Noirvember: Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead (1995)

Director Gary Fleder has a strange, but not uninteresting, filmography. He's done a lot of TV work in recent years, and started his directorial career with a TV movie (which also paired him up for the first time with writer Scott Rosenberg), but he's also delivered a few real gems throughout the last few decades. Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead is one of them, and maybe that's as much to do with the fact that it was Fleder's first theatrical release as it is to do with the script and execution of the material. Or maybe he just does well with star-studded ensemble casts (considering that Runaway Jury is also up there with his best work).

Andy Garcia plays Jimmy "The Saint" here, and he's a man who ends up between a rock and a hard place when a big boss (The Man With The Plan, played by Christopher Walken) tells him to put a team together in order to give some young guy a fright. Jimmy ends up working with Pieces (Christopher Lloyd), Franchise (William Forsythe), Easy Wind (Bill Nunn), and Critical Bill (Treat Williams). If all goes well then the team will end up in the good graces of a very powerful individual, but the title may have already clued you in on the fact that all doesn't necessarily go well.

Read through that list of names again, but let me add to it by mentioning Gabrielle Anwar, Fairuza Balk, Steve Buscemi, Jack Warden, Bill Cobbs, Marshall Bell, Don Stark, Jenny McCarthy, Don Cheadle, Tiny Lister Jr., and Josh Charles. You may not recognise all of those names, but anyone who appreciates '90s cinema will recognise their faces as soon as they appear onscreen. Not only is that a truly stacked cast, everyone feels perfect in the role given to them. Garcia stays cool and calm for most of the runtime, Walken enjoys getting to wax lyrical in a couple of scenes, and Williams almost steals the entire film with his portrayal of someone who seems to be a real liability. While both Anwar and Balk are slightly sidelined, both get to do a bit more than may be expected, and their inclusion certainly lifts the film above the complete sausage-fest it otherwise would have been.

Fleder may not indulge himself too much, this is a straightforward tale told in a straightforward manner, he knows how to make the best of Rosenberg's screenplay, which could easily have been ruined and made more forgettable by an attempt to match the many other Tarantino-esque crime thrillers (of which this is certainly one) from this time. The dialogue feels natural to the characters, as opposed to trying too hard to be super-cool in every exchange, and the cast are allowed to give enough substance to their performances to make them feel like more than just stereotypes/archetypes.

It's easy to see why some who didn't see this back when it was first released would continue to ignore it. It's a specific type of film from a specific time that makes it a risky proposition. I would say that it exceeds any expectations, however, and the traditional approach to the material, including the score from Michael Convertino, as well as every other element, allows it to feel more timeless and enduring than many other titles that just had the idea of putting criminals at the heart of the plot and trying to give them all memorable soundbites.

9/10

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While You Were Sleeping (1995)

Another film I had intended to see many years before now, While You Were Sleeping may not be a classic, but I was hoping for an enjoyable rom-com featuring Sandra Bullock being as enjoyable as she so often can be, and that is exactly what I got.

Bullock plays Lucy, a Chicago train ticket booth operator who spends a small part of each day dreaming about the very handsome Peter (Peter Gallagher). When Peter is attacked one day and ends up on the train tracks, Lucy saves his life. He is comatose though, and one misinterpreted moment leads to people thinking that Lucy is Peter’s fiancé. That pleases his family as they pile into the hospital room and gather around his prone form. And it also pleases Lucy, who starts to become part of a family unit in a way that she hasn’t ever really experienced before. But it gets complicated when she starts to develop a strong connection with Peter’s brother, Jack (Bill Pullman).

Written by two people who didn’t seem to write anything else before or after, Daniel G. Sullivan and Fredric LeBow, this is a really enjoyable romantic comedy that is smart enough to sprinkle in one or two plot points to minimise the ickiness of the central premise. Lucy is caught in a brief lie to herself, not intended for others to hear, and the situation spirals from there. She then wants to immediately tell the truth, but a friend of the family (played by Jack Warden) convinces her that having some connection to their comatose son is more beneficial to the family than knowing the truth.

With the smart writing allowing the premise to play out to its full potential, director Jon Turteltaub is able to let the cast develop some very believable chemistry and build a feeling of warmth and fun that leads viewers all the way to the predictable and entertaining finale. This is formulaic stuff (a farce created by a lie, complicated by feelings for someone who cannot know the truth), but it’s an object lesson in how to do it.

It helps that Bullock is so great in the lead role. Although I love her in any guise, she has a great knack of being able to look a bit more harried and “normal” before the moments that allow her to transform and highlight her natural beauty. She also sells both the emotional beats of the film and the comedy, with her ability to do both helping to make all of her films in this sub-genre much better than most. The same goes for Pullman, who is pretty much the male version of Bullock, in terms of how he can slightly adapt his appearance and how he can handle the different elements with equal aplomb. They make a great central pairing, and viewers will start to fret when it looks like the coma patient may be rousing at last. Gallagher doesn’t have as much to do, of course, but plays his part well. The aforementioned Warden is good fun, as are Peter Boyle, Glynis Johns, Micole Mercurio, and Monica Keena as the family who take our leading lady into their lives, and into their hearts (yeah, it’s schmaltzy like that, what do you expect?), and Michael Rispoli provides a number of extra laughs as Joe Jr, a young man who keeps deluding himself that he would be a good match for Lucy.

This has everything you need from this kind of film. There are frantic conversations about the spiraling situation, meaningful looks between two people who cannot be together, one or two pratfalls, a good selection of supporting characters (I will also mention Jason Bernard here, great value for the few scenes he has), a decent enough score from Randy Edelman, and a third act that has, well, I am sure you will already know what it has.

Really enjoyable throughout, this is a great comfort watch that should please all but the most cynical viewers.

8/10

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Used Cars (1980)

Used car salesmen have long been the source of mirth on the big screen, on the small screen and in other forms of entertainment. They're all fast talkers in cheap suits with a smooth style that lasts right up until the time someone drives a purchased car off the forecourt. Or so many of us assume.

Kurt Russell stars in this comedy that contains plenty of used cars and he's the fastest talking salesman with the smoothest style that you could possibly imagine. I'm not sure if he wears the cheapest suits but he's the ultimate used car salesman. Sadly, there's trouble on the horizon as his boss, Luke Fuchs (Jack Warden), is harassed so much by his brother, Roy L Fuchs (also Jack Warden), who owns the competing lot across the road that he ends up dying. The salesmen (Russell, Gerrit Graham and Frank McRae, a mechanic who is roped into things) can't let anyone know that their boss has died so they start to enjoy a new-found freedom and try more and more outrageous stunts to get customers trying out their cars. An extra complication arises when the estranged daughter of Luke, Barbara Jane Fuchs (Deborah Harmon), turns up and wants to catch up with her father.

Directed by Robert Zemeckis, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Bob Gale, Used Cars is a lot of fun from start to finish. The script is full of great lines, the pacing is perfect and the finale is actually as wildly entertaining as it is pretty ridiculous. There are also some fantastic stunts in the mix as a huge number of cars are driven from a to b while Roy L. Fuchs tries to stop them reaching their destination.

The cast is great. In fact, Russell in the lead role makes everything feel like a Disney movie aimed at adults. It doesn't require the biggest stretch of the imagination to think of his character, 'Rudy' Russo, as an adult incarnation of Dexter Riley. Gerrit Graham and Frank McRae are both a lot of fun, with the former playing a character who is obsessed with superstition. Jack Warden is always good to watch and in this film . . . . . . . he's good to watch. Deborah Harmon is an enjoyable female presence and holds her own admirably amidst the predominantly male cast. Al Lewis, best known to many as Grandpa Munster, is excellent as Judge H. H. Harrison (AKA "Hanging" Judge Harrison). Joe Flaherty and Michael McKean have small, fun roles and fans of Dick Miller may want to keep their eyes peeled - he appears for a second or two, billed as Man In Bed.

Used Car isn't quite as good as some other movies that focus on similiar characters (Tin Men being the first, and one of the best, to spring to mind) but it's consistently amusing and makes the most of a great cast, headed by the charming and silver-tongued Russell.

7/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Used-Cars-DVD-Kurt-Russell/dp/B00005U0HE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1352024274&sr=8-1