Death Falls

Voted it slightly above average...made me feel SOME legitimate emotion: a little humor; a bit of pathos. Even if the acting is not quite on the mark, the characters have elements of interest, as does the plot: A couple of crotchety-but-harmless, older California bachelors share an impoverished, rural shack. One is receiving unwanted urban hospitalization for a terminal illness; and the other sets out to fulfill the wish to be sprung. First, however, an accidental feud begins with an acquaintance who is later all-too-willing to help the police hunt for the duo. You see, a city cop trails the guys to their hometown 'cause they broke a few laws gettin' out of the medical center. The local sheriff knows the pair as eccentric but not dangerous, so he and their girlfriend (that's right - singular: one gal likes them both) figure out where they're headed and try to keep one step ahead of the posse. Despite the ample dose of good-nature throughout, you're still kinda worried about just how unhappy the ending might be.

The main problem with DEATH FALLS is due to a misunderstanding. It's labeled as a drama / thriller. Well, it is certainly a drama, but the thrills are sporadic and not central to the film. The title may also suggest a more suspenseful sort of movie.

It's more of a poignant story of friendship and coming to the end of one's life. There is some humor throughout, and yes, Jeffrey Combs is in it. He provides the maniacal, driven antagonist as only he can do.

Rip Torn is Dub, who helps his friend, Hals (Roberts Blossom) to return to the titular place. There's some adventure involved along the way. This is a character-driven tale, so, don't expect car chases or something blowing up every few seconds. This movie requires patience.

It's reminiscent of some of the films from the early 1970's, that had great plots and interesting, more fleshed-out characters...

I must admit to start with I only got this movie because 1:It had Jeffrey Combs on the cover and 2:It was £2.99.

The movie started off quite dull with some funny event occurring occasionally through the film, I didn't really feel for any of the characters as most didn't have much depth, in fact the character with the most 'character' was the one played by Jeffrey Combs.

The film could have been saved by editing, if about 10-15 mins were trimmed out of the film, removing unnecessary dialogue and silences. This would have made the film better and easier to sit through, as it was I found myself watching it in fast forward(which is easier as it was a dvd with uncompressed audio so you can still hear the audio).

The Cover of the UK dvd makes it out to be something it's not, it tries to sell it as some kind of thriller which it isn't with the tag line "Why were they running scared?" which makes no sense in the film.

Overall I would only recommend this to Die-Hard Jeffrey Combs and Rip Torn fans, although I did watch it at normal speed for the last 15 minutes where it actually got quite good.

3/10

There is nothing wrong with the life long friends, played by Rip Torn and Roberts Blossom. It's the often times boring script that bleeds the potential out of this dynamic duo of character actors. "Death Falls" comes across as part thriller, part romantic triangle, and unfortunately too much "Andy Griffith Show". The clueless deputy routine is ridiculously overplayed by Dennis Fimple. Throw in a completely unhinged Jeff Combs, and you have a film without an audience, because "Death Falls" really is so scattershot that it will have very little entertainment appeal. It's something to watch, but the movie is very forgettable due to the dull script. - MERK