The Hollywood Sign

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.

"The Hollywood Sign" is all about a trio of washed up, has-been movie actors (Berenger, Reynolds, Steiger) who decide to turn fiction into reality by using a movie screenplay as the blueprint for a Vegas casino ripoff (sorta). Everyone in this unfortunate flick seems to be waiting for the other cue to drop. Performances are hickory; the screenplay is clumsy; timing is waaay off; and God knows where the director was during the filming. There is one poignant moment when Reynolds watches himself in an old western and a few funny moments where the trio, playing like detectives, interview some hoods. Otherwise the film is a waste of talent and a waste of time. (D)

At the movie's start, Kage is playing a cop in a movie and messing up take after take after take. Tom is his partner, and during a break in filming, his girlfriend Paula says she has written a movie script called 'The Hollywood Sign', though she has been told to revise the ending.

Seven years later, Tom can't get work as an actor and he is having to take a real job. At the hotel he moves into, he meets Kage and discovers Kage is in the same situation and living there too. Later in the movie, we see just why these two actors are washed up--they haven't got it any more (but the results are hilarious!). Tom has revised Paula's script, but the process of making the movie gets put on hold for a while.

At a funeral, the two meet Floyd, another has-been actor who is still able to make a good living installing burglar alarms. If needed, he could also install bugs and other surveillance equipment.

The three actors go to the movie's title landmark and discover a body. What they decide to do about the body, and about finding out how it got there, results in quite a few laughs.

Rod Steiger gave this movie's outstanding performance, especially toward the end, but Tom Berenger and Burt Reynolds both did fine jobs as well. Reynolds leaned more toward comedy and did quite well. I'm not saying it was one of his best performances, but it was enjoyable.

Jacqueline Kim made a confident and intelligent Paula. And she looked good too--especially wearing little or no clothing.

The bumbling gangsters connected in some way with the body were funny and not that threatening. Rodney, one of Floyd's clients, was the head gangster and halfway intelligent, while Muscle seemed to be just that. Steve seemed more street-smart. Charlie, the clumsy sidekick to the veteran actors, also provided comedy relief.

The ending was very strange but entertaining.

I thought this was worth seeing.

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).

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')