Extreme Prejudice is a 1987 American neo-Western action thriller film[3] directed by Walter Hill, from a screenplay by Harry Kleiner and Deric Washburn, from a story by John Milius and Fred Rexer.

It stars Nick Nolte and Powers Boothe, with a supporting cast including Michael Ironside, María Conchita Alonso, Rip Torn, William Forsythe, and Clancy Brown.

Set in South Texas near the U.S.-Mexico border, the film's plot centers on the conflict between two former friends-turned-rivals, one a Texas Ranger (Nolte) and one a drug trafficker (Boothe), who both become embroiled in a political conspiracy involving a black ops military unit.

[4] Extreme Prejudice is an homage, of sorts, to The Wild Bunch, a western directed by Sam Peckinpah, with whom Hill worked on The Getaway.

The title originates from "terminate with extreme prejudice", a phrase popularized by Apocalypse Now, also written by Milius.

At the airport in El Paso, Texas, five U.S. Army sergeants meet up with Major Paul Hackett, the leader of the clandestine Zombie Unit, composed of soldiers reported to be killed in action and on temporary assignment under Hackett for the duration of a secret mission.

His best friend from high school is Cash Bailey, a former police informer who has crossed into Mexico and became a major drug trafficker.

When they attempt to rob a local bank, the getaway is inadvertently foiled; one is killed and two others - Atwater and Coker - are caught and detained by Benteen.

Benteen discovers the men are listed as dead in all official records, and their ammunition is the kind issued to members of the Army Special Forces.

[5] Now knowing the full story, Benteen teams up with the soldiers and crosses the border into Mexico to track down Bailey and end his drug running.

The town erupts into a massive gunfight, with the surviving Zombie Unit fending off both Hackett and Bailey's men, as Benteen and Sarita escape in a Jeep.

Benteen strikes a deal with Bailey's right-hand man, Lupo, allowing him to take over the local drug business in exchange for being allowed to leave Mexico unharmed with Sarita; Lupo advises Benteen to return the favor for him someday, as the two walk off to an uncertain future.

"[7] However he did describe one scene: There's an operation carried out with peak efficiency where four highly trained specialists wipe out forty men.

"[7] In an interview for the July 1978 issue of Crawdaddy magazine, Milius spoke about the film as a future project, giving away the original ending.

"A group of drug dealers take over a town in Texas, then finally one person, a Vietnam veteran, stands up to them and wipes them out.

[8] In 1983 it was reported that Carolco Pictures, then flush with money from the success of First Blood, had purchased the script from Warner Bros and were hoping for Ted Kotcheff to direct.

[10] Then Carolco signed Walter Hill to direct and he hired Harry Kleiner to rewrite the film.

[12]Nick Nolte said the role made a change of pace for him: It was a chance to play a morally perfect character.

[12]Nolte got writer friend Peter Gent, who had written North Dallas Forty, to recommend a real-life Texas Ranger to act as a model for his character.

[12]The role of Nolte's antagonist was played by another actor who had worked with Hill before, Powers Boothe.

[14] The film contains several direct references to Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch, most notably a climactic shootout in Mexican border town.

Principal photography took place in El Paso, Texas and in Santa Clarita, California (doubling for Mexico).

[16][17][18] Michael Ironside recalled that his role was reduced, notably including a subplot involving a CIA agent played by Andrew Robinson, who does not appear in the final film.

But when they put it all together, Walter [Hill] said to me, "It looks like it's starring Michael Ironside, with Nick Nolte, Powers Boothe, and Rip Torn supporting him, so we're gonna cut the whole Andy Robinson side of the film out."

After filming of final shootout was done, director Walter Hill was told to include more of it so he went back and shot more footage but in the end he cut it down because, in his words, "it got too big".

Instead the trailer which was released included two tracks from other movies: "Paul's Theme" by Giorgio Moroder from Cat People (1982) and "Evacuation" by Mike Oldfield from The Killing Fields (1984).

Tri-Star announced the film as their Christmas release for the year which upset the filmmakers as they had planned to finish it by April.

"[14] Nick Nolte later said the response to the movie was "a little tougher" than the success of his previous collaboration with Hill, 48 Hrs.

In France, a combo Blu-ray/DVD including a region-free 1080p Blu-ray is also available with an English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo (possibly with forced French subtitles).

Luis Contreras reprises his role as Lupo in Hill's following film Red Heat (1988), now wearing Bailey's white suit.