One False Move

One False Move is a 1992 crime thriller directed by Carl Franklin and starring Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton and Cynda Williams.

Police Chief Dale "Hurricane" Dixon has been the only real law enforcement in Star City, Arkansas, for many years. Despite his love for the job, Dale has long felt that his potential for police work is wasted in such a quiet town, and yearns for some excitement. But when Star City becomes the destination of a group of ruthless criminals, Dale's eagerness for some "real" policing turns into a classic case of Be Careful What You Wish For, as old demons rear their heads and violence erupts in his peaceful little town.

The movie was originally set to go direct to video until critical word of mouth (Gene Siskel named it as his favorite movie of 1992, while Roger Ebert picked it as his #2, and both praised it on their show) gave it a theatrical release. While it wasn't a hit, the movie did help boost the careers of Franklin, Paxton, and Thornton.

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One False Move contains examples of the following tropes:

• Anti-Hero: While Dale is a good person at heart, he's driven in a lot of his actions by ego and the reveal that he cheated on his wife with a 17 year old girl who he had a glaring power imbalance with does nothing but darken his overall character.
• Anti-Villain: Fantasia is an accessory to mass murder and a killer in her own right, but she's also a scared young woman just trying to make it home to be with her son, who is treated as arguably the most sympathetic character in the story.
• Ax-Crazy: Both Ray and Pluto are vicious criminals with murderous instincts.
• "Be Quiet!" Nudge: Cheryl Ann kicks Dale under the table when he makes a racial remark to McFeely, one of the L.A. detectives. McFeely takes it in stride while Dale looks embarrassed when he realizes what he said.
• Bittersweet Ending: Dale gets his long sought-after moment of glory, but at the cost of being viciously stabbed while Lila is shot dead. Though the film ends on a bright note as Dale seems finally ready to accept Byron as his son, it comes at a heavy cost and is indicated to be something that could very likely threaten Dale's current family.
• Cop Killer: Lila murders a Texas state trooper who stops her, Ray and Pluto, which leaves her shaken.
• Disappeared Dad: Lila and her brother never met their father, who was white, since he had another family). Her son's father is also white, and refuses to acknowledge him (for the same reason, plus at the time she was only 17, with him being a cop who'd arrested her making it even worse). She bitterly says when talking to him:

  Lila: I guess you figured because I kinda look white, that you could fuck me, what the hell. Because I kinda look black, then you could dump me, what the hell.

• Foolish Husband, Responsible Wife: Dale's wife tells the Cole and McFeely, the LA detectives, that she is worried about Dale getting in over his head with Ray and Pluto.

  Cheryl Ann: He watches TV, I read non-fiction.

• Foreshadowing: When Cole and McFeely ask Dale how he knows Lila, this hints at their previous relationship.
• Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Pluto is bespectacled, as well as a complete psychopath who thinks nothing of stabbing multiple people to death.
• Glory Seeker: Dale has a major desire to take down big league criminals and be part of larger operations than his small town offers, in a quest for admiration from his peers as much as for genuine altruism.
• Hidden Disdain Reveal: In a key scene, Dale overhears what Cole and McFeely really think of him and his chances of joining their department and when his presence is identified by a waitress, he has to approach them pretending he didn't just hear them drag him through the mud.
• Hollywood Genetics: Lila turns out to be a biracial woman, with a white father and black mother. She is also the mother of a son by a white man, who is darker than her, which is very improbable genetically. It's made worse by the fact that Lila says her son is nearly white as his father when he tries to deny paternity of him. This then has an odd result of causing his denial to come off as reasonable, when that's not intended.
• Psycho Knife Nut: Unlike Ray, Pluto prefers to use an hidden knife to carry out his killings.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Ray and Pluto are both cold-blooded killers, but conduct themselves in very different ways. Ray is an arrogant hick and drug addict who approaches every situation with peak aggression, while Pluto is an icy blank who rarely raises his voice yet is just as threatening as Ray in his soft-spoken dominance.
• The Reveal: Dale not only knows Lila personally, but is the father of her son Byron, having slept with Lila when she was only 17 over 5 years ago.
• Scary Black Man: Pluto. A very dangerous and cold-hearted murderer.
• Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Fantasia goes out of her way to protect a young boy from Ray and Pluto during their initial massacre, perhaps in heavy part because she herself has a child around his age.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Dale thinks he's a Cowboy Cop in an Action Movie, and thinks this case will bust him into the big leagues of being a Los Angeles cop. In reality, he's completely out of his league dealing with career criminals Ray and Pluto, and his big plan to ensnare them gets Lila (the mother of his child) killed, while he's severely wounded.

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