When the story begins a Jewish radio host is shot in the recording studio after his show. Soon after FBI agent Katie Weaver (Debra Winger) is assigned of the case in an unusual way: she has to infiltrate in a community of farmers suspected of hiding the responsibles of the crime. Passing as a seasonal harvester she befriends Gary Simmons (Tom Berenger) and when they go to the 4th of July party, they kiss and once at home end in bed. In the meanwhile Katie has meetings with her chief Mike Carnes (John Heard) telling him that Gary looks like a mild-mannered family man and not the leader of a racist group while Carnes insists that lots of clues lead to Gary.
Days pass, and Katie becomes more and more smitten with Gary but one day Gary's dark side emerges when he argues with a farmer accusing him of being homosexual and affected with AIDS. One night Gary goes with his friends to pick a black man and Katie should give the final hit but she refuses. One day Gary takes his kids and Katie to a meeting of white racists where the apparently calm atmosphere is often disrupted by speeches full of hatred and military training. For financing the terrorist activity the group commits a robbery in a bank involving Katie but an FBI fatally wounds Wes (Ted Levine) right when he was discovering Katie as the undercover agent. Some days pass and the group goes to Chicago for murdering a congressman: this time Katie will manage to kill Gary but the congressman will be murdered by another gang member. Carnes orders all the gang members to be arrested and when Katie goes to pick Gary's kids the priest offends her but she reminds him that America is a free country and everyone should go wherever it wants to go.
I explained the plot with all the details because it was a bit complex to follow until the first half but in the last 50 minutes it became clearer and from 6 I raised my score to a meager 7. There are simply so many twists and turns that if you don't pay close attention to them you won't understand the movie easily, and I had to be careful as well.
The acting was great especially by Winger in a role unusual for her while Berenger plays just another of his many ambiguos characters. The soundtrack was very 1980s and made me dream to walk on the streets of Chicago at sunset with that background music, it was that cool. And the ending was certainly unexpected.
While it certainly looks like a forgotten movie, if you stumble upon it give it a try because the subject matter is still actual to this day (if you'll see it you'll know what I mean).
Days pass, and Katie becomes more and more smitten with Gary but one day Gary's dark side emerges when he argues with a farmer accusing him of being homosexual and affected with AIDS. One night Gary goes with his friends to pick a black man and Katie should give the final hit but she refuses. One day Gary takes his kids and Katie to a meeting of white racists where the apparently calm atmosphere is often disrupted by speeches full of hatred and military training. For financing the terrorist activity the group commits a robbery in a bank involving Katie but an FBI fatally wounds Wes (Ted Levine) right when he was discovering Katie as the undercover agent. Some days pass and the group goes to Chicago for murdering a congressman: this time Katie will manage to kill Gary but the congressman will be murdered by another gang member. Carnes orders all the gang members to be arrested and when Katie goes to pick Gary's kids the priest offends her but she reminds him that America is a free country and everyone should go wherever it wants to go.
I explained the plot with all the details because it was a bit complex to follow until the first half but in the last 50 minutes it became clearer and from 6 I raised my score to a meager 7. There are simply so many twists and turns that if you don't pay close attention to them you won't understand the movie easily, and I had to be careful as well.
The acting was great especially by Winger in a role unusual for her while Berenger plays just another of his many ambiguos characters. The soundtrack was very 1980s and made me dream to walk on the streets of Chicago at sunset with that background music, it was that cool. And the ending was certainly unexpected.
While it certainly looks like a forgotten movie, if you stumble upon it give it a try because the subject matter is still actual to this day (if you'll see it you'll know what I mean).