The Border

Tom Jones director Tony Richardson might seem a curious choice to direct the contemporary western The Border, but he does his best to emulate Sam Peckinpah. Jack Nicholson stars as an El Paso border guard, saddled with avaricious wife Valerie Perrine. Hoping to stifle Valerie's nagging about money matters, Nicholson begins accepting payoffs to allow Mexican aliens to cross the border without interference. This leads to a romance with young Mexican mother Elpidia Carillo. Harvey Keitel and Warren Oates lend strong support to this atmospheric but thinnish tale. (Hal Erickson)