Stepping out of a car and into a cool Los Angeles night, Fantastia (Cynda Williams) enters into the home of what seems to be a good friend. In the background, a couple dances with smiles from ear to ear and another friend tests out his new video camera, taping them having unabashed fun. Fantasia and her friend start catching up, but the pleasantries are but a fleeting thing. Moments later, Fantasia’s accomplices, Ray (Billy Bob Thorton) – also her boyfriend – and Pluto (Michael Beach) – also a psychopath – invade the home looking for a pile of money and a whole lot of cocaine. They tear the place apart and brutally murder all the inhabitants of not just this house, but also another, leaving six dead bodies in their trail. Drugs and cash all bagged up, the trio head for Houston to sell the powder to a friend of Pluto’s. That’s the plan at least…

It's violent. It’s relentless. It’s intense. And by starting off with what serves as a deeply effective and strong prologue, cowriters Billy Bob Thorton and Michael Breach perfectly set the stage for the kind of brutal movie we’re in for in One False Move. And not only does this opening set the tone and stakes, but it also displays how daring it is in its structure when we come quickly come to find out that none in the trio are the protagonist of the story, but it is Star City, Arkansas police chief, Dale “Hurricane” Dixon (Bill Paxton) that we don’t meet until we’re well into the movie.

Brought onto the case by LAPD detectives, McFeely (Earl Billings) and Cole (Jim Metzler), the small-town cop is an absolute force of nature that is more than over the moon to finally be able to participate in such a big case seldom seen in his small town. The big-city veterans expect the trio to come through Dixon’s town on their way to Houston, but as they get closer and closer to making that stop, it seems that Dixon’s a little too close to this case. In particular, he’s a little too close to Fantasia…or rather the troubled-youth Lila Walker, as she was known to Dixon and everyone when she was growing up in Star City.  

One False Move is a chilling neo-noir bookended by vicious visions of violence, but in the middle, there is also an extreme emotional depth carried out by the complicated characters, especially the characters of Dixon and Lila. And as the layers of their characters continuously get peeled back, Paxton and Williams inhabit and execute their complexities with utmost impressive performances. And to their credit, Thorton and Beach both give memorable and unnerving performances in their drastically different roles as the wild, paranoid Ray and the disturbingly calm Pluto. Both are terrifying in their respective ways.

And one cannot give enough praise to director Carl Franklin’s simple and effective vision for this dark crime thriller that not only portrays a story with a harsh realism, but also deals with the simmering undercurrent of racial division acutely seen in the small Arkansas town and especially between Dixon and Lila. This movie is full of brimming tension and is portrayed with the necessary grittiness and honesty that makes it so extremely engaging and effective. One False Move is a fantastic neo-noir with a timeless quality that should be seen and appreciated more widely. And thanks to the Criterion Collection, hopefully One False Move will find an even wider audience than before with a beautiful new 4K release.

4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray Edition

Home Video Distributor: Criterion
Available on Blu-ray - July 25, 2023
Screen Formats: 1.85:1
Subtitles: English SDH
Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
Discs: 4K Ultra HD;  Blu-ray Disc; Two-disc set
Region Encoding: 4K region-free; blu-ray locked to Region A

A small-town police chief (Bill Paxton) concealing an explosive secret. A pair of ruthless drug dealers (cowriter Billy Bob Thornton and Michael Beach) who leave a bloody trail in their wake as they make their way from Los Angeles to Arkansas. And an enigmatic woman (Cynda Williams) caught in the middle. The way these desperate lives converge becomes a masterclass in slow-burn tension thanks to the nuanced direction of Carl Franklin, whose haunting film travels a crooked road across America’s most fraught divisions—urban and rural, Black and white—while imbuing noir conventions with a wrenching emotional depth.

VIDEO

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, the new 4K restoration taken from the 35 mm original camera negative is exceptional. With increased depth and detail in, the picture quality is very clear and healthy. The shadows also have a remarkable deepness that also increases the depth of the shots, especially the nighttime footage. There are no traces of scratches, marks, or other imperfections to be seen either.

AUDIO

Sourced from the 35 mm original 2.0 surround magnetic track, the new, uncompressed monoaural soundtrack sounds awesome. The dynamic range is impressively shown off in the violent scenes with gun shots coming through with a little extra bang to them. Music, ambient noises, and dialogue all come in clear and sharp.

Supplements:

Fans of this movie get to indulge in some previously recorded commentary from the director as well as a delightful in-depth talk between the Franklin and Thorton as they look back on the film, their careers, and how One False Move holds up today.

Commentary:

• Audio commentary from 1999 featuring Franklin

Special Features:

• New conversation between Franklin and cowriter-actor Billy Bob Thornton
• Trailer
• PLUS: An essay by author William Boyle

	Movie
	Video
	Audio
	Extras
Composite Blu-ray Grade

MPAA Rating: R.
Runtime: 105 mins
Director: Carl Franklin
Writer: Billy Bob Thornton; Tom Epperson
Cast: Bill Paxton; Billy Bob Thornton; Cynda Williams
Genre: Crime | Drama | Thriller
Tagline: There was no crime in Star City, Arkansas. No muder and no fear. Untill now.
Memorable Movie Quote: "He don't know no better, he watches television. I read non-fiction."
Theatrical Distributor: IRS Media
Official Site: https://www.criterion.com/films/31627-one-false-move
Release Date: May 8, 1992
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: July 25, 2023.
Synopsis: A small-town police chief (Bill Paxton) concealing an explosive secret. A pair of ruthless drug dealers (cowriter Billy Bob Thornton and Michael Beach) who leave a bloody trail in their wake as they make their way from Los Angeles to Arkansas. And an enigmatic woman (Cynda Williams) caught in the middle. The way these desperate lives converge becomes a masterclass in slow-burn tension thanks to the nuanced direction of Carl Franklin, whose haunting film travels a crooked road across America’s most fraught divisions—urban and rural, Black and white—while imbuing noir conventions with a wrenching emotional depth.