U Turn

Plot

In Arizona, Bobby Cooper drives his 1964½ Ford Mustang convertible heading to Vegas by way of Globe and Phoenix to repay gangster Mr. Arkady. His journey takes a turn, three miles outside of Superior, when the radiator hose bursts. At Harlin's Garage, Darrell claims repairs will take time, asking about Bobby's bandaged left hand. Taking his money pack, Bobby locks his handgun in the trunk.

Bobby walks into town and meets Grace, who is walking home with her new drapes. Bobby offers his assistance, and she invites him home to shower, where it's revealed Arkady dismembered two of Bobby's fingers as punishment for the overdue debt. Bobby kisses Grace, but he's interrupted and assaulted by her much-older husband, Jake McKenna. Walking back to Superior, Jake picks Bobby up, asking if Bobby would kill Grace for money. Bobby dismisses Jake's proposal.

Boyd and Ed rob Jamilla's groceria, then demand Bobby's pack. When Bobby refuses, Boyd pistol-whips him, taking his $13,000. Jamilla retaliates with a shotgun, killing both robbers, but shredding and bloodying Bobby's cash. Unable to pay Darrell an exorbitant $150, Bobby phones acquaintances in vain for help, including Arkady, who sends Sergei after Bobby. At Waldorf Café, Bobby buys a beer from Flo. Troubled teenager Jenny flirts with Bobby, incurring ire from her jealous boyfriend Toby N. "TNT" Tucker. But Sheriff Virgil Potter enters, and TNT backs off.

Desperate to recoup his $13,000, Bobby approaches Jake, who bought a $50,000 life insurance policy on Grace, but Jake needs it to look like suicide. Bobby tries pushing her off a cliff, but pulls her back. They have sex, but Grace stops short, revealing Jake is also her stepfather, who molested her after her mother committed suicide and forced her to marry him. Grace asks Bobby to kill Jake and steal his $100,000. Bobby distrustfully refuses. Darrell extorts another $50 from Bobby, who discovers Darrell took Bobby's gun; Bobby grabs a wrench, but Darrell wields a tire-iron. Bobby rages, trapped. Lacking fare to Mexico, Bobby hysterically begs, "They're gonna kill me!" The bus station clerk gives him the ticket, but he has to run from Sergei, who's arrested for speeding by Potter. TNT attacks, destroying Bobby's ticket; Bobby loses it, badly beating TNT, whom Jenny comforts.

Out of options, Bobby phones Grace, who unlocks Jake's back door. While having sex with his daughter, Jake hears Bobby entering, and brandishes Bobby's own gun (which Darrell gave Jake). Bobby claims killing Jake was Grace's idea, and he'll kill Grace for only $200 to get his car back and leave town. After a ruckus, Jake enters; Grace attacks Jake with her tomahawk, and Bobby delivers the coup de grâce, killing him. They unlock Jake's safe to find $200,000, and have sex on Jake's bloody bed.

Bobby gets his Mustang back from Darrell, picking up Grace and the money. Leaving Superior, Potter intercepts them, revealing he too has been sleeping with Grace, who betrays Bobby, blaming him for Jake's death. Potter tells Bobby that Grace is Jake's biological daughter, angering her. She shoots Potter with Bobby's gun.

Bobby hits Grace, recovering his gun, but after dumping Jake and Virgil down a ravine, Grace pushes Bobby into the ravine, severely injuring him. Leaving, Grace discovers Bobby has the ignition key and climbs down to retrieve it. As Bobby strangles her, she shoots him, but dies. Bobby climbs out, starts the car, and says into the review mirror, "You're still lucky." However, Darrell's shoddy replacement hose bursts. Bobby leans back, laughing ironically about his continuing bad luck as he looks up at the bright blue sky where vultures circle, aware he'll soon die.

Production

U Turn was filmed during November 1996–January 1997 on location in Superior, Arizona, and other areas of Arizona and California, including the Coachella Valley. It was filmed entirely on reversal film stock, Kodak 5239, to give an extra harsh look to the hostile environment; they wound up shooting 75 percent of the film on the stock, seeking advice from Spike Lee and Malik Hassan Sayeed, who had used it on Clockers. When production moved to Los Angeles after a short break, Jeff Kimball took over cinematographer duties from Robert Richardson; Richardson had moved on to The Horse Whisperer.

Casting

For the Toby N. Tucker role, Joaquin Phoenix said small-town style gave him the inspiration and the idea for the haircut, which was "TNT" (the character's initials) shaved on the back of his head. "These kids in these small towns, these fads that just roll over them," he told Rough Cut Magazine in October 1998. "Like, five years pass and they still hang on to them. So, I thought it was really great if he shaves his name, he thinks he's really notorious."

Reception

Reaction by critics to U Turn was mixed. Roger Ebert gave the film 1½ stars out of four, deeming it a "repetitive, pointless exercise in genre filmmaking—the kind of film where you distract yourself by making a list of the sources". James Berardinelli rated the film three stars out of four, stating "for those who enjoy movies on the edge, U-Turn offers just the trajectory you might expect." Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote that it "demonstrates a filmmaker in complete command of his craft and with little control over his impulses". U Turn holds a 59% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 54 reviews, with the consensus: "U-Turn is a lurid, stylish lark that boasts striking moments but lacks the focus and weight of Oliver Stone's best work." On Metacritic, it has a rating of 54 out of 100 based on 20 reviews, indicating mixed or average reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale.

Later, Oliver Stone said: “Certain people really liked U Turn. More than you might think claimed it was the one they “most liked” of my films. It’s certainly different, and its incest storyline was verboten to the average American viewer. Let’s just say, you need a sense of humor for this one."

The film was nominated for two Golden Raspberry Awards: Worst Director (which went to Kevin Costner for The Postman) and Worst Supporting Actor (Jon Voight, also for Most Wanted; ultimately, he "lost" to Dennis Rodman for Double Team). It was also included on Siskel and Ebert's "Worst Films of 1997" episode. In the episode, Gene Siskel reflected that: "U Turn [had] the same highly stylized violence as Stone's Natural Born Killers, but without that film's intellectual content, U Turn seems like Stone's attempt at a commercial hit – and he failed, miserably."

Remake

The film was remade in India as the 2004 action thriller Musafir by Sanjay Gupta. The film had a more favorable critical reception, with some considering it better than U Turn.