Durant's Never Closes

I was waiting for this one. And it didn't disappoint. Growing up in Phoenix in later part of the 70's and early 80's. It felt right. You can really feel this moment in time. Some will find it confusing. If you are just a summer block buster type. More of thought provoking tear jerker. 9 out of 10. More studio crispness and it would be a honest 10!

This movie is a combination of a good theatre 🎭 + cinema 🎥. The director has combined both in one.

Director Travis Mills built a strong story around the infamous Jack Durant, owner/operator of his famous eatery in Phoenix, Arizona––Durant's.The restaurant has continued after Durant's passing and leaving it to his dog in his will. Durant's explosive nature was legendary. His public and personal relationships existed daily at the end of Durant's short fuse. Most believed he had ties to organized crime. The essence of Jack Durant was superbly captured and performed by Tom Sizemore and was drawn out and captured on film by director Mills. Durant's Never Closes is an Indie film, made by Indie filmmakers who put their hearts and souls into giving you a great, entertaining film. Highly recommended.

This film does a great disservice to the legacy of Jack Durant but also the restaurant that bears his name to this day. The story is convoluted and uses flashbacks and dream sequences too much making the main story disjointed. The IMDB reviews praising this film are mostly from Travis Mills, the director or people he's conned into thinking he's some great filmmaker. If not for relentless self aggrandizing promotion this would be relegated to the scrap heap of failures. The restaurant and estate of Jack Durant wanted nothing to do with this film and the critics who've seen it think it misses badly. In the end you are better off avoiding this since at the end you'll probably wonder what you just saw, and not in a good way.

Travis Mills did an amazing job directing this film. He is talented and insightful. Tom Sizemore plays a legendary restaurater, ladies man with ties to the mafia. He seems to easily fit easily into the era. His rough around the edges character does not tend to be likable. Yet, you feel for him in his scene with his ex-wife, even though he causes his own downfall. A great performance. The cinematography by Nicholas Fornwalt is outstanding!