''At Close Range'' is a 1986 American

neo-noir Neo-noir is a film genre that adapts the visual style and themes of 1940s and 1950s American film noir for contemporary audiences, often with more graphic depictions of violence and sexuality. During the late 1970s and the early 1980s, the term ...

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

film directed by James Foley from a screenplay written by Nicholas Kazan, based on the

real life Real life is a phrase used originally in literature to distinguish between the real world and fictional, virtual or idealized worlds, and in acting to distinguish between actors and the Character (arts), characters they portray. It has become a ...

rural

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

crime family A crime family is a unit of an organized crime syndicate, particularly in the Sicilian Mafia and Italian-American Mafia, often operating within a specific geographic territory or a specific set of activities. In its strictest sense, a ''family'' ...

led by Bruce Johnston Sr. which operated during the 1960s and '70s. It stars

Sean Penn Sean Justin Penn (born August 17, 1960) is an American actor and film director. He is known for his intense leading man roles in film. List of awards and nominations received by Sean Penn, His accolades include two Academy Awards, a Golden Gl ...

and Christopher Walken, with

Mary Stuart Masterson Mary Stuart Masterson (born June 28, 1966) is an American actress and director. After making her acting debut as a Child actor, child in The Stepford Wives (1975 film), ''The Stepford Wives'' (1975), Masterson took a ten-year hiatus to focus on ...

, Crispin Glover, Tracey Walter, Christopher Penn, Eileen Ryan, David Strathairn and Kiefer Sutherland in supporting roles. ''At Close Range'' was theatrically released by Orion Pictures on April 18, 1986, in the United States. It received generally positive reviews from critics, with Penn's and Walken's performances receiving particular praise and the film's music receiving appreciation. The film was not a box office success, grossing a total of $2.3 million at the North American box office, earning less than its production budget of $6.5 million.

Plot

Brad Whitewood Sr. is a career criminal and the leader of his family's gang of rural backwoods criminals. Sr's criminal enterprises intersect when his son, Brad Whitewood Jr., a floundering, out-of-work teenager living in near squalor with his mother, grandmother, brother and mother's boyfriend, comes to stay with him. When his father shows up in a flashy car with a pocket full of $100 bills, Brad Jr. formulates a desire to join his father's life of crime. At first, Jr. starts a gang with his brother, Tommy, fencing their stolen goods through Brad Sr.'s criminal network. As a result of entanglements with his 16-year-old girlfriend, Terry, Brad Jr. seeks full entry into his father's gang, but tries to back out after witnessing a murder. Eventually, Brad Jr's gang is arrested while stealing tractors, and the FBI and local law enforcement attempt to lean on Brad Jr. to get him to turn evidence on his father's gang. During Brad Jr.'s time in jail, Brad Sr. becomes convinced that Terry is a risk to his activities, thinking that Brad Jr. may confide details to Terry and that she has a big mouth. In an attempt to destroy her relationship with Brad Jr., Brad Sr. rapes Terry after getting her drunk and stoned. After a prison visit where Terry, accompanied by Brad Jr's mother, has a conversation with Brad Jr., it seems that Brad Jr. begins to cooperate with the police. The members of Brad Jr's gang are subpoenaed, and Brad Sr. feels his only recourse is to eliminate them. The gang kills Lucas, Aggie and Tommy. Brad Jr. and Terry plan to flee to Montana, but they're ambushed. Terry is killed, and Brad Jr. is seriously wounded. Brad Jr. confronts his father armed with his father's gun, intending on killing him, but decides instead to cooperate with police. Ultimately Brad Jr. sits on the witness stand in his father's trial.

Cast

as Bradford "Little Brad" Whitewood Jr. * Christopher Walken as Bradford "Big Brad" Whitewood Sr. (based on Bruce Johnston) *

as Terry * Christopher Penn as Thomas "Tommy" Whitewood * Millie Perkins as Julie * Eileen Ryan as Grandma * Tracey Walter as Uncle Patch Whitewood * R. D. Call as Dickie * David Strathairn as Tony Pine * J. C. Quinn as Boyd * Candy Clark as Mary Sue Whitewood * Jake Dengel as Lester * Kiefer Sutherland as Tim * Crispin Glover as Lucas * Stephen Geoffreys as Aggie * Alan Autry as Ernie * Noelle Parker as Jill

Production

Filming

The film, while depicting incidents in Chester County and Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, was actually shot in Franklin and Spring Hill, Tennessee.

Soundtrack

Music for the film was composed by Patrick Leonard, who had been working on an instrumental theme for Paramount's 1986 film '' Fire with Fire'', and wanted to enlist

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...

for the vocals. Leonard was turned down by Paramount for that project, but Madonna, who was at the time married to Sean Penn, decided that the theme would work well for ''At Close Range''. She wrote the lyrics and presented a demo cassette to director James Foley, and suggested Leonard compose the film's soundtrack. The theme with Madonna's lyrics became the single " Live to Tell". A slower instrumental version opened the film's main title sequence, a harbinger of the end credit sequence, which was accompanied by the version from Madonna's third

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

, '' True Blue'' (1986). Versions of the instrumental show up throughout. The instrumental

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

by Leonard remained unreleased until a version of the main titles appeared on the Internet in 2014, although the 7" single of "Live to Tell" included a B-side incomplete instrumental version of the score. The music featuring in the film included a number of popular songs from the late 1970s, including " Miss You" by

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

, " Boogie Oogie Oogie" by A Taste of Honey, as well as a number of arrangements featuring LeRoux.

Reception

Box office

The film was not profitable at the box office during its theatrical run. It grossed a total of $2,347,000 at the North American box office during its theatrical run in 83 theaters, earning less than its budget of $6.5 million.

Critical response

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

gave it 3½ out of 4 stars, noting that "few recent films have painted such a bleak picture of human nature". He described Sean Penn as "probably the best of the younger actors", while lauding Christopher Walken's "hateful" performance.

Accolades

* Nominated

Golden Bear The Golden Bear () is the highest prize awarded for the best film at the Berlin International Film Festival and is, along with the Palme d'Or and the Golden Lion, the most important international film festival award. The bear is the heraldic an ...

36th Berlin International Film Festival The 36th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held 14–25 February 1986. The festival opened with '' Ginger and Fred'' by Federico Fellini, which played out of competition at the festival. The Golden Bear was awarded to West German ...

. * Winner ASCAP Film & Television Music Award – Most Performed Song from a Motion Picture ("Live to Tell"); awarded to Madonna * Winner BMI Film & TV Award – Most Performed Song from a Film ("Live to Tell"); awarded to Patrick Leonard * Nominated Casting Society of America – Best Casting in Feature Film (Risa Bramon Garcia, Billy Hopkins)

References

External links

* * {{James Foley 1986 films 1986 crime drama films 1986 independent films 1980s American films 1980s English-language films American crime drama films American independent films American neo-noir films Crime drama films based on actual events English-language crime drama films English-language independent films Films about dysfunctional families Films about father–son relationships Films directed by James Foley Films set in 1978 Films set in Pennsylvania Films shot in Tennessee Films with screenplays by Nicholas Kazan Orion Pictures films