Winners Take All

Debi Richter does her usual excellent work exploring the repression of women in today's society, as her character tries to find her true place in the world, no matter where the journey takes her (and us)--especially considering what little screen time she was given. But twenty minutes of Debi equals forty minutes of a lesser actress, if you know what I mean. If only she'd won that Oscar. The envy of the Hollywood in-crowd is pathetic. There are only three times that I rose and saluted today: when my dad raised the flag this morning, when mom fried both hamburgers AND brats for lunch, and when Deborah Richter first came on-screen in Winners Take All. She is what America is all about!

Debi earns a full ten stars for her totally insightful & engaging performance but I've got to admit that the rest of the flick was fairly mediocre (which explains my five-star rating). "Don't be to judge mental" indeed. Was that Charles Haid in one of the stadium crowd scenes?

I saw this film on video when it first came out and ended up watching it several times. I've been tring to get hold of a copy ever since to no avail. It's basically a motocross drama and centers around a team of riders trying to perfect their off-road skills to win a particular event. Interestingly enough it's a female rider teaching the guys which at the time seemed like a nice touch.

It's a litttle predictable in parts but there are some nicely shot motocross action and stunts. It actually got me into motocross at the time and I'm still doing it now.

This is just over an hour and a half of non-stop laughs for anyone who actually rides motocross or is into it. I'm pretty sure they weren't intending to make a comedy when this movie was originally written. They were trying to make a cool motocross movie, yet 20 years later it has become a solid comedy for any MX fan. The only time the riding is done well is when they're using actual race footage from the original 80's pro races. The rest of the riding scenes, the acting, the plot, not to mention the cheesy 80's clothing, MX gear, haircuts, language, etc.. are just plain comical. My 15 year old daughter and I (we both ride) laughed hysterically through the entire movie. Her mother and 12 year old sister (they don't ride) spent the entire time wondering why they were wasting their time on such a dumb movie and trying to figure out what we found so damned amusing. The reason I gave this movie a 7 is because it was highly entertaining in a way it was never meant to be. If I didn't ride MX it would rate about a 2. If you ride, you must see this movie, if not, you just won't understand...

This is definitely the stupidest, corn-ball movie I have ever seen! What a waste of time, film and money. If I was one of the so-called "actors" that appeared in this pathetic movie, I would be ashamed to show my face anywhere on the planet! This horrible, down-right sickening movie, "Winners Take All" would definitely rate a solid 10 on the scale of the worst movies ever produced in the history of film. Don't expect to know what the point of this movie is, because there is none. Do expect yourself to absolutely feel as though you're about to vomit as you watch these fools go through their lines. I'm not a person that likes to go around and ridicule, or talk trash about anyone. In addition, I also realize that this review sounds pretty awful to say about any movie or actor. On the other hand, do you know how some movies just make you "feel" good after watching them? Well, this movie will make you feel all creepy and jittery inside as you watch. That is to say, if you don't turn it off first as I should have done.

MGM has been sitting on a number of movies that have been screaming for a DVD release, so I am confused why they would pass on those movies and choose this obscurity for a DVD release. Maybe there is a bigger audience for motocross racing than I thought. But since I am not a fan of this sport, you can probably guess what my feelings are about this movie. In fairness, the movie is fairly slickly made, with decent production values including good photography and some breathtaking shots of motorcycles zipping around and flying in the air. However, the story sinks the movie. Despite the movie running over 100 minutes, it is clear that the movie originally ran longer but was cut down in the editing room, with some plot points being vague and/or cut short. But even if the movie ran at its first cut length, we'd still have a story that is painfully predictable and with stock characters. In the end, I think the only people the movie would appeal to would be those really into the sport of motocross racing, though even they will probably find the movie extremely familiar for the most part.