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With: Frank Grillo, Annabeth Gish, Beau Knapp, Eric Dane, Mercedes Mason, Maurice Compte, Peter Greene, Thomas Dekker, Sufe Bradshaw, Luis Da Silva Jr., George Carroll, Sofia Bryant, Ben Hall, Billy Blair, LaTeace Towns-Cuellar
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Written by: John Swab
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Directed by: John Swab
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MPAA Rating: R for strong violence and bloody images, pervasive language, some sexual content and brief nudity
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Running Time: 105
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Date: 02/03/2023
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Head of State
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
Although most of this crime-drama is so familiar as to be tired, the filmmakers nonetheless take a little extra time to develop a strange, gritty atmosphere that elevates the movie above the average.
Doc (Frank Grillo) is an ex-Special Forces agent now working as a go-between with Oklahoma Governor Eric Dane (Richard Jeffs) — an old military colleague — and Mexican drug lord Lalo Prado (Maurice Compte), with Billie Riggs (Annabeth Gish) his main connection to the governor.
When Lalo's brother is executed for murder, the governor takes the opportunity to declare war on the cartels. And when the Prado's drug operation is raided by police, Lalo's brother Cuco (Beau Knapp) decides to take revenge, with Doc caught in the middle. Cuco kidnaps Doc's daughter Nell (Sofia Bryant) and demands a most unusual ransom: the governor's head.
A series of betrayals and a path to revenge, the story of Little Dixie is, admittedly, nothing new. But even though it starts with two of the most worn out bits of dialogue in cinema history ("you look like s--t" and "we had a deal"), it's clear that writer/director John Swab is trying something.
He spreads his scenes out so that there's breathing room, and characters can interact, discussing more than just plot mechanics. There's a certain 1970s quality, as evidenced by the movie's tribute to Sam Peckinpah's Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia; it has both the ambition to try something new, as well as a sense of fatalism, the suggestion that all this violence can never lead anywhere good.
Grillo is fully on board, giving a typical tough-guy performance but adding layers of weariness, perhaps even resignation. Knapp's evil Cuco starts as an over-the-top caricature — he moves simian-like, head swiveling from the center of his chest — but even he turns into something interesting. Little Dixie is brutal, but it refuses to coddle.
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