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The three friends are Sean (Kevin Bacon), Dave (Tim Robbins), and Jimmy (Sean Penn). Dave is a handy man, Jimmy is a storeowner, and Sean is a homicide detective. The friend that is the least close now is Sean. He’s married, but his wife is extremely distant, living in New York. She calls once in a while, but never says anything.
Dave and Jimmy still live in the same neighborhood in which the opening scene takes place (when they’re all children). They both have wives (Jimmy’s second), and all seem to be rather close to each other. Jimmy has a nineteen-year-old daughter from his first wife that, in the opening scenes of the film, seems to be somewhat of a rebel (we shouldn’t be surprised...that’s what Jimmy was). She is involved with Brendan Harris (Thomas Guiry), who is her secret love interest: secret because Jimmy hates the Harris’.
After the introduction of every major character, we now understand that the city of Boston (where the film is set) becomes a character too. Every shot, every angle is not wasted because Eastwood knows better than to use the city in that way. We now turn to find Sean on another case. It’s a 911-phone call that motivates Sean and his partner Whitey (Laurence Fishburne) to investigate the murder of a nineteen-year-old girl found shot and beaten in a park. This is the scene that establishes that the film is going to be both powerful and heart breaking. It’s the daughter of Jimmy, last seen by Dave barhopping the night she was murdered.
Quickly the suspects begin to pile up and Dave becomes one of them. He’s suspected because he came home at 3:00 a.m. with bloodstained hands, saying he’d just encountered a mugger, and thinks he might have killed him. Another obvious perpetrator is Brendan Harris. This is where the film almost becomes a whodunit case. But once again, Eastwood is ahead of us, not letting the film fall to deep into that label. Because, yes, this is a murder mystery, but it’s more a look into these men and their sins of the past, and how those sins relate to this new-day tragedy.
You can bet to see Penn and Robbins up for something. They are phenomenal. But something that people seem to forget is how good Kevin Bacon is as well. It seems that he’s not as big of a character...but he’s an extremely important part of the story.
This is one of the best films of the year. Eastwood doesn’t let his star power get in the way of making it a wonderful movie. Although, he’s known worldwide as that “man with no name”, it’s his directorial efforts that get him the Awards. This is his best work since “Unforgiven”. What a grand film. ****