Borderline (1980)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Jerrold Freedman

Writers:

Jerrold Freedman (writer)
Steve Kline (writer)

Release Date:

23 January 1981 (Finland)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Somewhere along a thousand miles of barbed wire border the American dream has become a nightmare

Plot Keywords:

Footprint | Man Hunt | Death | Dead Boy | Murder

Cast

Charles Bronson	...	Jeb Maynard
Bruno Kirby	...	Jimmy Fante
Bert Remsen	...	Carl J. Richards
Michael Lerner	...	Henry Lydell
Kenneth McMillan	...	Malcolm Wallace
Ed Harris	...	Hotchkiss
Karmin Murcelo	...	Elena Morales
Enrique Castillo	...	Arturo
Wilford Brimley	...	Scooter Jackson (as A. Wilford Brimley)
Norman Alden	...	Willie Lambert
James Victor	...	Mirandez
Panchito Gómez	...	Benito Morales
John Ashton	...	Charlie Monroe
Lawrence P. Casey	...	Andy Davis (as Lawrence Casey)
Charles Cyphers	...	Ski

Runtime:

USA:97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | West Germany:12 (f) | Germany:12 (DVD rating) | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 (original rating) | UK:15 | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

San Diego, California, USA

Company:

Incorporated Television Company (ITC)

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Rock (1996)

Standard Bronson

If you really want to examine what a painfully standard Charles Bronson flick looks like you should check out 23 year old "Borderline" because it simply doesn't get any more basic and average Bronson than this. Probably the only amusing detail about this movie is Ed Harris and mainly just because he's playing one of his first screen roles. Actually Hotchkiss was the first bigger performance he had. Later on Harris received not one but four Oscar nominations, who would have guessed it back then?

I have always liked Charles Bronson very much but he has never been among my favorite actors. Well, maybe when I was a kid but that's another story. In my opinion he looks way too tired in every role. Clint Eastwood beats him any day but let's not come to all that or the praise will never end. I guess you would have to be a serious hardcore Bronson fanatic to utterly love this film because it has practically no action or proper story whatsoever. I personally find it watchable since late Bronson has a certain place in my heart too but it definitely isn't a remarkable film in any way.