VIEDO REWIND : Small-Time Crooks Hit Road With ‘Cold Feet,’ Warm Ending

“Cold Feet,” a comic fable about petty crooks with big dreams, boasts a loopy charm, some big laughs and several winning performances.

Keith Carradine is a dishonest cowboy who is pulling off the heist of a lifetime--involving a horse and a fistful of emeralds--with the help of two partners played by Tom Waits and Sally Kirkland. Not long after crossing the Mexican border into the United States, Carradine dumps his cohorts and heads for his brother’s ranch in Montana.

That sets off a cross-country chase, with Waits and Kirkland playing one of the unlikeliest movie pairs in recent memory. Waits is Kenny, a small-time killer and big-time paranoid who swings between psychotic rage and self-pitying reflection.

“Actually, I think of myself as executive material,” he reveals to Maureen (Kirkland), sitting by a campfire one evening. “I don’t want to grow old as just another murderer.”

It’s a fantasy he plays out in postcards to his mother. “Dear Mommy,” he writes just days after his most recent killing, “I’ve been promoted to chief executive branch manager.”

Kirkland offers a deliciously over-the-top turn as the one member of the gang who actually shows some gift for illicit activities, even if it does keep getting undermined by her recurring jags of softhearted sentiment. “You know, Maureen,” Waits barks at her after one such moment, “sometimes I wonder if you’re even a criminal.”

Director Robert Dornhelm manages to keep this shaggy-dog road picture on track and wraps it up with a warmhearted ending that doesn’t feel contrived, and what the film lacks in slickness it makes up for in its welcome touches of humor and humanity.

“Cold Feet” (1989), directed by Robert Dornhelm. 94 minutes. Rated R.