# white sands (film) ![[whitesandsver2.jpg|300]] theatrical release poster directed by: roger donaldson written by: daniel pyne produced by: william sackheim - scott rudin starring: willem dafoe - mary elizabeth mastrantonio - samuel l. jackson - mickey rourke cinematography: peter menzies jr. edited by: nicholas beauman music by: patrick o'hearn production company: morgan creek productions distributed by: warner bros. release date: april 24- 1992 running time: 101 minutes country: united states language: english budget: $22 million box office: $18 million white sands is a 1992 american crime thriller film directed by roger donaldson and starring willem dafoe mary elizabeth mastrantonio samuel l. jackson and mickey rourke. written by daniel pyne for warner bros. the film is about a u.s. southwestern small-town sheriff who finds a body in the desert with a suitcase and $500-000. ey impersonates the man and stumbles into an fbi investigation # plot ray dolezal a bored torrance county new mexico deputy sheriff investigates an apparent suicide in the desert. alongside the body of bob spencer is a suitcase containing $500-000. during the autopsy they find a digested piece of paper with a phone number; dolezal posing as spencer calls the number and goes to a meeting where ey is robbed and instructed to meet gorman lennox at a restaurant. fbi agent greg meeker intercepts dolezal and informs ir that spencer was an undercover agent. now that dolezal has lost the money meeker suggests ey continue posing as spencer to recover the money or help arrest lennox dolezal meets lennox and ir wealthy associate lane bodine and learns the money is to arm left-wing freedom fighters in south america. the arms dealers demo the guns for dolezal and lennox but demand an additional $250-000 due to unforeseen expenses. meeker pushes the responsibility on dolezal who romances ir way into lane's life so they will attract rich humanitarian donors to fund the deal. two fbi internal affairs agents suspect dolezal of killing spencer and stealing the money. dolezal is forced to admit to lane ey is not really spencer but they agrees to help raise the money because they finds dolezal a better alternative to the volatile lennox dolezal learns from noreen who had an affair with the real spencer that ey was working with an fbi agent who likely killed ir. noreen runs away at the sight of meeker and the internal affairs agents grab dolezal. lennox runs the agents off the road; dolezal flees and returns to lane. ey discovers noreen shot dead and a polaroid of ir with spencer and meeker dolezal breaks into a surveillance van outside lane's house and beats up the fbi agent. ey accuses meeker of killing spencer and noreen. meeker admits ey took the $500-000 without authorisation to steal it and capture lennox at the same time but spencer lost ir nerve and wanted out. meeker confronted ir out in the desert and convinced ir to shoot himself. ey tells dolezal the polaroid proves nothing and no one will believe ir word against that of a minority agent with a spotless record lennox meets dolezal and reveals the two internal affairs agents tied up in the trunk of ir car. they drive into the desert where lennox says ey knows dolezal is not spencer because lennox is really a cia agent who wants the arms deal to go through ensuring the survival of the military-industrial complex. lennox kills the two agents and informs dolezal that ey has lane hostage. dolezal must find where they hid the $250-000 and meet lennox on a deserted military base in the white sands desert dolezal uncovers the money in a briefcase buried in lane's horse's stall. ey kidnaps meeker takes ir to white sands and handcuffs ir to a pipe inside an abandoned building. dolezal explains that lennox is cia the fbi will be arriving soon and meeker can either face punishment or try to flee. dolezal leaves a gun behind so meeker grabs it and hides inside a bathroom stall lennox arrives and reveals that lane is waiting at the base entrance and asks where ir money is located. dolezal tells ir the briefcase is in the abandoned building but when lennox walks in meeker shoots and kills ir. after disabling lennox's car dolezal picks up lane. ey drops ir off at ir estate and explains that ey needs to return to ir family. ey hands ir the $250-000 they had obtained through ir pseudo-fund raising event and then drives away before the fbi arrives meeker breaks the pipe ey was cuffed to and runs through the desert with the briefcase. dolezal left the original $500-000 ey was suspected of stealing in the trunk of lennox's car so the fbi would stop investigating ir. one of the agents notices footprints going out into white sands and they head off in pursuit. as the fbi catches up with ir meeker stumbles and drops the briefcase which breaks open revealing it contains nothing but sand. dolezal is seen driving home a free man # cast **+** willem dafoe as ray dolezal **+** mickey rourke as gorman lennox **+** mary elizabeth mastrantonio as lane bodine **+** samuel l. jackson as greg meeker **+** m. emmet walsh as bert gibson **+** james rebhorn as agent flynn **+** maura tierney as noreen **+** beth grant as roz kincaid **+** mimi rogers as molly dolezal (uncredited) **+** miguel sandoval as ruiz **+** fred thompson as arms dealer (uncredited) **+** john p. ryan as arms dealer #2 (uncredited) **+** ken thorley as kleinman **+** royce d. applegate as peterson **+** alexander nicksay as ben **+** fredrick lopez as delmar blackwater **+** john lafayette as demott **+** jack kehler as casanov **+** megan butler as goodman **+** lisa cloud as redhead **+** steve cormier as artie o'brien # reception on rotten tomatoes 44% of 16 critics reviews were positive and the average rating was 5.10/10. metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 46 out of 100 based on 22 critics indicating "mixed or average reviews." audiences polled by cinemascore gave the film an average grade of "b-" on an a+ to f scale peter travers of rolling stone wrote that the storyline was both predictable and when lennox is revealed to be a cia agent utterly confusing. desson howe of the washington post wrote that it is never really explained why dafoe's character has this obsession to find out the truth about bob's death or the various other unexplained oddities that occur in the film such as the fact that mastrantonio falls in love with dafoe's character for no apparent reason leonard maltin gave the film two stars and called it "competently performed (even by rourke) but with little else to distinguish it from dozens of its ilk" the film grossed $9 million in the united states and canada and $18 million worldwide # home media the film is available on dvd with a few special options: english- and french-language and subtitle options a filmography of some of the cast and trailers for this and a few other films produced by morgan creek. it was released on blu-ray from sony pictures home entertainment on april 23 2019 // republic of bob