There’s a sequence early on in Cohen & Tate that makes very little sense. A family under federal witness protection is on a farm somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Of course things are going to go poorly and the bad guys are coming. So, the phone line gets disconnected as the man under witness protection attempts to make a call. The line is cut. After the hit Roy Scheider’s character makes a call to let the boss know the job is done. The is 1989, before cell phones, so this means using the house’s land line. The same phone line that was cut not a moment ago.
Cohen & Tate was released in 1989, written and directed by Eric Red, one of the co-writers of Near Dark (an awesome vampire western), writer of The Hitcher and director of Body Part. There are plenty of good ideas here, with Roy Scheider as Cohen and Adam Baldin as Tate, two mob hit men on an assignment where things go wrong.
The pacing is slow, you can tell this is Eric Red’s first turn in the director’s chair. A half hour into the less than 90 minute running time and only a couple of things have taken place. Scheider and Baldwin have a solid antagonistic relationship. this is the backbone for what is supposed to be the main premise of the film with the two hitmen facing off against each other in one form or another.
While its slow going, about an hour into the film I was engaged with the story and wondering just how it would get resolved. Not really cheering for either antagonist, and knowing the kid would make it to the end of the film alive, it was more a matter of just having an interest in how the story would unfold.
This was more of a short story than a feature film, but still worth watching for fans of 70s style thrillers with tension and less emphasis on action. Shout Factory does a solid job bringing Cohen & Tate to Blu-ray. The film looks very good, better than I expected and we also get a newly produced 20 minute retrospective featurette. Then there’s about 20 minutes of deleted/alternate scenes, the theatrical trailer and a stills gallery – and even an audio commentary with writer/director Eric Red.
No, it’s not the best crime or action film, but it’s decent enough for those interested.