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Rush (1991 film)

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Rush
Theatrical Poster
Directed byLili Fini Zanuck
Written byKim Wozencraft (book)
Pete Dexter (screenplay)
Produced byGary Daigler
Richard D. Zanuck
Starring
CinematographyKenneth MacMillan
Edited byMark Warner
Music byEric Clapton
Production
company
Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
  • December 22, 1991 (1991-12-22)
Running time
120 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$17 million
Box office$7.2 million[1]

Rush is a 1991 American crime drama film directed by Lili Fini Zanuck and based on a novel written by Kim Wozencraft. It stars Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jason Patric as two cops in the 1970s who go undercover on a case. They become drug addicts themselves and, under pressure from the chief of police, falsified evidence in some cases. The book and film are both based on a 1978-79 drug scandal involving the Tyler, Texas police department and Smith County, Texas Sheriff's Office. An FBI investigation led to the book's author and her partner pleading guilty to perjury, serving time in federal prison, and testifying in a federal civil rights case against Tyler, Texas police chief Willie Hardy, who was found not guilty by a jury of his peers in Smith County, Texas.[2][3]

Plot

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Seasoned undercover narcotics officer Jim Raynor is told by his superior, Lt. Dodd, to choose a partner from a group of recent police academy graduates for a planned undercover investigation. Raynor chooses the only woman applicant, Kristen Cates. Though uneasy, Dodd approves Raynor's choice.

Raynor explains to Cates that they will be deep undercover, dependent on each other to try not to get killed during the investigation. Though initially startled by Raynor's intensity, Cates insists she is capable of doing whatever it takes to get the job done. Later at Raynor's apartment, he teaches Cates how to inject drugs, claiming that he is using a harmless powder for demonstration purposes. Raynor informs Cates that she will be put in situations where she will have to take the drugs in order to convince dealers she is not a cop. He insists that if she tries to fake drug use in front of dealers, she will get both of them killed.

The main target of the operation is a local bar owner and pornographer, Will Gaines. The chief of police insists that Gaines is the main drug boss in the town, but Gaines is deeply mistrustful of Raynor and Cates.

As Raynor predicted, Cates is put into a position where she is forced to inject drugs in front of a dealer. Over the course of the investigation, buying drugs all over town, Cates and Raynor begin using drugs for more reasons than maintaining their cover.

Though they have successfully infiltrated the town's drug underworld, Raynor and Cates are unable to make a buy from Gaines. Under pressure from the chief and sergeant, they falsify evidence against Gaines in order to secure his arrest.

The night before Gaines trial is to begin, Cates is startled awake by a double barrel shotgun caressing her face. A gunfight ensues, in which Raynor is shot in the thigh, striking his femoral artery. Cates returns fire and runs to a neighbor's house shouting for help, then returns to the trailer to find Raynor barely conscious. He dies in her arms.

At the grand jury, Cates is on the witness stand. During her testimony, she mentions that she has resigned from the police force. Her testimony sticks to the fabricated story Raynor and she concocted. Gaines is later indicted. However, at trial, Cates takes the stand to testify. When she looks directly at Gaines, he slides two fingers down the bridge of his nose, mimicking the movement of the shotgun that eventually killed Raynor. Stunned, Cates retracts her statements about Gaines's involvement in the drug trade, and testifies that they were ordered to fabricate evidence by the Chief of Police. This secures Gaines's acquittal.

Freed from police custody, Gaines gets into his car a few nights later. As he drives down the road, he notices someone hiding in the backseat. Gaines pulls over, and as he turns to confront them, he is killed by a double barrel shotgun blast to the face. The killer is never shown, but it is implied that it is Cates.

Cast

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Soundtrack

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Eric Clapton's Grammy-winning song "Tears in Heaven" is featured in the film. Clapton wrote the film's score and performed on it. The soundtrack includes Clapton's guitar and vocals on "Tears in Heaven" and "Help Me Up"; Clapton and Buddy Guy perform "Don't Know Which Way to Go" as well. It was mastered by Ted Jensen.

Other songs featured in the film (but not on the soundtrack album) include Charlie Terrell's version of the Willie Dixon classic "Wang Dang Doodle", Jimi Hendrix's "All Along the Watchtower" (composed by Bob Dylan), Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird", Freddy Fender's "Before the Next Teardrop Falls", Robin Trower's "Bridge of Sighs", The Ohio Players' "Love Rollercoaster", and Johnny Winter's "Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo" (composed by Rick Derringer).

Reception

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The film was met with generally positive reviews, with a 71% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 28 reviews with an average score of 6.2 out of 10.[4]

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

Notes

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  1. ^ "Rush". Box Office Mojo.
  2. ^ Interview with former Tyler Police Chief Willie Hardy in 1991; https://www.truecrimetalestx.com/tyler-drug-scandal/ @16:34 of "Part 1"
  3. ^ Rush by Kim Ramsey Wozencraft, Random House; 1st Edition, March 1990, with substantial source material also from the highly controversial book Smith County Justice by David Ellsworth, 1st Electronic Printing; Open Seas Press 1985.
  4. ^ "Rush (1991)" – via www.rottentomatoes.com.
  5. ^ "AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs Nominees" (PDF). Retrieved 2016-08-05.
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