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The Border

The Border

Crime · Drama · 1982

A corrupted border agent decides to clean up his act when an impoverished woman's baby is put up for sale on the black market.

Movie details

The Border

“When Charlie Smith went down to the border, he found more than a boundary between Texas and Mexico. He found a line within himself.”

1982 Crime · Drama 1h 48m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

6.4 / 10

7.2K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

65 %

Tomatometer

Metacritic

66 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

6.0 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

A corrupted border agent decides to clean up his act when an impoverished woman's baby is put up for sale on the black market.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Border?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Killer Joe

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Desierto

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A group of Mexican emigrants attempts to cross the Mexican-US border. What begins as a hopeful journey becomes a harrowing, bloody and primal fight for survival when a deranged, rifle-toting vigilante and his loyal Belgian Malinois dog chase the group of unarmed men and women through the treacherous borderland. In the harsh, unforgiving desert terrain, the odds are stacked firmly against them as they discover there’s nowhere to hide from the unrelenting, merciless killer.

Scarface

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Action · 1987

Lean, mean Texas Ranger Jack Benteen locks horns with a former friend, Cash Bailey, now a ruthless drug kingpin. Though they're on opposite sides of the law, they share a love interest in the sensual Sarita. When a crew of rogue soldiers descends upon the border town for an off-the-books mission, all roads lead to a bloody, to-the-death showdown, as loyalties shift and the lines between good and evil are blurred.

Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Tony Richardson

Written by

Deric Washburn · David Freeman · Walon Green

Jack Nicholson

Jack Nicholson

Charlie Smith

Harvey Keitel

Harvey Keitel

Cat

Valerie Perrine

Valerie Perrine

Marcy

Warren Oates

Warren Oates

Red

Elpidia Carrillo

Elpidia Carrillo

Maria

Shannon Wilcox

Shannon Wilcox

Savannah

M

Manuel Viescas

Juan

Court is in session

Put The Border on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Auteur Devotee

“Form is the argument.”

Every composed frame and deliberate cut is evidence that control can be thrilling in its own right.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Technique in search of a pulse.”

Immaculate construction is still construction. The film may be too busy proving its craft to feel alive.