This week in movies you missed: a mostly faithful version of Jim Thompson’s pulp classic about a sociopath hiding in plain sight.
What You Missed
Everybody in the Texas town of Central City likes Lou Ford (Casey Affleck). He’s such a nice, clean-cut, soft-spoken young man — a sheriff’s deputy who doesn’t even carry a gun. Sure, he’s not the sharpest tool in the shed, and his corny remarks get on your nerves, but he’s a good guy.
They don’t know that Lou Ford has a pretty kinky thing going on with the prostitute (Jessica Alba) who lives on the edge of town. They don’t know his slowness is an act. They don’t see him letting off steam by putting out his cigar in a bum’s palm.
They don’t know that Lou Ford has a plan to avenge himself on an old enemy (Ned Beatty) that happens to entail a vicious, cold-blooded double murder. And then another murder, and another.
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