Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead

When Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction hit the scene in 1994, it took filmmakers and cinephiles by surprise that a film involving murder, betrayal, and theft could also be so wickedly funny and hilariously in its conversational fluidity. Tarantino was fearless, not worried about halting the plot-progression for just a short amount of time so the characters could ramble or comment on something random and completely off topic. As simple as it was, it was surprising to many; here was dialog unrelated to the plot and central story being used with such confidence.

Because of how Tarantino took convention and ordinary crime-drama filmmaking by storm, he obviously spawned many inspirations and "copycats." I only bring this up because, for reasons I have trouble understanding, people have written off Gary Fleder's Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead off as a Pulp Fiction ripoff. Since its release in 1995, the film has gone far under the radar and scrutinized, only to be viewed by the curious cinephile or a hardened crime drama fan; consider me both.

The film stars Andy Garcia, a leading man I, and many, it appears, have forgotten about as much as we forgot about this particular film. He plays "Jimmy the Saint," an ex-con looking to get out of the business and run his own shop where people record their wills for their family and friends before they die. Catering to the business serves as his day job, until he's approached by his paraplegic boss "The Man With the Plan" (Christopher Walken), who requests his services for one more little odd job. Unsurprisingly, the job goes wrong, and this means Jimmy is in the hottest water. Now, Jimmy must find a way to secure his own future, as well as continue to maintain stable connections, while pleasing his newfound love interest (Gabrielle Anwar) through all this chaos. In the meantime, we are introduced to a wide variety of characters played by big-name actors: a quiet hit-man nicknamed "Mr. Shhh" (Steve Buscemi), ex-gangster "Pieces" (Christopher Lloyd), petty-thug "Big Bear Franchise" (William Forsythe), the loquacious "Easy Wind" (Bill Nunn), and the argumentative and angry "Critical Bill" (Treat Williams).

The film bears a relatively age-old story, but the film is complicated by strangely vague dialog and an overabundance of characters with unique names. The dialog itself seems to be describing linear, straight-forward statements and requests and loading them with slang and alienating jargon that takes a great deal of time getting used to.

Once one comes to terms with the dialog, at hand, Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead becomes your average mob flick, comfortably paced, sometimes fun in a gloomy way, and often brooding and dark, like the dapper characters it focuses on. If director Gary Fleder and writer Scott Rosenberg (who's eclectic filmography includes the amiable Kangaroo Jackand the wildly misunderstood Pain & Gain) has anything down here, it's the films tone, which knows when to be comedic and when to be haunting at just the right times.

Consider the scene when this particular operation goes wrong, and Jimmy and his gang land themselves in hot water. Up until this scene, the film has maintained a traditionalist mobster theme of being mildly dark and slightly comedic. When this incident occurs, it suddenly all goes black and the seventy of the gang's actions finally catch up to them. Fleder shows this nicely and packs a lot of character intrigue here with such a great cast.

Films centered around crime and the mobster lifestyle are often broken up into three categories with cinephiles: the classics, Scorsese, and everything else. While Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead exists in the latter, it is nothing shy of an enjoyable and intriguing viewing. The actors possess enough charisma and charm to carry out a screenplay like this, Fleder's direction always seems to hit the right tones, and Rosenbaum's writing always finds ways to take dark and exciting turns. The fact that the film has somehow mingled its way into being mistaken for a clone of one of the most popular crime dramas of all time is quite a shame because of how much quality is in its product to begin with.

Starring: Andy García, Christopher Walken, Christopher Lloyd, William Forsythe, Bill Nunn, Treat Williams, Steve Buscemi, Gabrielle Anwar, Jack Warden, and Fairuza Balk. Directed by: Gary Fleder.

It would be hard to dislike a film that opens with a Tom Waits tune and gives hitherto typecast actors a chance to, oh, I don't know: Act. First, Andy Garcia. What can I say about Andy? He's an attractive guy who all too often gets slated to play "the attractive guy." (His shamefully undeveloped character from Ocean's Eleven comes to mind). In this little indy film he gets a chance to actually embody a character and not simply be Andy Garcia (with capital letters). Then there's his love interest, Gabrielle Anwar (who elevated the already immortal tango in Scent of a Woman). Poor Anwar has been plagued with a lot of stock roles in lame movies since then, but here, like Garcia, she gets to explore her role and show the audience she can do more than make "hey I'm famous. Where's my check?" Al Pacino look good on the dance floor. Also fantastic are Treat Williams, Steve Buscemi, and Christopher Walken (who bests his Annie Hall AND Pulp Fiction cameos). The story is simple: Andy's character is an ex-mob guy who's gone legit then pulled back in for one last job, things go wrong, and he's got 2 days before he's going to be killed. In many hands this would be a B movie, but the writing is so clever and unique that this excessively played mob-movie thing seems like it's done for the first time. There are as many quotable lines in this film as any cult classic; my favorites include: "I knew the kid was lunchy, but not that lunchy." and meeting Anwar's character for the first time: "What's your name?" "Dagney." "Dagney? Wonderful name. Everyone should know a Dagney."

If you like films like Usual Suspects that combine the action genre with actual thought and character development rent this film and see if you can watch it only once. In the same ballpark try Way Of The Gun with Benicio Del Toro and Ryan Phillippe, another film where "pretty boys" are actually allowed to explore their craft of acting.

Following the success of "Reservoir Dogs" (1992) and "Pulp Fiction" (1994), there were a slew of quirky (and violent) crime films. Most of them were pretty awful ("2 Days in the Valley" "Lucky Number Slevin") and some that were pretty excellent ("Get Shorty" "Grosse Pointe Blank" "Go"). "Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead" falls somewhere in between. The film was written by Scott Rosenberg, who's written solid entertainment like "Con Air" and "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle" to duds like "Kangaroo Jack" and the "Gone in Sixty Seconds" remake. The script on it's own probably falls into the the lesser half of Tarantino knock-offs, but an excellent cast (Andy García, Christopher Lloyd, Treat Williams, Bill Nunn, Jack Warden, Steve Buscemi, Christopher Walken, Fairuza Balk, Gabrielle Anwar, Bill Cobbs, Glenn Plummer, Don Cheadle, and Tiny Lister) greatly elevate the material. The story follows Jimmy the Saint (Garcia) as he puts together a disparate crew of quirky criminals (i.e.Lloyd has appendages falling off and Williams uses bodies at the funeral parlor he works at as as punching bags) on a job that, as you'd expect, goes all wrong. The film does have it's moments. Williams and Nunn cursing each other out in a Resturant while birthday-hat-wearing children look on in stunned silence is pretty funny. Williams as the unpredictable and off kilter Critical Bill is probably the best part of the film. A close second is a doomed romance between Garcia and Anwar. However, the film's script is really just trying too hark in it's attempt to be cool and quirky. The narration by the great Jack Warden seemed particularly pretentious. Overall, there are better films to choose from if you're wanting 90s style Tarantino rip-offs, but if you like the cast here (which I do greatly), you'll probably enjoy "Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead."

One of the greatest appeals of this film is its vernacular. Aside from being cast beautifully by talented actors in diverse roles set in an interesting story, it's the dialogue that is extremely memorable. That, and its great title.

And with such a great cast and dialogue, I'm absolutely stunned as to how this great little film slipped through the cracks and didn't get a wider audience. Its theatrical run here in Toronto was limited, actually I'm making an assumption, I don't recall a listing for it, but before you knew it, it was gone. Perhaps it wasn't marketed well or supported strongly enough.

I have recommended this film and lent it to many friends and every one of them has enjoyed it. I generally say, if you liked "Pulp Fiction", another film which is well cast and with great dialogue, then you will likely enjoy this one also.

One of my favourite quotes from the film (or any) comes from a supporting player. Andy Garcia as "Jimmy The Saint", seeks the advice of Bill Cobbs, playing "Malt", a Soda Jerk, on whether he should impregnate his hooker friend as a favour to help straighten her out, Malt sarcastically replies:

"That's just what the world needs... the unholy offspring of you two bag-o-smashes. That kid will be the anti-christ for sure… 666 written all over it."

Christopher Walken plays a memorable role of a crippled mob boss, known as "The Man With The Plan" who is disturbed by his son Bernard's manic and sexually obsessive behavior after having been dumped by the love of his life for another man. The Man With The Plan insists that Jimmy, come back to work for one job, an action, to scare the living daylights out of this new beau, and tell him to stay away from Bernard's former girlfriend.

Jimmy is given the option to assemble his old crew for this action, which he does. A strange bunch of men who have been long out of any illegal action, some of whom miss it, and others whom do not.

And that's just about where it gets real interesting.

The story is laden with character revelation from a old wiseguy who just doesn't shut up and scenes from everyday people who offer their wisdom to videotape at Jimmy The Saint's legitimate but failing business, "After Life Advice" for people who are terminally ill and wish to pass on a legacy to their loved ones beyond the grave.

Everyone involved with this film should be proud of their accomplishment. It is a great film and unfortunately hasn't been seen by many, by my account anyway. Let's see if we can't change that.

"Things to Do in Denver... When You're Dead" is a smart little crime flick that may not add anything to the genre but is an enjoyable ride. Andy Garcia is thoroughly charming as the honourable Jimmy the Saint who is under increasing time pressure to fix things before his crew get killed for a botched job. Other cast members also put in good performances, while if you are a fan of Steve Buscemi this film probably contains his "coolest" work to date.

"Things to Do..."'s greatest flaw is its slow exposition. It takes a while for things to get moving, by which time you may be questioning why you are watching this movie. Stick with it - "Things to Do in Denver... When You're Dead" is a crime film worth watching.