The Frontier

source: The Frontier

I like it so much, classic movie was filmed recently I was surprised that movie was filmed in 2015, I was expecting it was filmed in 90s,

I don't know how a movie made in 2015 can look this bad. Perhaps they found a lot of tech from the 1970s lying around and had a bunch of people living in old age homes write the story, screenplay and direct the movie. You could film a prettier looking movie with an iPhone. Low budget trash.

I watched this on cable late one night. I knew it was going to be low budget but boy I was in for a surprise. This has got to be one of the funniest movies I have ever seen! I (assume) the filmmakers were trying to make a legitimate movie but it actually SO bad it is good. The dialogue is unintentionally hysterical. The acting is either tongue in cheek or just plain awful. Have you ever watched something where you almost peed your pants? This is it! Poor Kelly Lynch. She went from being a knockout sexpot (Cocktail, Road House) to looking like she needs a transfusion. I would be glad to talk to anyone about this film. Call me 727-735-7976

I can appreciate a decent low budget film... You definitely don't need big names or lots of money to make a half way decent movie. This one however doesn't even come close. It has some of the WORST acting I've seen in recent memory. I take that back, I mean EVER. It might have been okay if it wasn't for that actually. Holy cow this is BADDDDDD. The ending actually made me laugh, and yes, I actually made it that far. I think I was so appalled I couldn't look away. Like a car accident. That's what this is, a hot hot mess.

Whos says 1970s maxi skirts, wrinkly pantyhose and unkempt, brown hair can't be sexy! Jocelyn Donahue, as Laine definitely pulls off a convincing performance of a sweet girl in a dangerously wrong situation, who wriggles through perilous scrapes with the innocence of a lamb, though, as we soon find she is neither of the two. Though "The Frontier" has the appearance of a 70s TV Movie, with suitable, "barn-find" automobiles and even more antiquated TV sets(!) the action keeps one guessing (admittedly unsubtle), and the script never fails to spring surprises, right to the end. The medium budget drama has both the aura of a road movie and a Western, but in this Western you tend to have just the Bad and the Ugly. In this respect "The Frontier" reminded me of "The Hateful Eight" (2015). Both movies tend also to be pretty liberal in the mistreatment of women, but in taking sexual equality at face value all's fair in love and Hollywood. I think it is more a movie for the guys, thanks to the presence of Laine, doubtless prissily pretty, never showing too much to prove it. The character of Flyn the Englishman was pretty weak, thanks to his difficulty in mastering the tongue, but if you remember only the goofs of a movie it tends to be a "baddun" - right?. "The Frontier", thankfully does have one or two saving graces, e.g. that pass-the-parcel swag- bag of dollars, the ruthless internecine bumping off of adversaries and that all so understandable corruptibility of humans.

The Frontier is an old fashioned thriller washed in the aesthetics of the Southwest and the Seventies. It feels old and timeless but also modern and crisp. The brisk pace and interesting characters makes the movie fly by. I highly recommend it.

Oren Shai knows his archetypes, and plays brilliantly with them in this film-literate, paperback movie, artfully constructed with a wonderfully enigmatic central performance by Jocelin Donahue, playing a role similar to Nic Cage in RED ROCK WEST. The comparison is one that kept popping up in my mind. Both titles suggest Westerns but are in reality dusty, Southwestern Noirs, Both have the lead stumbling into a criminal scheme and then creating their own. Similar, also, is Shai's film to John Dahl's follow-up Noir, THE LAST SEDUCTION, in which we follow the femme fatale, instead of the tragic male. If made in the 90's, like the aforementioned pictures, I think this would be enjoying a wide-release right now. It clearly has the skill behind it. Shai is a beautiful stylist, creating the timeless palate of a decade never mentioned, but most likely the 70's, given the cars and wardrobe. However, the actors put their spin on movie stars of decades previous. There's Kelly Lynch doing her version of Gloria Swanson, Richard Harris doing his Errol Flynn, and Jim Beaver doing a Lee Marvin. Beaver stands out as the strongest. As much as the film portrays a slice of Americana Pulp, there's something almost European about the execution. It bypasses the luridness of the genre, and instead focusing on the lead, Donahue; photographing her lovingly, magnetically, like a muse, with long contemplative zooms. She has never looked better. And although we never fully learn about her character, she brings her inherent likability to it. She can be the Margot Kidder of our generation. Although it starts rather seriously, there is a streak of black humor laced throughout that begins to escalate, climaxing with a delirious shift by Kelly Lynch. I suggest watching with an audience to bring out the potential camp. Oh, and it's shot on 16mm. What else do you want?

Oren Shai's The Frontier is a slick Americana genre throwback, that truly makes me pine for the good ole days. I was lucky enough to catch this film at SXSW, and it was glorious to watch on the big screen. Shot on gorgeous Super 16mm with wardrobe and production design that leap off the screen like a pulp novel come to life. Laine arrives at The Frontier motel on the run from her problems, and she encounters a cast of characters with their own secrets to hide. Jocelin Donahue is superb as Laine, the girl on the run who uses her wits to stay one step ahead of everyone. This is truly a demanding role that she excels in, as she's on-screen for virtually the entire film. If this were a pulp book, I'd gladly read the next 10-20 episodes of her story. If I watched this in a drive in I'd have a hard time not thinking that I've gone back in time to 1974. So forget whatever tentpole blockbuster schlock that you're going to pay exorbitant prices to see at the local megaplex. Instead, let's turn the dial back and settle in to watch interesting people, behaving badly.

A gritty American Southwest flick, The Frontier manages to capture a western outlaw atmosphere in a rustic wind blown environment. A pretty, mysterious girl named Laine driving across the Arizona desert becomes temporarily employed at a diner to make up for food & lodging. The residents and customers therein are a motley lot, each with their own disturbing secrets, and each sharing a collective one as well. There's Eddie the rebel {a brash leather-clad young man reminiscent of Jim Stark/James Dean}; couple Gloria & Flynn are a British gentleman & a Jayne Mansfield-type girlfriend; Luanne, an eccentric former showgirl {diner owner, glamorous yet quite neurotic}; Lee is a stony bearded professor-like gentleman; & Officer Gault comes and goes, reminding one of a William Shatner character*, who takes a shine to Laine, especially evident in the end. Incidentally, despite a very close call with The Reaper, Laine merges with the unlikely crew of malfeasants awaiting their ill- gotten reward, utilizing venomous trickery to gain her own deadly remuneration. With various unexpected twists and turns, the dangerous path throughout The Frontier leads to surprise lethal treasures awaiting those with a ruthlessly lawless disposition, where few survive. ∞ _____________ * i.e., Mark Preston of The Devil's Rain, Rack Hansen of Kingdom of The Spiders.