Keys to Tulsa (1997)

★ 4.7 1h 53m IMDb

Drama Thriller Crime

Richter Boudreau is on a bad streak: Languishing in the shadow of his celebrity mother, he loses his job as a film critic for the town paper, and now he's been approached with a dangerous proposition that ultimately leads to blackmail. Richter's friend Ronnie ropes him into a scheme to steal the inheritance of his wife, Vicky.

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Cast

Eric Stoltz as Richter Boudreau Age 64 · Whittier, California, USA Eric Hamilton Stoltz (born September 30, 1961) is an American actor and director. He is known for playing sensitive misfits (Mask, Kicking and Screaming, The Waterdance, Killing Zoe). He was nominated...

James Spader as Ronnie Stover Age 66 · Boston, Massachusetts, USA James Todd Spader (/ˈspeɪdər/ SPAY-dər; born February 7, 1960) is an American actor. He is known for often portraying eccentric and morally ambiguous characters. He began his career in critically accl...

Deborah Kara Unger as Vicky Michaels Stover Age 59 · Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Deborah Kara Unger (born 12 May 1966) is a Canadian actress. She is known for her roles in the films Highlander III: The Sorcerer, Crash, The Game, Payback, The Hurricane, White Noise, Silent Hill, 88...

Joanna Going as Cherry Age 62 · Washington D.C., USA From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Joanna C. Going (born 22 July 1963) is an American actress. Born in Washington, D.C., she was the oldest of six children of Lorraine M.

Michael Rooker as Keith Michaels Age 71 · Jasper, Alabama, USA Michael Rooker (born April 6, 1955) is an American actor who mainly plays roles of antagonists. He first rose to prominence for portraying the titular role in Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)...

Director Leslie Greif

Cast Eric Stoltz, James Spader, Deborah Kara Unger, Joanna Going, Michael Rooker, Mary Tyler Moore, James Coburn, Peter Strauss, Cameron Diaz, Marco Perella

Wuchak 5/10 Dec 22, 2024

**_The bad side of Tulsa_**

A young man (Eric Stoltz) has a wealthy mother (Mary Tyler Moore), but is about to lose his movie-review job at the paper while owing money to a no-nonsense drug dealer (James Spader) and struggling with feelings for the dealer’s wife (Deborah Kara Unger). The latter’s brother is an old friend, but now a rich psycho (Michael Rooker), as Richter starts a relationship with a drug-addled woman (Joanna Going). On top of all this, Ronnie manipulates him into getting involved in a risky blackmailing scheme.

“Keys to Tulsa” was primarily shot in December, 1994, but not released until 1997. It’s a psychological study of several flawed people within the context of a crime drama that mixes quirky humor with serious situations. Although there are a few thrills, it’s not a thriller, but rather a soap opera meshing Tarantino with Tennessee Williams. The semi-incoherent plot is reminiscent of the contemporaneous “Cop Land,” but it’s not as satisfying as that movie, not to mention “Pulp Fiction,” “Jackie Brown” or “The Fugitive Kind.”

More coherent storytelling would’ve helped, but there are other issues. The flick wallows in the seedy side of life with a curious shortage of light (even “Pulp Fiction” featured a potent message of redemption), which is ironic seeing as how Tulsa is sort of seen as America’s ‘City of God.’ When it does try to convey some noble bit, like the revelation that a certain adulterous woman truly loves her husband, it comes across awkward, disingenuous and eye-rolling.

It has a notable cast, though, and there are entertaining moments here and there. Spader is great as a Dark Elvis type and Deborah Kara Unger never looked better, not to mention Going. The latter has a few nude scenes, I guess to make up for the movie’s shortcomings. But her character is so lost, so drug-addled, you feel sorry for her. Yet it’s not like these kinds of people don’t exist.

At the end of the day, the flick had great potential, but needed a rewrite to work out the kinks and flush out better entertainment. Still, some of it works.

It runs 1 hour, 53 minutes, and was shot in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas (along with nearby McKinney) and Tulsa, Oklahoma.

GRADE: C/C-