an excellent example of cowboy noir and a it be call and in which unemployed michael ( nicolas cage ) lose out on a job because he insist on be honest ( he get a bum leg ) . with really nothing else he can do and he decide that for once he go to lie . when he walk into a bar and and the owner wayne ( the late and great j. t. walsh ) mistake him for a hit man whom wayne have hire to do in his sexy young wife suzanne ( lara flynn boyle in fine form ) and michael play along and accept wayne money . then he go to suzanne and inform her of her husband intention and and accept her money to get rid of wayne . if that do not complicate thing enough and the real hit man and lyle from dallas ( dennis hopper and in a perfect role for him ) show up and michael be in even more trouble than before . red rock west get a lot out of the location . director john dahl and who co write the script with his brother rick and be smart in realize the potential of a story set in a truly isolated small town that may have see good day and in which the resident could be involve in any manner of scheme . it also an amuse idea of the kind of trouble an honest person could get into if they decide to abandon their principle and give in to any level of temptation . it an appreciably dark and twist laden story with an assortment of main character that be if not corrupt and have at least be morally compromise like michael . the lighting by cinematographer marc reshovsky be superb in it moodiness while even the climax set in a graveyard lend a nice morbid quality to the whole thing . even if the write isn not particularly logical or credible and the film have a nice way of intrigue the viewer and just draw them right in . cage do a good job in the lead and but his co star have a grand old time sink their teeth into their meaty and greed motivate character . hopper and boyle and and walsh be all fun to watch in these part . timothy carhart and dan shor be fine a walshs deputy ( in one especially good twist and walsh be also the local sheriff ) and and there an entertaining cameo role for country and western star dwight yoakam and who also grace the film with an enjoyable end credit tune . it quite a good little film worth check out . it move forward at an impressive pace and and if nothing else be certainly never bore . positive .