Plot Summary
Brad Whitewood, Sr. (Christopher Walken) is the leader of an organized crime family consisting of his brothers and close friends. One night, his estranged oldest son, Brad, Jr. (Sean Penn), contacts him after a fight with his mother's boyfriend. Eventually, he becomes involved with his father's criminal endeavors, and starts his own gang with his half-brother, Tommy (Chris Penn), and friends. The boys get excited at the idea of easy money and decide one night to attempt a daring heist, which results in their arrest by the police. Their father believes that his sons and their friends will inform the police about his criminal activities, so he rapes Brad's girlfriend, Terry (Mary Stuart Masterson), as a warning to his eldest son. The attack results in the opposite effect as Brad, Jr. begins informing the authorities about his father's activities, including a murder he witnessed of a snitch. When the father's name is given to the grand jury by his own son, Brad, Sr. feels his only recourse is to eliminate every witness that can connect him and his crew with his sons and their crew, and he has them killed one by one (strangely, Tim, one of Brad Jr.'s crew is not killed and is seen at the courthouse at the end). Brad Sr. murders Tommy himself, but orders a hit against Brad, Jr. and Terry. Terry dies, but Brad Jr. survives, and shows up at his father's house. He threatens him with a gun, but decides that he wants Brad Sr. to "die every day for the rest of his life," and instead testifies against his father in court.
Read more about this topic: At Close Range
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