I really like this movie, which takes place in about 3 different areas of the country but is obviously all LA.
Two stylish and evil hit men, Lee Marvin and Clu Gulager, perform a hit for a good sum of money, but Marvin questions why the victim just rolled over and didn't fight. He figures there is more money floating around, and off the two go to try to find greener pastures.
The film has a lot of fun content. Hit men, auto racing, a femme fatale, and a heist. It is just a rich story that keeps moving along.
Ronald Reagan is just as bad as the other two, but refined and determined. I get a little tired of people claiming Reagan could not act. Just how he uses his eyes is great...especially when he realizes he'd been conned at the end. It is weird to see our wonderful President as the totally creepy bad guy, but it is fun as well.
Sprinkled throughout the enjoyable scenes are some clunker moments. The blood looks like cherry juice, which it probably is. The auto racing has some great scenes with real cars, but needlessly there are rear projection scenes thrown in between the genuine car shots. This pulls you out of the action. This is really bad in the go-kart racing scene. Stunt doubles would have been better.
The biggest issue with the film, which was originally designed to be a TV movie, is that it is shot that way. Way too many close-ups, framing designed for the TV and not a big screen, and a TV feel to it in a lot of ways. Not so much the racing scenes and the super cool opening titles, but the hospital scene, and many other scenes are lit and shot like the color episodic TV shows of the same period.
The other distraction is the initial "hit". The mobsters are using preposterous looking silencers on revolvers, fire a bunch of shots, there is no muzzle flash and it looks like Marvin is just going "bang bang" with his gun, there is no smoke, no blood on the victim, who does a terrible job acting as he is getting shot. It is almost hilariously bad.
Don't let these minor criticisms deter you. This is really a good movie with lots of twists and turns.
Two stylish and evil hit men, Lee Marvin and Clu Gulager, perform a hit for a good sum of money, but Marvin questions why the victim just rolled over and didn't fight. He figures there is more money floating around, and off the two go to try to find greener pastures.
The film has a lot of fun content. Hit men, auto racing, a femme fatale, and a heist. It is just a rich story that keeps moving along.
Ronald Reagan is just as bad as the other two, but refined and determined. I get a little tired of people claiming Reagan could not act. Just how he uses his eyes is great...especially when he realizes he'd been conned at the end. It is weird to see our wonderful President as the totally creepy bad guy, but it is fun as well.
Sprinkled throughout the enjoyable scenes are some clunker moments. The blood looks like cherry juice, which it probably is. The auto racing has some great scenes with real cars, but needlessly there are rear projection scenes thrown in between the genuine car shots. This pulls you out of the action. This is really bad in the go-kart racing scene. Stunt doubles would have been better.
The biggest issue with the film, which was originally designed to be a TV movie, is that it is shot that way. Way too many close-ups, framing designed for the TV and not a big screen, and a TV feel to it in a lot of ways. Not so much the racing scenes and the super cool opening titles, but the hospital scene, and many other scenes are lit and shot like the color episodic TV shows of the same period.
The other distraction is the initial "hit". The mobsters are using preposterous looking silencers on revolvers, fire a bunch of shots, there is no muzzle flash and it looks like Marvin is just going "bang bang" with his gun, there is no smoke, no blood on the victim, who does a terrible job acting as he is getting shot. It is almost hilariously bad.
Don't let these minor criticisms deter you. This is really a good movie with lots of twists and turns.