The Hollywood Sign

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')

The objective of "direct to video" movie makers is to attract the biggest "names" that their budget can afford. All the better to sell videos and offshore rights. From that cynical perspective Hollywood Sign still remains a failure. The plot is minimal and falls apart if you start to ask to many questions. Similarly, the dialog has some good lines, principally on their reduced acting status in Hollywood, but no where near enough to make this any sort of sly masterpiece. Therefore the whole value of the movie comes down to the three leads. Tom Berenger starts out with some character and pathos but recedes as the movie progresses. In the main showcase, with the three leads impersonating police, he is effectively wallpaper. Burt Reynolds can be described as erratic. On the plus side he shows true emotion looking at his old movies and comedy in in preparing for the "cop" role. However, in between, he is often vacant and the viewer is left to contemplate what appears to be really bad plastic surgery. Rod Steiger dominates all the scenes he's in and, by far, comes off the best. It's a matter of personal taste as to whether he goes into overacting but I could at least see the emotion which would have driven him to star status in the first place. Fans and completists of any of these three will be willing to see Hollywood Sign and, in that regard, the direct to video movie makers have achieved their objective. However, it is doubtful that anyone will need to see it twice.

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.

"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)

"The Hollywood Sign" starts with some sharp comedy, but quickly deteriorates. Rod Steiger and Burt Reynolds hold things together for a short time, while Tom Beringer comes across as if he had a bad case of constipation. I had expectations that this was a black comedy, but what attempts were made at dark humor fall flat, mostly because of terrible timing. The script is very muddled, and the exact nature of the crime caper never clear. What is crystal clear is that "The Hollywood Sign" wastes good performances from Burt Reynolds and Rod Steiger. Because of the weak script, boredom eventually evolves into disinterest. A real sleeper. ZZZZZZ - MERK