White Sands *** (1992, Willem Dafoe, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Mickey Rourke, Samuel L Jackson, M Emmet Walsh, Mimi Rogers, James Rebhorn, Beth Grant) – Classic Movie Review 10,749

Director Roger Donaldson’s 1992 action crime thriller White Sands stars Willem Dafoe as Ray Dolezal, a US southwestern small-town deputy sheriff who investigates the appearance of a mysterious corpse he finds lying next to a case containing half a million dollars in the New Mexican desert. He impersonates the man and soon he is drawn into a web of intrigue and treachery involving an FBI investigation Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as the femme fatale Lane Bodine.

White Sands is a slick, smartly paced thriller, with a good hardboiled star performance from Dafoe, but it gets lost about half way with too many unbelievable plot twists in Daniel Pyne’s screenplay, and ends up a fairly low-grade piece of enjoyable hokum.

M Emmet Walsh’s sardonically funny coroner is a hit, Mimi Rogers is wasted as Dafoe’s wife and every which way Mickey Rourke manages to tip things over into absurdity, even though he has little to do. Also in the classy cast are Samuel L Jackson, James Rebhorn, Beth Grant, Maura Tierney, Alexander Nicksay, Miguel Sandoval, and Fredrick Lopez.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 10,749

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