The gripping contemporary neo-noir One False Move begins with a home invasion in Los Angeles. Two vicious professional robbers, with one’s beautiful girlfriend, steal money and cocaine, leaving a trail of corpses. The crime is solved right away – the cops know who did it and that the murderers are headed to a small town in Arkansas. The LA cops fly to Arkansas and lay in wait with the local constabulary. One False Move is a ticking time bomb as we wait for the criminals to drive across the Southwest to the inevitable confrontation.
This is a fundamentally noir story – there are guys overreaching for greed and ambition, a femme fatale, and a very dark secret. The screenplay was written by Billy Bob Thornton (before his breakthrough Sling Blade) and his writing partner Tom Epperson. One False Move was filmed in Cotton Plant, Arkansas, about two hours from where Thornton grew up, in and around Hot Springs.
The robbers are an odd couple that met in prison. Ray (Thornton) is white, an edgy, coke-fueled, brutal and not very smart gunsel, always on the verge of an epic misjudgement. Pluto (Michael Beach) is black, an ever-calculating crime machine – a cold, brilliant and bloodthirsty sociopath. They are accompanied by Ray’s beautiful black girlfriend Fantasia (Cynda Williams).
When the two seasoned LA homicide detectives (Jim Metzler and Earl Billings), arrive in Arkansas well ahead of the robbers, they encounter the local Sheriff, Dale “Hurricane” Dixon (Bill Paxton). Hurricane is overeager and over-enthusiastic, and his nickname obviously comes from his being an irrepressible force of nature. He’s comfortable as a big fish in a little pond, but now he fantasizes about being a big city cop. As he charges around thoughtlessly, he thinks that this is his big chance to be the kind of cop that he watches on TV.
This was Fantasia’s hometown, where she grew up with her given name of Lila. Dale and Lila share a significant past.
As a femme fatale, Fantasia/Lila can manipulate both Ray and Dale, although Pluto is immune to her charms. She is clearly a more decent person than Ray and Pluto, and she has one relatable vulnerability. but she does things and intends to do things that are very, very bad.
This was Cynda Williams’s second film role. She was married to Billy Bob Thornton for two years, including during the making of One False Move. She has worked consistently since (playing Halle Berry’s sister in two movies), but One False Move has certainly been her best-remembered performance.
Bill Paxton left a great body of work that included starring in the topflight episodic series Big Love and a key role in Apollo 13. Big Love and One False Move demonstrate that he should have gotten more leading roles. Paxton’s Hurricane is always bubbling over, whether it’s with ambition, naivete or good ol’ boy chumminess.
One False Move was directed by Carl Franklin. who also directed the period neo-noir Devil in a Blue Dress. Franklin has directed lots of TV, including episodes of House of Cards and Mindhunters).
America’s original sin – race – is at the core of One False Move. The entire plot is predicated on something that happened when Lila was 17 – and neither that occurrence nor any of the following events would have happened if Lila were white.
Ray and Fantasia/Lila are an interracial couple, the two LA cops are white and black, and Dale unwittingly leaks his casual racism.
One False Move can be streamed from Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu and YouTube.