Cohen and Tate (1989) is a nasty little thriller that feels longer than its 90 minute run time due to the fact you’re stuck in a car for one long night with two psychos and a kid not afraid to cuss. Yes, Travis (Harley Cross) is a nine year old boy in FBI protection because he’s witnessed a mafia murder, all kept off-screen and revealed to us in an opening text crawl. After a tense opening scene reminiscent of a spaghetti western, Travis is kidnapped and babysat by two professional hitman who don’t like each other: Cohen (Roy Scheider) is old-school and usually works alone, Tate (Adam Baldwin) is a yokel who swings a gigantic shotgun around. There are neo-noir vibes in its nocturnal vision of the Texas highways as nothing but road, oil refineries and truck stops, all of which is aesthetically in keeping with director Eric Red’s previous screenplays for The Hitcher and Near Dark. There’s also lots of blood splatter and our titular anti-heroes’ constant threats to this kid, as well as to anyone else who gets in their way, which makes for a mean ride, though Travis is depicted as resourceful enough to sow the seeds of tension between these two assassins. Scheider is good laconic value and Baldwin is constructed to resemble a meat-headed Terminator, all of which escalates in tension and violence for a memorably nihilistic ending. Available to stream on Stan in HD quality. Recommended.
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