BLIND SIDE, The Movie

Rutger Hauer, for no reason apparently, has decided
to screw with Ron Silver and his lovely wife Rebecca
De Mornay–who have just returned from Mexico. On their
way back, by the way, they hit and kill a Mexican Police
officer in the dead of night. Wisely deciding to escape
back to the good ole USA rather than turn themselves in,
the morality tale is afoot as they are haunted by a dead
bird bleeding on their windshield *after* they've had their
lovely SUV washed; background music reminiscent of the movie
Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (probably because it was
written by the same guy, the late Brian May–no, not the 
guitarist from Queen). And so, what was once the perfect
sterile existence is now a seething cauldron of guilt and
meaningful close-ups. All of a sudden (enter Rutger Hauer),
Ron and Rebecca are tormented by a psychopath who follows
them from Mexico, shows up at their house and yes, asks
for a job selling high-brow, yet sensibly priced upscale
furniture–all-the-while making vague references to a
hit-and-run involving a couple that look not unlike Ron
Silver and Rebecca De Mornay. Hmmm...

But Hauer doesn't really want a job selling sofas, and
this becomes clear after his mildly offensive references
to the couple's vehicular slaying of the aforementioned
Mexican policeman. The plot twist? Hauer has the badge–
the dead guy's badge–and I don't know what this means...
nor does anyone aside from Hauer. But it is spooky that
he has the badge, and so when the creepy Brian May music
comes on, close-ups of Ron Silver are photographed.
Unfortunately, Silver looks like he is always stressed out,
so it is hard to pick-up on the nail- biting tension.

After Hauer's strange behavior intensifies, Silver and
De Mornay–bent on referring to Rutger Hauer as "Mr. Shell,"
decide once-and-for-all to get Hauer out of their lives,
and out of the movie. So who do they call on to rid them 
of this maniac? The police perhaps?  Unfortunately, murdering
a policeman, even if he is Mexican is frowned upon by law
enforcement. Instead, they decide to temporarily forget the
whole thing and give Rutger Hauer a job so that, you guessed
it, they could confront him with none other than their tax
attorney–who, incidently threatens Hauer, the crazed maniac,
with paper work! In fact, so much paper work that he "wouldn't
know which way was up."

Making the logical assumption that this confrontation would
mean that the brief working alliance of Ron Silver and Rutger
Hauer had come to an end, Ron Silver never-the-less is incensed
when Hauer returns to start selling sofas. Who wouldn't be? Ron 
Silver then offers Rutger Hauer a draw, along with some cash. 
Hauer accepts and the movie ends... almost.

After more idiocy, Ron Silver decides to go to Mexico for no
reason at all–leaving Rebecca De Mornay alone with Hauer–and 
discovers that the policeman he ruthlessly mowed down in cold 
blood was in fact already mostly dead because Rutger Hauer had 
shot him eight-hundred times with a revolver and then beat him 
another fifty times with a wacky noodle. Seriously injured by 
this attack, the policeman stumbled across a dark-lit road in 
the dead of night... right into the target of the deadly Rebecca 
De Mornay and Ron Silver. Reinvigorated, Silver tells Hauer 
about this. Still undeterred, Hauer dresses up like a cowboy and 
has sex in their living room before finally deciding that it was 
time to kill the couple. The action eventually moves to the swimming 
pool where Hauer suddenly becomes lethargically transfixed on 
De Mornay's breasts. De Mornay, with the help of Ron Silver, 
throws a high voltage electrical cable–which just happens to 
be handy–into the swimming pool and Hauer is electrocuted and 
the movie ends. 


The writing is awful and the dialogue is just bad enough
to be pretty good. The film gets two stars because of all 
the tension between Ron Silver and Rutger Hauer, and because 
we almost see Rebecca De Mornay naked. 

Verdict: A must for Rutger Hauer fans.

Jonathan Banks

Washington, D.C. native
Does mostly character roles (lawyers, villains) and has been
working steadily for years. 
According to Hollywood.com: "It was not until "Beverly Hills Cop"
(1984) that Banks won notice. As Zack, he knocks Eddie Murphy
unconscious in the Detroit sequence and then yearns to finish
him off in Beverly Hills."

Rebecca De Mornay

Rebecca's parents seperated when she was two.
Her father was Wally George, but Rebecca took
the last name of her mother's second husband.
She was raised in France and attended Summerhill
School, a boarding school, in England for her elementary 
education, and earned her high school degree in Kitzbuhel, 
Austria, graduating summa cum laude. 
      Upon graduation, Rebecca moved to New York 
and studied acting at the Lee Strasberg Institute. 
Later she was hired at Zoetrope Studios owned by 
Francis Ford Coppola. Her film debut was a bit part 
in "One from the Heart" in 1982, but she quickly gained 
Hollywood's and the public's attention when she took 
on the role of call girl Lana, in the Tom Cruise hit 
"Risky Business". 
Rebecca has two children with boyfriend Patrick O'Neal,
Veronica and Sophia. 

Rutger Hauer

Voted "Actor of the Century" by his native homeland of Holland,
Hauer enjoyed a great deal of screen success in the 1970's and 80's.
His star as a mainstream actor fizzled, but his cult following
has ensured him immorality.
We all like him because he can make even schlock watchable; he is
his own man, steals every scene he is in and is very much the
European Christopher Walken. 
Hauer's best screen moments came in "Fatherland" (1994) which had him
nominated for Best Actor (Golden Globes). His best films, in my opinion,
are Fatherland, Soldier of Orange, Blade Runner, Deadlock, Past Midnight,
Blind Fury and yes, Blind Side.

Geoff Murphy

Geoff Murphy was born in New Zealand in 1938. He is evidently
one of his country's most respected film directors–but with
titles like Under Seige 2, Fortress 2 and Freejack to his credit,
his place as one of the world's finest directors is not as secure.
To his credit he continues to work.
Murphy's best known film is Young Guns 2, which was, a relatively
decent film considering that it was a follow up to the first Young
Guns film–which was "trying." 

Ron Silver