hyped garbage

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

After watching Season One of TV's "A-Team" - I am now completely convinced that back in the early 1980s American masculinity was being seriously threatened, big-time.And, as a result of this assault on manliness - A testosterone-charged, macho-man TV series called "A-Team" was frantically created in order to "butch-up-the-nation" again.I mean - As silly as this may sound - That's the only thing that makes any sense to me as to why such a preposterous, male-dominated program as this one was produced (and, why, due to its vast popularity, it actually lasted for 5 solid seasons).

It is really hard to put into words just how much I love this show, but I'm going to try."In 1972, a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum-security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire... the A-Team." Cue greatest theme song ever written.These larger-than-life characters include Templeton "Face Man" Peck, a good-looking con artist whose job it is to scam the A-Team's equipment from any hapless passerby and question everything dangerous the team undertakes, John "Hannibal" Smith, the cigar-chomping disguise- wearing dated-insult-slinging leader of the group, and B. A. Baracus, who is essentially just Mr. T. I'm not kidding, Mr. T was the only cast member who never had to audition since the role was written specifically for him.There is a fourth member named Murdock who was the pilot that flew them to Hanoi for the infamous bank job. He has since gone banana balls and spends his days in the greatest mental hospital ever constructed. They let Murdock have his own private arcade and snack stash; THAT is good service. Face Man is usually the one sent in to break him out, and it's always fun to see what new con he'll pull to sneak Murdock out in plain sight, from a case of TB to a bout of rabies that Murdock contracted from his imaginary pet dog. Yes, that actually happened. And it was hysterical.The series centers around the A-Team doing jobs for people who can't prove who done it or otherwise can't count on the police for aid. In fact, more than once the A-Team are HIRED by the police to take care of dirty cops or corrupt officials. Other clients include logging companies, taxi companies, college students, Wild West show owners, all-female funk groups, and sometimes a pretty girl with a diamond mine to her name.And from that point on each episode begins building up to the big showdown, which is always crammed full of explosions, cars flipping over, guns that can't shoot straight, and poorly edited gun shot sounds. It's totally fake, but one does not watch this show for any amount of realism. One watches the A-Team because this is the romanticized action genre, the kind where the heroes always win, Face Man always gets the girl, cars blow up without injuring anyone, and the bad guys never stand a chance. It's cheesy, it's over-the-top, it's upbeat, and, above all, it's a ton of fun and I would happily rewatch it any time.I pity the fool who doesn't like The A-Team. Trademarked Mr. T 1997.

Judging by the comments I see, The A-Team certainly had its legion of fans. I have to confess to a guilty pleasure in watching it, but when I look back, I can't believe how dumb it was.In thinking back on all the episodes you could probably count on the fingers of one hand and have a digit or two to spare of the number of people who actually met their demise. Talking about shoot to wound, it was more like shoot to wreck. Nobody ever got killed with all the weaponry the outlaw A-Team could bring to bear. They'd shoot up vehicles however at a prodigious rate and the bad guys would be too banged up in the wreck to continue the fight. Or they'd shoot a tree branch down on the head of a villain. Stuff like that, but they never killed anyone with all those automatic weapons. Of course if people actually died, it would sort of remove the playfulness that characterized the show.The best thing The A-Team had going for it was its members, all very individual personalities even if they did function as a team. George Peppard was the leader, planner, organizer who came up with such intricate schemes to help their clients that he fell in love with his own plans. As Mr. T would say, 'he was on the jazz'.Although Peppard was billed first it was Mr. T that people remember best from the show. Interesting in that he was the only black and an enlisted man, a sergeant. He was incredibly innovative in terms of fashioning weapons when the team was denied the use of their regular hardware. He had a fear of only one thing, flying and that was used for many a gag. Of course a fear of flying was understandable if the pilot was one H.M. Murdock. There was a Marine general from World War II named Holland M. "Howling Mad" Smith, but he had nothing on Murdock. Dwight Schultz could drive anyone bonkers except the unflappable Peppard. Mr. T. as B.A. Baracus had a running fight with crazy Murdock the entire run of the series.The fourth member of the group was Templeton Peck, product of an orphanage who as Face learned to live by his wits early on in life. He was the conman, the procurer of whatever was needed by the team at a given situation. He was played by Dirk Benedict with a certain amount of smarmy charm though he was always in a good cause. The team would not be involved in anything less.The team were outlaws, tried and convicted for crimes in Vietnam we are assured they did not commit and escaped from military prison. They also had to avoid the Military Police and the various people like William Lucking, Jack Ging, and Lance LeGault sent by the army to capture who pretty much always failed.The first season the team had an outside contact in Brenda Starr like reporter, Melinda Culea. She left the show and I can't really blame her as her role gradually got dumbed down to camp follower. This was one testosterone driven show.I have to say though that of the group Dwight Schultz is an actor who still fascinates me whenever I see him. No one really knew who he was before The A-Team. Since he left he's played an astounding variety of roles that still leave me in awe of the man's talent. And most of them far from the comic vein of Howling Mad Murdock. So with some god awful stories, but a cast that really clicked, The A-Team ran for three seasons with same formula. Why then did producer Stephen Cannell decide to alter things by having The A-Team captured by the Military Police, but given a stay of execution so that General Robert Vaughn could use them for rogue intelligence assignments. You don't want to let guys with these kind of skills go to waste, but it destroyed the show. They even added another member of the team, Eddie Velez, presumably to bring in a Latino demographic. Velez was all right in his role, but it was like he was an interloper in an established show. The A-Team got canceled, presumably they're still doing intelligence work while collecting their military pensions, if indeed they were entitled to them with a court martial conviction.I used to say loud and long at how dumb this show was, but I did watch it and I suspect many were like me. I guess we were all on the jazz.

I absolutely agree with a previous comment that the internal chemistry between the characters AND their great interactions made this show great fun to watch. It was a "cartoonish satire" with real people lots of bullets that did not take it self too seriously until mid third season or so. I was a big fan. Rumblings on several recent boards talk (again) of a movie. They are a laugh as they all about guessing the choices to play the roles from the Rock as T (noone could replace T (he was an original entity) to Mel Gibson or George Clooney as Hannibal and Jim Carrey or Will Farrell as Murdoch or Brad Pitt as Face. (These people don't seem to get it that it was not only the characters and their interpretations but the period in which A-Team ran that made it work. The Lennon shooting the attempt on Reagan -- viewers enjoyed and accepted the absurdity of the show because of the time and sensibility of what was going on around them.) That rant being being made it might be nice to bring the gang back except for the death of George Peppard. Supposedly Stephen Cannell is again screening scripts. One rumor has it, that the original cast will play some role. Sounds like when they tried to do a show about show remaking a show of Bewitched (directed by the super Nora Ephron) and it was absolute garbage. If GP was around I might be interested (altho somehow I suspect GP would not touch it.) I don't wish to watch Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, K. Reeves, Jim Carry, Steve Buscemi or any of the other choices, spoil the the great work Dirk Benedict Dwight Schultz and the rest did with the characters. I also feel, the forgotten character of Amy Allen (by the far the best of the three sidekicks dropped in during the run) had the greatest potential. This potential but was given short shrift by the writers. There are many web sites of interviews with Melinda Culea explaining that she did everything to get the the writers to give here more to do than be a face with no part. Mr Cannell even admitted in one interview they were not clear on her role. In pilot Melinda Culea played feisty, a fighter, wanting to get involved in everything including fights. She was a super counterpoint to the all boys gang from keeping them from fighting to providing background checks and other help the thru the paper etc. I disagree with the comment Melinda was eye candy. Or, perhaps, the straitjacket that the writers put her in as the show went on made her seem that way. However as one poster notes, today it would be different. Someone like a Joss Whedon would know how how use her talent. (Just watch her in her 3 episodes of Family Ties 1984 and the strength of her comedic sense partnered against Michael J. Fox is hilarious. Loved the scene with the cockroaches where she was given the main job of sewing listening buttons on cops jackets. The comeback to Face was "sewing buttons -- how wonderfully sexist". It was subtle but funny. However, this kind of thing was never developed. Two of my favorite early episodes The Rabbit who ate Los Vegas and Jamestown where the show has one of it really serious tones. Hanibals makes a dark "acceptance of death to keep the edge" speech showed and Melinda clearly showed she had the ability to handle the scene. I wish they had kept her on as the role could given the stories wider range. Any way. I have little interest in seeing Bruce Willis, Rock, Cloony or anyone else muck this up by trying recreate it esp. given the train wreck of rail cars that have come of TV to big film conversions. The reruns are fine up to the entrance of Robert Vaughn (who essentially did what Decker and Lynch never could do ) which was bring the A team down. It was great for its time and its fun to drift back to that period and smile. I recently read a web interview with Cannell stating the movie "IF" it came would not be much like the original. There would be far more "realistic" action, real shooting and more fast paced without the humor that the show ever had. Sounds like a different program from the one I knew. While I might agree with his idea it would not be the A TEAM as it was. More like a Mission Impossible or Oceans 2X whatever number they are up to now. No thanksPity the fool who plays with this. Leave it alone sucker.... And if HM could not take Billy or THerm he might never agree to do a reprise. Tim S. Ottawa