F.T.W. - Tiefer als Hass

Mickey Rourke had been offered the part of Butch in the hugely successful 'Pulp Fiction'. He declined the role and opted to star in 'The Last Ride' (Aka 'F.T.W'). The fact he had an input in the writing may have had much to do with the decision, but in retrospect it was a bad move. Had Rourke taken the role offered to him in 'Pulp Fiction' his status as a Hollywood king of cool may have been restored.(It had already been badly damaged by previous efforts such as 'Prayer for the dying','Wild Orchid', and the dreadful 'Harley Davidson & the Malaboro Man')

That he did not take such a high profile role in the wake of these box office disasters showed a worrying lack of quality control from such a gifted actor. 'The last ride' was a faltering love story (also staring Lori Singer)about an out of luck former Rodeo rider and a socially damaged girl. The whole story has been done before, with bigger budgets and better casts. Singers character ends up returning to the only kind of life she knows after meeting Frank T. Wells, and ends up on the run.

Rourke plays the 'Wells' character with the usual subtle charisma he that made him famous in the 80s, but the supporting cast just isn't up to the job. Singer's character is pursued by the cops and this sets of the inevitable chain of events that become the movies climax. Whilst i wont reveal the actual ending I'm sure you can guess. Avoid it, especially if your a Rourke fan, this was his first big mistake.

Mickey was a real cool dude and fun to work with. I was an extra in this movie. I played an Indian cowboy at the rodeo. The movie is great for those that like modern day outlaw movies. Great Montana locations. Mickey, you can write! Call me if you have any work for a long haired Indian guy.

F.T.W. Is an very good movie, this movie makes you think. If any book you've rad yesterday makes you think about the context of it today, it means the writer have achieved his goal. He brought the idea in exact wright manner to move you, to make you think about it, to make your brain chew the theme, maybe even to change your views. Same goes for the movies. And this is an kind of a movie that makes difference, probably this is one of the best M.R. movies. I don't want my "movie-hero" to use a gun, or be cool. All this naive state of being cool is temporally, Pulp Fiction is not cool. Cool means stable state of emotions, or mental condition, to be able to have under control the negative reactions that may accure. If your "movie-hero" using F word and every two minutes reloads his gun, he is sick person and needs medical attention and that ain't cool. In this movie FTW lost his years in prison, after his release he decided to move on and leave the past behind. Emotionaly and mentally he require full recharge of his lost strength. You can witness him being cool, emotionally balanced person. He had all his reasons to use every second the "cool" F word or kill every cop in this movie trying to be die hard outlaw. But I guess it is much harder not to do that.

I actually grew-up with the movies like Desperate hours, Barfly, F.T.W. Angel Heart, Johnny handsome etc I guess I saw all his movies, but I've lost my respect for this actor after I've forced my self to finish watching Exit in red, and then Point Blank. I had bad feeling that MR needed so badly money for a new operation, so he was willing to make any movie just to make another buck to get another face-lift done. Sorry MR I love your early work...

But please find out for your self and make your own judgment

I loved this film! It was Mickey's showcase all the way. It reminded me a bit of his role in Rumble Fish -the soft-spoken older brother dealing with a rash younger sibling. In The Last Ride the same soft-spoken character is dealing with Scarlett who is bent on self destruction. Mickey was so very cool in this film, subtle, but never dull. Watching him pull off those subtle moves is a delight to see -the guy is such a gifted actor and so underappreciated. The rest of the cast put in excellent performances including Rodney A. Grant, and Brion James. Lori Singer, who in many peoples estimation is no actress, put in a very good performance as far as I'm concerned. She displayed a wide range and was very believable. But hey, this was Mickey's film all the way. Can you tell that I positively love the guy????