From The Collection: One False Move

Carl Franklin’s theatrical film debut One False Move is the latest film to enter the Criterion Collection. 

One False Move looks at a small-town police chief (Bill Paxton), holding on to a life-changing secret, who gets word that a pair of ruthless, murderous drug dealers (co-screenwriter Billy Bob Thornton and Michael Beach) are on their way to his small Arkansas town. And an enigmatic woman (Cynda Williams), originally from the small town, who is caught up with the two drug dealers, is stuck in the middle. Their lives converge in a masterclass of slow-burn tension thanks to the nuanced direction of Carl Franklin, whose haunting debut feature travels a crooked road across America’s most fraught divisions—urban and rural, Black and white—while imbuing noir conventions with a wrenching emotional depth.

Here’s what the disc includes:

• New 4K digital restoration, approved by director Carl Franklin, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
• In the 4K UHD edition: One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
• Audio commentary from 1999 featuring Franklin
• New conversation between Franklin and cowriter-actor Billy Bob Thornton
• Trailer
• English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• PLUS: An essay by author William Boyle

I had not seen One False Move before checking out this Criterion release. I knew of the film, mostly because Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert loved the film and ranked it at the top of the Best Movies of 1992 (Ebert had it as the #2 movie of 1992, Siskel had it at #1 for the year, respectfully). I am also a fan of Franklin as a director. Devil in a Blue Dress (another film you can find in the Criterion Collection) is a slick crime film with an underrated Denzel Washington performance, and Out of Time is a fun early 2000s thriller. How this movie escaped me for this long is a mystery, but I finally saw it and I was not disappointed.

One False Move is the best movie of Franklin’s career as a director. In the same vein as the Coen Brothers’ Blood Simple and Sam Raimi’s A Simple Plan (which also stars Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton), this is a tense, gritty, violent thriller that looks at the repercussions of our actions, a small town preparing for a big town problem, and race relationships. The film is smart, effective, and full of shocking moments that are perfectly placed to keep you hooked until the very end. Paxton gives one of the best performances of his career and Thorton and Beach are terrifying and brilliant. Unsurprisingly, Siskel and Ebert were right. This is one of the best movies of 1992 and it’s a great addition to the Criterion Collection that everybody should check out.

You can buy the Criterion edition of One False Move on the Criterion website or anywhere Criterion Collection DVDs are sold.

From the Collection is an analysis piece of non-new-release movies, whether seen on DVD, streaming, or in a theater, and includes a brief history of the film, a review of the film, and content about the experience of seeing the film and/or the contents of the film’s DVD.