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Against All Odds (Special Edition)

Against All Odds (Special Edition)

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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: This movie Started Good but Ended a Complete Mess !!!!
Review: 2 Good actors and a Director in the Sleepwalk mode and a Luidcrous Plot Spell DISASTER...AVOID THIS DREADFULL MESS AT ALL COSTS....ONLY THE PHIL COLLINS SONG WAS MEMORABLE !!! :(

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Romantic movie with a great soundtrack.
Review: Against All Odds is a great romantic film. It made me cry, and laugh at the same time. I would say it's one of the best movies of the 80's.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Long time favorite
Review: Back in 1985, it must've been when this film came out on video and I remember my mother buying a VCR (a Betamax) and us finallky going to the new neighborhood video store to see what wa sthere. One of the first videos we rented was thsi one and though I was a little young I watched it to the end, fascinated---the complexity even then floored me and I remember crying at the end. (My mother fell asleep halfway through.) Pulled out another videotape while on vacation and watched this movie again and it drew me in, I haven't watched it in years so there was a level of not quite remembering what occurred and why. What has always caught me in this movie was Rachel Ward as Jessie and how essentially flawed she is, she has enough of a cherubic face and a sensual appeal that it's never quite clear how much of her actions are genuine fear and genuine manipulation. I had forgotten the scene where she goes to her familyf or help and her descriptiopns of her relationships to them are belied by the way her mother shows genuine concern for her and the way she she cuddles up and into her godfather's arms---the exact same way she does with Jeff Bridges and James Woods (both who inhabit the roles, the dialogue with an ease and menace that is wonderful)! Her mom, Jane Greer stands behind them with a look on her face that suggests there is another layer of relationship going on between the two that crosses some line, it's a perfect moment to watch for. Swoosie Kurtz shows up in a pivotal role that got me to take notice of her and remember her and her name even way back then (much like Grace Zibrikie) and there is enough meat to her to show that Terry doesn't notice a good thing right unde rhis nose as she shows him a kindness and eventually an assistance that puts her in constant career and physical jeopardy. The plot is complicated and secondary to the point of the story which is Jessie getting people to love her and then it being a measuring game of who can take better care of her. At the end when she watches Terry and the crtedits role, as she still stands there, small motions occuring, it is a brilliant way to capture her many mercurial moods and to also heighten the thought of what will occur between these two later one, there is a playfulness to her, a lack of regret, that suggests that even with the risk they'll get back together but after watchign her in action---is that a good idea? The best, absolutely best part of this is the sweat house sex scene--I'm by no means a film voyeur but it rates as literally number one of number two on teh scale of movie erotica---there is a moment when Rachel Ward cries a single tear that to this day blows me away, lookign at acting and even the intimacy, it crosses that invisible line where I sometimes wonder if everyone is unattached in a scene in their personal lives, how real is a sex scene?

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: One of the worst movies of all time!
Review: Bad acting (Rachel Ward can't act her way out of a paper sack!), bad soundtrack (the beginning of the 80's tyranny of phil collins), terrible writing-- what a mix. Saw this movie in the theatre and had to work hard not to fall asleep. Wait till this is on TV, don't buy the DVD.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: BLAST FROM THE PAST
Review: Before 'eighties became a cliche, it was considered modern and chick. This is a serious film from that era. It takes its time for the story to develop and for the dialogue to sink in. James Woods gives an excellent performance as a nightclub owner and a gangster. Rachel Ward does an excellent job portraying an adventurous woman in an age before adventurous women in pop culture came to be signified with guns and leather jackets. The film is really two films in one; the first is a romantic triangle between James Woods, Jeff Bridges and Rachel Ward. The connection between athletics and organized crime and nightclubs hangs ominously in the background and the characters are subtle, if not sophisticated, showing off the eighties hip in the natural setting, and it culminates in Jeff Bridges discovering the girl.

The second part of the film is poorly done, essentially it's a remake of Chinatown with a giant conspiracy that unites the real estate developers wit organized criminals and the football team in one universal conspiracy. Guns are fired, people wind up dead and everything is tied up neatly in the end. It's too conveniet to be a decent thriller and it avoids the complications of dealing with girl leaving the leading man on her own free will and going back to the creep she used to be with, which come to think of it, is the realistic ending!

They could have made an excellent film by developing the romantic story to its conclusion and treating it relaistically, as they had the first part of the film, leaving the guy holding the empty bag in the end, alone and picking over the remains of his career, instead they opted for a typically Hollywood conclusion of ending up with the Big Bang fireworks of biblical proportion that lets the leading man get away clean and start over again.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Beautiful scenery of Mayan ruins and a good story
Review: Director Taylor Hackford doesn't make a lot of mistakes. But he points out one in the deleted scenes area of this disc. When I saw it back in 1984, I didn't understand what the heck Jeff Bridges was doing flying around Mexico to throw James Woods off the train while Rachel Ward went to the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza (an awesome spot I visited back in 1995, by the way). The deleted scene helps make this clear and really enhanced my enjoyment of the film.

Whether you like the movie or not, the chance to see the seaside ruins of Tulum and the astronomical temple of Chichen Itza is worth it. No one apparently had been allowed to film there before. And Jane Greer is great as the quietly wicked mother of Ms. Ward.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A great movie. Not just an ordinary love story.
Review: Even if romance movies aren't your favorite, you will find "Against All Odds" intriguing. In addition to the heated scenes with Jeff Bridges and Rachel Ward, there's plenty of dirty dealing, back stabbing and double crossing situations for everyone. James Woods and Richard Widmark make excellent con men in this film, with Jane Greer being totally oblivious to the filth and muck going on around her. I enjoyed the suspenseful scene of a secretary (played by Swoosie Kurtz) bluffing her way into her boss's office late at night to steal a little box full of blackmail material. "Against All Odds" was entertaining in every way.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A great movie. Not just an ordinary love story.
Review: Even if romance movies aren't your favorite, you will find "Against All Odds" intriguing. In addition to the heated scenes with Jeff Bridges and Rachel Ward, there's plenty of dirty dealing, back stabbing and double crossing situations for everyone. James Woods and Richard Widmark make excellent con men in this film, with Jane Greer being totally oblivious to the filth and muck going on around her. I enjoyed the suspenseful scene of a secretary (played by Swoosie Kurtz) bluffing her way into her boss's office late at night to steal a little box full of blackmail material. "Against All Odds" was entertaining in every way.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: CLASSIC FILM NOIR DONE EXTREMELY WELL!
Review: Fantastic performencs from everyone involved in this film, especally from Jeff Bridges & Rachel Ward. Bridges plays Terry Brogan, an ex-football player who is in fear of losing his carrer of playing profesinal football reluctanly accepts a job from Jake Wise a shady nightclub owner to find his missing girlfriend Jessie,who took off to an remote island with $50,000 dollars. Brogan goes to the island finds Jessie and falls in love with her. Wise become suspious and sends somone to find out

what is going on. After an ensuing fight between brogan and his former collegue Jessie shoots him dead. Thet both come back to Los Angles much to Brogans surprise Jessie goes back to Jake. All this leads to a cliamtic showdown near the end and its worth the wait. This film is remiscent of another film noir thriller in BODY HEAT and is a remake of the classic film OUT OF THE PAST. The most memorable scene is when Brogan and Wise have an all out speedrace over and through the freeways of L.A quite memrable and well done. A showing of macho male bonding in a dangerous way. Great film with more twists and turns than a maze. Bridges,Woods and Ward desevere most of the credit to the sucess of this film. The Theme song sung by the talented Phill Collins somehow, someway fit the mood of the entire film. A sensatoinal look at Friednship, Love, Betryal And Obsession.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Flick
Review: Hey, this movie has it all....Sexy women (Rachel Ward) Sexy men (Jeff Bridges) and even a few "Swarmy" types (Richard Widmark) and (James Woods). It is a REAL People Movie...This kind of thing happens all the time..Great directing , Great music W/Phil Collins and the incredible Larry Carlton. Great scenary in Mexico and L.A.! Then just when you thought it couldn't get any better, there is "High Speed" car scene that will make your palms sweat !! Other than that its a pretty good movie.


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