No Man's Land

Plot synopsis:
When an undercover detective is gunned down while investigating a string of Porsche thefts, Lieutenant Vincent Bracey (Randy Quaid) assigns 22-year-old San Diego officer Benjamin "Benjy" Taylor (D. B. Sweeney) to infiltrate a Porsche garage suspected to be a front for the grand theft auto scheme. Benjy is chosen because of his extensive mechanical knowledge of German cars and his rookie status, which dissuades others from suspecting that he is a cop. Bracey wants Benjy to obtain evidence that millionaire playboy Ted Varrick (Charlie Sheen) is the mastermind behind the thefts and the murder of the detective.Using the alias "Billy Ayles", Benjy moves to Los Angeles and gets a job at Technique Porsche as a mechanic. After Benjy fixes Ted's Porsche one night, the two men become close friends, and Benjy becomes romantically attached to Ted's sister Ann (Lara Harris). Benjy also discovers the presence of a rival syndicate led by Frank Martin (R. D. Call), which leads him to believe that Ted is not the prime suspect despite Bracey's insistence.Eventually, Ted brings Benjy into his side business of stealing Porsches, with garage manager Malcolm (Bill Duke) coordinating the operations. Benjy's first few attempts at stealing cars fail miserably, with Martin's syndicate catching on and slashing his hand as a warning. While doing a job at the mall, Benjy and Ted are confronted by Martin's thugs, but they manage to lose them in a lengthy car chase. The next day, Ted goes to Technique Porsche and finds Malcolm has been murdered. In retaliation, he kills Frank at a night club.During a phone conversation at a party, corrupt police Lieutenant Curtis Loos (Arlen Dean Snyder) - who was hired by Ted to take out the detective in the film's opening - tells Ted about Benjy's real identity. The next night, Ted has Benjy meet Loos at a warehouse for a payoff. When Loos tries to kill Benjy, Ted runs him over to save his friend. Later, Benjy stops at Bracey's house to inform him of what happened with Loos, and accuses Bracey of conspiring with him. Bracey kicks Benjy out, but tells him to call in the morning so they can work things out. Benji drives off, unaware that Ted was nearby, spying on him.The next day, Benjy's cover is blown in front of Ann when his uncle Michael (Philip Benichou) pays him a visit at his apartment. He goes to Bracey's house, only to find that Ted has murdered him. Ted is preparing to flee the country when Benjy convinces him to meet up at the mall, where he tries to arrest Ted for the murders. Ted refuses to go quietly and a gunfight breaks out; Benjy is wounded, but manages to shoot and kill Ted.

Tags: revenge, murder

Review:
This film is nearly 20 years old, but still rates as one of the best movies I've ever seen.Following the title sequence which sets the violent scene of car crime which forms the backdrop for this film, Peter Werner opens the film with a fairly protracted scene featuring the central character (22-year-old rookie cop, Benjy) in his home environment.
As an enviable friendship between Bengy and the police target, suspected ringleader and businessman, Ted Varrick (Charlie Sheen) develops, the viewer yearns to be in ether's shoes, as Ted welcomes Bengy to his world of the "rich and aimless".
In a way, having a Porsche in a city like Los Angeles is a clear invitation for car thieves to take them, as demonstrated in "No Man's Land", the 1987 film that has a look of a movie made for television.
Ron Howard is listed as a producer."No Man's Land" is worth a look because in spite of its flaws, because it shows an interesting aspect of the complex relationship between a police undercover cop and the young man who is the master mind in the car stealing robberies plaguing the city.
B.D. Sweeney is also effective as the undercover man who falls for Ann, who happens to be Ted's sister.
Mr. Sweeney has that clean look about him that makes him perfectly suited for the good natured Bill, the mechanic he pretends to be.Others faces in the film includes Lara Harris who plays Ann, the woman in love with the man hunting her own brother.
Randy Quaid is seen briefly as Lt. Bracey, who is responsible for getting one of his men infiltrate the car stealing ring."No Man's Land" has the ubiquitous car chases and visual effects of pictures of this genre.
The cinematography of Hiro Narita shows us a lot of Los Angeles shopping malls and high priced stores where the car thieves love to steal the Porsches..
I hate to praise Charlie Sheen, but I must.He played this role so perfectly, that I forgot I was watching a movie.
A charismatic bad boy, sucks a peer into his criminal world, and the peer is actually in law enforcement.If you love 80s movies set amidst the glitz of 80s L.A., with fancy cars and classic obscure 80s dance tunes thrown in, you will love this one.I couldn't help envying the adventure that the D.B. Sweeney character was having.
The Sweeney character was supposed to be a 22 year old rookie, yet he was working undercover.
Having just worked on some old cars in his driveway, would he really be skilled enough to work with professional foreign car mechanics, without taking any courses?The Randy Quaid character was a little comic-bookie, or over-the-top angry, but I guess they had to establish the tension between him and the rookie.The final showdown will again remind you of "Point Break." Enjoy it.
Once again I've got to say thank you to my Netflix 'recommended' queue, because thus far it's let me to several great movies that I never knew existed, including this one.
This was a truly good movie, with a fantastic storyline, great acting and a lot of style.
Charlie Sheen turns in a terrific, understated performance, which makes you sadly recall that at one time he was a gifted young actor with a promising future ahead of him, and not an out of control bipolar freak of nature.
This movie actually fell right in the middle of his golden period; shortly after 'Platoon' and just before 'Wall Street' and 'Young Guns'.
The rest of the cast did wonderfully as well, especially D.B. Sweeney who handled the lead role admirably, and the incredibly beautiful and talented Lara Harris, who deserves far more work in Hollywood than she's gotten.
The only character who seemed out of place was Randy Quaid as the no-nonsense lieutenant, but that's only because I've become so used to seeing him in goofball roles that it's now a bit jarring when he's serious.I definitely enjoyed this film, and any fan of the police/thriller genre will surely enjoy it as well, as will fans of the time period in general.
Charlie Sheen and Little known actor DB Sweeney star in this excellent thriller about a cop who is sent undercover at a chop shop to find out who murdered another undercover officer.DB Sweeney is not bad as the cop who ends up blurring the line and whose loyalties become divided.
Benjy (DB Sweeney) gets in way over his head when he falls for the prime suspects sister(Lara Harris), and becomes buddy's with the suspect.Charlie Sheen is at his super smooth and sleek best as the extremely affable but ultimately very cunning Ted Varrick.
A well respected guy who has cops on the payroll, steals Porsche's and still has time for lavish party's at his home.
The performances range from excellent (Charlie Sheen & Randy Quaid as Sweeney's boss) to good (DB Sweeney) to not so good (Lara Harris).
The Car Chases are well filmed and exciting as well as pretty believable as is the storyline and the actions of the characters.
The Tension between Sweeney & Sheen and the ending are well handled and leaves you satisfied at the end.I was surprised that Character actor George Dzundza was uncredited as Benjy's Uncle Mike and he is not even listed on IMDb (I have sent a cast update to IMDb).I highly recommend this film and would rate it 7/10.
Despite starring Charlie Sheen, who has been hot for the past several years from starring in a top-rated sitcom, "No Man's Land" seems to have been all but forgotten.
They substituted hopped up Hondas and Mazdas for the Porsches.If you are looking for my opinion, watch this movie.
If you want a good story line, great driving scenes, this is your movie.If you are a Porsche fan, you probably have already watched this 100 times like me!.
No Man's Land is like Point Break with cars, where D.B. Sweeney (where you can just picture Paul Walker in this role, check out the matching hairstyle) plays an undercover cop, out to pinpoint the killer hand, responsible for gunning down a detective, who was obviously undercover himself.
He's befriended by cool dressing, rich kid/thief, Ted Varrick (Sheen) who's hot Porsche breaks down on Mulholland, and from here, it's like another Point Break scenario (this came out three and a half years earlier, but who's counting).
This is one of those real cool movie treats I like, but it's not without it's faults, and I feel that, every time I see it.
There's some good chases, and a humbly tragic climax, a shootout, that is inevitable, where at the end, we aren't quite sure if Quaid's character was dirty.
Ironically both him and Sheen did another car movie, The Wraith, exactly nine months earlier, on release date here, this of course a better movie.
Charlie Sheen is the scum bag in this movie.
D.B. Sweeney co-stars plays a man who idolizes Sheen.
Randy Quaid co-stars as a cop who wants to bring Sheen down.
For example, some of the themes included in the movie are: fast cars, wall street, over-privileged kids.
Some of the chase scenes are downright silly, I mean be real, an old 70's American iron (unless a muscle car) would not keep up with a Porsche, no sir!
Anyways, pretty okay 80s flick, slow at times but got to love them Porsches.
"No Man's Land" tells of a rookie cop (Sweeney) who goes under cover by getting a job in a chop shop run by a slick yuppie-type small time crook (Sheen) with a beautiful sister (Harris).
The film becomes somewhat interesting as friendship blossoms between Sweeney and Sheen and love between Sweeney and Harris testing Sweeney's allegiance to law and order.
A good friend of mine is a big fan of this movie, so I got curious and watched one night...
it basically plays like a cheesy 1980's action TV show, stretched to 90 minutes.It's not incredibly cinematic, and the writing is so/so, the problem coming more from a director who was inexperienced with film, than the actors, I think.However, the reason it's worth checking out-- and my friend will agree-- is the accuracy of car information shown in the film.
Primarily, Sheen's character is a big fan of Porsche and this film points out, quite accurately, intimate details of the Porsche design, and it's superiority over American cars.If you find yourself disagreeing with that statement, you should probably check out this movie.
The scene with the Camaro chasing the Porsche pretty much sums it up.Oh, and the ending is a total cop-out.
The rest of the movie is worth a look, though, if you're into either cars or Charlie Sheen.6/10.
Forgotten orion release back in late 87, about a young rookie cop (d.b. sweeney) who is assigned by a driven police captain (randy quaid) to infiltrate a car thief ring run by a young cocky rich kid (charlie sheen).
Once the young cop gets in with sheen, their relationship is unseparable.
There is also a car ring that is out to put sheen out of business for good.
The best thing about it is the cars and chase scenes.
My favorite scene, by far, is the one that has the Camaro (a piece) running after the Porsche (a real car).
It has a solid cast, an excellent script, and great car chase scenes (with Porsches) that make this movie a winner.Do yourself a favor and watch it.
It has a solid cast, an excellent script, and great car chase scenes (with Porsches) that make this movie a winner.Do yourself a favor and watch it.
The cars and music are dated but, like watching Bullitt with Steve McQueen, the movie is well put together so you just get absorbed in along with the characters.Charlie Sheen is charismatic and exiting.
The cars and music are dated but, like watching Bullitt with Steve McQueen, the movie is well put together so you just get absorbed in along with the characters.Charlie Sheen is charismatic and exiting.
Sleek cars (the Porsche) fast women, cool guys, guns, suits, and basically chock full of testosterone.
Although No Man's Land has a fairly stereotypical storyline, the cop goes undercover to bust a car thieving ring and becomes entranced with the sweet lifestyle, something makes this different.
It might be the cast who all work really well together without really giving any truly outstanding performances, it's a fast paced action film with an incredible car chase scene right at the climax and it's just a good time.
It's not that will rake in the Oscars but at the same time you'll just feel pumped up watching it.Charlie Sheen...king of The Brat Pack, some might say.
In this film he plays bad guy, smooth talking businessman Ted Varrick.
And he's actually playing a grown up which is always a good move for a young actor trying to break into adult roles.
D.B. Sweeney plays undercover rookie cop Benjy Taylor.
Now Sweeney has done a bit of character acting although he was fairly new out of the gate when he filmed this one but I didn't think he was quite as good as someone stronger could have been in the role but he does alright.
Sheen and Sweeney do share some decent chemistry on screen together, which makes for some truly likable scenes and a killer ending.
Lara Harris is Sweeney's love interest and Varrick's younger sister.
She does a decent job although a little quiet for her role and her and Sheen seem to have too much sexual chemistry to be brother and sister which comes across as creepy at times but she also has decent chemistry with Sweeney although again he's not much of a bad boy like they try to portray him.
Randy Quaid plays a small role as Sweeney's boss who sends him undercover.
Quaid plays a tough as nails Lieutenant who seems to only yell and scream most of the time which is unfortunate because Quaid could have added a lot to the cast.As I mentioned before one of the absolute highlights of the film is the car chase scenes, one in particular at the height of the film.
Sweeney behind the wheel, Sheen in the car with him and rival mobsters on their heels but there is plenty of action surrounding that chase.
I can't believe this film doesn't get more credit for being a classic eighties film because it truly is very entertaining and I only happened to come across it in my local video store and I thought it looked a little like a buddy cop film so I went for it and at times it does have that feel despite being on the other side of the law.
In No Man's Land, Charlie Sheen returns for another action flick about high-stakes car theives, having previously co-starred in Clint Eastwood's high action thriller, 'The Rookie.' But, whereas before he was a cop, here he plays one the primary villain, a wealthy Porsche thief who proves to go too far to protect his interests.
A young D.B. Sweeny is Billy Isle, a rookie cop hired by a Lieutenant (Randy Quaid) to work undercover at a suspected chop shop that deals exclusively in Porsches.
His assignement is to track Ted Varrick (Sheen), the wealthy hot shot behind the business, who the Lieutenant suspects is guilty of murdering a cop.
D.B. Sweeny does a good job with the lead as the impressionable young cop, and Sheen plays his usually monotonous toned hot shot.
Often, it is the lengthy big-action car chase scenes that propels through the repetition.
D.B. Sweeney stars as Benjy Taylor in this late eighties film about an under-cover cop trying to infiltrate and break up a ring of thieves who are stealing cars.
He befriends young Ted Varrick (Charlie Sheen) and begins to slide into the world of fast cars and high-speed thrills.
Lara Harris plays Ted's sister Ann who begins to cloud Benjy's judgment when his feelings for her get in the way.
"No Man's Land" also stars Randy Quaid as Lieutenant Vincent Bracey.Whether or not director Peter Werner wanted to make a moral dilemma film, he ended up in a dilemma himself by turning a good idea into an average film, with OK performances from all.
Benjy Taylor is a rookie cop who goes undercover to nab a gang of car thieves led by Ted Varrick.Taylor becomes too involved and starts to enjoy the thrill and lifestyle of the car thieves, and falls in love with Varrick's sister Ann....It's the same old story isn't it?
Surely....you must be 'winning'....It's one of those films that were made in the late eighties, that was all style and no substance, and the story is as old as the hills.Cop goes undercover, becomes best friends with the main guy, falls in love with someone close to the main guy, lets his new life take over him.......hold on....Doesn't that sound like Point Break??
it does sound a lot like the Swayze classic, but believe me, this is far inferior than that movie.Sheen looks like he cannot be bothered to mess up his hair, and Sweeney looks like he is fighting a losing battle, he knows in every scene he is being overshadowed by Sheen.It leads to nowhere, there isn't going on in the films narrative, and the final third is as predictable as Saturday going into Sunday.Mundane at best..
Everyone should have a friend like Charlie Sheen..
It pushed the right buttons by putting the audience squarely in shoes of Sweeney's character, allowing you to discover right alongside him the dangers and temptations of a criminal lifestyle.The same formula was later repeated (successfully) in Point Break and Sheen's later film Beyond The Law..
'Law and Order' creator Dick Wolf is the writer and co-producer of this reasonably entertaining movie that gets by thanks to good performances and well done action scenes.
The trouble, Benjy Taylor (D.B. Sweeney), the cop, realizes that he *enjoys* stealing cars and likes his target, Ted Varrick (Charlie Sheen) just a little too much.
What's more, he finds himself falling for the friends' sister (Lara Harris).The age of the protagonist (22) does add an interesting wrinkle into the plot: not really that mature, Benjy is young enough that he allows his focus to be blurred, and has to be reminded by an angry supervisor, Vincent Bracey (Randy Quaid) what his mission is supposed to be.
Also, what worked best for this viewer was the fact that Benjy and Ted become good enough friends, that, even faced with knowledge about the other, they don't want to believe the worst.Wolf and director Peter Werner take their time telling this story, but viewers should still take delight in the pulse pounding action scenes and the cars on display (Ted and his crew are especially fond of Porsches.) The two stars do fine work.
Sweeney has the right amount of likability and naivety in his role, and Sheen does nice understated work as a guy whom the audience themselves may like enough to have doubts as to Ted being a killer.
Charlie Sheen is the big bad purveyor of stolen Porsches.
D.B. Sweeney is the rookie cop tasked with infiltrating the organization and nailing Sheen.
Sweeney's an off-hours mechanic, so he fits right in at the chop shop, even cozying up to Sheen's sister.
Both actors are fresh0faced, though Sheen has the swagger to pull off the bored rich kid who steals cars act.
Sweeney, on the other hand, is so baby-faced that he looks more like the starting high school quarterback than any police officer.
In no time, they're great friends, going clothes shopping, and Sheen practically gives his sister away to this grease monkey he didn't know three weeks ago.
This is a fun film with Charlie Sheen playing a guy who likes to steal cars.
He gets involved with a guy he doesn't know is an undercover cop.