Movies You've Never Heard Of - The Something Something Again Edition

For my latest installment, I thought I'd try and give you something that really came as a shock to me, especially under the circumstances of hindsight being as hindsight will be.

Way back in the day, the actor in this movie I am about to lay on you was actually quite good..  He had been in some good films, a couple of which could even be called important films.  He was well on his way to becoming a rare commodity in Hollywood - an actor who was worth watching.

Something happened - who knows what it was; drugs, booze, ego-inflation, coulda been anything - and now he functions mostly a a joke, but up until today, I had completely forgotten about one certain film this individual had made in his salad days.  This is one that may actually not have been bad, but I don't think it has even been mentioned after its initial release.

Maybe this is one film that actually could have been good, but who knows - no one seems to remember it.  And there's no use in asking our actor in question; he doesn't remember what he had for breakfast this morning!

And it is:

4) No Man's Land (1987)

director: Peter Werner / writer: Dick Wolf / actors: Charlie Sheen, D.B. Sweeney, Randy Quaid

I'll take all of your questions now: yes, that is THAT Dick Wolf - the one who created "Law & Order".  Yes that is THAT Peter Werner - the one who directed the actually good 1982 sleeper hit Don't Cry It's Only Thunder.  And yes, that is THAT D.B. Sweeney.

Okay, and it's THAT Charlie Sheen too, as if you couldn't tell from the poster.

Typical setup for a movie; an undercover cop (Sheen) infiltrates the life of a professional car thief (Sweeney) and becomes enamored with the thrill and excitement of crime...will he give in to the bad guy way of life?  Well, he's Charlie Sheen; I think that joke writes itself.

One of the things about this movie is that we've seen this kind of thing so so many times before, and it doesn't help that a lot of the initial reviews stated that they couldn't tell one young good-looking tanned actor from another young good-looking tanned actor.  Especially in this neon-colored, neo-noir "Miami Vice"-wannabe that tried to subsist on its style and glitz, trumping any acting that may have been lurking in the shadows.

Like I said, Charlie Sheen used to be a good actor.  Look at Platoon.  Look at Wall Street.  Look at Lucas.  Look at those goofy Hot Shots! flicks, even.  He seemed to know what worked as an actor and how to best present himself.  It's been awhile since he's been in a movie or TV show or bombed personal tour where he wasn't presented as something more than a joke or a walking time bomb.  This is more of an artifact of a long-ago age hat can never be attained again.  Every actor has them; I guess this is Charlie's.

Even if it was a bad movie, it at least presents us with a Charlie Sheen we just aren't used to in this day and age - as an unassuming young man. Or at any rate someone who hid his party animal better than he does now.

It ended up earning just under $3 million overall.  How much did it cost to make?  Who knows; in the mid-Eighties, Michael Mann proved that anyone could make a movie like this; all they needed were neon lights, dark streets, fast cars and a young punk or two to headline.  No Man's Land just proved that it doesn't matter if you have all of that, if you can't even be bothered to tell the actors apart.

At least Randy Quaid never had that problem.

Enough of this obscurity.  More obscurity next time.

Dope out.

- TGWD