Overlooked Movies: Cold in July

Okay, this is a blatant cheat since this is a brand new movie, now showing in theaters and maybe on your cable or satellite's "on demand" feature.  Comcast has it on demand, and that's where Judy and I saw it.  I'm writing about it because I don't want you to overlook it.

The movie is based on a novel by Joe R. Lansdale, and it captures the spirit of the book very well.  Michael C. Hall plays Richard Dane, just an ordinary guy in a little East Texas town.  It's a far cry from his role as Dexter, which may be one reason he was eager to play it. He has a frame shop, he's married, he has a little boy.  One night he hears a burglar.  He gets his home defense revolver, confronts the burglar, and when his finger slips on the revolver's trigger, he kills him.  The burglar was unarmed.  Not that it matters.  The town considers Dane a hero.  Hall's very good as the everyman type who knows he's not a hero and who eventually gets in way over his head, beginning at the point when Sam Shepard shows up.  Just out of the Huntsville penitentiary, Shepard believes his son was the burglar, and he's not happy about what's happened.

This is where I stop with the plot summary, since there are twists that I don't want to reveal. If you've read the book, you know what's coming, but I'm not going to be the one who tells.  The trailer reveals way too much, but you might have watched it already.  Sorry about that.

What I'll tell you is that the whole cast is excellent. Shepard is gruff and ready, and Don Johnson nearly steals the show as flamboyant private-eye Jim Bob Luke.  He has great shirts and a dandy car, too.  I'll also mention that there's plenty of tension and suspense and that the violence goes pretty far, especially in the climactic scenes.  This is a very effective thriller.

That being said, there are some plot threads left dangling, and the theme of fathers and sons that enriched the novel is barely hinted at. I got the impression that the original script might have been cut by 15 minutes or more. So while I think the movie is don't-miss entertainment, I think you should read the novel, too.  All those questions are answered there.