Across the Line: The Exodus of Charlie Wright

Last updated
Across the Line: The Exodus of Charlie Wright
Across the Line The Exodus of Charlie Wright.jpg
Directed byR. Ellis Frazier
Written byR. Ellis Frazier
Produced byJacov Bresler
Geoffrey Ross
Starring Aidan Quinn
Mario Van Peebles
Luke Goss
Danny Pino
Gina Gershon
Andy Garcia
CinematographyAnthony J. Rickert-Epstein
Edited byMike Wech
Music by Kim Carroll
Distributed byIFA Distribution
Release date
  • December 7, 2010 (2010-12-07)
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Across the Line: The Exodus of Charlie Wright is a 2010 crime thriller film directed by R. Ellis Frazier and starring Aidan Quinn. [1] Filming took place in Los Angeles, California and Tijuana, Mexico. The film follows a banker (Quinn) who escapes the U.S. with billions after he is revealed to be a fraud, as well as the authorities and mercenaries tracking him down.

Contents

Plot

Charlie Wright's (Aidan Quinn) business empire is revealed to be a Ponzi scheme, having taken as much as eleven billion from his clients. Leaving his office after hearing about his punishment, Wright is intercepted by FBI Agent Hobbs (Mario Van Peebles), who is unable to arrest Wright as at the moment there is not a warrant. Stalling time, Hobbs gets his warrant and Hobbs' partner Jimmy (Jordan Belfi) intercepts Wright as he pulls out of the office garage. Looking inside the car, Hobbs is dismayed to find that Wright is gone. The ensuing investigation leaves few clues as to where Wright fled.

As it turns out, Charlie fled to Tijuana, Mexico, looking for a woman he abandoned two decades ago. From Mary (Claudia Ferri) he learns that the woman died years ago, but she had a daughter, named Isabel. As he searches, Jimmy, on vacation in Tijuana, is shocked to see Charlie. Hobbs is disbelieving at first, but travels to meet Jimmy anyway. Wright searches for Isabel, but finds that she has left the country illegally.

Russian Mob Members Letvinko (Elya Baskin) and Borlec (Raymond J. Barry) hire mercenary Damon (Luke Goss) to go after Wright and the money he stole from the mob. Damon is given a team (Gary Daniels, Geoffrey Ross, and Bokeem Woodbine) to tail Wright with. Simultaneously, Mexican drug lord Jorge Garza (Andy Garcia), deeply indebted, kidnaps Charlie and offers protection in exchange for some of his money. Garza's son Gabriel (Danny Pino) intends to keep their hostage overnight, but is attacked by Damon's team. In the battle Charlie escapes.

Charlie calls Hobbs and says he wishes to return to the U.S. The Garza's track him down and Damon's team follows. They all find Wright at a market, but before they can kidnap him Hobbs shows up and takes Charlie into his custody, and the mercenaries reluctantly leave. In a voiceover letter to Isabel, Wright discusses how he views his life as a failure. Gabriel breaks the news to a distraught Jorge, who leaves the empire in Gabriel's hands as the men he is in debt to take him away. Hobbs, keeping Wright in his car, tells Wright that he found out Wright had at most six months to live as cancer had spread through Charlie's body. Hobbs allows Wright to leave and Wright gives him the details of a bank account, presumably with the money Charlie stole.

The voiceover ends as Charlie sits at a beach, at some level of peace with himself.

Cast

Target

FBI

Mercenaries

Gangsters

Others

Reception

A reviewer for the Courier-Post criticized the film, as they felt that it was "overburdened with unsavory characters". [2] DVD Talk was similarly critical, writing "Little asides, including various appearances from an age-reducing facial cream all the women in the film lust after, lead me to believe "Across the Line" was a phone book script reduced to a Christmas list of ideas before shooting. Depth is lacking, along with a rich sense of purpose." [3] The film also received a review from TV Guide . [4]

Related Research Articles

Contract killing is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or people. It involves an agreement which includes some form of compensation, monetary or otherwise. It is an illegal agreement. Either party may be a person, group, or organization. Contract killing has been associated with organized crime, government conspiracies, dictatorships, and vendettas. For example, in the United States, the Italian- and Jewish-American organized crime gang Murder, Inc. committed hundreds of murders on behalf of the National Crime Syndicate during the 1930s and 1940s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jimmy Hoffa</span> American labor union leader (born 1913; disappeared 1975; declared dead 1982)

James Riddle Hoffa was an American labor union leader who served as the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) from 1957 until 1971. He is notorious for his alleged ties to organized crime and for his disappearance under mysterious circumstances in 1975.

<i>Charlies Angels: Full Throttle</i> 2003 American film by McG

Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle is a 2003 American action comedy film directed by McG and written by John August, and Cormac and Marianne Wibberley. It is the sequel to 2000's Charlie's Angels and the second installment in the Charlie's Angels film series, which is a continuation of the story that began with the television series of the same name by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts.

<i>Legends of the Fall</i> 1994 American epic Western film by Edward Zwick

Legends of the Fall is a 1994 American epic Western drama film directed by Edward Zwick, and starring Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins, Aidan Quinn, Julia Ormond and Henry Thomas. Based on the 1979 novella of the same title by Jim Harrison, the film is about three brothers and their father living in the wilderness and plains of Montana in the early 20th century and how their lives are affected by nature, history, war, and love. The film's time frame spans nearly 50 years from the early 20th century; World War I, through the Prohibition era, and ending with a brief scene set in 1963. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards and won for Best Cinematography. Both the film and book contain occasional Cornish language terms, the Ludlows being a Cornish immigrant family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jimmy Palmiotti</span> American writer

James Palmiotti is an American writer and inker of comic books, who also does writing for games, television and film.

<i>The Human Tornado</i> 1976 American blaxploitation film

The Human Tornado is a 1976 American blaxploitation film directed by Cliff Roquemore. The film is a sequel to Dolemite.

The Irish Mob is a usually crime family–based ethnic collective of organized crime syndicates composed of primarily ethnic Irish members which operate primarily in Ireland, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, and have been in existence since the early 19th century. Originating in Irish-American street gangs – famously first depicted in Herbert Asbury's 1927 book, The Gangs of New York – the Irish Mob has appeared in most major U.S. and Canadian cities, especially in the Northeast and the urban industrial Midwest, including Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Cleveland, and Chicago.

The following is a list of players, both past and current, who appeared in at least one game for the Tampa Bay Rays franchise, formerly known as the Devil Rays.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">9th Annual Latin Grammy Awards</span> Music awards presented Nov 2008

The 9th Annual Latin Grammy Awards took place on Thursday, November 13, 2008, at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas and were aired on Univision. The Brazilian Field awards were presented on the same day at the Ibirapuera Auditorium in São Paulo. The Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year was Gloria Estefan. Juanes was the night's big winner, winning 5 awards including Album of the Year. He now has 17 Latin Grammy awards which is more than any other recording artist. The show was watched by an average of 5.8 millions.

<i>Petey Wheatstraw</i> (film) 1977 American film

Petey Wheatstraw is a 1977 American blaxploitation comedy film written and directed by Cliff Roquemore, and starring comedian Rudy Ray Moore alongside Jimmy Lynch, Leroy Daniels, Ernest Mayhand, Ebony Wright, and Wildman Steve Gallon. It is typical of Moore's other films from the same era, such as Dolemite and The Human Tornado.

The Trafficante crime family, also known as the Tampa crime family or the Tampa Mafia, is an Italian-American Mafia crime family based in Tampa, Florida. The most notable boss of the family was Santo Trafficante Jr. who ruled Tampa and the crime family with an iron fist. Author Scott Deitche reported that Santo Jr. was involved with the CIA to plot assassination attempts on Fidel Castro. After the death of Santo Jr. in 1987, the Tampa Mafia family has been controlled by Vincent LoScalzo.

<i>Borderline</i> (1980 film) 1980 American drama film by Jerrold Freedman

Borderline is a 1980 American action crime drama film directed and co-written by Jerrold Freedman. Starring Charles Bronson, Ed Harris and Bruno Kirby, it is set in the San Diego–Tijuana area of the U.S.-Mexican border and follows a United States Border Patrol (USBP) Agent who poses as an illegal alien to catch a killer smuggling laborers from Mexico.

Across the Line may refer to:

Maya Entertainment Group, Inc. was an independent multi-platform video distribution company. Moctesuma Esparza founded the company in Los Angeles, California in 2007. Maya Entertainment procured and produced content that appealed to the new diverse American Latino and multi-cultural audiences. The company acquired a library of over 100 titles.

<i>Hummingbird</i> (film) 2013 British film

Hummingbird is a 2013 action crime drama film written and directed by Steven Knight in his directorial debut. It stars Jason Statham as a haunted, alcoholic veteran who befriends a Catholic nun, becomes involved in organized crime, and exacts vengeance on a man who beats and kills prostitutes.

<i>Mom and Dad</i> (2017 film) 2017 comedy horror film

Mom and Dad is a 2017 black comedy horror film written and directed by Brian Taylor. Starring Nicolas Cage and Selma Blair, the film premiered at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival, and was theatrically released on January 19, 2018, by Momentum Pictures. A joint British and American production, the film underperformed at the box office but received generally positive reviews from critics.

<i>The Kitchen</i> (2019 film) Film by Andrea Berloff

The Kitchen is a 2019 American crime film written and directed by Andrea Berloff in her directorial debut. It is based on the DC/Vertigo Comics limited series of the same name by Ollie Masters and Ming Doyle. The film stars Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish, and Elisabeth Moss as the wives of Irish American mobsters who take over organized crime operations in New York's Hell's Kitchen in the late 1970s, after the FBI arrests their husbands. The film also features Domhnall Gleeson, James Badge Dale, Brian d'Arcy James, Jeremy Bobb, Margo Martindale, Common, and Bill Camp in supporting roles.

<i>Spenser Confidential</i> 2020 American action comedy film

Spenser Confidential is a 2020 American action comedy film directed by Peter Berg, with a screenplay written by Sean O'Keefe and Brian Helgeland, and based on characters created by Robert B. Parker. The film stars Mark Wahlberg, Winston Duke, Alan Arkin, Iliza Shlesinger, Bokeem Woodbine, Donald Cerrone, Marc Maron, and Austin Post in his first film appearance, and marks the fifth collaboration between Wahlberg and Berg after Lone Survivor, Deepwater Horizon, Patriots Day, and Mile 22.

References

  1. Cotayo, Charles (December 10, 2010). "Andy Garcia Sencillo y realista". El Nuevo Herald (Newspapers.com) (in Spanish).
  2. Longsdorf, Amy (December 10, 2010). "DVD Reviews". Courier Post (Newspapers.com).
  3. Orndorf, Brian (December 29, 2010). "Across the Line (review)". DVD Talk. Retrieved 2022-05-13.
  4. "Across the Line: The Exodus of Charlie Wright". TVGuide.com. Retrieved 2022-05-13.