The Border

Jack Nicholson “gives the least heralded major performance of his career” (Salon) playing a U.S. Border Patrol guard seeking a small slice of personal redemption in this tough political melodrama directed by Tony Richardson (Tom Jones). Alienated by his wife’s (Valerie Perrine) sterile consumerism and the amorality of his fellow border guards, Charlie (Nicholson) decides to help a young Mexican mother (Elpidia Carrillo), whose baby has been stolen while she was in detention. A “solid, impressive muckraking movie” — Pauline Kael.