Best known as the screenwriter of 1974's classic Chinatown, Robert Towne took on the director's chair four times in his career. For the second part of this quartet, we go to 1988's Tequila Sunrise.

Long-time pals Dale "Mac" McKussic (Mel Gibson) and Nick Frescia (Kurt Russell) follow very different career arcs. Though he wants to go straight, Mac deals drugs while Nick works as a narcotics detective.

These paths cross when Mac decides to make one final score before he quits and Nick gets the assignment to pursue him. In the middle of this, both compete for the affection of beautiful restaurateur Jo Ann Vallenari (Michelle Pfeiffer).

When Sunrise hit screens in 1988, I was in college and I saw it with friends. I recall it as becoming a sizable hit but a look at the US box office charts show that it would up in 26th place for the year, nestled between The Great Outdoors and Big Business.

That said, while Sunrise didn't become a blockbuster, it did reasonably well, especially as an "R"-rated tale aimed at adults. Granted, unlike today's franchise/remake-dominated Hollywood landscape, that kind of movie stood a better chance of monetary success in the 1980s - heck, Rain Man became the year's highest-grossing hit! - so 26th place looks pretty decent.

We may expect more from Sunrise given the presence of three "A"-list stars. However, none had really become box office icons yet, as even with hits like 1987's Lethal Weapon under his belt, Gibson hadn't yet turned into the toppermost of the cinematic poppermost draw he'd be eventually.

In any case, I seem to recall that my friends and I liked Sunrise 38 years ago. Alas, it doesn’t hold up well after all that time.

As noted, Towne directed three other films in addition to Sunrise, though only 1982’s Personal Best attracted any real notice. That one didn’t sell tickets but it received a lot of attention thanks to its daring-for-the-time lesbian sex scenes.

Towne’s other two directorial efforts – 1998’s Without Limits and 2006’s Ask the Dust - sank without a trace. This leaves Sunrise as the only one of these four movies with any kind of real public profile.

Given the subject matter, Sunrise feels like a slam-dunk. It brings Towne back to the neo-noir field that served him so well with Chinatown and gives us an excellent cast.

Perhaps Towne needs a strong filmmaker to carry out his scripts. Perhaps Towne just wrote a limp screenplay and without a separate director to shape it, he couldn’t make it work.

Whatever the case, Sunrise squanders virtually all of its potential. What should become a fiery mix of noir thriller and romantic triangle just meanders in a dull manner.

Of the three leads, only Pfeiffer shows any real spark. She adds zing to her underwritten role.

Both Russell and Gibson do little with their similarly thin parts. They sleepwalk their way through the film and fail to add the needed intensity.

How Towne screwed up this tale mystifies me. Not only does he give us a perfectly sturdy framework but also he populates the film with fine actors.

In addition to Russell, Pfeiffer and Gibson, the movie brings in Raul Julia, JT Walsh and other solid performers for supporting parts.

With a void at the top, none of them manage to do anything with the project. I can’t figure out why I liked Sunrise 38 years ago, but as of 2026, I find this to become a dreary and sluggish flick.

Tequila Sunrise appears in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. This turned into a dated but acceptable Dolby Vision presentation.

Overall sharpness worked fine. Some softness crept in, partly due to the cinematography, but the flick generally delivered appealing accuracy.

Sunrise lacked edge haloes or moiré effects, and it came with no edge haloes. Grain seemed heavy but natural and print flaws remained absent.

The movie’s palette leaned toward yellows, cool blues and greens. The disc replicated these well, with a boost from HDR.

Blacks seemed fairly dense – if a little crushed at times – and shadows brought mostly good clarity, though they could seem somewhat too dark. HDR brought a little extra oomph to contrast and whites, though not a lot given the nature of the photography.

The cinematography combined with the circa 1988 film stock made Sunrise a less than lovely to look at project. Still, I suspect this 4K UHD reproduced the movie as shot.

As for the movie’s DTS-HD MA 4.0 soundtrack, it worked nicely given the flick’s age and ambitions. The soundscape favored the forward channels, where we got solid stereo music as well as a good sense of space and place for effects.

Surround usage mostly complemented those front domains, though they became more active partners during the action-oriented sequences. These allowed the soundfield to give us a pretty appealing vibe within the limitations of late 1980s mixes.

Audio quality also felt dated but good, with speech that generally felt concise and with only a sliver of edginess. Music provided appealing range and dimensionality.

Though effects could sound a bit boxy, those elements brought reasonable accuracy and punch. Nothing here dazzled but the audio worked fine for a thriller from 1988.

The disc comes with a mix of extras, and we start with an audio commentary from producer Thom Mount. He provides a running, screen-specific view of the project's origins and path to the screen, story/characters, cast and performances, music, sets and locations, cinematography, and some stories from the shoot.

Though Mount starts strong, he fades after a fairly brief period and only sporadically pops back to life as the film progresses. That means we get a track with good info in the flick's early stages that becomes much less useful as it goes.

Four featurettes follow, and the 20-minute, 57-second California Dreaming offers more from Mount as he talks about the movie's roots and development along with casting, sets/locations, and other production notes. Mount repeats pretty much everything worthwhile from his commentary here so I'd recommend viewers skip that problematic track and just watch "Dreaming" instead.

From Chinatown to Manhattan Beach goes for 25 minutes, 18 seconds. It involves critic Lisa Bolton.

Billed as an “appreciation” of filmmaker Robert Towne, Bolton looks at the screenwriter's life and career as well as aspects of Sunrise. She offers an informative overview.

Sunrise to Sunset lasts 16 minutes, 51 seconds and brings info from 2nd AD Robert Roda as he discusses various aspects of his experiences on the film. Nothing revelatory emerges but Roda contributes a few good details.

Finally, Sin City fills 16 minutes, 18 seconds with info from actor Lala Sloatman. She tells us about her overall career as well as her time on Sunrise in this enjoyable chat.

Along with the movie’s trailer, we get an Image Gallery with 52 shots from the movie and promo shoots. It seems forgettable.

A strong cast gives Tequila Sunrise a boost but they can’t overcome the movie’s flaws. Though it presents a mix of sex and noir intrigue, the end result seems flat and lifeless. The 4K UHD comes with decent picture and audio as well as a mix of supplements. I liked the film in 1988 but find little of merit here now.