Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

Cortechba Overrated

ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

gavin6942 Two professional assassins are sent to kidnap a 9 year old boy named Travis Knight (Harley Cross), who is under the United States Federal Witness Protection Program after witnessing a mob killing in Texas. Cohen (Roy Scheider) is the older, jaded assassin with a little bit of humanity still in him. Tate (Adam Baldwin) is the younger, hotheaded and psychopathic killer.The film is a cinematic version of O. Henry's short story "The Ransom of Red Chief", which partially influenced both "Ruthless People" and "The Ref". The version here is significantly different than the original (as it involves no ransom and is much more violent) but has the general underlying concept intact.Is it time for this film to be re-examined and re-evaluated as a lost 1980s action classic? Perhaps. While Harley Cross is a bit annoying (especially that accent) and Adam Baldwin pushes his role too far... this is still a fine piece of entertainment.

Scarecrow-88 In the opening of COHEN AND TATE, right away as we are introduced to a nervous family in a secluded farm outside of Houston Texas, being watched by witness protection agents, director Eric Red immediately establishes the mood, the dread, that will permeate throughout the entire film. Two hit men, one an aging pro, Cohen(Roy Scheider), the other a hotheaded and unstable rookie, Tate(Adam Baldwin)gun down everyone except a boy named Travis(Harley Cross), who they are given strict orders to return to their mob boss in Houston. As we follow them on a road trip back to Houston, Travis attempts to exploit the obvious volatile tensions between his two cold-blooded kidnappers, actually succeeding in turning the screw and capitalizing in taking advantage of a visible powder keg ready to disrupt. What amazed me about COHEN AND TATE was the fact that most of the entire film takes place inside a car(well, actually two, they eventually steal another after a harrowing road block escape)and yet Red finds ways thanks to his superb leads and the friction that develops as the road trip continues. Also fascinating is the fact that a child is able to become master manipulator and turn two hired killers against each other in order to survive. Baldwin is clearly unstable from the get-go, unloading shotgun blasts into Travis' mom and always pleading with Cohen to kill the kid. Cohen establishes early on that he has always worked alone, forced by the boss to take on a partner, not exactly the most trustworthy or level-headed at that. Cohen shoots Travis' father and doesn't see that he's dead, which essentially leads to his downfall. Tate reacts accordingly when they discover that pops survived and this fact fuels his desire to shoot Travis. So we spend the rest of the running time wondering how long Tate will wait before trying to kill Travis as Cohen interferes over and over. The beauty of the film is how we see the three interact with each other, particularly Cohen, the old timer,and Tate, the unpredictable hoodlum. I think we can see that Tate may be only good at this role, someone who kills people he doesn't know for a city mobster never named or given a face. It's not about why the kid is being taken to the mobster(the reason is barely elaborated, the kid may know something important the mobster needs to find out), but how the youngster stirs the pot, quite resourceful and bright. It's a testament to the actors that they can keep our attention while most of the time they argue and bicker inside a car, the result we know will end badly. Great finale around Texas oil rigs, not to mention the aforementioned road block where Cohen and Tate must avoid being arrested by deputies checking the cars of motorists.

manuel-pestalozzi This film is not bad, it has excellent camera-work, many good ideas and creates an atmosphere. The editing is at times sloppy and the action is a little repetitious. Two professional criminals have to deliver a boy witness to the mob. And they fail. The movie shows the reasons.What lifts Cohen and Tate above the average is the top performance of Roy Scheider, an extremely talented thespian who unfortunately can show his wide range and his brilliance only too rarely. In Cohen he really creates a very memorable character, a truly tragicomic toughguy. Cohen and Tate resembles at times Reservoir Dogs, at times Fargo, and it is only fair to mention that both these hugely successful (and on the whole superior) movies were made years after this one. It makes one regret that Scheider never worked with either Quentin Tarantino or the Coen Brothers.For everyone who finds interest in Cohen and Tate I can recommend, as far as Scheider is concerned, John Frankenheimer's excellent 52 Pick-Up. For a somewhat „sublimated" version of Cohen and Tate see Stephen Frears' The Hit, with John Hurt in the Cohen part, Reservoir Dog Tim Roth in the Tate part and Terence Stamp and Laura del Sol jointly in the Travis Knight part.

mikestruffles This is one of the best films of it kind. It's gritty and suspenseful, with one unexpected twist after another. The low budget adds to the gritty feel. Most of the movie takes place in a moving car--very claustrophobic feel. Harley Cross holds his own acting-wise against Scheider and Baldwin, despite being saddled with a heavy Texas accent. And does anyone know if he did his own stunts? The traffic dodging scenes looks like him rather than a stand-in. Movie wasn't released in NYC to my knowledge--I found it at a rental place a few years ago. Hoping this gets a DVD release soon. I'd love to hear the background stories about how scenes were filmed.