Pair of Aces

1991

Pair of Aces is a made-for-cable film from 1991 which plays out like a longer, raunchier episode of a TV cop show, good ol' boy style. It employs the familiar cop show (and cop movie) cliche of pairing up mismatched buddies to solve a case. In this case, the unlikely pair are a master thief and swindler, played by a Texas legend, singer-songwriter Willie Nelson; and a hard-boiled, straight-laced Texas Ranger, played by another Texas legend, and another permastoned singer-songwriter-turned-actor, Kris Kristofferson of Brownsville. Hmm, now that I think about it, those buddies weren't so mismatched at all. Kristofferson IS Willie Nelson, except younger, better looking, and with shorter hair. In fact, I think they really are unmismatched buddies in real life.

For various reasons not worth detailing, the thief and the lawman are forced into an unlikely partnership to vindicate an old-time Ranger (another Texas boy, Temple's own Rip Torn) who seems to have gone rogue. The film gets a bit confusing from time to time because nobody in the film is who they are pretending to be, except Kristofferson and Nelson. Some apparent bad guys are actually undercover lawmen, some apparent dead guys are really alive, some who seem to be on the side of the law are actually bad guys, etc. Adding to the kerfuffle is a "who cares" jurisdictional squabble between the Rangers, some politicians, the Austin sheriff, and a sexy FBI agent (Joan Severance, who is from Houston). Despite all the film's attempts at subterfuge, it's all pretty predictable if you remember the "economy of characters" rule and ask yourself, "why did the screenwriter introduce that apparently irrelevant character or sub-plot?"

You never heard of this film, I suppose, because I never heard of it until about a week ago. I was living in Norway when it was first broadcast, so I missed it then, and it obviously wasn't memorable enough to enter my consciousness in the 20 years since then, despite a relatively high-powered cast of Texas all-stars. I didn't much enjoy the serious elements of the storyline, but I got a few laughs when ol' Willie was onscreen working his usual good-humored, laid-back magic.

The film has a few guilty pleasures:

1. It was shot in and around Austin and features lots of local color, like local BBQ joints and boot-scootin'.
   
2. It was directed by Bill Bixby, mild-mannered Dr. Banner himself.
3. Joan Severance removes her clothing for a sex scene.

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