Jack Nicholson does solid work in the role of Charlie Smith, a border patrol officer who moves from California to Texas. Saddled with a well meaning but materialistic wife, Marcy (Valerie Perrine), he realizes that his pocketbook can't keep up with her dreams, so he yields to corruption. This is also encouraged by his new neighbor / partner "Cat" (Harvey Keitel). Soon Charlie is taking pity on young mother Maria (Elpidia Carrillo). When her baby is stolen for the purpose of being sold on the black market, he gets involved in her plight.All of the actors here deliver rather under rated performances. With Nicholson, there's no theatricality, no eccentricity, just a good, straightforward, impassioned portrayal. Perrine plays the wife in such a way that you can't really hate her. Keitel is great as always as the shady partner, as is the sadly short lived Warren Oates, near the end of his life and career, as Charlies' new boss. Carrillo is lovely and extremely engaging, and one might wish that she'd had more opportunities in American film over the years. (Most people likely know her as the sole female character in "Predator".) There's a fair bunch of recognizable actors in supporting and bit parts: Shannon Wilcox, Jeff Morris, Dirk Blocker, Lonny Chapman, William Russ, Gary Grubbs, etc.The story, written by Deric Washburn, Walon Green, and David Freeman, is not a great one, but it is entertaining and involving enough to keep ones' attention. Vivid on location shooting is one asset, the sad depiction of the reality of dirt poor Mexicans is another. You can understand why some of these people want to see if their fortunes in the U.S. will be any better. It also benefits from having a main character who's not a squeaky clean, Dudley Do Right type, but is still a basically decent person who will NOT cross certain lines. Viewers will love the expansive widescreen photography and the lovely score by Ry Cooder.At a time when the issues of border policing and illegal aliens are very much on peoples' minds, this film does remain relevant.Seven out of 10.

Illegal immigration from Mexico has become a major political issue in recent times in the United States but the trafficking of people across this border has been happening for a long time and is partially addressed in this early 1980's movie. Jack Nicholson plays Charlie Smith who thanks to some strings pulled by his friend Cat, played by Harvey Kietel, becomes a border patrolman.The performance by Nicholson is really what carries this at times rather pedestrian movie. Apart from fine acting by Valerie Perrine as Nicholsons materialistic wife most of the other performances are mundane. Kietel and Warren Oates are not given enough to do with their roles as corrupt officers with their stale performances.It is clear from the start that Nichosons' character would rather skip promotion as he alludes to wishing that he could become a forest ranger. Alas his wife wants the new duplex. As the film progresses Charlie bottles up his rage at times exploding - for example when tossing the barbecue into the swimming pool at the house warming party.The parallel issues of narcotics smuggling and prostitution are touched upon but not in great detail. The dual storyline of the Mexican young mother/widow and her brother's attempts to cross the border is handled just about right avoiding cloying sentimentality, although the opening earthquake sequence is weak with it's lame shaky camera. By the end of the movie Charlie Smith has moved to the polar opposite end of the spectrum from both his wife and his work colleagues. Angered by the corruption all around him he launches a one man mission to import the young Mexican mother and her brother into America. This ends in the inevitable climax which ends in a poorly executed shootout.The Border is one of Jack Nicholsons last movies before he lapsed into caricature and if the central role had been played by a lesser actor this movie could have been a bit of a chore to watch.

this film is superb on many levels. while jack nicholson and harvey keitel both have an impressively long list of masterly performances, I believe this film ranks near the tops of their oeuvres with a handful of their other performances in films like "the shining" and "the passenger" for nicholson or "the duellists" and "bad timing" for keitel. all of the supporting cast members deliver excellent performances as well. the scenery is beautiful and is shot well. both the story and the dialogue are superlative. The plot progresses dramatically yet plausibly, at no point is the viewer obliged to suspend her disbelief as nicholson's character is backed into a corner by the circumstances developing around him. The action sequences are both dramatic and believable. go watch this film.

This is a decent movie about a border patrol guy played by Jack Nicholson who lives in El Paso with his wife who is really spoiled and the but are friend's with Harvey Keitel and his wife but the weird thing was how there was this one guy who was older and ran some kind of illegal operation with the "wetbacks" and in once scene where Jack Nicholson was supposed to have checked the back of a van for illegals, he did not and there were some illegals planted there to make it seem like Jack didn't check the van and what happened after that was Jack vomiting but that was not all because there was this other part where Jack Nichoson was getting really mad at his nagging wife as he was trying to bbq at a party so there is a food fight and Jack Nicholson pushes the bbq grill into the swimming pool that his wife bought behind his back and that was apparently something that Jack really hated!!