Inside Moves

John Savage provides us with another look at his exceptional talent with perhaps his finest performance since The Deerhunter, with a supporting cast including Oscar-nominated Diana Scarwid and another of my favorites, David Morse. A truly feel-good movie, directed by Richard Donner, that explores the depths of human emotion while depicting the sometimes comedic, sometimes heartwrenching stories of characters who are all crippled, either physically, mentally, or morally. It is a great mystery to me why this movie has not been made available on DVD, and if I knew how to achieve its release, I would be relentless in my pursuit of that goal!

It's been many years since I've seen this film, but I've never forgotten it. There's little I can offer in terms of praise that hasn't already been posted here by other commentators.

It's a film about adversity, finding friendship, and finding the inner strength to rebuild and embrace life for what it is. It's a film that shows people with physical disabilities in a very normal light, showing them to be neither noble-handicaps nor pitiful cripples, but as normal everyday folks with all the faults and good points of humanity. It's a film about coping with one's own decisions, and overcoming life's challenges.

There's some mild profanity, and references to adult situations, as well as some violence, so be warned ahead of time. It's a film the likes of which I have not seen since, and am hopeful that it'll see a DVD release someday. Until then we'll just have to wait :-(

In the meantime if you get a chance to view it, then do so :-)

I have a very subjective method of measuring some of my all time favorite movies. If I'm surfing the remote and "hit" the movie that I just can leave, then that's it. I did this last night and when I hit "Inside Moves". This is a extremely comfortable and beautifully paced film . The scenes in Max's are so warm and intimate you feel if your in the corner of the bar observing the intimate relationships and comaraderie of the supposedly "special " people that live there. Yes, they are special..they're only aspirations are enjoying each other's company and accepting each other and their metamorphical handicaps. The scene where Louise admits she is frightened by a potential romantic realtionship with Rory is honest and heartbreaking. After checking the credits on Inside Moves I was surprised and then nodding in agreement, why it's a classic. Written by Barry Levinson...enough said..

This is one of my favorites. Read the other comments because they accurately reflect what is great about this movie. With the jarring beginning and all the ugly snapshots of inner city life, this movie makes me want to go back to this believable place that has been created. It makes you believe there is really a place called Max's... a place with diversity and all the complexities of humankind... and that there is hope for mankind! Some of my favorite lines that I repeat constantly (probably wrong): "He'll come back. He just wants to spend some time with his dream." "You've got it backwards. First you get crippled, then you try to commit suicide". Of course... "I'm big, BIG, bigger than you...but that's not hard to be Jerry ... that's not hard to be!" (BTW, does anyone know what Roary (that's how Rory spells it) says after that?... it sounds like "Oh, my hiney" Let me know. My wife and I have played it back 100 times. John Savage has many great lines throughout this. I could never figure out why he didn't win an award. Finally,I think the often-called hokey/corny ending is necessary to bring us back from a hard smack on a Buick. "Hey Roary!"

"Inside Moves" was marketed in Japan as "San Francisco Monogatari"

which means "San Francisco Story." ("To Kill a Mockingbird" is known

in Japan as "Alabama Monogatari".) "Inside Moves" is another little

movie that when I saw it in a cheap theater in Japan, I thought,

"Great. I am going to enjoy seeing this many times"; only to find

myself waiting for decades for it to resurface. It's a film which

examines the essence of humanity: heart, mind, and body. It's about

finding yourself through helping others; something that in the Thai

language is called, "Nam Jai" which means "water from the heart."

Sometimes we find it and sometimes we lose it. My favorite line is

John Savage's, "You don't have to come around anymore. We don't need

your kind of cripple" to indicate the sorry lot of those who have lost

the joy of giving and the value of camaraderie. But "Inside Moves"

gives it back again.