The Hollywood Sign

This is a brilliant film, you can see it has a low budget but the three great actors in it make up for it, Rod Steiger, Tom Berenger, And Of course the best of all Burt Reynolds. This was an enjoyable movie all round with a very interesting story, I really love the character that Reynolds plays, he was such I easy going guy, who really dident give a damb about anything, well done Mr. Reynolds.

9/10

The objective of "direct to video" movie makers is to attract the biggest "names" that their budget can afford. All the better to sell videos and offshore rights. From that cynical perspective Hollywood Sign still remains a failure. The plot is minimal and falls apart if you start to ask to many questions. Similarly, the dialog has some good lines, principally on their reduced acting status in Hollywood, but no where near enough to make this any sort of sly masterpiece. Therefore the whole value of the movie comes down to the three leads. Tom Berenger starts out with some character and pathos but recedes as the movie progresses. In the main showcase, with the three leads impersonating police, he is effectively wallpaper. Burt Reynolds can be described as erratic. On the plus side he shows true emotion looking at his old movies and comedy in in preparing for the "cop" role. However, in between, he is often vacant and the viewer is left to contemplate what appears to be really bad plastic surgery. Rod Steiger dominates all the scenes he's in and, by far, comes off the best. It's a matter of personal taste as to whether he goes into overacting but I could at least see the emotion which would have driven him to star status in the first place. Fans and completists of any of these three will be willing to see Hollywood Sign and, in that regard, the direct to video movie makers have achieved their objective. However, it is doubtful that anyone will need to see it twice.

It is a quite good movie. Although the images look old and battered for a 2001 movie the acting is fairly good. Unfortunately it can't equal the great Leon de Winter book, upon which the movie is based. Some very important elements from the book are missing in the film. Another thing is the cheap bunch of actors, there are some good ones, but a few parts could've had better actors. If they'd used better actors the movie could have been way more fun. All in all, it's a nice movie, it doesn't bore me but I had hoped for a way better movie. The great book deserves a better movie with better cast! But if you have read the book it is worth viewing, it's got some funny details and some of the acting is really nice.

Three decadent actors find a corpse close to the Hollywood sign. After some investigation, they realize that the guy was an employee of the financial department who had stolen a casino with four other thieves. They decide to steal the money from the gang, acting like they were real cops. The story has a surprising end. The first three quarters of this movie is surprisingly good. Tom Berenger, Burt Reynolds and Rod Steiger perform three aged actors, forgotten by the studios, trying to survive in Hollywood. There are great scenes, like the death of Robbie Kant (Kay E. Kuter) while crossing the street or when Kage Mulligan (Burt Reynolds) cries watching a western movie he made when he was a young actor. There are many elements of cult-movie along the story, through the comments of the veterans actors. However, the conclusion of the plot is very disappointing. Anyway, 'The Hollywood Sign' is a good entertainment. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): 'Uma Grande Jogada' ('A Great Move')

Silly comedy in which three decadent actors team up in a ridiculous farse to catch the money stolen from one cassino of Las Vegas. Lame story, with a direction which tries all the time to be clever but is just dissapointing. Anyway, the three leads (Berenguer, Reynolds and Steiger) are good and seems to be having a good time just for the fact they are working together.

I give this a 4 (four).