All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

James Woods versus Bruce Dern was a pretty good casting call for this picture. Both effectively convey the type of smarmy characters that one usually finds behind the scenes of boxing fixes in movies dealing with the subject. As far as con jobs go, this isn't in the same league as "The Sting", but it still has it's moments with twists and trip-ups along the way that momentarily derail, but never stop Gabriel Caine (Woods) from pulling off that final win against John Gillon's (Dern) ringer.The one disconnect I had with the story line was when Gillon left ringside to confront the Busby Brothers about their payoff. I went back and checked out the scenes leading up to it and couldn't find anything that would have tipped Gillon off to the double cross. The ruse with Gillon forcing his son Robby to walk out of the fight was a neat twist to rig the count on how many men faced off against Honey Roy Palmer (Louis Gossett Jr.). Caine and Honey Roy had some fun working that black motivation thing, it came in handy against the Tank (Jeff Benson) and offered a neat wind up to the story.There's probably any number of interpretations one can offer for the resolution to the story. I guess the best one can go with would be Caine's ability to operate a few steps ahead of his opponent, figuring that Minoso Torres (Alex Garcia) would wind up heading for Diggstown when he got his prison release. Dern's character gave a sneak preview of how the tables would be turned on him when he gave a thumbs down to his boy Buck (Rocky Pepelli) earlier in the film.

There are very few movies, including most of my all-time favourites, that I can watch more than once a year without getting bored. In fact, "Diggstown" is the only one I can think of. As other IMDb reviewers have pointed out, not a scene or a line is wasted; the movie pulls you forward. It's as much fun as any good "con" movie, but has a lot more to say than "The Sting" (a film that I love) or any other such that I can think of. If the reason for its relative obscurity is the usual one---the studio held focus groups and decided not to put much advertising money behind the film---then I'm baffled.Do they give Oscars for casting? "Diggstown" deserves one. Gossett and Platt are extraordinary. (Gossett, in my opinion, gives the best performance of his career---high praise indeed.) Woods and Dern, two actors whose work I haven't always been crazy about, are perfect here. It's fast, hilarious (with Gossett getting most of the best lines) and, as The New York Times wrote, "improbable (and) vastly entertaining." Oliver Platt's fleecing of the locals in the bar early on is one of the funniest scenes I know of.I love introducing friends to "Diggstown." Without exception, their reactions are, "Holy crap! How come I've never heard of this movie??!!" Then they ask to borrow it.

I teach film appreciation, and this is one film that I show almost every semester when I talk about scriptwriting. The only time I don't is when I get tired of seeing it two - three times/year. But, ironically, those times are few and far between, I rarely tire of it.It's a great example of foreshadowing and exposition, the acting is great and it has a great cast. (Oliver Platt, James Woods, Louis Gossett, Jr. and Bruce Dern.)It's very nicely directed and is structurally amazing. I wouldn't call it a comedy, there are some very serious parts in it, but everything lent itself to the story well. It's just an all around good film. Very underrated and little heard of, it's definitely one for the rental list.

This movie is a gem, and I cannot believe, as some others have said, that MORE people haven't seen it. We found it by accident on Starz! and highly recommend you spend the time with it.While people may tell you it's about boxing, it really isn't. It's about a con. There's enough surprises in the movie to make your jaw drop at times. I know mine did.Truly a movie that should be seen by more people. The characters and the actors that played them were just wonderful. I can only imagine that the fun these people had on the set was something they will all remember all their lives.