Tony Frank | Through the Shattered Lens

Because today is the birthday of the great actress Jennifer Jason Leigh, I decided to rewatch the 1991 film, Rush.

Loosely based on a true story, Rush takes place on the outskirts of Houston, Texas in the 70s. Jack Raynor (Jason Patric) is a veteran undercover narcotics officer who is determined to take down a local drug lord named Gaines (Gregg Allman). Raynor takes his new partner, Kristen Cates (Jennifer Jason Leigh), under his wing and trains her on how to work undercover. He tests her joint-rolling abilities. He has her fire a gun at cans out by the quarry. He teaches her how to shoot-up drugs. As he explains it, if she is going to get the local drug dealers to trust her, she is going to have to shoot up drugs in front of them. Raynor and Cates work well together, quickly becoming lovers in real life as well as undercover life. They manage to force one dealer, a likable but unlucky clod named Walker (Max Perlich), to turn informant. However, their efforts to get to Gaines are threatened by their own growing addictions and Raynor’s erratic behavior. Chief Nettle (Tony Frank) and Captain Dodd (Sam Elliott) want results but will the results be worth the cost?

(Are they ever?)

I’ve watched Rush a few times. I have to admit that I always remember it as being better than it actually is. Rush was the only feature film to be directed by producer Lili Fini Zanuck and it definitely has its problems. The pace, especially during the film’s second half, is often too slow. Visually, there a few good location shots but the film often feels rather static. As Jack Raynor, Jason Patric gives a performance that is all method intensity with little actual depth. Patric looks good with his long hair, his beard, and his intense eyes but there’s not much depth overall to Jack Raynor.

And yet, when the film works, it really does work. Whatever other flaws might be present in her direction, Zanuck does capture the anything-goes, slightly ominous atmosphere that one often finds in the small towns on the carcinogenic coast. While there’s nothing about his performance here that suggests he was a particularly talented actor, Gregg Allman is still very convincing as the menacing Gaines. (One sign of Gaines’s power is that he never speaks unless absolutely necessary.) Character actor Max Perlich gives a strong and poignant performance as Walker, a well-meaning goof who finds himself being manipulated by both sides in the war on drugs. Though the soundtrack is probably best-known for its use of Eric Clapton’s Tears In Heaven, the rest of it is full of classic Southern rock. Some of the choices are a bit obvious. Free Bird coming on the radio just as Raynor explains that he does things his way? That’s a lucky coincidence! It works, though. It’s a cool song.

Ultimately, what truly makes the film work is the performance of Jennifer Jason Leigh, who always manages to find the truth of her character even when the film sometimes seems to be determined to let her down. While Patric gets to have the showy breakdowns, Leigh shows the audience what it’s like for someone to be trapped by not only her job but also her relationship. The scenes between her and Walker are the strongest in the film because even though Walker is a criminal and Cates is a cop, they’re both stuck in a situation that they didn’t create. Gaines wants the money and the power that comes from being a drug lord. Chief Nettle wants the publicity and acclaim that comes from busting a major dealer. If they have to sacrifice Walker and Cates to get what they want, that’s what they’re going to do. Walker, Cates, and Raynor ultimately become pawns in a game where the victor ultimately wins very little. If Gaines escapes justice, someone else will just come after him. If Gaines goes down, someone else will inevitably replace him.

Rush is not a perfect film but it is a film that shows just how great a talent Jennifer Jason Leigh was and is.

On July 10th, 1981, Kenneth Rex McElroy was gunned down in Skidmore, Oklahoma. He was shot while sitting in his truck. Over 40 bullets were fired into the truck but only two actually hit McElroy. His fourth wife, Trena (who Kenneth first met when she was 12 and he was 35), was sitting beside him at the time but was not hit by any bullets. McElroy was 47 years old when he was gunned down in broad daylight. There were reportedly 46 witnesses who saw the shooting occurred. When interrogated by the police, not a single one said that they saw anything. Quite a few did mention that Ken McElroy had gotten exactly what he deserved.

Ken McElroy was a high dropout, a barely literate career criminal who rustled cattle, burned down houses, raped his fourth wife when she was just 12, and then killed her family’s dogs in order to intimidate them into not pressing charges against him. He was known as the town bully, a surly man who had 17 children with 6 different women and who would shoot anyone who disagreed with him. Whenever he was charged with a crime, he would intimidate the witnesses into not testifying against him. In 1980. he got angry at a store owner after one of his kids was accused of shoplifting candy. McElroy shot the man and was put on trial for attempted murder. For once, he was convicted but he was freed on bail while awaiting appeal. When it become apparent that McElroy would not be going to prison for a while, the citizens of Skidmore….

Well, I should probably chose my words carefully. The truth of the matter is that no one has even been charged with or convicted of killing Ken McElroy. It is known that several citizens did have a meeting a few night before McElroy’s death and that they discussed what they could best do to keep McElroy from hurting anyone else. It’s also knoqn that, a week before he was shot, McElroy walked into the local bar with his rifle and dared anyone who wanted him dead to come get him. Does that mean that a group of concerned citizens took it upon themselves to dispense vigilante justice? That’s what Trena always claimed but again, no one was every charged, indicted, or convicted. The death of Ken McElroy remains officially unsolved.

Perhaps that’s why the names were changed for the 1991 made-for-television movie In Broad Daylight. Brian Denney may be playing a character named Len Rowan but, for anyone familiar with the case, it’s obvious that he’s playing Ken McElroy just as Marcia Gay Harden is obviously playing Tena McElroy, even if her character is called Adina. The film doesn’t change the name of the town and it doesn’t change the circumstances that led to McElroy’s death. W watch as McElroy intimidates the owners of a grocery store (played by Cloris Leachman and John Anderson) and even attempts to bully the local police (represented here by Chris Cooper). The film features a gun-toting crowd surrounding Len Rowan’s vehicle but it’s shot in such a way that their faces are blurry.

In Broad Daylight was filmed in Texas and it definitely captures both the beauty and the potential danger that comes with living in a rural community. Everyone in town knows everyone else. There’s a strong sense of community but, because the community is so small and isolated, it’s easy for a man like Len Rowan to bully the entire town. Some of the actors lean a bit too hard into their country accents. (Lord protect us from Yankees trying to sound Southern.) But the main members of the supporting cast — Cloris Leachman, John Anderson, Chris Cooper, Marcia Gay Harden — all give convincing performances. As for Brian Dennehy, he’s absolutely horrifying as the astoundingly cruel Len Rowan. Dennehy plays Len as being a man who might not exactly intelligent (the real Ken McElroy dropped out of school early) but who is positively brilliant at intimidating people. Dennehy plays Rowan as if he has a death wish. All of his threats and his speeches make it clear that he’s just daring someone to shoot him. Even when he realizes he’s about to get shot while sitting in his truck, he sit there and accepts the inevitable. Perhaps even he was getting sick of dealing with himself.

After watching In Broad Daylight, it’s easy to understand why no one came forward as a witness. By his own actions, Ken McErloy was destined to die violently. A few people just decided to speed things up a little. Who knows who?