Dolan's Cadillac
Tags: revenge, murder

Plot synopsis:
Middle school history teacher Tom Robinson lives in Las Vegas with beloved wife Elizabeth. On a horse riding trip out in the desert one day, Elizabeth comes across a human trafficking deal gone bad, with gangster Jimmy Dolan executing the two Coyotes and one of the illegal aliens. Elizabeth is seen, however, and narrowly escapes Dolan's thugs firing at her. She drops her phone, which the thugs find and use to identify her. Soon afterward, a corpse with its lips sewn shut is left in Elizabeth's home, a threat to keep silent.
The Robinsons go to the authorities, and an official admits them into the Witness Protection program. Not long later, Elizabeth wakes up during the night as she needs to vomit, which she takes as a positive sign that she is pregnant. Believing her dream has come true, she gets excited and rushes out of their hotel to buy pregnancy tests, Tom following after her. When she tries to start their car, it explodes in front of Tom, killing Elizabeth.
Devastated, Tom begins drinking, and eventually decides to seek revenge against Dolan. He purchases a handgun, a massive Smith & Wesson Model 500, and follows Dolan around town, eventually going after him one night. But before he can take the shot, a rival business of Dolan's pulls a drive-by, which fails because Dolan's Cadillac is revealed to be bulletproof.
Robinson continues to follow Dolan, who soon notices and learns his identity. The two meet at a rest stop in the Nevada desert, ending with a confrontation in which Dolan allows Robinson to live (albeit beaten up), believing life to be more painful for Robinson than death.
Undeterred, Robinson gets a job with a construction crew working on the roads Dolan often travels. After strenuous preparation, Robinson sets his trap: a giant hole deep in the road, large enough to trap a car but not so large as to allow Dolan to escape by opening the doors. When Dolan's car falls into the hole, the driver is killed and another passenger is injured. Dolan shoots him out of annoyance, as both his legs were broken and he constantly screamed in agony.
Once Dolan has been trapped, Robinson makes his presence known, telling Dolan that he is a motorist who witnessed what had happened. Dolan, however, eventually realizes that the motorist is, in fact, Robinson, and begins to beg Robinson to let him go. Robinson begins to fill up the hole with dirt, continuing to taunt Dolan with possibilities of his escape, none of which come to fruition.
The official from the Witness Protection program soon calls Robinson to tell him that Dolan had been on his way to a major transaction involving child sex trafficking, a crime that would have destroyed Dolan. Robinson does not care, however, and finishes filling the hole up. Robinson lays concrete blocks over the Cadillac, while Dolan screams from within the hole.
The official calls back and tells Robinson they now have enough for a conviction. Robinson drops the phone and laughs maniacally.

Review: The harmless school teacher Robinson (Bentley) seeks revenge on a cold and greedy crook (Slater) who had his wife killed.
The plot is familiar, the details of the revenge rather ingenious.This is actually a rather solid and effective chiller, based on Stephen King's memorable short story.
An excellent rendition of a good Stephen King story on revenge and determination..
The movie is certainly worth a watch.It is the tale of a revenge seeking spouse's determined efforts to kill an almost untouchable criminal.It is based on a short story by Stephen King.There are a few changes,but it is true to the original story and the few changes in the story are effective.The movie could be worth a rating of 9 or 9.5 if not for the first 15 to 20 minutes of the the movie.Emmanuelle Vaugier's dialogs are really bad and her acting is not great either.Wes Bentley as the protagonist was disappointing for the first 20 minutes but he is excellent thereafter as a determined,disoriented revenge-seeking monster.
Christian Slater makes a lasting impact every time he is on the screen.The music,editing,dialogs(barring the first few minutes),cinematography and performances are pretty good.
I feel I should start the review by saying whether I had previously read the Stephen King short story before watching this movie.
And there are some plot holes, like how the protagonist got Dolan's cell phone number.Another flaw is with Slater.
The production values are really good - this is one shot-in-Canada movie that actually manages to make you think it was shot in the United States.
This movie had originality in showing the revenge seeked by a husband whose wife got murdered by criminals because she was a witness of murders in a desert.
The story line is very good, and it keeps you hooked to it and wanting to get more out of it, but then all movies based on Stephen King's novels are.
the acting was pretty decent as well, both lead actors played their role perfectly and I always saw that Christian Slater dose better roles as a villain, don't know he just have this evil look in him, The story was very real and without exaggeration, and it flows with the modern times that we are in, there is some action and some moments that just keep you on your feet.
Over all this is a pretty decant revenge movie, and I would recommend it to anyway who enjoys a good film..
(Credit IMDb) A young man attempts to seek to avenge his wife's death after she is murdered by a Las Vegas mobster.I highly doubt I'm the only Christian Slater fan that is deeply saddened about how far his career has plummeted at this juncture.
The director of DOLAN'S CADILLAC, Jeff Beesley, was told by his agent, "If you can't knock this movie outta the park, you might as well forget it - go back to pumping gas." Uh, Jeff, I got some bad news....From a Stephen King short story of the same name (from the 1993 collection, Nightmares and Dreamscapes), screenwriter Richard Dooling misses the point completely and somehow thinks he can improve on a writing legend's plot elements - much like the rewriters of THE SOUND OF THUNDER (2005) had the brass balls to think they could improve on a Ray Bradbury story.
DOLAN'S CADILLAC - a straight-to-DVD release - is another great Stephen King story wasted onto the small screen.Robinson (Wes Bentley) and wife Elizabeth (Emmanuelle Vaugier) are a regular Las Vegas couple, whose life is upended when Elizabeth witnesses human-trafficker Dolan (Christian Slater) execute people in the Nevada desert.
Robinson gets revenge in a very unique, exacting way.Dolan is chauffered around in a bulletproof Cadillac as fortified as a tank.
In the short story, Robinson uses this fact to entomb Dolan in a highway grave, the first person narrative pathologically taking us through the meticulous life-planning and interesting physics of devising the trap.
King's characters are efficiently made two-dimensional by leaden Wes Bentley (whose terrifically vapid performance in GHOST RIDER must have scored him this role) and Christian Slater, getting drunk on Jack (Nicholson, not Daniels).
No science required.In trying to extend King's story to movie length, instead of inserting all those interesting master plan elements, which would have drawn out the time compellingly, screenwriter Dooling puts in banalities: Robinson buying a Dirty Harry gun, Dolan extending his trafficking to children, Chinese mobsters, an FBI guy (Al Sapienza from THE SOPRANOS) and loads of black mascara for Wes Bentley in lieu of acting.To hear director Beesley speak of his filmic debacle in the DVD Featurette is to wonder whether he has ever viewed his own film: "...extremely entertaining...
Beesley's movie gives us a scene of Robinson shifting a final stone slab into place over Dolan's screaming face, for the sole reason to echo Poe's (and King's) words, "For the love of God, no!" But this final homage is Beesley's final illogical mistake.
Having read the short story by Stephen King before viewing this film, i can clearly confirm that for anyone who is hoping for a faithful adaption, you may find yourself in two half's.The film itself is average.
I'm not going to moan about how the film isn't better than the book cause it's never is but what i will say is that my friend must of got confused during the final parts.The main character, Robinson, takes up a job on the highways to get a grip of the machinery which he'll be using to execute his plan.
I know all this because i've read the book, however, the film does such a awful job showing the characters emotions and there purposes that i'll warn you not to get upset when you find yourself lost.Long story short, film is a mess.
Personally, I like Christian Slater and Wes Bentley but nothing could save this movie from the dreadful screen adaptation and directing.
This movie will never make it to the big screen in the US, nor will most foreign markets entertain such horribly bad film making.
i don't think so, maybe the novel it's far way better than this very bad film...by points, i can say some causes for this failure: 1.
The film uses the old time narrative favorite of taking a Mr Everybody, in this case Wes Bentley in the part of a school teacher, placed in a situation he is not cut for, thus ensuring viewer identification with the main protagonist.
A short thriller – unlike some other material by Stephen King – with good montage and music..
A dissent psycho thriller, not bad at all What we have here is Stephen King novel made movie.
Christian Slater is very good, being bad-bad guy as "Dolan".
He (being the bad guy), performed his BEST acting ,since "Heathers", in this movie.
And the movie does us the favor of going straight from the beginning to the end, without a lot of bullshit, stalling, or boring periods of time to endure.
No, I haven't read the book, and I don't intend to- I haven't had a movie "grip" me in this way in a long time, and I don't want to chance altering that.
My opinion: If you like a good thriller (not horror), with continuous entertainment from beginning to the end, then you have got to check out this movie.
I don't think anybody did, but I read the short story many times over the years.
It's one of my favourite Nightmares and Dreamscape shorts from Stephen King and I was intrigued to see how they stretched the plot to make it into a feature length film!
When keeping his nose clean means dispatching of Robinson's wife, it destroys his life and leads him to act out on the urge for revenge as the authorities fails to pin the crime on Dolan and his goons.What I liked about the King story was that there was nothing to like about any of the characters, all but Tinker.
He wrote it from Robinson's perspective and it was nothing short of psychopathic, which is refreshing compared to most revenge stories.In the movie, the likability factor pretty much stays the same, but the makers seem to have made a point of giving Dolan and his crew all the entertainment value and most of the screen time.
Personally, I'd have watched an hour and a half of Robinson planning and executing his revenge trip, but we're given snippets of him going through his trauma and falling apart and, sorry to say, it bored me.Wes Bentley has never been one to watch, for me at least.
His face is incapable of change, it seems.The most important part of the movie, now that my problems are out of the way, is Bentley's Robinson giving up school to join the road crew in the Nevada desert.
That's when King's storytelling really transfers well, and the addition of Tink and Danny really add texture to this film's character.The revenge plot itself and how Robinson goes through with it are superb.
this is going to be tough this is cheap rubbish boring predictable not worth going out of your way to watch skip it you will not regret not watching this movie i persevered till the death like i always do no excitement at all who cares!
this is going to be tough this is cheap rubbish boring predictable not worth going out of your way to watch skip it you will not regret not watching this movie i persevered till the death like i always do no excitement at all who cares!
Christian Slater is a good bad guy.
Robinson (Wes Bentley) and his wife Elizabeth (Emmanuelle Vaugier) are fellow school teachers.
Elizabeth witnesses gangster pimp Jimmy Dolan (Christian Slater) killing the drivers and one girl trying to escape.
The protagonist mumbles, cries, whines, and looks like he is about to fall asleep most of the time.It manages to make Las Vegas look bland and a Stephen King story to be agonizingly boring.
Christian Slater playing evil and he doesn't do a half bad job of it as mob guy/slave trader, Dolan, who's now resorted to selling kids for suck clientele, and profiting fruitfully from it.
Stephen King has provided some very good material for a couple of great movies, Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile being two examples.
She is seen by the killer, a gangster named Jimmy Dolan(Christian Slater), and she rides off as Dolan's fellow criminals shoot at her.Tom and Elizabeth go to the law and are placed in the witness protection program.
The movie has a Twilight Zone feel to it, which is not surprising, since Stephen King has admitted to being a fan of the Rod Serling anthology show, and Slater is good, so it gets a slight thumbs up..
Adaptation of a Stephen King short story that fails to hit the mark....
I must say I haven't read the story on which this one is based, but, knowing Mr. King, I'm sure it works perfectly well on the page.
With vengeance on his mind, Robinson gets himself a gun and stakes out Dolan for a long time.
Thinking the time is right he prepares to kill him but a hit by a rival gang puts paid to his ambitions and demonstrates that Dolan's car, a tripped out Cadillac is one tough motor vehicle!
Eventually a plan forms in Robinson's mind, one which will involve Dolan's Cadillac.There are elements of this film I liked, the fact that Robinson is haunted by visions of his wife after her death was a nice device.
Performance-wise, Christian Slater did an excellent job as Dolan, he really knows how to 'chew the furniture' when required.
Wes Bentley was also pretty good as Robinson and finally, although she didn't have an awful lot to do, Emmanuelle Vaugier did a decent job as Elizabeth.I do enjoy a decent revenge thriller but unfortunately this one is a bit of a let-down.
Despite getting protection from the FBI Dolan manages to murder her and Robinson goes on a quest for revenge.
But Dolan's car, a Cadillac, is a fortress in itself, armored and bulletproof, so Robinson must think of something special.Comments: A rather bad movie that actually is rather hard to put into a genre.
Vaugier was the only one that showed some promise, and I hope she gets another shot.In conclusion, not a good movie, but not too bad either.
I almost turned the movie off 30 minutes into it, but I'm a big Stephen King fan, so I thought I'd stick it out.
It's still not fantastic, but the second half has a satisfying Edgar Allan Poe twist to it and is fairly entertaining.If you are a major fan of Stephen King and/or Edgar Allan Poe and you're short of new movies to watch, give Dolan's Cadillac a shot.
In Las Vegas, the school teachers Robinson (Wes Bentley) and his wife Elizabeth (Emmanuelle Vaugier) are trying to have a baby.
While riding a horse through the desert after hours, Elizabeth witnesses the execution of two coyotes and an illegal immigrant by the human trafficker Jimmy Dolan (Christian Slater) and she decides to report to the police.
The disturbed Robinson decides to buy a powerful revolver and learn how to shoot to revenge Elizabeth killing Dolan.
Robinson goes to the rock bottom of his life but he retrieves and plots a sophisticated revenge."Dolan's Cadillac" is a dark tale of revenge based on a short story of Stephen king.
Christian Slater is a great sadistic villain but unfortunately Wes Bentley with his wooden expression and Emmanuelle Vaugier with her cynical smile are not convincing in their roles of school teachers that have their lives destroyed due to the sequence of stupid attitudes of Elizabeth.
I didn't even realize they'd made a movie out of what is (I shiite thee not) one of my top 3 favorite Stephen King stories of all time, but I saw it had Christian Slater and Blackheart from Ghost Rider and...gravy.Honestly, I bought the movie thinking that Slater was the protagonist, so imagine my shock when I found out he was playing Dolan.
Given those biases, I really had a hard time buying Slater as Dolan.
But I will add that even if the rest of the movie completely sucked, it was still worth it to see those two play out the final scene that Stephen King painted years ago.
Robinson (Bentley) is out to kill Dolan (Slater) for killing wife Elizabeth (Vaugier)This whole thing reeked of amateurs trying to act like professionals.
This should have been left as a short story by Stephen King.It's the dialogue that made the actors look and sound like they were rehearsing lines.
This is really hard for me to do,as Christian Slater is my favourite actor,but this movie was,well terrible.As well as being a Slater fan,i also like Stephen King,but this really disappoints,It starts off with Jimmy Dolan killing a couple of immigrant's,as he is a trafficker and burying them alive in the Nevada desert,whilst being watched by a school teacher played by Emmanuele Vaugier(check spelling),so Dolan order's her death,she is put into protective custody along with her partner,Wes Bentley,she ends up dead and Bentley goes on the hunt for revenge,he has numerous opportunities but fails to take them,the same being said for Slater,who also has the opportunity to get rid of Bentley,but makes a mistake by not doing so.I only gave it a 3 because Slaters performance was good enough,but i'm sorry to all Wes Bentley fans,as i get angry when people slag Slater,but this guy really can't act,the last 10 minutes of the film,he gets a pass from me,but up until then,he is like a lump of wood,again,i apologise for being negative about him,but in this movie,he deserves it.I beg you not to watch this,even if your a Slater fan..
Shame on Christian Slater (although I always enjoy his attempt to never change his haircut in the last two decades) and Stephen King for this nightmare idea based on his short story.Many times on the job when I am working really hard I wonder how my face gets so dirty (not really, it is the 21st century...labor is over...if a machine can't do it, it doesn't get done).
Locked as it is in the "Stephen King adaptation" genre, this movie had little chance of being more than a workmanlike piece of suspense, but it is well done and gets lots of little details right.
Bentley and Slater are, of course, the real reasons to watch this movie, and they really get into their roles and make you believe they are their characters.
The story itself is a neat, satisfying little revenge fantasy with a good visual setup.
When his wife is killed by mobster Dolan after she witnessed him committing murder, grief-stricken Robinson hatches a plan to exact retribution.
Wes Bentley is fine as the grieving and somewhat unhinged Robinson, and Emmanuelle Vaugier is adequate as the doomed Elizabeth.This film passes the time but is otherwise fairly unmemorable..
It's too bad they didn't make a short movie, because it might have been better..
You see a school teacher getting a breakdown after his wife gets killed by a car bomb ordered by Mr. Dolan (Christian Slater).
And that the teacher has already become something far more evil than Dolan ever was by commiting this act.This movie will have you thinking about right, wrong and the question whether or not the end justifies the means long after it's over.
Thus the themes of this direct-to-video adaptation of a Stephen King short story are perfunctorily established.
Therefore, we don't share Robinson's near hysterical euphoria at the end of the film, and almost feel sympathy for the entombed gangster as the final paving slab is put in place.The movie's probably worth watching only for Christian Slater's powerhouse performance as Dolan, a violent gangster with a psychotic intelligence that inspires him to wax lyrical over the most unlikely subjects.