Dreadfully Boring

All that we are seeing on the screen is happening with real people, real action sequences in the background, forcing the eye to watch as if we were there.

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

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

I took the trouble to look this up on IMDb after coming in late on it on Showtime because I was impressed with just about all of it. David Caruso was the only actor I recognized, but as far as I was concerned, everyone was excellent, particularly the big guy with the big hat; and contrary to some of the other reviews, I found myself remarking on the excellence of the direction, with good angles and fresh touches all over the place. I was not surprised to find it was written by Elmore Leonard, given the convolution; I'm still not sure who did what to whom and why, but who cares. A very pleasant couple of hours.

David Caruso plays the part of a drifter and small-time crook who falls for a newly-wealthy mafia widow and tries to help her thwart the ambitions of a scheming, sadistic mob enforcer who's after her and her money, especially her money. As the creepy villain, Jeff Kober is both obnoxious and scary--he even looks vaguely reptilian. Unexpected plot twists and touches of quirky humor keep the tension going right to the ending, which turns out to be another odd twist in itself. Do not be fooled by the fact that this was a made-for-TV movie; it's actually quite good.

A very faithful adaptation of Elmore Leonard's novel. Great characters, intriguing plot with double-crosses on top of double-crosses, beautiful scenery. Everybody was great, particularly David Caruso as Maguire and Jeff Kober as Roland Crowe. Loooove the range hat, honey!

You probably expect this movie to be awful. It's a made-for-cable flick starring David Caruso, and it's already in the $2.99 sale bin at Best Buy.Well guess what? It's a pretty darned good movie. It's a good little mystery with fewer cliches than most theater releases of this genre. Caruso is a likeable, well-meaning but not-quite-competent angel to a mafia widow trying to escape the clutches of the baddies.The performances are capable, the sets have a sumptuous look, the head psycho-baddie is both scary and funny. The dialogue has a touch of poetry, and the story is by Elmore Leonard.And, unlike most of these things, the ending fooled me! That alone makes it worth the rental.Funny thing though, they never should have shot Caruso running. He's a macho guy in his bearing and voice, but he runs very strangely, slowly, with his thighs frozen together and his hips swaying from side to side. Kind of destroys the illusion.