Expected more

Excellent, smart action film.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

I just rewatched this since the 80s. I could barely get through it. It was unbearably boring, nonsensical, and annoying.Let's start with the first scene. A family is under police protection in the middle of nowhere. The wife tries to make a phone call and realizes the line has been cut. They freak out and all of a sudden the police guards are killed plus this boy's parents. But before the wife gets it the assassin makes a call to his boss. HUH? The line was cut! So there already was an obvious error.As for the rest two hit men kidnap this annoying kid. The kid had an annoying accent and was so stupid you'd wish for his demise. Adam Baldwin was terrible as a psychopath. Roy Scheider didn't need to do much.Anyway, I highly unreccommend this.

Eric 'Hitcher' Red is one of the most impressive writing talents I've ever seen. Just read one of his scripts. He's got a talent and it readily shows here, in this character driven tale, that's entertaining all the way, steered by two great performances, of two hit men, one a cold blooded professional-Cohen, the other a younger, clumsy trigger happy, sicko, Tate. They're transporting a young boy, a witness to a mobster hit, back to some people who as Cohen states, are probably going to kill him. What's impressive here is almost the entire movie, takes place in the hit-man's car, where Mr Red has managed to make this work beautifully, where the two men are pitted against each other beautifully, mostly on account of the little boy witness, Travis Knight (talented kid actor Harley Cross who did a string of movies around this late 80's phase) The movie works, thanks to the two contrasting leads, Cohen, intriguing I must say, where Tate was just reprehensible, which versatile Baldwin, plays with such professionalism, this is one of one his best performances. The start of the film, is indeed intense, it really had me worried, where you knew this family, was gonna be gotten too. The last five minutes is impactfully climactic, up until the brains, blowed out finale. There is some raw heavy violence, and our three leads successfully interact, really made it. I've always loved this film, but what's great which I admire if envy a little bit about it, is the situations and complications that happen through the movie, which too, like the actions and decisions of all, were so plausible, and believable, I could fault any of it. The roadblock scene and how it ensued, I would say, was explosively clever as Mr Red himself. Seek out this one, and watch it, I guaranteed, you find it something rewardingly different, and then you have the three actors, who you truly must credit with acknowledgement.

Two professional assassins are sent to kidnap a 9 year old boy named Travis Knight (Harley Cross), who is under the United States Federal Witness Protection Program after witnessing a mob killing in Texas. Cohen (Roy Scheider) is the older, jaded assassin with a little bit of humanity still in him. Tate (Adam Baldwin) is the younger, hotheaded and psychopathic killer.The film is a cinematic version of O. Henry's short story "The Ransom of Red Chief", which partially influenced both "Ruthless People" and "The Ref". The version here is significantly different than the original (as it involves no ransom and is much more violent) but has the general underlying concept intact.Is it time for this film to be re-examined and re-evaluated as a lost 1980s action classic? Perhaps. While Harley Cross is a bit annoying (especially that accent) and Adam Baldwin pushes his role too far... this is still a fine piece of entertainment.

Why hasn't Cohen And Tate come out on DVD? This film was made in 1988 and not only hasn't it been released on DVD, it's only been on British TV twice and twice in the same night only on ITV2 about four years ago. It took a British TV channel long enough to finally show it and Sky TV have never shown it on any movie channels out of all people. At least we can buy it on DVD and it's not even coming out on DVD.If we ask the distributors they will say it might not sell because hardly anyone has asked about it. That's because most people twenty-one years old and under haven't had the chance to see it to make an opinion.I bet if Cohen And Tate was made as a re-make that would be quick enough to come out on DVD when a lot of us are more interested in the original. I hope Cohen And Tate doesn't have a re-make because how many more re-makes are we getting? Damn, The Taking Of Pelham One, Two, Three has just been re-made and I suspected that a couple of years ago.