In "The Border," a 1982 film, Jack Nicholson is a conflicted Border Patrol agent. In the movie trailer the announcer says, "Within every man there is a border. Once he crosses it, there's no going back."

Immigration enforcement agent Smith (Jack Nicholson) lives in California with his wife (Valerie Perrine) in a trailer. She convinces him to move to a duplex in El Paso shared by her friend and border agent Cat (Harvey Keitel). She opens a charge account and starts to purchase expensive items like a water bed as she tries to build a dream home.

Cat gradually introduces Smith to the human smuggling operation he runs with their supervisor Red (Warren Oates). Though Smith initially declines to participate, his wife's free-spending ways make him finally take part in the operation. Smith finally realizes that Cat and Red are killing drivers who make money off side ventures or anyone who gets in their way. In the film's climax, he is forced to kill Cat.

El Paso -- "The Bridge" is Hollywood's latest view of the border and has residents portrayed by Hollywood as a troubled, violent region on screen. The crime drama airing on FX is set in El Paso and Ciudad Juarez.

The Bridge adds a new twist to the border crime drama story line. A woman police detective in El Paso played by Diane Kruger teams up with a police officer in Ciudad Juarez. Well-known Mexican actor Demian Bichir plays the Chihuahua State Police officer investigating the serial murder case.

A body left in the middle of the international bridge that connects El Paso and Ciudad is at the centre of their investigation. For the third straight year El Paso was ranked the safest large city of its size in the United States according to research by Congressional Quarterly.

Just across the border in Ciudad Juarez which had been Mexico's murder capital, the killings have declined sharply since a spike in violence a couple of years ago. Though hopeful the new series will explore the complexity of the border and will be a great entertainer.