Kurt Russell's Dark Blue Character Deviated From The Actor's Typical Forte

Ron Shelton's "Dark Blue" was a victim of impossible expectations. James Ellroy wrote the screenplay in 1993 (then titled "The Plague Season"), envisioning Kurt Russell in the role of racist LAPD Sergeant Eldon Perry. The story takes place in a jittery city awaiting the riot-inciting verdict of the Rodney King trial. We know what's coming in the macro, but the micro tale of Perry and his partner Bobby Keough (Scott Speedman) being forced to frame a couple of ex-cons for murders committed by informants loyal to their corrupt superior Jack Van Meter (Brendan Gleeson) could break either way. This being Ellroy, the master of corrosive neo-L.A. noir, we're expecting everything to go down twisted. But with the riots looming, Perry and Keough's errand feels destined to get extra messy.

Given its long road to a greenlight, "Dark Blue" acquired the aura of a passion project for Ellroy. And since he tended to spin sprawling, hard-bitten, gratuitously violent yarns in which the cops are every bit as venal and vicious as the crooks, critics and moviegoers were primed for something in the thrillingly convoluted vein of "L.A. Confidential." And since Ellroy got his man in Russell, a rewrite assist from young-pup L.A. crime screenwriter David Ayer (hot off of "Training Day"), and a respected veteran director in Ron Shelton ("Bull Durham"), this felt like a project of destiny.

So when the movie turned out to be a solid, sordid, but far from epic L.A. crime flick, everyone shrugged and moved on. 21 years later, "Dark Blue" feels like a completely forgotten movie, which is a shame because, if nothing else, Russell turned in one of his finest performances as the dirty Perry. And to get there, Russell had to give his natural charm a serrated edge.

After breaking into showbiz as a Disney child star, Russell built up a devoted following in the 1980s via his tough guy portrayals of Snake Plissken, R.J. Macready, and Jack Burton in, respectively, John Carpenter's "Escape from New York," "The Thing," and "Big Trouble in Little China." Unfortunately, those last two films were box office bombs, so, throughout the '90s, Russell's uncertain star power limited him to leads in mostly ensemble pieces.

There was nothing uncertain, however, about his acting chops. Russell had a commanding presence and considerable range. All he needed was a nuanced role in a well-wrought drama (something he hadn't booked since Mike Nichols's "Silkwood"). Perry was that role, and Russell knew it. As he told CBS News while promoting "Dark Blue" in 2003:

"Perry's a change from characters I've played in the past. This is a contemporary film about real people, and Perry is as real as it gets. More than any other character I've played, he's a very real person; he's got a full 360 degrees to his character."

Russell hasn't really gotten that 360-degree opportunity since then (though he was terrific in Quentin Tarantino's "Death Proof" and "The Hateful Eight"), but maybe Andrew Patterson, the writer-director of the fantastic indie sci-fi flick "The Vast of Night," has something special on tap with his sophomore effort "The Rivals of Amziah King." The film wrapped last year, and all we know thus far is that it's a crime thriller starring Russell and Matthew McConaughey. That's a duo I can get down with, especially in that genre. Stay tuned, Kurt-philes.