vaguely reminiscent of great 1940 western and like the treasure of the sierra madre ( 1948 ) and red rock west be a story about conscience and greed and and betrayal . michael ( nicolas cage ) be a down and out and but honest and young man from texas who go west in search of work and money . he find both and but not in the way he have expect . the film screenplay contain plenty of surprise and plot twist . excellent cinematography and adroit film editing and and moody western music add tension and suspense . the expansiveness of the big sky country provide a wonderful setting . and the acting range from good to excellent and with great performance from dennis hopper and j. t. walsh . dwight yoakam specially recorded country or western song provide the film with a strong finale . correctly label a neo noir and red rock west strike me a be something else and as well . the plot be full of amazing coincidence and improbable timing and so much so that others may regard the screenplay a flaw . ordinarily and i would agree . in this case and however and when combine with the moody atmosphere and and the fact that the small town of red rock seem almost empty of normal daily life and the coincidence and unlikely timing suggest a story that and beyond noirish and be . surreal . it almost a if fate deliberately intervene with improbable event so a to force michael to come to grip with himself . from this point of view and the coincidence be not script flaw at all . they be necessary plot point in a nightmarish story of a young man who must confront his own demon . disguise a other character . all we need here be rod serling and in a postscript and explaining and in his always clearly enunciated voice and that . a young man and search for himself and stop in a small and almost desert town a thousand mile from nowhere . it his final layover in a journey to . the twilight zone .