Best Seller

Rating:
Summary: CULT MOVIES 6
Review: 6. BEST-SELLER (action, 1987) In 1972, 4-armed-masked men rob the police evidence depository in downtown LA. The thieves kill two cops and fatally would a third one. Surviving, policeman Dennis Meechum (Brian Dennehy) writes a book on the now 'infamous' robbery. The book becomes a best seller making Meechum a part-time writer but full-time cop. He is eventually promoted to Detective. 15 years later, on an undercover job, he meets Cliff (James Woods), a mysterious character whom saves his life. Cliff knows many personal things about Meechum's life, including the fact that ever since his wife's death he has given up writing. He tells him that he can provide him with an assured best seller based on David Matlock (one of the richest men in town). Cliff used to work for Meechum as an assassin, but after years of loyal work, he was dismissed. In order for Meechum to believe him, Cliff takes him on a tour of his previous work and private life (Cliff's wants to be included in the book as its inspiration). An uneasy alliance is formed, as Meechum uncovers Cliff's darkest secrets.

Critique: There are many reasons to like Best-Seller. It has a good, entertaining premise (a rogue assassin on the loose), the moody cinematography (another Adam Greenberg job), and displays a strong performance from the always reliable Brain Dennehy. But best of all, it has what I consider to be James Woods' best role. This capriciously underrated actor has given excellent performances in many films including: the sleazy TV-producer in David Cronenberg's interesting, albeit obscured masterpiece Videodrome (1983), his red-neck southerner in The Onion Field (1979), and in Oliver Stone's sadly neglected Salvador (1986- for which he received an Academy Nominee). In most of his films, Woods has specialized in playing low-life has-beens, who have few redeeming qualities. The only fault I saw in his early roles was that they were too shallow, not allowing the 'actor' enough room to move. In Best-Seller, he plays it cool. The character of Cliff knows what he wants and how to get it, and proves himself worthy of Meechum's respect. What better actor to give us a tour through the life of a criminal, hitman, sleaze-ball, all-nice guy?

QUOTES: Cliff: "Will power is what distinguishes the amateur from the professional. Do you have it Dennis? Will power?..Let's hope so."

Rating:
Summary: A TRUE SLEEPER
Review: I FIRST CAME ACROSS THIS GEM WAY BACK IN THE 80'S ON THE ADVICE OF THE VIDEO STORE OWNER. AS I WATCHED IT I KNEW IT WOULD BE ONE OF MY ALL TIME FAVORITES. JIM WOODS PORTRAYS A SMOOTH, VICOUS UTTERLY AMORAL KILLER WHO MANAGES TO SLIT THROATS AND BREAK NECKS WITH OUT WRINKLING HIS ARMANTE SUITS. BRIAN DENNEHY PLAYS THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN AS THE HONEST HARDNOSED COP RAISING HIS DAUGHTER ALONE AFTER THE PASSING AWAY OF HIS BELOVED WIFE. JIM WOODS AS EX-HITMAN CLEVE CONTACTS DENNIS MEECHAM, PLAYED BY DENNEHY, OUT OF THE BLUE AFTER SAVING HIS LIFE IN A SHOOTOUT AND THEN DISAPEARING. CLEVE THEN USES DENNIS TO WREAK REVENGE ON HIS EX-EMPLOYER DAVID MATLOCK BY WRITING A FACTUAL ACCOUNT OF HOW MATLOCKS COMPANY "CAPPA INTERNATIONAL" WAS STARTED BY THE THEFT OF MONEYS FROM A POLICE DEPOSITORY. THE SUBSIQUENT ODDESY AS CLEVE TAKES SGT. MEECHAM THROUGH A MAZE OF INTRIGUE AND MURDERS SLOWLY CONVINCES A SKEPTICAL COP THERE JUST MIGHT BE SOMETHING TO THIS AFTER ALL. AS THE FLICK PROGRESSES THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE COP AND THE CROOK TURNS TO A KIND OF UNEASY FRIENDSHIP WHICH SGT. MEECHAM WILL NOT ACKNOWLEDGE, BUT CLEVE KNOWS ANYWAYS. A MEMORABLE SCENE IN THIS MOVIE IS WHEN CLEVE APPEARS, UNEXPECTANTLY IN SGT. MEECHAMS PUBLISHERS HOUSE AS SHE ARRIVES HOME FROM A BUSINESS DATE. IF YOU DON'T THINK JAMES WOODS CAN BE CONVINCINGLY SCARY CHECK THIS SCENE OUT. CLEVE IS IN SEARCH OF A COPY OF THE MANUSCRIPT THAT MEECHAM IS WRITNG AND VERY CONVINCINGLY MAKES A BELIEVER OF THE LADY THAT SHE HAD BETTER GIVE HIM THE COPY IF SHE HAS IT, FORTUNATELY SHE DOESN'T HAVE THE COPY AND CLEVE BELIEVES HER, HE THEN ASSURES HER IF SHE TELLS MEECHAM ABOUT THEIR LITTLE MEETING HE WILL COME BACK AND "HURT YOU LIKE YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN HURT BEFORE". THE MOVIE PROGRESSES TO A SHOWDOWN AND RESCUE OF MEECHAMS DAUGHTER BY CLEVE. I LIKED THIS MOVIE SO WELL BECAUSE IT WAS BELEIVABLE. CLEVE AND MEECHAM EVEN GO SO FAR AS TO GO BACK TO WHERE CLEVE GREW UP AND MEET HIS VERY NORMAL SALT OF THE EARTH PARENTS. IF YOU WOULD LIKE A GOOD POPCORN AND POP MOVIE CHECK THIS ONE OUT IT DELIVERS A LOT OF BANG FOR THE BUCK AND RANKS RIGHT UP THERE WITH SOME OF THE BEST. ENJOY.

Rating:
Summary: James woods best role; great movie
Review: I was a fan of James Woods when I first watched this movie. After seeing this movie, I was mesmorized by his talent.Woods plays a killer for a corporation. Upon being fired, he sets his sights on destroying his boss with the cooperation of a former cop, now turned writer of novels, who was a former almost victim of Woods. He, all at the same time creates a picture of a hit man that almost makes him likeable and vunerable but at the same time shows his character to be digustingly vicious. In the end, he makes us see that he is human after all. This movie has great acting and I really enjoyed the cat and mouse game. Rent this movie!

Rating:
Summary: A TRUE SLEEPER
Review: If you like James Woods, this will definitely float your boat. Woods plays an ex-hitman, Cleave, for a large business situated in Los Angeles, which means you get to see him show his capacities to be smooth, calculating, and also emotionally explosive. While this movie is put in the action category, as it should be, its plot unfolds itself by slowly revealing the machinations of a corrupt and powerful business, that Woods' character is trying to take down for having gyped him at some point in his service. Throughout this development, the movie plays the characters of Woods -the cunning and dangerous hitman- and Dennehy -a just but temperamental cop- off one another. As you can guess, Dennis, the cop, continually suspects Cleave of having some dark secret or another cold trick up his sleeve. This movie's ability to display how Dennis communicates and cooperates with a criminal, who he despises, is what takes this movie beyond bare action and into a fascinating portrayal of personalities caught in the larger struggle of enforcing justice on mega-corporations.

Rating:
Summary: not just a thriller
Review: If you like James Woods, this will definitely float your boat. Woods plays an ex-hitman, Cleave, for a large business situated in Los Angeles, which means you get to see him show his capacities to be smooth, calculating, and also emotionally explosive. While this movie is put in the action category, as it should be, its plot unfolds itself by slowly revealing the machinations of a corrupt and powerful business, that Woods' character is trying to take down for having gyped him at some point in his service. Throughout this development, the movie plays the characters of Woods -the cunning and dangerous hitman- and Dennehy -a just but temperamental cop- off one another. As you can guess, Dennis, the cop, continually suspects Cleave of having some dark secret or another cold trick up his sleeve. This movie's ability to display how Dennis communicates and cooperates with a criminal, who he despises, is what takes this movie beyond bare action and into a fascinating portrayal of personalities caught in the larger struggle of enforcing justice on mega-corporations.

Rating:
Summary: James Woods gives heart to his portrayal of a killer
Review: If you're not a James Woods fan, you wouldn't understand, but bear with me:

This movie is really a story about the redemption of the assassin Cleve, played by Woods. The characters in the movie are given little depth by the writers, but the stars give heart to this film. I was most intrigued by the performance of Woods. Most actors play assassins as raving psychotics, (and typically Woods is no exception) but Woods takes the character of Cleve a step further. Seen in the beginning of the film as a savior to the best selling author and cop named Dennis played by Denneghy, Cleve at first shows a cool exterior and one wonders if this will be yet another Woods' film where he simply gets to shoot a lot of people. But when the character of Cleve comes to life, Woods shows his depth as an actor. Cleve's cool exterior and successful career as an assassin masks a tangible vulnerability as Cleve tries to come to terms with his life, wanting himself to be seen by the public as "sympathetic" in Dennis' "best seller." (You see this at the very end of the film where Cleve has to make a decision: get final revenge on his boss Matlock or save Dennis's teenage daughter). The ending is worth every minute of the background 80's synth music.

Cleve doesn't feel guilt in the murders he's committed for the cupidity of the company; as Cleve says matter-of-factly, "It's the profession I was in, Dennis." This streak of sociopathic deeds combined with an obession for verbal politeness was an interesting mix that I found intriguing. (One tongue-in-check example is after Cleve saves Dennis' life, he places a card on Dennis' windshield with the simple message: "Say thank you!")There were many great scenes like that throughout the film, making you wonder if you should hate Cleve for what he's done, or pity him, even like him, for who he wants to become. Watching the complexities of Woods' character slowly unfold was well worth the money. This film is excellent, especially if you are a James Woods fan.

Rating:
Summary: James Woods gives heart to his portrayal of a killer
Review: If you're not a James Woods fan, you wouldn't understand, but bear with me:

This movie is really a story about the redemption of the assassin Cleve, played by Woods. The characters in the movie are given little depth by the writers, but the stars give heart to this film. I was most intrigued by the performance of Woods. Most actors play assassins as raving psychotics, (and typically Woods is no exception) but Woods takes the character of Cleve a step further. Seen in the beginning of the film as a savior to the best selling author and cop named Dennis played by Denneghy, Cleve at first shows a cool exterior and one wonders if this will be yet another Woods' film where he simply gets to shoot a lot of people. But when the character of Cleve comes to life, Woods shows his depth as an actor. Cleve's cool exterior and successful career as an assassin masks a tangible vulnerability as Cleve tries to come to terms with his life, wanting himself to be seen by the public as "sympathetic" in Dennis' "best seller." (You see this at the very end of the film where Cleve has to make a decision: get final revenge on his boss Matlock or save Dennis's teenage daughter). The ending is worth every minute of the background 80's synth music.

Cleve doesn't feel guilt in the murders he's committed for the cupidity of the company; as Cleve says matter-of-factly, "It's the profession I was in, Dennis." This streak of sociopathic deeds combined with an obession for verbal politeness was an interesting mix that I found intriguing. (One tongue-in-check example is after Cleve saves Dennis' life, he places a card on Dennis' windshield with the simple message: "Say thank you!")There were many great scenes like that throughout the film, making you wonder if you should hate Cleve for what he's done, or pity him, even like him, for who he wants to become. Watching the complexities of Woods' character slowly unfold was well worth the money. This film is excellent, especially if you are a James Woods fan.

Rating:
Summary: One of the Best From Woods and Dennehy
Review: James Woods and Brian Dennehy both shine in this thriller about a cop/author who teams with a psychotic killer in order to bring down an organized crime figure.

It is fascinating to watch the interaction betwwen the two leads. Dennehy knows that Woods is a cold-blooded killer yet he uses a combination of physical presence and intestinal fortitude to keep the the smaller Woods in line. Woods' character actually tries to befriend Dennehy but one is never sure that he won't snap and kill Dennehy at any moment.

This is an excellent film and a showcase for the talents of these two fine actors. I hope a DVD version will be released but until then it's VHS only.

Rating:
Summary: It is truly a gem
Review: Somehow, I missed this when it was released theatrically, and I'm sorry I did.

James Woods gives a boffo performance as a professional hit man, who tries (for a long time) to convince a cop named Dennis (Brian Dennehy) that he is telling him the truth about his life as a killer. Woods plays Cleve, and is simply fantastic. Other reviewers emphasize Woods' performance, but Dennehy more than holds his own.

Cleve is the type of person you'd be fascinated as heck to know from a distance, but I'm sure I'd not be very comfortable up close and personal with such a violent, loose cannon. He can be sympathetic, but just when you think you can trust him, he turns horribly violent. Besides, a lot of people in his life just seem to end up dead!

There are some formulaic aspects to the film, but all in all, it's fresh, compelling, and the kind of movie you're going to remember for quite a while. It will actually keep you guessing to the end.

If you are looking for a taunt, tense thriller, this is a great choice. How come I've never heard of it? I'm not sure. I just can't understand how it was overlooked.

Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Unusual plot!
Review: The movie has a very unusual plot, although this plot is maybe not always believable. But the main attraction here is James Woods playing a villain. Brian Dennehy, his partner, is also up to the task, but he is here the same as he was in many other movies - tough guy. James Woods performance really makes you to forget some weaknesses in the plot and not to pay much attention to bad acting by other actors. Overal, great treat for James Woods fans and good enough thriller.