White Sands
Tags: comedy, neo noir, murder, violence, intrigue, romantic, suspenseful

Plot synopsis:
Ray Dolezal, a bored Torrance County, New Mexico Deputy Sheriff, investigates an apparent suicide in the desert. Alongside the body is a suitcase containing $500,000. During the autopsy, they find a digested piece of paper with a phone number; Dolezal, posing as Spenser, calls the number and goes to a meeting, where he is robbed and instructed to meet Gorman Lennox at a restaurant. FBI agent Greg Meeker intercepts Dolezal and informs him that Spenser was an undercover agent. Now that Dolezal has lost the money, Meeker suggests he continue posing as Spenser to recover the money or help arrest Lennox.
Dolezal meets Lennox and his wealthy associate Lane Bodine and learns the money is for illegal arms to fund left-wing freedom fighters in South America. The arms dealers demo the guns for Dolezal and Lennox, but demand an additional $250,000 due to unforeseen expenses; Meeker, unwilling to provide more money, pushes the responsibility on Dolezal, who romances his way into Lane's life so she will attract rich humanitarian donors to fund the deal. Two FBI internal affairs agents hunt for Dolezal, believing he killed Spenser and took the money. Dolezal is forced to admit to Lane he is not really Spenser, but she agrees to help raise the money because she finds Dolezal a better alternative to Lennox.
Dolezal learns from Noreen, who had an affair with the real Spenser, that he was working with an FBI agent who likely killed him. Noreen runs away at the sight of Meeker and the internal affairs agents grab Dolezal. Lennox runs the agents off the road; Dolezal flees and returns to Lane. He discovers Noreen dead and a Polaroid of her with Spenser and Meeker.
Dolezal breaks into a surveillance van outside Lane's house and beats up the FBI agent. He accuses Meeker of killing Spenser and Noreen. Meeker admits he procured the $500,000 without authorization to steal it and capture Lennox, but Spenser lost his nerve and backed out; Meeker confronted him out in the desert and talked him into shooting himself. He taunts Dolezal that the Polaroid proves nothing, and no one will believe his word against that of a minority agent with a spotless record.
Lennox confronts Dolezal and reveals the two internal affairs agents tied up in the trunk of his car. They drive out into the desert, where Lennox says he knows Dolezal is not Spenser, because Lennox is really a CIA agent who wants the arms deal to ensure the survival of the military-industrial complex. Lennox kills the two agents and informs Dolezal that he also kidnapped Lane. Dolezal must find where she hid the $250,000 and meet Lennox on a deserted military base in the White Sands desert.
Dolezal uncovers the money in a briefcase buried in Lane's horse's stall. He kidnaps Meeker, takes him out to the White Sands base, and handcuffs him to a pipe inside an abandoned building. Dolezal explains that Lennox is CIA, the FBI will be arriving soon, and Meeker can either face punishment or try to flee. Dolezal leaves a gun behind, so that with some effort Meeker is able to grab it and hide behind a bathroom stall.
Lennox arrives and reveals that Lane is down the road at the base entrance. Dolezal placed the briefcase in the abandoned building, but when Lennox walks in, Meeker shoots and kills him. After disabling Lennox's car, Dolezal picks up Lane. He drops her off at her estate and explains that needs to return to his family. He hands her the $250,000 she had obtained through her pseudo-fund raising event.
A small army of FBI arrive in cars and helicopters. Meeker breaks the pipe he was cuffed to and runs through the White Sands desert with the briefcase. Dolezal left the original $500,000 he was originally suspected of stealing so the FBI will stop investigating him, but one of the agents notices footprints going out into the White Sands and so they head off in pursuit. As the FBI catches up with him, Meeker stumbles and drops the briefcase, which breaks open; it contains nothing but sand.

Review: A wonderfully subdued and suspenseful film about a police deputy who takes on the identity of an apparent suicide victim, ostensibly to locate the victim's "killer." Of course, in the process he gets more than he bargained for--or did he?
Perhaps he was seeking an exciting and intriguing diversion from boredom all along.The story stretches the limits of believability throughout, yet this is easy to forgive and forget in light of magnificent performances by Willem Dafoe, Mickey Rourke and others, which draw you deep enough into the action that you'll soon forget none of this could ever happen.
But it is Dafoe who turns in the best performance as an ordinary man who is compelled to put himself into an extraordinarily dangerous situation for reasons even he probably doesn't quite understand.
All told, Deputy Ray Dolezal (Dafoe) is one of the most genuinely likeable characters I've seen on film.With a clever script, plenty of plot twists, outstanding performances and marvelous desert cinematography, White Sands is definitely a film worth watching..
In order for a movie to hold our attention by presenting interesting and exciting events that exceed what might happen in our normally more mundane lives, we have to suspend our natural critical view that, 'things wouldn't happen that way in real life...'.
'It's a movie', so we cut it some slack and accept things that on the whole, might be somewhat unlikely.Right at the outset White Sands demands a great deal from our reserves of suspended disbelief, and this is because a small hick town sheriff, who turns out to be a very thorough and exacting crime scene detective, responds to the discovery in his jurisdiction, of an apparent suicide victim who has a briefcase containing a huge amount of money, by becoming the sole self-appointed investigator.
Then he discovers a lead, and with no backup what-so-ever he decides to take the whole briefcase full of money and set out in a convertible '65 Corvette no less, on a quest to find information about the deceased through pretending to be that person!As our good sheriff drives off and away from his beautiful wife, in his oddly chosen very valuable classic convertible sports car, all alone and with half a million bucks in unknown and unsecured evidence in a briefcase on the seat beside him, we know that he has no idea whom he might meet.
Do ya think?With a lesser actor in the lead role we might be inclined to see if it isn't too late to get out of our seats and go back to the ticket booth and make a scene about a refund, or to make a phone call and see if the video store is still open, but it's Willem Dafoe and he does pretty darned well with the material.If our next thought, seeing this lone man set off on his quest with his unsecured briefcase of money, is something along the lines of, 'This can't be good...' then we are treated to the fulfilment of our forebodings.
To say any more would be to do a job of telling that the movie actually does much better than I can.There are several big names in the cast and they do a commendable job.
Rourke was in his downhill after a flash rise to fame due to 9 1/2 weeks (if you are an 80s guy like me, you know what I mean), but he still gives a good performance and one of his lines was just the best of the whole movie.
The Good And Bad Of White Sands.
Here is another modern-day film-noir, featuring interesting characters played by a diverse cast.
That cast is led by Willem Dafoe, who reminds me a lot of another noir actor, Dan Duryea.There is the usual corrupt government/military officials angle but the plot does have a few neat twists and is generally a non-nonsense kind of story.
I guess it will take looks to figure out everything, especially the very end.I'm not usually a fan of Elizabeth Mastrantonio, but I thought she was exceptional in here: by far, the best and most interesting character.
Overall, the good outweighs the bad and the somewhat confusing story helps draw me back for future viewings.Aside notes: this must have been one of Samuel L.
A New Mexico state sheriff assumes the identity of a dead man he finds in the desert and sets out to solve the crime all by himself.
Willem Dafoe is the lawman who bites off more than he can chew and stumbles from one situation to another, all with bad guys and mysterious women who want the money he found in the desert with the man who was killed.
Jackson, Mickey Rourke, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and M.
Emmet Walsh heading the list, and Dafoe and Mastrantonio have a nice shower scene together.
This interesting cop thriller has a convoluted plot that gets a bit out of hand in the second half, with improbable, needless twists added only to provoke a surprised response on the audience's part (consider, for example, Mickey Rourke's true identity), but it has been stylishly directed by Roger Donaldson (who has already shown his competence with the first-rate "No Way Out") and acted with restraint by the three leads; Rourke is particularly magnetic.
Willem DeFoe plays a cop who becomes wrapped up in this undercover scheme involving half a million dollars.
All the characters, played by Sam Jackson (a great actor) and Mickey Rork are not who you really think they are.
Jackson), CIA Lennox(Mickey Rourke) , and Lane Bodine (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), a woman of means join in on the fun.
Ray ( William Dafoe ) investigates an apparent suicide in the middle of the desert of a man with a briefcase full of money .
Jackson, White Sands trails away from the initial interest of the start and becomes a cliched " everyone chasing after the money " flick.
Willem Dafoe, in a rare lead role, is excellent as small town sheriff Ray Dolezal, who stumbles upon a murdered FBI agent in the back end of nowhere, impulsively propelling him down a well of black market intrigue and dangerous circumstances.
Mickey Rourke plays a high mannered, low life arms dealer with his usual brand of slick, Mach pizazz, and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio uses her unmistakably sultry presence to great effect as a mysterious, sexy financial backer to their operation.
When the slightly over convoluted plot threatens to mire us in bewilderment, like the characters get mired in the white deserts of their own morally questionable actions, the solid work from the actors brings us back on track.
Even when we don't know exactly what is going on and it's over complicated for complexities sake, we're still intrigued by the lone star, almost Cormac McCarthy like nature of the story, and the cast who are more than willing to commit.
Intelligent, suspenseful undercover movie featuring great performances by Willem Dafoe, Samuel L.
It therefore truly can be called a forgotten gem!The story is very clever, sometimes too clever, with many double crosses, but it dont matter if one doesnt understand exactly who is conning who in this suspenseful undercover movie.Willem Dafoe goes undercover to find out who is tied to a brief case with a million dollars that was found next to a dead body in the desert.
If there was a movie that was totally implausible and simply asks too much for one's "suspension of disbelief" well, it's WHITE SANDS.
He's a total blank going from one incredulous situation (his relationship with Mastrantonio's silly character) to the next (Rourke's real identity), until the truly anti-climatic ending.
The story-line to the film is made all too easy by the way that Willem Defoe (not at his most believable) leads us into the intrigue in a way that leaves too many questions unanswered, primarily WHY!
Admittedly the introduction of Rourke, Mastriano and Samuel L Jackson (listed as 'uncool' Sam Jackson in the credits!) bring more cohesion into the film for the balance, but the screenplay of a good story is still spoiled by the 'blundering' opening.The upsides are the wonderful cinematography of the locations and the cleverly worked ending to leave you happy that you watched the film, although maybe unhappy that you actually own a copy on DVD!
If you like the cast (although be wary of Defoe's role here) then watch it and see what you think!
I really liked his movie "Thirteen Days" though, which was just great but this mostly was due to its compelling historic tense story.
The movie is not really ever tense or mysterious, mostly because of the reason that the story always stays way too vague and overcomplicated with twists that don't always seem to make credible sense.
It features stars such as Willem Dafoe, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Mickey Rourke, M.
Emmet Walsh, Miguel Sandoval, James Rebhorn and also actors who weren't big stars yet at the time such as Samuel L.
But the spectacular New Mexico vistas are not nearly enough to overcome a garbled storyline about a good-guy cop named Ray Dolezal (Willem Dafoe) who investigates the death of a man clutching a suitcase full of loot.
None of the characters are especially interesting.The story also suffers from various standard film clichés: tough guys who talk tough, characters who spend a lot of time pointing guns at each other; the obligatory nude shower scene, a gory autopsy, and so on.
Another big problem here is the casting of Willem Dafoe.
With his heavy-duty Northern accent, he is not at all convincing as a redneck sheriff.Lacking thematic depth or significant originality, "White Sands" is just another film about some cop who tries to solve a crime alone, and in the process encounters assorted characters and risks.
The only thing that made the movie halfway interesting to me was the expansive New Mexico landscape..
that was pretty serious...Dafoe and Rourke have some interesting exchanges, and Samuel Jackson is a riot...
A man has apparently committed suicide in he New Mexico desert and beside his body is a bag containing $500,000 so local sheriff Ray Dolezal decides to keep the dead man's rendezvous to unravel the mystery A lot of people have complained about WHITE SANDS being implausiable , contrived or over plotted .
For much of the screen time the plot twists and turns well enough but ion the last 15 minutes we have to listen to characters state " I'm not how you think I am , I'm really ....
" or we listen to characters give away the plot which means the climax is very much spoon fed to the audience which is something of a shame since while not being a truly great thriller WHITE SANDS deserves to be remembered more than it really is .
Roger Donaldson directed this undercover police thriller as small town southwest deputy sheriff Ray Dolezal(played by Willem Dafoe) finds a body in the desert with a suitcase full of cash, and no idea how or why it got there.
Ray then goes to the extraordinary length of taking on the identity of the dead man in order to get to the bottom of the matter, and finds himself involved with rogue agents of the FBI(Samuel Jackson) & CIA(Mickey Rourke), and also involved with a beautiful woman philanthropist(played by Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), despite being happily married...
Mediocre film has a good cast and director but an unconvincing and convoluted story that leaves the viewer unsatisfied..
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio was incredible and reminded me once again why she can still nail a movie role here and there even though she's past her prime in Hollywood standards.
Mickey Rourke was decent for his role and this was probably one of his last real works before he got all weird and slipped into drugs and depression.
Deputy Sheriff Ray Dolezal (Willem Dafoe) investigates a dead body with a suitcase full of money found in the middle of the desert.
He goes to a meeting where the money is taken and a meeting with Gorman Lennox (Mickey Rourke) is set up.
Dolezal meets the underworld partner Lennox and then Lane Bodine (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) who knew the dead man, Bob Spencer.
At White Sands, Dolezal and Lennox are shown state-of-the-art weapons.It's an overly complicated hard-boiled police undercover investigation.
That movie was a drama about reporter assuming the identity of dead arms dealer.
The love story feels very forced , yet I don't mind because I saw breasts of Mastrantonio The best thing about "White sands" is acting.
Mickey Rourke ("Sin city") is great as the arms dealer.
Overall , the acting is really good and the best thing in the whole movie that makes you forget about the weak screenplay."White sands" has some really cool and interesting music by Patrick O Hearn.
It's also quite nicely photographed by Peter Menzies Jr. Roger Donaldson is not bad director either here."White sands" is worth watching mostly if you don't really have anything else to do.
"White Sands" (1992) is a crime/drama/thriller about a small town cop (Willem Dafoe) who masquerades as a man he mysteriously finds dead in the desert with half a million dollars.
This gets him mixed up with a shady weapons-runner (Mickey Rourke) and a woman of means who is attracted to him (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio).
The convoluted plot also includes a greedy FBI agent, played by Samuel L.
Jackson, and many more (e.g. Maura Tierney).Although shot in and around the spectacular White Sands, New Mexico, (Estancia, Taos and Sante Fe), the film doesn't really take advantage of the locations.
There's SOME action -- mostly people getting shot -- but this is hardly an "action-packed" picture.What the film has going for it is a cool ambiance, a great cast, solid performances and an excellent soundtrack.
In any event, Rourke is magnetic as the charismatic arms-runner.While not as good as Rourke's more recent "Killshot" -- an underrated thriller from 2008 -- "White Sands" is a professionally made film with enough good points to make it worth your time, if you like the cast.The film runs 101 minutes.GRADE: B-.
"White Sands" is a stylish thriller with numerous twists and turns and a collection of characters who frequently aren't who they appear to be.
It's also a great looking and atmospheric film with stunning scenery and marvellous cinematography by Peter Menzies Jnr. The story begins as an investigation into a mystery which could involve murder and then develops into the uncovering of a great deal of corruption and even a conspiracy which may be politically motivated.When a dead body's found in the desert and Deputy Sheriff Ray Dolezal (Willem Dafoe) goes out to investigate, he isn't sure whether the dead man, who had a gun in his hand and a suitcase with $500,000 in it, had committed suicide or been murdered.
The two women who attacked him then give him instructions to get in touch with Gorman Lennox (Mickey Rourke).Before he contacts Lennox, Dolezal gets abducted by an FBI agent called Greg Meeker (Samuel L Jackson) who explains that Spenser was working for him and agrees that Dolezal should carry on posing as Spenser in order to try to recover the lost money.After meeting with Lennox and his associate, Lane Bodine (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), Dolezal finds himself embroiled in a deal to buy some illegal weapons from a couple of dealers who unexpectedly demand a further $250,000 to complete the sale.
Furthermore, when he realises that he's become involved in an even wider conspiracy involving the CIA, he then takes an unconventional course of action which leads to what he regards as a satisfactory conclusion.This movie features a cast of top quality actors whose excellent performances are vital to its success and the pace of the action is great, especially considering the plot's many complications and unexpected developments.
At the time this was released, no-one knew who Sam Jackson was, but now his presence gives the film the balance needed.
Dafoe is the sheriff who gets involved in Jackson's plot to catch baddie arms dealer Rourke.
Dafoe has to pretend to be a dead man (Rourke doesn't know about the death).
The last 30 minutes is possibly the most exciting stuff I've seen, filmed in the 'White Sands' of the desert, jackson running for his life with a briefcase containing money- or so he thinks.
Rourke turns out to be a CIA operative, which was a little bit unnecessary, and Dafoe perhaps is too smug in his capture of Jackson- but it all adds to the fun.
Mickey Rourke playing a bad guy.
I had no intention of watching this film,I just had nothing better to do.However,it's worth a watch.There are faults,as there are with most films,but the film is worthy of praise.Willem Dafoe as the small time cop caught up in the mess is a great choice for such a versatile actor.With strong support from the ever-reliable Samuel L.Jackson and the controversial Mickey Rourke.The film works well,it just tries too hard to captivate the audience.Still,I am only one person,I still say this should be watched Enjoy The Film Sean.
And not the cast either -- I mean, Mickey Rourke, Willem DaFoe, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Maura Tierney, Samuel L.
Oh, I knew DaFoe was a rural police officer who was adopting the identity of the dead man and taking his half million bananas in order to find the killers.
Jackson is full of indignation, authority, and irony.Yet here we are, with more than a million dollars worth of state-of-the-art arms destined for shipment to unidentified rebels, and it shows up for five minutes then disappears from the plot and the movie..
WHITE SANDS is a movie about the drug traffic.
This must also be the last movie where Rourke still had his youth features (--I never knew what to make of his surgical tale--).
As a Rourke _completist, I had to see WHITE SANDS; and, as mentioned, did it several times.