U Turn (1997)

A man heading to Vegas to pay off his gambling debt before the Russian mafia kills him is forced to stop in an Arizona town where everything that can go wrong does go wrong.

Director:

Oliver Stone

Writers:

John Ridley (screenplay), John Ridley (book)

Stars:

Sean Penn, Jennifer Lopez, Nick Nolte

1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sean Penn	...	Bobby Cooper
Billy Bob Thornton	...	Darrell
Abraham Benrubi	...	Biker #1
Richard Rutowski	...	Biker #2
Jon Voight	...	Blind Man
Jennifer Lopez	...	Grace McKenna
Powers Boothe	...	Sheriff Potter
Nick Nolte	...	Jake McKenna
Aida Linares	...	Jamilla
Sean Stone	...	Boy in Grocery Store
Ilia Volok	...	Sergi (as Ilia Volokh)
Valeriy Nikolaev	...	Mr. Arkady (as Valery Nikolaev)
Brent Briscoe	...	Boyd
Bo Hopkins	...	Ed
Julie Hagerty	...	Flo (as Julie Haggerty)

Storyline

When Bobby's car breaks down in the desert while on the run from some of the bookies who have already taken two of his fingers, he becomes trapped in the nearby small town where the people are stranger than anyone he's encountered. After becoming involved with a (unbeknownst to him) young married woman, her husband hires Bobby to kill her. Later, she hires Bobby to kill the husband.

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Plot Keywords:

arizona | police officer shot | dramatic irony | incest | arizona desert | 

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Taglines:

Expect the Unexpected.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence, sexuality and language

Details

Country:

France USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 October 1997 (USA)

Also Known As:

Stray Dogs

Filming Locations:

Florence, Arizona, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$19,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$2,730,440, 5 October 1997, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$6,633,400, 2 November 1997

Company Credits

Production Co:

Phoenix Pictures, Illusion Entertainment Group, Clyde Is Hungry Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

125 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Billy Bob Thornton and Brent Briscoe appeared in A Simple Plan (1998).

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Goofs

Towards the very end, the camera and crew are reflected in an extreme close-up of Grace's eyes.

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Quotes

Grace: Don't you want to know? Was Jake my father? Was I fucking my daddy? Yes, I was! I was fucking my daddy! And I married him! I married him, okay? I just wanted to be a kid. And they took that from me. They treated me like meat. A piece of meat. Fuck him! Fuck the whole town, they deserve to die!

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Connections

Remade as Musafir (2004)

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Soundtracks

I Wish You Love
(Que Reste-t-il de nos Amours ?)
Music by Charles Trenet
French lyrics by Charles Trenet
English lyrics by Albert Beach
Performed by Gloria Lynne
Courtesy of Everest Records

User Reviews

Billy Bob Thornton And Joaquin Phoenix Stole The Movie, With What Little Parts They Had.

U-Turn is about a man named Bobby Cooper (Sean Penn) who is on his way to pay a debt to a gangster when his car breaks down in the small, redneck town of Superior. There, Bobby is taken advantage of by the good IL' boys in every way possible, from the dirty mechanic to the town sheriff. He meets a beautiful girl named Grace (Jennifer Lopez) and falls for her, and she seemingly falls for him as well. From here, there are twists and turns in the plot all the way to the very end of the movie.

Sean Penn was decent as Bobby, but seemed a bit week and was taken advantage of a bit too easily. I guess that was Bobby's character so he did a good job. Jennifer Lopez did not have as big a part as I thought, but she did OK with it. Nothing spectacular, just OK.

The characters that stole the movie, in my honest opinion, were Darrell the mechanic (Billy Bob Thornton) and Toby N. Tucker (Joaquin Phoenix). They had the redneck stereotypes down pat, especially Thornton.

This movie was a decent little thriller. I am glad I did not see it way back when it was in theaters but it is OK for a rental. I give 7 of 10 stars.