THINGS TO DO IN DENVER WHEN YOU'RE DEAD
A film review by Vince Deehan
Copyright 1996 Vince Deehan
Directed by Gary Fleder Screenplay by Scott Rosenberg Cast: Andy Garcia, Christopher Walken, William Forsythe, Treat Williams, Christopher Lloyd, Bill Nunn, Jack Warden, Steve Buscemi, Gabrielle Anwar, Fairuza Balk, Michael Nicolosi and Josh Charles.
Just take a look at the amazing cast list for this film- pretty impressive isn't it? This is almost a dream time of actors and it says so much for this film's calibre that such a heavyweight team of actors was drawn to this project. So it is very sad to note that this film didn't do at all well in the US, and it really is a crying shame since this film has everything going for it : a great script with cracking dialogue, great characters, excellent performances and a good story. So why did this film fail ? I think I may know why, and I will come back to this later.
When we first meet Jimmy "The Saint" Tosnia (Andy Garcia) he is seen trying to drum up some business for his video service. He runs a company which films dying people giving advice to their relatives in their absence. His business isn't doing well and this is noted by Jimmy's former boss, The Man With The Plan (Christopher Walken). Jimmy used to lead a life of crime but has long since gone straight, although his former boss still feels that Jimmy will be just the right man to do a "piece of work" for him. The Man With The Plan is a quadriplegic and lives in a huge mansion with his nurse, his two brutish bodyguards and his slow-minded son Bernard.
We learn that Bernard has been having a very hard time getting over a long-term relationship with his childhood sweetheart who is now about to get married. It turns out that her husband-to-be is about to arrive in Denver in a few days time and The Man With The Plan wants him to receive a bit of a scare from Jimmy and his old associates. Jimmy is not at all keen at first, but The Man With The Plan doesn't seem the sort of guy you say "No" to, so Jimmy accepts. Jimmy gathers up all his old mates from his former days of crime: Franchise (William Forsythe), Critical Bill Dooley (Treat Williams), Pieces (Christopher Lloyd), and Easy Wind (Bill Nunn). Jimmy plans the whole procedure and allows Critical Bill to be one of the two men who stop the groom Bruce (Josh Charles) on the road into Denver. Jimmy isn't keen to let Critical Bill take such an important role, since he has a bad reputation for being a bit explosive and prone to unnecessary acts of violence. Against his better judgement Jimmy is swayed when Critical Bill assures him that those days are behind him. When the night arrives to scare Bruce, things do not go to plan and Bruce ends up dead. The Man With The Plan never intended this to happen and is not pleased. He orders that Jimmy's associates be killed and warns Jimmy to get out of Denver or face the same fate.
The rest of the film shows how Jimmy tries hard to save his friends' lives as well as that of his young girlfriend, Dagney (Gabrielle Anwar) who is now in danger too. We also meet a young prostitute, Lucinda (Fairuza Balk) who clearly dotes on Jimmy and talks of how she wishes she could have a love-child with Jimmy. Jimmy is shown, throughout the film, looking out for Lucinda's interests and this is vividly shown when he barges into an office and punishes a businessman who has assaulted Lucinda.
I can't speak highly enough of this film, it is simply wonderful. I have seen it twice now and I am looking forward to seeing it again later this week (it is still showing in London). It has everything that I like to find in films : a great story that keeps you interested, great characters who you come to care about, excellent dialogue that sticks in the mind, marvellous acting from the entire cast and it looks good too ! I have no criticisms to make. I think that the reason this film was so unsuccessful in the US is due to the misapprehension that this is somehow a Tarantino rip-off or a self-consciously hip movie. Both these assumptions are not true and I feel that people who may have heard these comments are really missing out on a great film. I believe the film was written before RESERVOIR DOGS came out so the Tarantino jibes are unfounded. The idea that it is a trendy "hip" movie is perhaps due to the title of the movie, which unfortunately does give this impression. I think that when I heard this title for the first time I got the feeling that perhaps this movie was wanting to sound cool and trendy, which is not a good impression to get. So perhaps the title is unwise.
I have also seen people write about some of the stylised dialogue in the film . There are a lot of words and phrases used in the movie that are clearly made up and unique to the film and its characters. Some of these, including : "Give it a name", "Boatdrinks" and "Buckwheats" and indeed many of the characters' names may seem a little forced and a tad pretentious. Many of the phrases are, at first, hard to translate but they get used so often that their meaning is very quickly picked up. The meaning of "Boatdrinks" is explained early in the film and vividly and, frankly, beautifully demonstrated later in the film ( I want to expand on this further but I wouldn't want to spoil it for anyone). My personal feeling is that the creative use of new phrases throughout the film lends the film a lot of charm and gives the film a very unique feel. The phrases are never used to distance the viewer, far from it. I felt that it made me like the characters even more, because they had such a wonderful way of expressing themselves.
The acting from the entire cast is impeccable. It's the kind of film that If I were an actor I would be so proud to have been a part of it. Indeed, in a TV interview I saw with the writer and director they said that once the script started doing the rounds in Hollywood, actors all over town were *very* keen to get involved. This is a great film for actors because the parts are all so well written and the dialogue really gives the actors some wonderful lines to play with. To pick out actors for particular praise is hard, because everyone deserves praise.
Christopher Lloyd has one of the most powerful scenes in the film, where he explain to Jimmy that he knows that he has lived life to the full and is prepared to face his impending death with dignity. Christopher Lloyd's acting here is just sublime and had me very close to tears. Andy Garcia is also excellent in this scene as he struggles to come to terms with what Christopher Lloyd's character is saying. Indeed Andy Garcia is solid as a rock throughout and gives a hugely charismatic performance that just shines off the screen. Gabrielle Anwar as the beautiful Dagney gives a captivating performance, especially in her first scene when she playfully makes fun of Jimmy when he attempts to use what she feels are practised lines in showing how enchanted he is with her. Her character is essentially similar to her part in SCENT OF A WOMAN, but she plays it well and lights up the screen when she appears. Jack Warden has a small role in the film, but he is very memorable. He is seen mostly in a diner, talking to anyone one who comes in about Jimmy and his friends. He is such a master actor that with what little he had to do, he creates such a big impression. Fairuza Balk gives a luminous performance as a teenage prostitute and is clearly a very talented actress. She is surrounded by vastly more experienced actors yet she still gives an excellent performance which has a lot of depth and makes you feel very protective for her character. Her character is so brash on the outside yet Fairuza Balk shows her vulnerability very well.
I could go on forever praising all the other actors (Treat Williams and Steve Buscemi are superb- there, I got in two more! ), but I think you get the point. Gary Fleder and Scott Rosenberg have made a fantastic film and if just one person checks this film out after reading my review, I will be a very happy man.
Review written by Vince Deehan on Monday 23 September 1996 e-mail : vince@deehan.demon.co.uk
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews