A deeply troubled small town cop investigates a suspicious hunting death while events occur that cause him to mentally disintegrate.
Director: Paul Schrader
Writers: Russell Banks (novel), Paul Schrader (screenplay)
Stars: Nick Nolte, Sissy Spacek, James Coburn.
Plot
The film begins with a voice-over narration by Rolfe Whitehouse, announcing the story of his brother Wade's "strange criminal behavior" and subsequent disappearance.
Wade Whitehouse is a small-town policeman in New Hampshire. On Halloween night, Wade meets his daughter Jill from his divorced marriage, but he is late and the evening is overshadowed by disharmony. Jill eventually calls her mother to come and pick her up. When his ex-wife finally arrives, Wade shoves her lover against their car and watches them drive away with Jill. Wade vows to get a lawyer to help gain custody of his daughter.
The next day, Wade rushes to the scene of a crime. A hunting guide named Jack claims that the man with whom he was hunting accidentally shot and killed himself. The police believe Jack, but Wade grows suspicious, believing that the man's death was no accident. When he is informed that the victim was scheduled to testify in a lawsuit, his suspicion slowly turns into conviction.
A while later, Wade and his girlfriend Margie Fogg arrive at the house of Wade's father, Glen Whitehouse, whose abusive treatment of Wade and Rolfe as children is seen in flashbacks throughout the film. Wade finds his mother lying dead in her bed from hypothermia. Glen Whitehouse reacts to her death with little surprise. At the funeral wake, the father gets drunk and loudly exclaims, "Not one of you is worth one hair on that woman's head!", resulting in a confrontation between himself and Wade.
Clasificación [ CM DVD 00301 ] Disponible en DVD, 4 Piso BJB)