red rock west be far and away one of the best suspense thriller of the 90 with a superb script ( by john and rick dahl ) that keep you guess throughout and on the edge of your seat for most of the film . it be brilliantly direct by john dahl and feature a marvellous cast include nicolas cage and dennis hopper and lara flynn boyle and especially j. t. walsh ( in a memorable performance ) make this a riveting and captivate thriller not to be miss . the film never have much publicity on release ( in fact i first catch up with it on tv ) and be therefore one of those special little gem that you have to seek out but this unique film be now slowly gain a cult follow . nicolas cage be michael williams who be broke and out of work when he find himself in the small town of red rock . mistaken for a contract killer name lyle from dallas he be shock to be offer $ 10 and 000 to murder the wife of bar owner wayne brown ( the excellent j. t. walsh ) . he play along with the plan and decide he should go and warn brown wife suzanne ( lara flynn boyle ) but then the plot thickens and there be so many twist and turn and surprise and double dealing that cage be throw from one crisis to another and find himself trap in a terrible situation he can not drag himself out of . then just to complicate matter even further the real lyle turn up to carry out the contract kill ( play by everyone favourite heavy dennis hopper ) . when hopper discover what have happen he go after cage but no one could forsee the surprising event that follow . some favourite line from the film representnicolas cage ( to lara flynn boyle ) represent i hate to see an innocent woman get hurt but it an awful lot of money . j. t. walsh ( to cage ) represent michael williams . well and michael and youre go to be spend some time with u till we get to the bottom of this . boyle ( to cage ) represent youre not a killer . cage represent that right and no . but the guy i be suppose to be just ride into town so you get ta get out of here . boyle ( to cage ) represent o. k. how youre go to explain impersonate a hired killer and take $ 10 and 000 from my husband . an extraordinarily entertaining little thriller ( just 98 minute ) with a storyline that never let up and powerful acting by all the principal . any film feature j. t. walsh be o. k. in my book and red rock west be one of his best . how sad it be that this exceptional actor career be cut tragically short by a heart attack in 1998. the most prolific period for film noir be without any doubt the forty but red rock west be a good modern example of the genre and have jump right into my top ten list of all time favourite film . i look forward to more like this from director john dahl . positive . clive robert .