No Man's Land (1987)

A rookie cop goes undercover and infiltrates a car thief ring.

Director:

Peter Werner

Writer:

Dick Wolf

Stars:

Charlie Sheen, D.B. Sweeney, Lara Harris

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Charlie Sheen	...	Ted Varrick
D.B. Sweeney	...	Benjy Taylor
Lara Harris	...	Ann Varrick
Randy Quaid	...	Lieutenant Vincent Bracey
Bill Duke	...	Malcolm
R.D. Call	...	Frank Martin
Arlen Dean Snyder	...	Lieutenant Curtis Loos
M. Emmet Walsh	...	Captain Haun
Al Shannon	...	Danny
Bernie Pock	...	Ridley
Kenny Endoso	...	Leon
James F. Kelly	...	Brandon
Lori Butler	...	Suzanne
Clare Wren	...	Deborah
Philip Benichou	...	Michel

Storyline

Benjy Taylor is a rookie cop who goes undercover to nab a gang of car thieves led by Ted Varrick. Taylor becomes too involved and starts to enjoy the thrill and lifestyle of the car thieves, and falls in love with Varrick's sister Ann.

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Plot Keywords:

rookie cop | undercover | car thief | final showdown | main character shot | 

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Taglines:

Fast, furious...and deadly.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 October 1987 (USA)

Also Known As:

260 chrono

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$8,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$1,088,273, 25 October 1987, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$2,877,571

Company Credits

Production Co:

Orion Pictures

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Brad Pitt, as a fancy party waiter with a mullet hairdo, can be seen very clearly the second after Charlie Sheen says, "Welcome to the lifestyles of the rich and aimless." He's in the middle of the room and then walks off-screen to the left.

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Goofs

When Ted meets 'Bill' at the shopping mall at the end of the movie, he calls him 'Benji', his real name. In an earlier scene, Ted had learned from Ann that Bill is a cop, but he left the house before she told him anything else. Thus, Ted wouldn't be able to know that Bill's real name is Benji.

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Quotes

[the car phone in the Porsche rings]
Benjy Taylor: Hello? No, Rick is not here. Who am I? The guy stealing Rick's car...

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Alternate Versions

UK cinema and video versions were cut by 1m 5 secs by the BBFC to remove shots of a car being broken into and hot-wired. The cuts were waived in the 2005 MGM DVD.

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Connections

Featured in Siskel & Ebert: The Sicilian/Prince of Darkness/No Man's Land/The Glass Menagerie/The Whales of August (1987)

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Soundtracks

CLAVE ROCKS
Performed by Amoretto
Written by R. Serano and J. Prieto
Published by Raegun Music/Pure Knockout Music
Courtesy of PKO Records

User Reviews

Mid 88 hit, years beyond, our Fast and Furious ones

No Man's Land is like Point Break with cars, where D.B. Sweeney (where you can just picture Paul Walker in this role, check out the matching hairstyle) plays an undercover cop, out to pinpoint the killer hand, responsible for gunning down a detective, who was obviously undercover himself. Operating out of an auto repair shop, a front, Sweeney's character is also an ace mechanic. Fancy that? No, that's why he was chosen, but also being a rookie, he, as his hardarse cop boss (Quaid) says "doesn't act like a cop, but act is something Sweeney does well. It's a pity we didn't see more of him, in stuff, as only a score of films he did, spring to mind. He's befriended by cool dressing, rich kid/thief, Ted Varrick (Sheen) who's hot Porsche breaks down on Mulholland, and from here, it's like another Point Break scenario (this came out three and a half years earlier, but who's counting). Sheen really impresses here, with just the right measure of cool and suave cockiness. This actor, despite his bad habits, can really surprise you. He did with me, after coming to view it again. He owns thw role, and works it wonderfully. Of course, there's rival competitor thieves that push the story forward, where we seem to have a few bad apple cops around. Lara Harris as Sheen's sister who doesn't know of his illegal doings, and who apparently can whip out killer crepes, is just a utterly gorgeous picture of beauty. This is one of those real cool movie treats I like, but it's not without it's faults, and I feel that, every time I see it. For instance, revenge driven Sheen, can apparently take out a rival competitor on a dance floor with strobing lights, and no one notices, not even the competitor's much younger date. They just keep dancing. Fault. But this is a movie, you can forgive these kind of things. There's some good chases, and a humbly tragic climax, a shootout, that is inevitable, where at the end, we aren't quite sure if Quaid's character was dirty. Ironically both him and Sheen did another car movie, The Wraith, exactly nine months earlier, on release date here, this of course a better movie. Too, we learn a lot about our three characters, Sheen, I almost feel sorry for. Him and Sweeney, it's a mutual friendship, you don't want to end. For some reason, a thinner George Dzundza, appears unbilled as Sweeney's Uncle. Seriously though, Sweeney needs to change professions, regarding car stealing, and stop hesitating for one here. Cool hip movie, with well utilized locations, one of course, used so many times in night shots. One surprising attribute: Sheen's top geared performance, and a wonderful line including following dialogue, "lifestyles of the rich and aimless".