually killed Raynor. Stunned, Cates makes the decision to tell the truth on the stand, recanting her earlier deposition statements about Gaines's involvement in the drug trade, and ultimately securing his acquittal.
In the last scenes of the film, we follow Gaines, now a free man, as he gets into his car. An assassin is waiting for him in the backseat, swiftly executes Gaines and exits the vehicle. It is never made explicit who the assassin was, though Cates is the obvious suspect. The film ends with Cates leaving the police force for good and leaving town.
[edit] Cast
- Jason Patric as Jim Raynor
- Jennifer Jason Leigh as Kristen Cates
- Sam Elliott as Dodd
- Max Perlich as Walker
- Gregg Allman as Will Gaines
- Tony Frank as Nettle
- William Sadler as Monroe
- Dennis Letts as Senior District Attorney
- Dennis Burkley as Motorcycle Guy
- Merrill Connally as Defense Attorney
[edit] Soundtrack
Eric Clapton's Grammy-winning song "Tears in Heaven" is featured in the film. Clapton wrote the film's score and performed on it. The soundtrack includes Clapton's guitar and vocals on "Tears in Heaven" and "Help Me Up"; Clapton and Buddy Guy perform "Don't Know Which Way to Go" as well.
Other songs featured in the film (but not on the soundtrack album) are Jimi Hendrix's "All Along the Watchtower" (composed by Bob Dylan), Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird", Freddy Fender's "Before the Next Teardrop Falls", Robin Trower's "Bridge of Sighs", The Ohio Players' "Love Rollercoaster", and Rick Derringer's "Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo".
[edit] Influence
The main character of the game Starcraft is reportedly based on the Jim Raynor character in this film.[1]
[edit] Notes
- ^ Starcraft Lore Panel at sclegacy.com
[edit] External links
- Rush at the Internet Movie Database
- Rush at Box Office Mojo
