As Good As It Gets

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

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.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Why this movie took ten days to film, is beyond me. It cost more to catch the horses and saddle them for the stars than it made at the box office. ( just kidding!) Watching Jack ride around in a 100 degrees and never sweat one drop all while repeating, " you talking to me?" A good movie for us old people, puts you right to sleep!

Willet (Warren Oates) returns to his claim only to find that his partner is dead, his brother gone and a simple-minded young man minding the place. Soon an odd woman (Millie Perkins) arrives and offers Willet a ton of money to guide her through the desert. He insists they bring along the simple guy and they get moving. However, it soon becomes apparent that she isn't being very honest with them. Why does she NEED to get there and why the big hurry? She claims the reason is unimportant but it soon seems as if she's tracking someone...and when a nutty gunman (Jack Nicholson) meets up with them, it's dead certain they're looking to do something to someone. The problem is that if they try to back down now, their new 'friend', the gunman, will blow their heads off! So what's next? See the film.The casting of Jack Nicholson might seem silly today, as his character was so unlike the typical Nicholson role. However, in 1966 there was no 'typical Nicholson role'...and back then, accepting him as a nasty gunman would have been easier to except back in the day.Overall, this is a very simple story but also well done. It makes the most of its budget, cast and story. Not a must-see western but clearly one worth your time.

"The Shooting" is about the futility, the destructive, and the self- destructive nature of revenge. It's a story about how one person's single minded obsession can involve others and destroy them as well. When you seek revenge, or aid others in seeking revenge, you can destroy yourself and those around you. It's also a story about how difficult it can be to avoid getting involved in an enterprise that you know is going to be trouble, but circumstances just don't allow you to avoid it. You get sucked in.The woman will go to any lengths to kill the person who perhaps killed someone close to her (her husband and child? perhaps accidentally? we don't know the circumstances). She will enlist anyone she can any way she can. Simple-minded Coley is sucked in by her domineering attitude and her attractiveness. Will goes along for the easy money and to protect his friend Coley, not realizing the true nature of the mission (that the person she is chasing is actually Will's brother, the twist at the end). Billy Spears is a killer who would follow the woman just for kicks. People question if they all die, but whether they all die or not, they will never be the same. Coley is dead. Will lost his best friend (Coley) who was "dependent" on him. He also may have lost his brother (probably). He also lost his other partner back at the mine. And, he may have died at the end himself. Even if Billy doesn't die in the desert, his shattered gun hand will force him to find a new profession (and change his attitude, since he can no longer back up his arrogance with his gun). Perhaps the fact that he is walking alone in the desert at the end means that the others are dead, and that he will die soon as well, but does it really matter? All of their lives were destroyed due to the woman's obsession with revenge. She rode all the men and the horses to death in her obsessive quest for revenge (whether it was justified or not). Perhaps in the final scene, when Warren Oates sees his brother (himself) he is realizing the impact that this quest has had on him. He has destroyed himself.

Why do some of the critics like movies like this one? How pretentious and silly is it to give a movie a high rating because it's poorly-written? The story makes little sense, it's like something a person who had never written a story or screenplay before might come up with. Why would a woman try to hire a man to kill his own twin brother? Why was the man at the mine shot in the face, and who shot him? Why did Willett not pick up a canteen of water when he continued on after he crushed Billy's gun hand? Why did the woman not shoot Willett when he was about to strike Billy with the rock? Some of the characters introduced in the movie were not explained or developed. Like the bearded man - what was his role in the story?I would have given this movie a 1 or a 2 rating if not for the cinematography, which is very good considering the budget and quality of equipment they had to work with.