White Sands is a 1992 American crime thriller film directed by Roger Donaldson, written by Daniel Pyne, and starring Willem Dafoe, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Samuel L. Jackson and Mickey Rourke. The film is about Ray Dolezal, a small-town New Mexico sheriff who finds a body in the desert with a suitcase containing $500,000. He impersonates Bob Spencer, the dead man, and stumbles into an FBI investigation.
White Sands was produced by Morgan Creek Productions, and was released in the United States on April 24, 1992, by Warner Bros. It received mixed reviews and grossed $18 million worldwide against a budget of $22 million.
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Plot
Ray Dolezal, a bored Torrance County, New Mexico deputy sheriff, investigates an apparent suicide in the desert. Alongside the body of Bob Spencer is a suitcase containing $500,000. During the autopsy, authorities find a digested piece of paper with a phone number; Dolezal, posing as Spencer, calls the number and goes to a meeting, where he is robbed and instructed to meet gunrunner Gorman Lennox at a restaurant. FBI agent Greg Meeker intercepts Dolezal and informs him that Spencer was an undercover agent. Now that Dolezal has lost the money, Meeker suggests he continue posing as Spencer to recover the money or help arrest Lennox.
Dolezal meets Lennox and his wealthy associate Lane Bodine and learns the money is to arm left-wing freedom fighters in South America. The arms dealers demo the guns for Dolezal and Lennox but demand an additional $250,000 due to unforeseen expenses. Meeker pushes the responsibility on Dolezal, who romances his way into Lane's life so she will attract rich humanitarian donors to fund the deal. Two FBI internal affairs agents, Flynn and Demott, suspect Dolezal of killing Spencer and stealing the money. Dolezal is forced to admit to Lane he is not really Spencer, but she agrees to help raise the money because she finds Dolezal a better alternative to the volatile Lennox.
