Image copyright © by Marcus Trahan

White Sands

(1992)

A fairly standard noir whodunit involving dirty FBI and CIA agents and a small-town deputy sheriff who gets in over his head. This is not a bad film, but it’s not good enough for me to recommend it, either. Its best feature is probably the New Mexico scenery. I rented it to see what kind of work Mickey Rourke was doing before his long meltdown. He’s pretty good. By the way, Willem Dafoe is listed at the IMDb as being 5’9½.” Balderdash, say I. In scene after scene he’s looking up at guys, and when he’s with Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, who is said to be 5’4”, they’re eye to eye.