Flashpoint is a 1984 American thriller directed by William Tannen, starring Kris Kristofferson, Treat Williams, Rip Torn, Tess Harper, Miguel Ferrer, and Kurtwood Smith and based on the novel of the same name by George LaFountaine. The score was composed and performed by Tangerine Dream. It was the first theatrical release produced by HBO.
Texas Border Patrol officers Bobby Logan (Kristofferson) and Ernie Wyatt (Williams) discover a Jeep buried in the desert containing a man's skeleton, a high-powered rifle, and $800,000 in cash. The money and the man's driver's license are dated from 1963. Before long, the two guards find themselves running for their lives from Federal agents who are determined to kill anyone in connection to the find.
Not to be confused with the 2007 Hong Kong film Flash Point (two words). Or with the Canadian TV series. Or with the 2011 DC Comics event.
This film includes examples of the following tropes:
- Asshole Victim: Roget and Lambassino.
- Chekhov's Gun: The border sensors getting set up earlier in the film. The corrupt feds try to use it to hunt down Bobby Logan, but Bobby remembered a blind spot - a dry riverbed - the sensors couldn't map and he uses it to evade the gunmen and kill them from behind.
- Covers Always Lie: The DVD cover
◊ shows the U.S. Capitol building despite the story taking place entirely in the Texas desert. Granted, the plot does involve the discovery of a government conspiracy, but it's still a bit misleading.
- Decoy Protagonist: Ernie, who gets murdered by the conspiracy.
- Dirty Cop: Carson and Wells, who are both in on the conspiracy behind Kennedy's assassination.
- Downer Ending: Ernie and other loose ends are killed by a conspiracy which turns out to be real, and Bobby barely survives but is now targeted by corrupt federal agents who want him dead. However, Bobby is able to flee to Mexico with weapons and some of the money, and tells Wells to warn the conspirators that he'll be back to take his revenge.
- Expository Theme Tune: Over the end credits. Leonard Maltin's guide deemed it the worst movie song of 1984.
- Heel–Face Turn: Sheriff Wells was in on the conspiracy, but covered up the disappearance of the real assassin and hoped no one would find the car wreckage with all the evidence and payoff money. When Ernie and Bobby found it, he knew the other conspirators would come back to kill everyone involved in the find. He explains it all to Bobby after the big shootout, promises to stay behind to stop any more federals chasing him, and gives Bobby the chance to flee to Mexico.
- Job-Stealing Robot: Ernie is not happy that his job observing the border is being usurped by the new motion sensors.
- Kicked Upstairs: After Ernie is nearly killed trying to arrest a drug smuggler, he and Logan are shocked to learn that Carson has taken over as head of their station following the sudden promotion of the previous supervisor.
- Killed to Uphold the Masquerade: Armarillo, Roget, Lambassino, and Ernie are all killed by the conspiracy to cover up Who Shot JFK?.
- Minor Crime Reveals Major Plot: A mysterious long-buried car accident in the middle of a Texas desert, with a lot of money unaccounted for, a dead body, and a sniper rifle found inside. Ernie and Logan do some research through newspaper archives for November 1963 to find any clues about the dead driver but they don't find much due to the papers filled with reports on JFK's assassination. Logan doesn't figure out the connection until it's too late.
- Mr. Fanservice: Ernie and Logan are introduced taking a shower, with a brief shot of the former's naked rear. Logan also appears shirtless while excavating the wrecked Jeep.
- Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Despite the story taking place in Texas, Treat Williams delivers all of Ernie's lines in his regular Mid-Atlantic accent.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Carson regularly uses the slur "wetbacks" in reference to Mexican immigrants, and one one occasion refers to a Nixon staffer of Italian ancestry as a "grease ball". He's deeply involved in the assassination plot and cover-up as well.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Ernie gives one to Pedroza, a local businessman, calling him out on his exploitation of undocumented immigrants. Unsurprisingly, Pedroza's lawyer immediately tells Ernie to shut up.
- Who Shot JFK?: Turns out the man in the truck, a certain Michael J. Curtis, was the real assassin of JFK, and the U.S. Government is willing to go to great lengths to destroy the evidence — and anyone who's seen it.
