royiscool86's reviews

Catch Me...if You Can's story doesn't make a lot of sense, the class president of a high school gets the local race king to race to save the school that's going to close down. But they loose all the money and get into a timed race across town like a local legend "Fast Freddie" did back in the day. Yeah. But the movie has a fun, goofy tone and is sort of a send up of 50's Hot Rod pictures, like "The Wild Ride," none of the young actors are particularly good, and everything about them screams the 80's but Geoffrey Lewis is always fun to watch, not to mention M. Emmet Walsh. It's directed by Stephen Summers of "The Mummy" and "Van Helsing" fame, which is interesting since pretty much all of his films hark back to a different old genre, "The Mummy" was classic movie serials and horror, "Van Helsing" was Hammer films, and Catch Me if You Can did Hot Rod flicks. But The Cars are the stars, the main guy drives a sweet '68 Chevelle takes the main role for much of the racing scenes, as it faces a beautiful orange and white '69 Camaro, a '68 Shelby Mustang, '71 Dart Sport, a Grand Prix SJ, and a pretty goofy '79 Camaro with a big spider graphic on the hood, and after the dastardly M. Emmet Walsh destroys the motor in his Chevelle, Geoffrey Lewis turns out to be "Fast Freddie" and he lets him borrow his amazing '57 Chevy that was buried under the football field to run the race. Can you guess what happens? Not going to win any awards, but it's a good example of some automotive thrills.

I guess this is sorta of a guilty pleasure for me, i think its because i'm a big fan of Lawrence Block, in particular his character of Bernie Rhodennbarr, a character that's been in ten (and counting) books, sort of Block's answer to Donald Westlake's Dortmunder.

Who ever thought of casting Whoopi Goldberg was definitely thinking outside the box. A slight Jewisish man becomes a black woman, one of the more drastic book-to-film changes.

But its all pretty fun, like Whoopi's attempt at being Chevy Chase in "Fletch," with Lesley Ann Warren, Bobcat Goldthwait, even John Goodman in a small role. But i have a theory about adaptations, no matter how many changes or how bad it is, there's usually something or someone that's absolutely perfect, and for "Burglar" it's G.W. Bailey as Ray Kirschman, perfect casting.

All in all it's not as good as the book, but they hardly ever are. It's worth i look, maybe a rental or a cheap buy (I paid 3 bucks for mine)

Donald Westlake's Dortmunder are a terrific series of caper books about a career crook with bad luck. "Bank Shot" may very well be the best of the bunch, well the funniest anyway. But the movie fails on many levels.

First off there's the casting, George C. Scott wasn't a horrible choice, if he had a good script he would have worked fine, Sorrell Booke wasn't the best choice, though i love to see him in something other than "The Dukes of Hazzard," Don Calfa is okay as the driver from the books, but Frank McRae was great as Hermman X.

If you want to see a pretty good Dortmunder movie, watch "The Hot Rock" with Robert Redford or "Why Me?" with Christopher Lambert. Watch out of curiosity, at least its closer to the books than "What's the Worst that Could Happen?"

This was my introduction to my favorite author and his prized creation (under his name anyway) Donald Westalke's John Dortmunder and crew make for a great book, so far thirteen and counting. This movie is based on the first book and one of the best.

I won't get into the plot because it's been gone over before, but Peter Yates and William Goldman crafted a pretty fine entertaining film, it may not be as good as the book (in fact it's not) but it doesn't stray too far, you got Robert Redford who's good in about everything. When i was reading the books at first i pictured him as Dortmunder, but my mental image soon switched to Walter Matthau. Then George Segal is a pitch perfect Andy Kelp, i don't think anyone could have been better. As a gearhead, my favorite character of the series is the driver Stan Murch, and Ron Leibman embodies him perfectly.

Overall the film is much better then other adaptations like "Bank Shot" with George C. Scott, and "What's the Worst that Could Happen?" with Martin Lawrence, and only slightly better than "Why Me?" with Christopher Lambert, and if you haven't read any Donald Westlake, you should. You really should, start with any of the Dortmunder books, and you'll get hooked.

"Double Nickels" is a pretty good 70's car chase flick, which means its not all that good as a film, but for a gearhead like me it's great. Jack Vacek, George Cole, and Ed Abrams were all in "Gone in 60 Seconds." The whole movie has the "Gone" vibe too it. It's about two California Highway Patrolmen (Vacek and Abrams) who moonlight as Repomen for George Cole, it's got some funny bits, some good chases and a great look at 70's California. On the car front, as cops Vacke and Abrams drive pretty sweet '74 or '75 Dodge Monaco's (much like the car in "The Blues Brothers") Vacke and ratty late 50's Chevy pickup, and the last chase is in a BEAUTIFUL 1968 Chevelle SS/396 and a pretty funny chase in a Pinto. Overall its not as good as "Gone in 60 Seconds," but its worth a look if you like car chase flicks.