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.

Although this is not a great film it is a lot better than its reputation. Jack Nicholson is excellent and Harvey Keitel is very good. The beautiful and beguiling Mexican actress, Elpidia Carrillo, handles a limited role with enough artistry to make me wonder why I never heard of her before. Turns out she does have a healthy list of credits both internationally and in the US.

The direction by Tony Richardson, who had his heyday in the sixties with films as varied as The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962),Tom Jones (1963),and The Loved One (1965),all adapted from novels, is at times inspired and artistic, and at other times as ordinary as dishwater. I don't think he was able to make up his mind while directing this film about whether he wanted win an award at Cannes or Venice or to just sell some tickets. As it turns out he did neither as well as he might have. Nonetheless as a snapshot of poor Mexican immigrants (and would-be immigrants) as they clash with the border patrol culture twenty-some years ago The Border is definitely worth a look. Particularly vivid is the depiction of the absurdities and hypocrisies among the coyotes, the "wets," the border patrol rank-and-file, the law and the realities of life along both sides of the thin strip separating the promised land from the third world.

Nicholson plays Charlie Smith, a border patrol cop with a trailer trash wife (Valerie Perrine) who yearns to move up to the luxury of duplex living. In particular she wants to move in next door to her high school girlfriend Savannah (Shannon Wilcox) who is married to the "Cat" (Harvey Keitel). Charlie Smith is a bit of an innocent who was satisfied with his trailer home and his sexy, loving, but not overly sharp, wife Mary. When they do pick up and move to Texas he runs headlong into the corrupt lifestyle of the Cat and the cruel realities of his job which consists of arresting illegal immigrants and sending them back to Mexico. Meanwhile Mary isn't just sitting home twiddling her thumbs. Instead she is out buying water beds and dinette sets, overstuffed chairs and sofas, and other knickknacks that put a strain on the couple's budget which leads Charlie into temptation. But when taking kickbacks turns to murder, Charlie draws the line in the sand (literally as it happens) and he and the Cat have a rather rude falling out.

Meanwhile Charles spots Carrillo as the lovely Maria with babe in arms and a little brother at her side. Predictably the system cruelly exploits her, bringing Charlie to her rescue.

I think the striking contrast between Charlie's air-headed Mary and the desperate and needy Maria needed to be further explored. As it was played Charlie is just a good joe doing a good deed or two when in fact we know he is much more involved than that. I think the movie would have been improved by making him choose between the two women as he had to make the moral choice between going with the Cat's corruption or going against him.

See this for Jack Nicholson, one of the great actors of our time, who brings subtlety and veracity to a role that could have been ordinary, while giving us only a hint of the commanding and irreverent style that he would adopt in later years.

(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon!)

An earthquake in Mexico sends a single mother with her baby and her brother to the border where they struggle to get across and when they do have to deal with the Border Patrol. The patrol is there, picking them up and sending them back, knowing that they'll see them again and knowing that illegal drugs are coming into the country as well as cheap labor abusing he's struggling people. For border patrol agent Jack Nicholson who has been transferred to this area, he finds something else going on among his supervisors played by Warren Oates and Harvey Keitel, and it's very sinister. He's also stuck with probably the most neurotic, pain in the neck white, Valerie Perrine in an unfortunate part that she is directed to play as a completely obnoxious ditz. She's the one element in the film that I could have done without.

This does not sugarcoat the situation on either side. There is a Mexican-American smuggling in drugs, and it appears that he is in cahoots with legal sources and they have no qualms in shooting independent drug smugglers so they can resell their stash. He also runs a sleazy bar where illegal immigrants end up in prostitution and he even goes as far as to kidnap the baby of the young woman (Elpidia Carrillo) whom Nicholson has taken a personal interest in. Interestingly enough, Nicholson's character is simply interested in helping her without motive, and after her brother steals the hubcaps on his car, she gets them back to him. But when she sees him again, she spits in his face thinking that he turned her in, and later on wonders why he has gone out of his way to help her. This is Nicholson at his most humane, and his risk to himself in getting her baby back and giving her hope is truly touching.

There's a sweet folk hymn, "Beyond the Borderline", that attempts to provide a moral, and it truly is sad to see innocent immigrants being gathered up with those up to no good and sent back and not really given a chance. I didn't feel like I was being lectured on liberal stances on illegal immigration, but just given an opportunity to think on a more moral aspect that there are always issues we do not see. Of course, this 40 year old movie doesn't take into account issues that have occurred since this was made, and all that does is add more questions where there aren't really any right or wrong answers.