Review of The Nickel Ride (1975) by Walter M — 05 May 2011

Outstanding Neo-Noir with an intricate script by Eric Roth using Miller's status as a "key man", (holding stolen property for the mob in his LA warehouse block of territory) as a descriptor for his state of being. His nature and carny past are illuminated through dialogue, including some great chemistry with the wonderful Linda Haynes, Hillerman as his immediate boss, and Hopkins as an amiable sociopath.

These passages are underscored by Dave Grusin's minimalist score with a light calliope motif, when Haynes displays her shimmy dance, and again when Hopkins obliquely threatens Miller in his office while playing with a carousel-shaped paperweight. It is not scoring of the Mickey Mouse variety, where every single movement has to be underscored. Thankfully, this is more subtle and appropriate, especially pleasing given the carnival themes.

There is a dream sequence which I found disappointingly forced among so much more subtle foreshadowing through dialogue and imagery. It does serve to focus the shift from the rural idyll back towards LA anxiety, but also deflated a finely built up contrast rather than punctuating it. However, this minor misstep did not spoil the overall tone of inevitability or derail the ending. The location of much backstory, setup and decision-making off screen and to be inferred through oblique dialogue rather than dull exposition is also a pleasant challenge atypical in much modern cinema across genre.