Extreme Prejudice ★★★½

DIRECTOR Walter Hill’s heyday was back in the 1970s and ‘80s.

While not all his films were as commercially successful as his biggest hit 48 Hours, released in 1978, he consistently gave us quality output in The Streetfighter, The Warriors, The Driver, The Long Riders and Southern Comfort.

Another in this run was Extreme Prejudice (1987) which featured one of Hill’s most testosterone-fuelled casts in Nick Nolte, Powers Boothe, Michael Ironside and William Forsythe.

One of Hill’s film heroes was the legendary Sam Peckinpah and this neo-Western action thriller pays clear homage to Peckinpah’s 1969 classic The Wild Bunch.

Like that film, Extreme Prejudice is set in southern Texas near the Mexican border and centres on a conflict between two hard and determined men on either side of the law that results in a massive and bloody shoot-out.

Nolte plays veteran Texas Ranger Jack Benteen who finds himself at loggerheads with his former high-school friend Cash Bailey (Boothe) who is now a major drug runner.

Following the death of another Ranger and bribery attempts, Benteen puts Bailey on notice to stop or face the consequences.

Complicating their relationship further, the men also have feelings for the same woman, Sarita Cisneros, played by María Conchita Alonso.

Into this milieu comes Ironside’s character, Major Paul Hackett, a shadowy US Army officer who has a clandestine group of soldiers, nicknamed Zombies because they are meant to be missing or dead, at his disposal.

Hackett tells Benteen he intends to expose and arrest Bailey and, despite growing suspicions, the pair team up, eventually crossing the border to take on Bailey and his gang who are also backed by corrupt Mexican police.

There’s nothing particularly complicated about the story which is basically pushing the narrative to its inevitable conclusion.

Hill’s shooting style in the stark, desolate locations and the strong cast bring a palpable sense of desperation to the proceedings which features the realistic depiction of violence at the time that influenced the future of action cinema.

Watched on Blu-ray.