Let It Ride (1989) Review

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(More customer reviews)Let It Ride is one of those lost treasures. Dreyfus is at his comic best and David Johansen (Buster Poindexter), Teri Garr, Jennifer Tilly and the rest of the cast are excellent as well. FUNNY throughout. Leonard Maltin, what were you watching? Featuring some very true-to-the-track moments, this movie wins going away. (Based on the book "Good Vibes" by Jay Cronley...read it!)

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Jay Trotter has waited a lifetime for this day. He's got a hot tip on a horse everyone thinks is ready for the glue factory. But, as track aficionados say, "Even when you know, you never know." One thing you can be certain be sure of is that with Richard Dreyfuss, David Johansen, Teri Garr and more, this is a winning comedy. So put it in your VCR and Let It Ride. Its characters give new meaning to "the odds." And its heart will touch everyone who's wondered: "If every dog has his day, why can't every person have one?"

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Rounders (1998) Review

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(More customer reviews)I own the original DVD of this film. Certainly I hesitated to buy a second copy of the essentially same movie, but(...) I thought I'd take a chance. The main feature remains the same, so if you are in the same situation as I was, you'll be paying for the extra features. In short, the extras certainly make it worthwhile to own this edition, whether or not you own the original.
1. If you play poker already, "Heads Up Texas Hold 'Em" won't help you. (I bet you suspected that already.)
2. The two bonus features, "Behind-The-Scenes Special" and "Inside Professional Poker", are short at 5'20" and 5'40" respectively. The former is a little disappointing; it appears that the cast and the staff simply talk about the movie retrospectively after the production. In other words, it looks and feels like an afterthought. The latter is a little more satisfying; it gives some well-known (to regular poker players) principles of poker. The soundtracks are very annoying.
3. Champion Poker Tips gives a few sound-bite tips from Johnny Chan, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Phil Hellmuth, and Chris Moneymaker. Again, if you play poker already, there is nothing new here.
4. Now, these professional players are featured in the extra commentary. Mr. Whear characterized this commentary as "odd," but I thought this was the best part of this Collector's Edition. The comments they make are sometimes off the wall, but it just adds to the charm (to me, anyway). They analyze the hand Mike McD loses to Teddy KGB at the beginning of the movie, and also the showdown at the end; their analysis is good, and they explain how (and why) things will be quite different in the real life. Also, the commentary shows the characters of these pros. Hellmuth is usually the motor mouth; Chan is the happy guy, but complains about how fat he appears in the film; Moneymaker seems a little reserved around the others; Ferguson is pretty quiet, but when he speaks he is brilliant (he even cracks a joke).
5. Staff's commentary gives some insight into the production of the film, including the real-world model of Teddy KGB (it turns out he is Eddie KGB in real life). This commentary is also good.
What was on the original DVD edition that is missing on this edition is the theatrical trailer. You might wonder why I bring this up. Well, the trailer contains a couple of scenes that didn't make the cut. I'm sure these could have been added as deleted scenes, too. For that, I subtract 1 star.

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Walking Tall (1973) Review

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(More customer reviews)This movie is certainly one of the bloodiest true stories ever filmed. Even though many of the scenes in the film are fictionalized for dramatic effect, there are many scenes in this film that did happen to Buford Pusser in real life and that is what makes so many scenes in the film shocking.
Joe Don Baker gives his best performance as Buford Pusser, a retired wrestler who after being brutally beaten in a local nightclub, exacts revenge on the very same people who did it. Pusser is arrested by the corrupt town sheriff and is taken to court for his actions. Thanks to a sympathetic jury, Pusser is rightly found not guilty and takes up his friend's plan to run for town sheriff against his wife's wishes.
While serving his term as sheriff, he is constantly followed, shot at, lied to, and eventually in one of the bloodiest scenes ever put on film, ambushed while driving with his wife, Pauline (played by Elizabeth Hartman). Pauline is brutally murdered and Buford Pusser is severely wounded when he is shot in the face several times with a machine gun.
Director Phil Karlson managed to make a terrific biographical action film with just one serious flaw. People who love spotting bloopers will find more than their fair share in this film. There are at least seven scenes in this movie where the boom mic comes into the frame or the shadow of the boom mic operator is seen along the wall.
If you can get by that, you will be left with a terrific movie.
Parents: Don't let children younger than 14 watch this film. There are numerous scenes of graphic, extreme violence (eg: Pusser's many beatings and gunfights) and coarse language.

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Based on true events in the life of Tennessee sheriff Buford Pusser, who "removes" corruption in his county with a four-foot-long wooden club. When the criminals attack his family, Buford shoots a whorehouse manager in the head and runs hillbilly gangsters over with his car.

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