A sharp, punchy, colourful Elmore Leonard novel has here been turned into an extraordinarily dull and uninvolving film. The bulk of the blame must be rested upon Burt Reynolds' shoulders, for in choosing to direct the film himself he has reduced it to the level of a vanity project. This is not "Stick" as envisaged by Elmore Leonard; this is DIRECTOR Reynolds trying to make ACTOR Reynolds look as handsome, tough and humorous as possible..... and, in the process of doing so, ruining the excellent potential of the source material. What makes matters worse is that other fine actors have been dragged down too. George Segal and Charles Durning are humiliated by the dumb lines they are asked to say, the ridiculous costumes they are asked to wear, and the over-acting they are asked to indulge in. Spare a thought, too, for Candice Bergen - already a star in two of THE all-time clunkers (The Magus and The Adventurers) - who here finds herself yet again stranded in a film of unbelievable awfulness.
Tough ex-con Ernest "Stick" Stickley (Reynolds) arrives in Miami soon after his release from jail. He reunites with Rainy (Jose Perez), a former Puerto Rican cell-mate who is trying to make a little money by running errands for the local drug lords. Rainy persuades Stick, against the latter's better judgement, to accompany him on a drop-off in the Everglades. Stick doesn't like the look of the deal, but he tags along anyway. His suspicions prove founded when Rainy is gunned down at the rendezvous point, leaving Stick to make a desperate getaway. Upset at the brutal slaying of his pal, Stick plans his revenge. His vengeance quest pits him against albino hit-man Moke (Dar Robinson), paranoid drug dealer Chucky (Charles Durning), and voodoo-worshipping crime-lord Nestor (Castulo Guerra).
A film with a plot like this and a gallery of slimy underworld characters should, at the very least, not be boring. However, "Stick" is an absolute bore for virtually its entire duration. The opening ten minutes provide a very mild amount of wit and excitement, but as soon as Stick escapes from Rainy's assassins (in the Everglades sequence) it's downhill all the way. Dar Robinson's character - the albino killer Moke - is quite interesting, but is used far too infrequently (he does, at least, have a spectacular death scene near the film's climax). The music by Barry DeVorzon is terribly dated and fails to add any dramatic impact to the on-screen action. Reynolds the director seems to have lost interest in the film somewhere along the way, and the whole sorry affair limps towards its soulless conclusion without generating any interest that might relieve the sense of boredom. After this debacle, Reynolds stopped directing his own movies for a period of 8 years (eventually making a directorial comeback with 1993's "The Man From Left Field"). "Stick" this one on the trash heap!
Tough ex-con Ernest "Stick" Stickley (Reynolds) arrives in Miami soon after his release from jail. He reunites with Rainy (Jose Perez), a former Puerto Rican cell-mate who is trying to make a little money by running errands for the local drug lords. Rainy persuades Stick, against the latter's better judgement, to accompany him on a drop-off in the Everglades. Stick doesn't like the look of the deal, but he tags along anyway. His suspicions prove founded when Rainy is gunned down at the rendezvous point, leaving Stick to make a desperate getaway. Upset at the brutal slaying of his pal, Stick plans his revenge. His vengeance quest pits him against albino hit-man Moke (Dar Robinson), paranoid drug dealer Chucky (Charles Durning), and voodoo-worshipping crime-lord Nestor (Castulo Guerra).
A film with a plot like this and a gallery of slimy underworld characters should, at the very least, not be boring. However, "Stick" is an absolute bore for virtually its entire duration. The opening ten minutes provide a very mild amount of wit and excitement, but as soon as Stick escapes from Rainy's assassins (in the Everglades sequence) it's downhill all the way. Dar Robinson's character - the albino killer Moke - is quite interesting, but is used far too infrequently (he does, at least, have a spectacular death scene near the film's climax). The music by Barry DeVorzon is terribly dated and fails to add any dramatic impact to the on-screen action. Reynolds the director seems to have lost interest in the film somewhere along the way, and the whole sorry affair limps towards its soulless conclusion without generating any interest that might relieve the sense of boredom. After this debacle, Reynolds stopped directing his own movies for a period of 8 years (eventually making a directorial comeback with 1993's "The Man From Left Field"). "Stick" this one on the trash heap!