Tommy Lee Jones makes an impressive debut as director, and adds his own golden performance to the movie. He dominates the screen as the monosyllabic grisly Pete Perkins, seeking revenge and proper burial for his "Greenback" friend who was killed in a shootout with Mike Norton a Border Patrol Officer of dubious character. The location in a border town of Texas that seems to have seen better days and is inhabited by number of trailer home people, is realistically portrayed with the degree of grottyness, that pervades much of the texture of this gritty movie. Dramatic interaction between the two main characters, Pete and the unfortunate Patrol Man Norton, whom he kidnaps and forces him to travel together with the body to a remote Mexican town. There is a sting in the tail of the movie that is unexpected and sets the scene for a moving end sequence. An interlude on the way with a lonely blind man is one of the best scenes in the picture. This is excellent film as sort of contemporary Western, which has a great deal of bite, with tastes of both Ray Bradbury and The Fugitive along the journey.
