Against All Odds

Ex football player Terry Brogran (Jeff Bridges) takes a job from sleazy friend Jake Wise (James Woods)--to find his ex girlfriend Jessie Wyler (Rachel Ward) who shot him and ran away with a large amount of his cash. Terry tracks Jessie to Mexico...and immediately they fall in love. That's the first hour--the second hour becomes very convoluted with murders and double crosses all over the place.

Interesting movie which is a semi-remake of "Out of the Past". In fact Jane Greer from the original plays the mother of her character here! The original was a strong, well-written film noir. This is not film noir--it's a combination romance/mystery/melodrama. Also Greer played a totally amoral woman in the original--here Ward isn't amoral, just misunderstood. Also Bridges is all pumped up and him and Ward work wonderfully together. Their frequent very R rated sex scenes really work. And it looks great--a portion of the film takes place in Mexico. Still there are definite problems here.

One character, Edie (Swoosie Kurtz) is introduced to provide some REAL clumsy exposition...and doesn't pop up again until a HOUR later. I had forgotten who she was! Alex Karras is incredibly bad in his role. The plot gets way too confused. And the movie isn't sure what it wants to be. It switches gears so much I thought I was gonna get whiplash! The best part of the movie--an incredible car race down Sunset Blvd. Has NOTHING to do with anything in the movie! The acting is pretty good. Bridges (in one of his few commercial films) and Ward LOOK fantastic, have great bodies and are both good in their roles. Woods is, surprisingly, pretty wooden. Greer isn't in much but she IS very good. And Richard Widmark hams it up in his small role.

Also the film has a surprisingly somewhat downbeat ending. And there's a wonderful title song by Phil Collins (nominated for an Academy Award).

A very interesting movie. I give it a 6. A sizable hit in its day--but that's because of the steamy sex scenes between Ward and Bridges.

Just recently discovering this on dvd, I'm actually suprised I haven't heard much about it before. A modern film noir that's a very loose remake of "Out of the Past" with Robert Mitchum and Kirk Douglas. The film instead focuses on gorgeous, sunny locations like Mexico and the finer locations of L.A. instead of the dark and grungy look that most film noir's follow. Jeff Bridges stars as a pro L.A. football player that gets cut because of a mild injury. Upset because he has some good years left in him, he attempts to sue the team to no avail. Broke and looking for a job, a shady past friend played by James Woods shows up with a job offer: find his girlfriend who split on him and headed to Mexico. This girlfriend also happens to be the daughter of the woman who owns the L.A. pro football team, a ruthless business woman who is primarily interested in real estate and inherited the team from her late husband. When he decides he needs a vacation and the money, he takes Woods up on his offer. After a couple days of useless searching, he finally finds her...and immediately falls in love. The femme fatale is played by Rachel Ward, a hot commodity back then, coming off of The Thornbirds. A spoiled rich princess-type, she eventually succumbs to him and the following scenes are some of the most beautiful sequences put on film. The only commercial movie that has filmed scenes in the gorgeous ancient ruins of Chichen Itza and Tulum, these sequences make the film. The sex scene is one of the best I've seen, really putting a passion on the screen without becoming too...late night cinemax. Unfortunately, from here, the film plummets into a convuluted mess trying to deal with issues that seem out of place with the film: The L.A. business elite, gambling, real estate, etc. I think the film is definitely worth a watch for the first two-thirds alone. Also, dvd fans are encouraged to listen to the cast commentary. One of the better commentaries I've heard, there is a lot of great anecdotes from a rare track by Jeff Bridges and James Woods. The two leads really seem to come off as real friends joking and ribbing each other, unlike some of the stuffy professional actor commentaries that are usually the case.

Parts of "Against All Odds" are absolutely magnificent. The Mexican location photography is terrific. Rachel Ward looks great as does Jeff Bridges. The chemistry between them is mostly believable. I liked James Wood's smarmy, pompous, character. Alex Karras seemed miscast, as did Richard Widmark. The story piles on a thickening plot that occasionally wanders off course, and is probably more complex than necessary. No police are involved, and bodies too conveniently disappear. The ending seems especially forced, with an outcome that is less than satisfying.

The film is beautiful, however the characters are mostly unlikeable, including Rachel Ward's. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed this partially flawed movie. - MERK

Having already sustained a shoulder injury previously, an aging professional football player by the name of "Terry Brogan" (Jeff Bridges) is not exactly a hot commodity for a team looking to add fresh new talent. Adding to that, his arrogant attitude isn't helpful either and as a result he is subsequently cut from the team by an underhanded owner named "Ben Caxton" (Richard Widmark) who only cares about the bottom line. To that extent, when a local gambler named "Jake Wise" (James Woods) offers him $10,000 to track down a former girlfriend by the name of "Jessie Wyler" (Rachel Ward) who has stolen money from him and fled to Mexico, he reluctantly accepts the job. What he doesn't know is that Jake hasn't been totally honest with him and that Rachel means a lot more to him that he lets on. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a good film by and large but there wasn't a great deal of chemistry between the characters with all of them being rather unlikeable as well. In short, although this remake of "Out of the Past" certainly wasn't bad by any means, it didn't quite have the same appeal as the original film and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

I thought the plot was far superior to most cardboard cut out Hollywood love triangles. That may be due to the fact that Against all Odds "borrows" a lot of stuff from the movie "Out of the Past" starring Kirk Douglas in 1947. I really enjoyed it, but probably for different reasons. As a kid I loved football. When I first saw this film I had to be 12. The movie combines football with beautiful scenery from Cozumel Mexico, (and of course the beautiful Rachel Ward) just enough to grab my interest and take me away from my miserable existence that is the Midwest. As I watch it now 20 years later I am still filled with joy. Amazing how selective the mind can be. I recommend it. It will take you to another time for a while. A place devoid of terrorists, war, anger, and hate. you know the things our media (local news)crams down our collective throats everyday. Not that the film's subject matter is very glamorous. Just what reality was 20 years ago, which although violent doesn't even come close to what we deal with today. When I lived through the cold war and the fear of nuclear Armageddon, I never thought the situation could get any worse. Boy was I wrong. Show how much we know as children. Check out the movie. Its great to open those time capsules every once in a while and slip out of this unreality. To maybe even draw insight into how we got to this point?