To me, this movie is perfection.

Strong and Moving!

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

A perfect vehicle for wise guy James Woods, Bruce Dern, and Lou Gossett, and Oliver Platt. All deliver on the spot roles. Drama, humor, con men, boxing, surprises. Great lines from Woods..."I'll bet you $10 against five minutes with your mother...". Buy it, borrow it, watch it if you possibly can. Fun!Why ten lines of review? OK - Woods, conman, gets out of prison and seeks a scam. Finds it in Diggstown where hot-cheese Dern runs the show and is a small time boxing promoter. The bet is that Gossett can fight any ten local boxers in 24 hours and beat them all...$100,000. Lot's going on in this intelligent show. But, it's not so subtle that our majority moron movie watchers won't get it. Watch it twice if you need to. I did, and it was even better the second time.

The majority of Michael Ritchie's early films focused on the competitiveness and ruthlessness of a then contemporary United States. Be it "Downhill Racer" (1969), "Bad News Bears" (1976), "Smile" (1975), "The Candidate" (1972) or "Semi Tough" (1977), all his films during this period are explicitly about competition, American institutions and individuals who put their personal goals (and/or profits) before a team, community or group (or vice versa).Like many directors of his era, Ritchie's career took a giant nosedive come the 1980s. But "Diggstown", released in 1992, toward the tail-end of Ritchie's career, remains a strong film. A fast and funny con movie, it paints a world of clever schemers and sinister cartels. Like Ritchie's earlier features, the cost of winning, rigged games and the dangers of organised power are themes which are brought up, but such things are mostly incidental. This is Ritchie in mainstream, crowd pleasing territory, and the film is far more optimistic than his earlier work. Amongst the cast, actors James Woods and Oliver Platt stand out as a pair of charismatic, clever con men. They take on a rigged world, and come out on top.7.9/10 - Worth one viewing.

Diggstown (also known as Midnight Sting) is directed by Michael Ritchie and stars James Woods, Louis Gossett, Jr. and Bruce Dern. It also features Heather Graham, Oliver Platt, a pre-fame James Caviezel and Randall "Tex" Cobb. The plot sees Woods as con-man Gabriel Caine, recently out of prison he and his cohort Fitz (Platt), set up a boxing "sting" in Diggstown, a hickville place out in Olivair County that is run by egomaniac John Gillon (Dern). The set-up entails Caine's old friend Honey Roy Palmer (Gossett Jr) having to fight, and beat, 10 Diggstown men in one day. As the money goes down and secrets come out, corruption and violence is never far away.Midnight Sting was one of those film's that came to my attention in the early hours of one morning. I couldn't sleep and turned the TV on out of pure frustration at lack of sleep. What I didn't know at that time of irksome sleepy annoyance was that I would fall in love with a movie, a love that lasts to this very day. The TV announcer said the name of the movie and that it stars James Woods. Since Woods is always value for money I thought I would give it a go, for the next 98 minutes I laughed out loud, I cringed at some sad moments and I punched the air on more than one occasion. It quickly became one of my favourite movies of all time. On the surface it looks a very simple tale, but it has so much more to offer outside of the excellent fight sequences and some belting one liners. Based on Leonard Wise's novel The Diggstown Ringers, the film deals in loyalties, friendships, greed, power, corruption and lies; not to mention small town mentality being under the microscope. It's impeccably acted too, with the Woods and Gossett play off one of the most engaging duets of the 1990s. While the twists, and there are some corkers, really crown what was already a smart and witty script. It was a film that went largely unnoticed on its release, and even now in this age of rampant internet use it appears to still be under seen or sadly forgotten. It of course wont become a personal favourite of all newcomers to it, but just maybe one day if you can't sleep or you are stuck for a rental then you should give it a chance. Because it deserves a chance to at least try to welcome you into its fan club. I love it, you know that by now, and there's a chance that you will too. Punch the air brilliant. 10/10

I caught this movie on cable this evening and was pleasantly surprised -- the synopsis in TV guide made it sound like a real junker, but I figured any movie with James Woods is worth a shot. The plot is very original and the acting was great by everyone involved. James Woods plays the role of a conman to perfection, and Oliver Platt was amazing as well even though this is a very different type of part for him. I thought Louis Gossett Jr did a good job also, especially considering I couldn't think of a single movie I had seen of his before with the exception of the 'Iron Eagle' movies when I was younger, so his performance was really a surprise for me. This is definitely worth the time and money to go out and rent if you are in the mood for something different.