Trespass

Trespass Information

Trespass is a 1992 action-crime-thriller movie directed by Walter Hill, and starring Bill Paxton, Ice Cube, Ice-T, and William Sadler. Paxton and Sadler star as two firemen, who decide to search an abandoned building for a hidden treasure, but wind up being targeted by a street gang.

Trespass was written decades earlier by a pre-Back to the Future Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale. The film was intended to be an update of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. It was to be titled Looters, but because of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, the producers thought a change to the title would be appropriate.

Plot

Two Arkansas firemen, Vince (Bill Paxton) and Don (William Sadler) meet an hysterical old man in a burning building. The old man hands them a map, prays for forgiveness, then allows himself to be engulfed in flames. Outside of the fire and away from everyone else, Don does a little research and finds out that the man was a thief who stole a large amount of gold valuables from a church and hid them in a building in East St. Louis. The two decide to drive there, thinking they can get there, get the gold and get back in one day.

While they're looking around at the abandoned building they need to be in, though, they spot a gang, led by King James (Ice-T), who is there to execute an enemy of theirs. Vince and Don witness the murder, but give themselves away, and only manage to force a stalemate when they grab Lucky (De'voreaux White), King James' half-brother. Barricading themselves behind a door, they continue trying to find where the gold is. Adding to their troubles is an old homeless man, Bradlee (Art Evans), who had stumbled in on them while they were trying to find the gold and hold.

King James, eventually calls in some reinforcements. While doing some reconnaissance, Raymond (Bruce A. Young), the man who supplies the guns to King James, finds Don and Vince's car and the news story of the gold, figuring out why "two white boys" would be in their neighborhood. Raymond manipulates Savon (Ice Cube), one of James' men, who would rather just kill them, rather than James' approach of trying to talk to Don and Vince, into shooting at Don and Vince, which eventually leads to Lucky being shot himself (Savon: "I guess he wasn't too lucky, huh?"). King James is now furious and runs after Don and Vince, who have now found the stash of gold (the map was drawn with the intention of looking UP at the ceiling, instead of down at the floor), and are trying to get out with the gold while avoiding King James.

The gold changes hands a few times, once with Savon, another time to Bradlee, and people shooting everywhere. Eventually, Don and King James meet and end up killing each other. Savon and Raymond also kill each other. The building they were in gets burned to the ground. Vince encounters Bradlee outside the building, and Bradlee tells Vince to run (he cannot drive away, since Raymond ripped out the wires in his engine, gave him four flat tires and cut the line to his CB radio). Once Vince is out of the way, Bradlee picks up the haul of gold that was left behind and walks off, laughing.

Cast

Bill Paxton as Vince Gillian
Ice-T as King James
William Sadler as Don Perry
Ice Cube as Savon
Art Evans as Bradlee
De'voreaux White as Lucky
Bruce A. Young as Raymond
Glenn Plummer as Luther
Stoney Jackson as Wickey
T.E. Russell as Video
Tommy Lister, Jr. as Cletus
John Toles-Bey as Goose
Jordan Alexander as Jason

Reception

The movie gained mixed to positive reviews from critics. Trespass currently holds a 68% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 22 reviews.

Box office

The film debuted poorly. It went on to gross just $13.7 million in North America.