8 Million Ways to Die

This film is consistently rated at or below the median for it's genre and period. In my opinion, this is an unfair rating... the film is better than it has been portrayed.

Jeff Bridges plays Matt Scudder, a down on his luck detective who is suspended by the LAPD after a violent confrontation with a suspect.

Bridges life spirals down (in something of a preview of the character he would later play in perhaps his best film, 1991's The Fisher King) into chronic alcoholism. He receives an unexpected invitation to a party hosted by Angel Maldonado (Andy Garcia in an early role) and there the story proper begins.

Scudder is drawn into the dark side of LA's party scene by "Sunny", one of Maldonado's erstwhile hangers on. Through this connection, Scudder determines to bring down Maldonado's drug empire - and make off with Maldonado's favourite girl...

All standard hollywood stuff, but reasonably well done. The mid 80's seems to have been a fairly soft time for truly good films, but this one is worth watching. I give it 7/10 on the public scale...

I am a huge Hal Ashby fan - he was a brilliant editor (Oscar winner for In The Heat Of The Night) and an even better director (Being There, Coming Home, Shampoo, to name a few) but this film is a mess. I just read a book on Ashby's life and here was a lot of trouble on this film - the studio wanted a sleek Miami Vice type film and of course Ashby wanted a gritty movie closer to the author Laurence Block's books. You can tell there's huge chunks missing - the film is disjointed - Bridges does a nice job playing the damaged cop but in one of the worst pieces of miscasting - Alexandra Paul plays the sultry hooker who is supposed to lure Bridges and she is awful - about all she can play is flirty sorority girl and their scenes are dull and boring. Rosanna Arquette has nothing to play - a one dimensional another hooker with a heart of gold. Garcia does his best with what he has to play and there are some good scenes btwn him and Bridges. But overall, a schlocky mess with a terrible 80's synth score.

I was baffled as to why decidedly arthouse director Hal Ashby would take on a commercial noir flick like this. It has all the scummy working parts but somehow, the blend of his quirky style and the material misses ever so slightly. It starts off REALLY strong but seems to lose a ton of gas when at the end. The film is...well, it could be a double bill with "Inherent Vice" or "Cutter's Way" A rogue alcoholic cop turned ex-cop from his mistakes attempts to investigate the murder of a hooker he had taken a liking to. That's it. He has friends in dirty places. Hookers, pimps, drug dealers, and the best part...all of them can justify their vocation. Scum begets scum and game recognizes game. And it's fun for the most part. Particularly to see Los Angeles in the 1980s. Other than that, it does become a mess. And you can tell when they just let the script go and start vamping for time. As great as an actor that Jeff Bridges, Rosanna Arquette and Andy Garcia are...they really falter when it came to improvisation. Was it that director Ashby just threw his hands up in resignation. Can't tell. But it's hard to have too many cooks into this meal. All in all, whatever may have transpired behind the scenes, I can't help but enjoy the hell out of some of the moments. A few moments is all that matters. And that's enough. Moments of dark humor are good enough for me. An interesting 80's noir flick.

Jeff Bridges portrays author Lawrence Blocks' character Matt Scudder in this picture, and his able performance is one of its few virtues. Matt is a detective for the L.A. Sheriffs' Department who is also an alcoholic. Ultimately, his drinking costs him his marriage and his job. However, he is soon approached by a hooker named Sunny (Alexandra Paul) to remove her from her unhappy life, and when he gets involved, he incurs the wrath of a smug drug kingpin (Andy Garcia) and a powerful pimp (Randy Brooks).

Sadly, this was the final theatrical credit for editor turned director Hal Ashby. A recovering substance abuser himself, he had little to no creative control over the final product. He wanted something grittier and closer to the novel (which this movie barely resembles), the producers wanted a feature film version of 'Miami Vice'. But what really hurts it is the poor script (credited to Oliver Stone and R. Lance Hill (a.k.a. "David Lee Henry"), which moves at a snails' pace and doesn't encourage us to really care about the characters.

The lack of success is not for lack of effort on Bridges' part. He, the intense Brooks, and the amusingly slimy Garcia entertain the viewer sufficiently. But Paul is miscast, and Rosanna Arquette, as one of Sunny's co-workers, looks like she couldn't care less. Familiar faces in supporting roles and bits include Vyto Ruginis, James Avery, Tommy 'Tiny' Lister, Rosalind Allen, and Loyd Catlett.

Absolutely gorgeous photography, good use of locations, an atmospheric score by James Newton Howard (one of his earliest), stunning helicopter shots, and some jarring violence work in the films' favor. But it goes on too long (especially that climactic confrontation in the warehouse, which becomes unbearable rather than tense), and has too much inane dialogue.

The man who made "Harold and Maude", "Coming Home", and "Being There" deserved a better theatrical swan song than this.

Five out of 10.

"8 Million Ways to Die" is a movie about crime that has action and suspense. It is directed by Hal Ashby and stars Jeff Bridges. The story is about a man who used to be a police officer, but now has problems with alcohol. He gets involved with bad people who sell drugs and have prostitutes. He tries to solve a case and things get dangerous. The movie has intense and dark scenes, and the actors do a good job, especially Jeff Bridges. The movie is not perfect because sometimes it is slow and the story is confusing. However, it is still a good movie that shows how bad life can be in the city and how addiction can hurt people. It makes you think about how people can change and find hope. If you like crime movies with action and realism, you should watch this one. I give it a 7 out of 10 stars.