Rush
Directed by Lili Fini Zanuck
Music by Eric Clapton
Starring Jason Patric and Jennifer Jason Leigh, Sam Elliott, Gregg Allman
Reviewed by Ulrike Erhardt
Rush is heroin which kick-starts drug users into oblivion. That's why undercover narcotics officer and cool dude Jim Rayno (Jason Patric) is glad to take it while rookie police officer Kristen Cates (Jennifer Jason Leigh), only shoots up to infiltrate the drug scene of the fictional south-western town of Katterly, Texas, in 1975.
When their ploy fails because they are too busy enjoying themselves to care what's happening to the Mr Big of the drug scene (played by blues singer/songwriter Gregg Allman), they decide to go even further outside the law to get him.
Rush is loosely based on Kim Wozencraft's real-life experiences as a narcotics officer in Texas. Lili Fini Zanuck opted for this gripping story for her directorial debut and claims it is not an anti-drug movie but a story about two people in love trying to help each other. That's surely what Jim has in mind when choosing Kristen as his partner.
What we are shown is a drug scene in which life is cheap, drugs are dear, cop are crooked, and crooks keep their cool until they explode. But who cares as long as Kristen and Jim are generating electric current? Unfortunately no-one wins because in the end drugs get the better of them all, or so we are shown. Hollywood can make even real life look fictional!