"Things to do in Denver When You're Dead" is a 1995 film starring Andy Garcia, Christopher Walken, Christopher Lloyd, Steve Buscemi, Bill Nunn, Treat Williams, Jack Warden, Gabrielle Anwar and Fairuza Balk. Garcia is Jimmy the Saint, an ex-mobster who now runs a company called Afterlife Advice, where he tapes the words of dying people so that their relatives can come in after they're gone and listen to them. He's called in by a paralyzed mobster (Walken) who wants a favor. Jimmy has no choice but to do it, because he owes money and the mobster owns his notes.
On the surface and by mob standards, the favor is pretty benign. The Walken character has a child molester in the making son who is in love with a woman he dated for years. She left him and is now engaged to someone else. Her fiancé is due in town, and the Walken character wants him frightened out of seeing her anymore.
Jimmy gets a crew together, two men to pose as cops and some guys to sit nearby and do the scaring once the cops bring him over. Unfortunately, due to a ridiculous decision by Jimmy (and THE major plot hole), a loose canon known as Critical Bill (Williams) is allowed to be one of the police. Unbeknownst to the men, the young woman is asleep in the back seat, her fiancé realizes the guys aren't cops, Critical Bill becomes critical, and both she and her fiancé wind up dead. The Walken character puts out buckwheat hits on everyone, meaning that they don't die instantly. He gives Jimmy 48 hours to get out of town. Jimmy spends it trying to help the others disappear, helping a young hooker (Balk) and dealing with his love for a woman (Anwar). In his own way, Jimmy the Saint brings things full circle in a way that makes sense for his own life.
Violent, sad and depressing, "Things to do in Denver When You're Dead" has some brilliant performances and some very likable characters. Everyone is a standout, most especially Garcia, Lloyd and Williams. The film is punctuated with the advice from the elderly on tape, which gives the film a bittersweet flavor. Very well directed by Gary Fleder, with a somewhat derivative but good script by Scott Rosenberg.
On the surface and by mob standards, the favor is pretty benign. The Walken character has a child molester in the making son who is in love with a woman he dated for years. She left him and is now engaged to someone else. Her fiancé is due in town, and the Walken character wants him frightened out of seeing her anymore.
Jimmy gets a crew together, two men to pose as cops and some guys to sit nearby and do the scaring once the cops bring him over. Unfortunately, due to a ridiculous decision by Jimmy (and THE major plot hole), a loose canon known as Critical Bill (Williams) is allowed to be one of the police. Unbeknownst to the men, the young woman is asleep in the back seat, her fiancé realizes the guys aren't cops, Critical Bill becomes critical, and both she and her fiancé wind up dead. The Walken character puts out buckwheat hits on everyone, meaning that they don't die instantly. He gives Jimmy 48 hours to get out of town. Jimmy spends it trying to help the others disappear, helping a young hooker (Balk) and dealing with his love for a woman (Anwar). In his own way, Jimmy the Saint brings things full circle in a way that makes sense for his own life.
Violent, sad and depressing, "Things to do in Denver When You're Dead" has some brilliant performances and some very likable characters. Everyone is a standout, most especially Garcia, Lloyd and Williams. The film is punctuated with the advice from the elderly on tape, which gives the film a bittersweet flavor. Very well directed by Gary Fleder, with a somewhat derivative but good script by Scott Rosenberg.