Tequila Sunrise

For his first directorial project in six years, Robert Towne selected a timeworn romantic-triangle yarn, injecting the material with subtlety and conviction. Tequila Sunrise stars Mel Gibson and Kurt Russell as two lifelong friends who, in true James Cagney-Pat O'Brien fashion, grow up on the ...more

Probably the best directorial effort of screenwriter Robert Towne, this crime drama about a romantic triangle in modern-day Los Angeles deserved better from both audiences and critics, despite an Oscar nomination for the cinematography of Conrad L. Hall. Essentially a modern update of the classic film Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), the film is best viewed with an awareness of Towne's signature style, a blend of three-dimensional characters with labyrinthine motivations never fully explained or ...more