| The War Boys | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Ronald Daniels |
| Produced by | Carly Hugo Matt Parker Gill Holland John Hart Jeff Sine |
| Written by | Naomi Wallace Bruce McLeod |
| Starring | Benjamin Walker Victor Rasuk Brian J. Smith Greg Serano Teresa Yenque Cheyenne Serano Micaela Nevárez Peter Gallagher |
| Music by | Stephen Cullo |
| Editing by | David Leonardo |
| Studio | Group Entertainment |
| Distributed by | Snapping Turtle Films |
| Release date(s) | August 7, 2009 (United States) |
| Running time | 92 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English Spanish |
The War Boys is a 2009 American independent drama film directed by Ronald Daniels. Its screenplay was written by Naomi Wallace and Bruce McLeod, based on the play of the same name by Naomi Wallace.[1]
It stars Peter Gallagher, Victor Rasuk, Brian J. Smith and Benjamin Walker.
Contents |
The film was shot over a twenty-three-day span in Albuquerque, New Mexico. According to Daniels, the shoot was plagued by sandstorms and prop mishaps.[2]
Three young and bored childhood friends spend their spare time during college's spring break around the border that separates the U.S. from Mexico; living on the U.S. side of the border, they help the police patrol chase back clandestine Mexican immigrants.
Angry at his father because he won't agree to him leaving school to join the family business, the protagonist sets up a plan to steal one of his dad's trucks that should be loaded with black market TVs from Mexico and make some money by selling the goods. The three-party theft is a success and the locked truck is temporarily abandoned in a desolated area while the boys look for a purchaser.
The operation goes perfectly fine until a group of traffickers threatens the love interest of one of the lads, a mexican woman who had occasionally helped immigrants to get fake documents, and interrogates her on the whereabouts of the cargo. The boys are still unsuspected, but this episode makes it clear to them that the truck must contain something more trouble-worthy than just TVs, possibly drugs. Determined to get some profit anyway, they choose to get back to the wasteland, take what they can and then have the truck recovered by the traffickers via an anonymous call. It all falls out of control when they unlock the truck's storage, only to find out that it secluded something way more precious than any kind of merchandise... and a mix of rage and fear leads the situation to slip completely off their hands as the three friends confront the protagonist's father and the police.
The film premiered at the Birmingham Gay and Lesbian Film Festival on May 30, 2009. It went on to be screened at the Woods Hole Film Festival, held in Woods Hole, Massachusetts; the San Antonio Film Festival, held in San Antonio, Texas; and the SoCal Independent Film Festival, held in Huntington Beach, California, where it won the Best Feature Film Award.[3]