Cohen and Tate(1989)

Submitted by Julio M

Short pooper:
Neither Cohen (Roy Scheider) nor Tate (Adam Baldwin) survive the ordeal of their kidnapping ploy falling apart. Cohen shoots Tate and indirectly causes his death; later on, he commits suicide in front of a shocked Travis (Harley Cross), when the cops zero in on them.

Longer version:
Slowly, but steadily, everything starts falling apart for the two hitmen, as the sadistic, psychopathic Tate repeatedly tries to kill the cooler and more calculating Cohen, and their young abductee, Travis, gets to use this to his advantage, to make sure to stay alive. At one point, after shooting and seemingly killing Tate and stashing him in the car’s trunk, Cohen arrives at a gas station where he ends up killing the attendant for catching wind of the situation and trying to call for help; he sees about Tate, only for Tate to spring out and attack him, having had a bulletproof vest underneath, the whole time.

Travis takes the opportunity to drive the car away and hide in a nearby oil field, but, shortly after, Cohen catches up and handcuffs him to his own wrist, while a fully unraveled Tate stalks them. Cohen attempts to shoot Tate once more and loses his hearing aid, but manages to move Travis to help him recover it. As they both try to make a run for it, Tate takes a shot at Cohen and knocks him down; when he tries to get a hold of Travis, Cohen shoots him, causing him to lose his balance and fall over, into one of the oil pump jacks, which tears him to shreds.

Cohen and Travis take off together, once again; yet, it is quite visible that he is barely in control anymore and the boy has somewhat been able to get to him emotionally. As they approach Houston, the Police, having been hot on their trails from the beginning, catch up with them and corner them. Cohen voices his intention to kill Travis, to which Travis retorts that “they both know he can’t do it”. As a last ditch, he tries to overrun a roadblock but ends up badly injured when they crash, and the car breaks down. The cops zero in on them and order Cohen to surrender and give up Travis.

Seeing no other choice, Cohen holds Travis close to him at gunpoint and menacingly asks him his age; when the frightened boy answers “nine”, Cohen tauntingly retorts: “WELL, HOW ABOUT THAT?!”, turns the gun under his own chin and shoots himself dead. Travis survives, although visibly traumatized and shocked from the odyssey.