The Border (1980) Online

This little mediocrity is an attempt to show the misery of illegal immigration between the U.S. and Mexico (well, where else?: is there any misery between the U.S. and Canadian border?) But this attempt is a sad misfire. I have a feeling Charles Bronson was offered the part and turned it down since Savalas is all wrong as a tired, miserable, mostly friendless, near-retirement, border enforcement cop. Bronson or Rod Steiger, maybe, but Savalas is far too cool and commanding a presence to play such a loser role. Then again, the filmmakers can't seem to figure out if he's just another cop or some powerful hombre who is not to be messed with (Eddie Albert, as his superior, alternatively barks at him and cowers, looking for help from villain Michael Gazzo to stop Savalas since Albert is seemingly helpless). As it is, Savalas saunters through the film growling at everyone and making sure to keep his shirt split open to offer his lady fans plenty of Telly cleavage (probably a requirement he forced on the producers --written into his contract as the 'Open Shirt Clause.') Otherwise, you get a solid performance from Michael Gazzo as the smuggler king, and the sight of a little cutie named Cecelia Camacho. The film's "claim to fame" such as it is will be found in the rather gruesome slaughterhouse scene where no CGI, puppets, stand-ins or make-up effects were used: just good ol' fashioned cow slaughter. Never a pleasant sight to see where our meat meets its maker (although on a personal level I find Telly's cleavage slightly more gruesome). Lastly, there is the ridiculous finale where Savalas has the option to avoid a confrontation with his superior Albert and smuggler Gazzo, taking his pals De La Paz and Camacho to safety... but instead decides it would be more productive to seemingly kill himself and the two people he just saved in order to ram his beloved camper through the border gate and run over Gazzo inside the security office. And to top it off we don't find out exactly what happened afterward. Sheesh!

A movie that must necessarily to be seen by Donald Trump, as long as he's still in office! The film is not great, but the message is simple: the cause of Mexican poverty and the vital need to cross the border to the North. Telly Savalas, as usual, is very good in the role. Unfortunately, the script is not very consistent. The other actors, Danny De La Paz, Eddie Albert, Michael V. Gazzo, Cecilia Camacho, also give their strength as much as they can.

This movie is pretty dull. You get the idea it is a tough guy film pretty quick. Telly Savalas is not a bad actor, and if you are a fan of his you will enjoy his performance. The movie around him is pretty lacking however. The ending is terrible - I guess they ran out of money or something.

I watched this movie ages ago and rewatched it yesterday. Honestly, the only thing I remembered was Telly Savalas in it. The opening is fairly exciting, but after that, we go towards slow motion. No doubt there are faster ways to introduce characters and to make the position of our hero clear. We have it all: bad guys (even a corrupt police chief), lovely innocents, some (hard) action and even gore (the slaughterhouse). And an abrupt ending... I vaguely remember that in the good old days that happened quite often (budgettary or other reasons). Telly Savalas does an adequate job, masculine chest included, but it's a pity that in large sections of the movie he is absent (probably the budget again). Too slow to really call it an action movie, but I didn't get bored!

Chesty gringo Telly Savalas (as Frank Cooper) is a US-Mexico "Border Cop". He serves as a father figure to young immigrant Danny De La Paz (as Benny Romero), who wants Mr. Savalas to be best man at his impending wedding. Savalas is tough, but boss Eddie Albert (as Commander Moffat) may be tougher. Tough is what you need to stop smuggler Michael V. Gazzo (as Chico Suarez). Alliances may be in flux.

If you find the possibility of hearing "Kojak" and "Oliver Douglas" uttering expletives to be repulsive, you ought to steer clear of "The Border". If not, you may not have the stomach for the "realistic" cow slaughtering scene. Although it doesn't end up being worth much, Mr. De La Paz and Cecilia Camacho (as Leina) steal the show.

** The Border (1979) Tony Richardson ~ Telly Savalas, Danny De La Paz, Eddie Albert

Telly Savalas kept the patented bald look in place a couple years after his acclaimed Kojak TV series came to an end. Here he plays the title character in a British production filmed in the UK and Mexico. I'd like to know how production companies make their filming decisions when I run across something like this. You would think there were enough British and European topics to tackle, but someone must have thought it was a good idea.

The story isn't altogether too bad, as it takes a sympathetic look at the plight of impoverished Mexicans who would do anything to cross over into the U.S. for a better life. The only trouble is, as we find here, there are any number of corrupt coyotes and border agents ready to take advantage of their situation in order to profit off of their sweat and labor. The slaughterhouse scene presented here is not for the faint of heart. I worked in a meat packing plant once, but that was a relatively sanitized affair compared to this. Every scene was like a gut punch, the one that got me was the guy sledging the dead bull's horns off off. I guess if you can disembowel cattle you can just about do anything.

The film stretches credibility with the actions of the film's young hero, Benny Romero (Danny De La Paz). The kid marches in challenging every symbol of authority at the sweatshop and puts himself in harm's way countless times to save his young friend Paco and wife Leina (Cecilia Camacho). He had miraculous recuperative powers as well, as evidenced by the amazing comeback against the Suarez henchman who knifed him in the back and razored his face in the saloon brawl. When Romero came off the truck at Suarez' place, he looked none the worse for wear and his face was perfectly clean.

But except for the kid being noble, this was pretty much Telly's flick. I don't know if I've seen Michael Gazzo as any character other than Frankie Five Angels in "Godfather II", but he was pretty effective here as the smuggling kingpin Suarez. Too bad the picture fell apart right at the very end when Cooper (Savalas) turned the bus around and rammed the border station for no apparent reason other than to end things in a slam-bang way, but what was the point? There was no follow up, and to my mind, Cooper and the Mexican couple could have wound up goners. Oh well.

One final note, and this is a real puzzler. Remember the Mexican café where the female hitchhiker tried to get Cooper to give her a ride across the border? The name of the café was 'El Beisbolista Fenomeno'. Translated, it means 'The Baseball Phenomenon'. Anyone know what that was all about?

Frank Cooper (Savalas) is a tough guy working border enforcement on the Mexico border. He seems to have an ambivalent attitude about letting illegals cross over, preferring to take naps and let them cross. He is very close to his 20-and-out retirement. When his partner is injured and he gets a new one, Hale (Robin Clarke) he doesn't understand his ways. Cooper has plenty of clashes with Commander Moffat (Albert) - mainly because Moffat is corrupt and in bed with Chico Suarez (Gazzo). Suarez is an unpleasant and merciless Coyote, spiriting illegals into the USA to work at very unpleasant jobs where they are abused by the management.

One of Cooper's best friends is a young man named Benito Romero (De La Paz). He's a scrappy kid who just wants to have a good life with his new wife Leina (Camacho), so he ends up working for Suarez. Unfortunately, he gets trapped and can't come home. He and his compatriots are abused by their gringo bosses and Romero is seen as a troublemaker. Once Cooper gets wind of what's going on, he tries to sort out the situation in his own way...meanwhile Romero wants to get revenge on his captors. Is that possible in this dangerous world? Without Telly, there would be no movie. That's really the bottom line. While this is a dark, somewhat violent drama perfect for the drive-in era, only Telly's charisma saves the movie from utter mediocrity. In one of the more interesting turns in the film, Romero and his friends are forced to work in an abattoir - and there are graphic, extended, documentary scenes of cows being slaughtered, skinned and gutted. Why we need to see this, I don't quite know.

Illegal Mexicans come in strapped under a car Sideshow Bob-style at the beginning of the film, and that's when all hell breaks loose. Eddie Albert is a classic actor (not to be confused with Punchy himself, Edward Albert), whose career goes at least back to the 1930's. His role is fairly small, but important and he fills it well. His partner in crime Suarez is played by another classic actor, Michael Gazzo. Despite having a long and fruitful career, his name should be more well known. If you haven't seen it yet, please check out the movie Fingers (1978). He's in it and it's a great film.

Despite its flaws, mainly that the plot isn't as cohesive as it could have been, and could have used some more action, Border Cop is a relevant, serious movie that Telly fans should check out.

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Telly Savalas showed in his career that he could play heroic roles as well as bad guys. He plays a good guy role here, and he does his best, but most of the rest of the movie erodes his efforts. After a passable action beginning (which boasts some impressive stunt work), the next half hour or so is a real bore, with practically NOTHING in this half hour advancing the plot. Eventually, things start moving again, though pretty slowly for the most part. But despite that, the movie remains pretty boring, with Savalas' character curiously offscreen for several sections of significant length. The movie ends on an odd note, as if the filmmakers ran out of money and weren't able to film an ending that would have been really satisfying. Apart from the opening sequence, the only other part of the movie that will have viewers alert is a scene in a slaughterhouse, which shows the (real) slaughter of cattle that will disgust most viewers.

A film sensitive to the plight of Mexican immigrants coming to the US for a better life.

Savalas plays a border agent with a compassionate heart. Savalas is really great in this role, and the production/writing nearly rises to his level. When he's not on-screen, the film is two dimensional. The other agents are hateful Americans, the immigrants are sentimentalized heroes. I like the heartfelt understanding, but I wish it wasn't so "good guy/bad guy".

Savalas somehow makes it all credible, but he's not always the focus. When he is, good flick.

A hard-boiled border cop out to bring down an immoral and evil smuggler of illegal aliens. Stars: Telly Savalas, Edward Albert. An interesting film mostly shot in Mexico. Tells the story about a soon-to-retire 'short-timer' Border Patrol officer (Savalas) who has good relations with people in Mexico and terrible relations with corrupt upper level Border Patrol bosses. This film is really 'Kojak goes to the Border'. It shows illegal aliens in a liberal silly sympathetic light as only mindless pawns in the sick power game between a Mexican smuggler coyote (Michael Gazzo) and corrupt Border Patrol boss, Albert. Illegals are about as interesting in this film as the cows processed in the coyote's meat packing plant. Interesting only for Savalas acting work on screen.