“Little Dixie” gives us a peek into the Mexican and American political tension. It also attempts to resurrect the hero archetype through an unapologetic character named Doc Alexander (Frank Grillo). Doc Alexander is in a fix after Governor Richard Jeffs (Eric Dane) wages war against the Proda organization. Having tasted power, the governor insists on the conflict and rats out the Proda organization so that he can gain control over the Cartel and rule. But he is unaware that he won the elections with an enormous anonymous contribution and received the overwhelming Hispanic support due to the heinous criminal Proda organization.
The governor tactfully deflects the attention of the media from the oil scandal that he is involved in and busts the drug racket by the Prado brothers. He undoubtedly gains appreciation for it, but he doesn’t know that it will cost him his life. Doc, who is involved with the Proda organization, chooses to save himself and his acquaintance at first and convinces the governor to step back from his decision, but the governor doesn’t budge. To add to the dilemma, Doc’s daughter Nell Alexander (Sofia Bryant) is kidnapped by the boogeyman, Raphael ‘Cuco’ Prado (Beau Knapp). “Little Dixie” walks us through a battery of odious crimes committed in a bid for power, position, wealth, and fame. John Swab, with this latest directorial, presents his home state, Oklahoma, as concerned and determined to eradicate crime, starting with the execution of Juan Miguel Prado (Luis Da Silva Jr.), a Cartel underboss, sentenced to die for the triple homicides that occurred on November 12, 2013.
Spoilers Ahead
Will Governor Richard Jeffs Take On The Cartel And Win?
Politics, for obvious reasons, is called a dirty game, and Governor Richard Jeffs won the election because of the deal his partners made with the devil. After having enjoyed the success and tasted the power, the governor, assured by the security he will receive no matter what war he intends to wage, decides to set up a task force against the Prado organization. Playing his dirty game, he decides to draw the attention of the media and the people toward the heinous criminals. The governor is in no way different from the criminals, as his intention to bust the drug racket is not to eliminate crime but to clear his pathway to a higher status. In the rat race that he engages himself in, he brushes aside his closest associates, Billie Riggs (Annabeth Gish) and Doc Alexander. Full of himself, he doesn’t pay attention to their suggestions but adamantly jingles at press conferences about the progress he and his team have made to destroy the Prado organization.
Cuco, believing in Antonio Prada’s father’s words, “You can never let a man catch you looking up to him,” goes straight forward to put to death all the stumbling blocks in their business. Giving a terminator feel, the killing machine starts with Billie and Emma Riggs (LaTeace Towns-Cuellar). Billie, along with the governor, had decided to raid the organization, and therefore she meets a tragic fate. All those associated with the governor have their days numbered; the ambitious politician in the making, Clarke Moore (Thomas Dekker), is tied to a car and left to burn. Clarke hadn’t the faintest idea that his life would end so tragically, but he sensed it when the governor was getting shady. Nevertheless, despite Clarke’s attempts to salvage himself, an unmerciful and relentless Cuco ends his life. In the meantime, Governor Richard Jeffs is basking in his glory and never getting closer to his dream of overpowering the Cartel and winning. “Little Dixie,” amid handling political qualms, shows human desperation towards power and the extent to which one can debase oneself to achieve it.
Why Was Little Dixie Kidnapped?
While the governor is devising his plans to destroy the Prado organization, Cuco refuses to be unwavering and observes the soft spot of the organization’s partner in crime. Doc Alexander is going through a divorce, and the only thing that gives him the motivation to do whatever he does is his daughter Nell. Most of the time, both of them come together and spend time at Livi Lee’s Daylight Donuts, eating doughnuts and sharing about their lives’ progress. Nell sarcastically asks her father how his drinking has been continuing. Nell is also proud that her father has served in the CIA. She admires him and wants to be with him. She likes to travel too and decides to go to Mexico for a tour.
Like usual, when Doc is waiting to meet his daughter, Cuco calls him up and informs him that he has kidnapped her and will let her go only if he completes a given task. Doc never imagined that the consequences of the choice he had made to be friends with the devil would go this far. His future was thus dark and bleak, and at any time, it could all end in disaster. Thus, what he would do now would affirm whether he is saved or doomed. Cuco asks Doc to kill Governor Richard and bring his head to him as proof and payment for his daughter’s life. Doc thinks of Carla, his ex-wife, and informs her about their daughter’s kidnapping, cautioning her that she and her husband, Andy, mustn’t inform anyone about this recent development. Doc and Carla used to call Nell “Little Dixie,” who has now been abducted, and therefore, the operation to save her begins. Little Dixie is kidnapped by Cuco to instigate Doc to take the drastic step of killing the governor. Doc has to be all the more careful, given that security is tight around the governor. Moreover, he cannot be sure that Cuco will keep his daughter safe, considering his history of kidnapping, murder, and bombing.
‘Little Dixie’ Ending Explained – Will Doc Be The Savior Of Kidnapped Little Dixie?
Carla requests that Doc do whatever he can to get her back safely. Like any other mother, she is concerned and worried about her daughter’s safety. And the fact that she is asking Doc to search for her proves that whatever might be going on in their relationship, she still trusts him. After having met Carla, Doc goes straight to equip himself with Glocks, Berettas, suppressors, and something sharp, i.e., a chainsaw. Trying to find out more as to what actually went wrong and how the warehouse raid happened all of a sudden, etc., Doc wants to visit Karl Roach (Peter Greene). Frightened after the string of deaths, Karl is reluctant to welcome Doc into his house and declares his innocence. But Doc infers that he, too, is involved with Governor Richard and thus kills him. Doc then moves to where the governor resides, and after both have indulged in reminiscing about their love lives and marriages, Doc kills the governor and severs his head with a chainsaw.
Doc doesn’t feel bad about it because he is doing it to save his daughter. He is a hero to his daughter, and he is sure that she will wait for him. Therefore, when Cuco is hiding with Nell at the Royal Motel in Del Rio, Nell expresses to Cuco that he doesn’t scare her because her father is more dangerous than Cuco. The father-daughter relationship is wonderfully shown in the film. When Doc gives the governor’s head to Cuco and his brother Lalo Miguel Prado (Maurice Compte), they want to get rid of Doc and his daughter. But Doc tactfully deals with the situation; he kills Cuco, then proceeds to execute the guards, and then ends up face-to-face with Lalo. Nell was hiding when her father was killing the guards and was given a gun to use in case the need arose. When she sees her father and Lalo face-to-face, she kills Lalo. The daughter, too, gets involved in the violent system of Mexico. “Little Dixie” brings home the point that the end to violence may seem like violence, but it leaves unhealed scars and a further distorted world. Doc became the savior of Little Dixie, but at the cost of numerous killings and bloodshed.
“Little Dixie” is a 2023 action thriller film directed by John Swab.
