The Crossing Guard
According to editor Jay Cassidy, Sean Penn allowed Jack Nicholson to make editing choices for two weeks without Penn's involvement, trusting Nicholson's eye for filmmaking, being a director himself.,When Freddy gives John Booth three more days he marks it on the calendar in red and the square he draws is not even, later when he crosses the day in the calendar the square drawn is perfect.,Freddy Gale: Now you pity me. You pity me. You know, this is funny...
Mary: Whatever you are doing Freddy, stop it.
Freddy Gale: "Whatever you are doing Freddy, stop it". I hope you die. I hope you FUCKING die.,Clyde is Hungry Watchdog - Dr Edward Katz,Featured in Siskel & Ebert: The American President/Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls/Kicking and Screaming/Carrington/Total Eclipse (1995),Missing
Written and Performed by Bruce Springsteen
Courtesy of Columbia Records,A powerful and compelling story, filmed well and with some great performances.

Sean Penn seems to have managed to level the actors here, with David Morse, Anjelica Huston and Jack Nicholson putting in great performances and none of them stealing the scenes from the other. I found this very surprising as I expected Nicholson to flood the screen, as he so often does with such little difficulty.

However, the emotion between Huston and Nicholson in the latter half of the film during the coffee shop scene is so powerful to watch. Huston is such a wonderful actress, and Nicholson shows some emotional depth that I haven't seen before, or rather, not felt with his performance before.

The story is written and planned extremely well, with tension rising slowly and almost imperceptibly, until the final day. I found myself caught from the opening scenes of the counselling session cut with the drunken, partying Nicholson, right through to the pivotal moments of the main characters lives.

It is a fantastic way to address this subject. To examine it from both sides, and keep each side with its own sympathies and understandings. Cleverly your sympathies and hatred are swapped throughout the story.

I hope there's more to come like this.,