A corrupted border agent decides to clean up his act when an impoverished woman's baby is put up for sale on the black market.
Acting
Nicholson's quiet unraveling — no Joker theatrics, just exhaustion.
Cinematography
Desert landscapes that feel like judgment.
Direction
Richardson's last film: messy, sincere, unpolished.
Director
Tony Richardson
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Nicholson rewrote significant portions of the script uncredited, fighting the studio for a darker ending than originally planned.
Released during Reagan's immigration amnesty debates, the film's clumsy liberal messaging now reads as both naive and oddly prescient about border industrialization.
US
