SnoopyStyle Deputy Sheriff Ray Dolezal (Willem Dafoe) investigates a dead body with a suitcase full of money found in the middle of the desert. Medical examiner Bert Gibson (M. Emmet Walsh) finds a phone number on a piece of paper swallowed by the dead man. He goes to a meeting where the money is taken and a meeting with Gorman Lennox (Mickey Rourke) is set up. FBI agent Greg Meeker (Samuel L. Jackson) tells him that it was an undercover FBI operation. They want their half million dollars back. FBI Agent Flynn (James Rebhorn) is also chasing after the money claiming a rogue element stole it from a court case. Dolezal meets the underworld partner Lennox and then Lane Bodine (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) who knew the dead man, Bob Spencer. At White Sands, Dolezal and Lennox are shown state-of-the-art weapons.It's an overly complicated hard-boiled police undercover investigation. There are a lot of annoying little problems. Dolezal is careless with a half million dollars evidence. There is no way a non-idiot police detective would walk out with that much money and no back-up. Once it's taken, there's no reason for the bad guys to return it in one of the silliest request. I also really need somebody to call FBI headquarters to check on some of these agents popping up demanding their money back. It's simply bad writing and doesn't survive in-depth examination. The first class actors try to make the material work as best they can.

Brian T. Whitlock (GOWBTW) This is one of the most action packed movies ever. Great cast, great plot, great storyline to boot. "White Sands"is awesome. And it's a blast. Here you have a small town sheriff (Willem Dafoe) who uncovers a big mystery. An undercover FBI Agent, and suitcase with half a million dollars. That to him is a big break from the small town life. He goes out to the motel where the victim was staying at. Gets more information, decides to fill in the role of the dead-man, and find himself way over his head. He later meets fellow agent Meeker(Samuel L. Jackson), CIA Lennox(Mickey Rourke) , and Lane Bodine (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), a woman of means join in on the fun. The question is simple, Who to trust? Well, we know it's not Lennox. He's violently murderous. He had the two internal affairs men killed in the desert. And Meeker is no good. He is bound by greed. Big money equals big ego. If I was a Fed, I would stave off temptations. Only Lane was the one he could trust. During the shower scene, she was the one who could return Dolezal back to his regular life. But when convince him that she's very helpful, he had to live it up! And does he ever. Lane's persuasive actions makes Dolezal more intrigued than ever. For the record, Meeker's greed got the best of him. That made him the dirtiest FBI Agent ever. For the sheriff deputy, I think he had enough fun in his life. As long as he doesn't mention this whole scenario with his family. Awesome, totally awesome, what more can I say? 4 out of 5 stars!

Mike In order for a movie to hold our attention by presenting interesting and exciting events that exceed what might happen in our normally more mundane lives, we have to suspend our natural critical view that, 'things wouldn't happen that way in real life...'. 'It's a movie', so we cut it some slack and accept things that on the whole, might be somewhat unlikely.Right at the outset White Sands demands a great deal from our reserves of suspended disbelief, and this is because a small hick town sheriff, who turns out to be a very thorough and exacting crime scene detective, responds to the discovery in his jurisdiction, of an apparent suicide victim who has a briefcase containing a huge amount of money, by becoming the sole self-appointed investigator. Then he discovers a lead, and with no backup what-so-ever he decides to take the whole briefcase full of money and set out in a convertible '65 Corvette no less, on a quest to find information about the deceased through pretending to be that person!As our good sheriff drives off and away from his beautiful wife, in his oddly chosen very valuable classic convertible sports car, all alone and with half a million bucks in unknown and unsecured evidence in a briefcase on the seat beside him, we know that he has no idea whom he might meet. What will such people think of this money-stuffed briefcase packing shill of the victim whom for all our sheriff knows, might know is in fact dead? We may well be excused for thinking, 'That wouldn't happen that way in real life'. Do ya think?With a lesser actor in the lead role we might be inclined to see if it isn't too late to get out of our seats and go back to the ticket booth and make a scene about a refund, or to make a phone call and see if the video store is still open, but it's Willem Dafoe and he does pretty darned well with the material.If our next thought, seeing this lone man set off on his quest with his unsecured briefcase of money, is something along the lines of, 'This can't be good...' then we are treated to the fulfilment of our forebodings. It does become much better though. If we forgive the movie's presumption to this point then we are treated to a somewhat less demanding remainder. To say any more would be to do a job of telling that the movie actually does much better than I can.There are several big names in the cast and they do a commendable job. The plot thickens, the characters develop and the viewer is never required to strain credulity to the degree demanded by that setup scenario. It's a generally satisfactory movie and if not in the league of the giants, you shouldn't regret viewing it.Present ratings are rather harsh for this drama but for my part I'd think it warrants a solid 7.

Theo Robertson A man has apparently committed suicide in he New Mexico desert and beside his body is a bag containing $500,000 so local sheriff Ray Dolezal decides to keep the dead man's rendezvous to unravel the mystery A lot of people have complained about WHITE SANDS being implausiable , contrived or over plotted . My complaint is that it's really none of these things but suffers from a fundamental flaw we're warned about at basic screen writing course " Show , don't tell " . For much of the screen time the plot twists and turns well enough but ion the last 15 minutes we have to listen to characters state " I'm not how you think I am , I'm really .... " or we listen to characters give away the plot which means the climax is very much spoon fed to the audience which is something of a shame since while not being a truly great thriller WHITE SANDS deserves to be remembered more than it really is . I guess the dislodge heavy last act conspires to make this a very forgettable movie