I will always remember this film as one of my favorites of the summer of '86. In a warm summer in NYC, this light confection was refreshing as a cooling thunderstorm. Then again, there wasn't much competition that summer. Aliens and Stand by Me were other standouts, along with a couple of other enjoyable but not top-rate films, like Big Trouble in Little China. But to a native and fan of NYC, this movie is like taking a whirlwind tour of the city, which is always welcome. Ivan Reitman, still in pretty good form at the time, took advantage of some the great atmosphere of NYC, from the Brooklyn waterfront to 57th Street to Foley Square.
The cast was generally quite good. Redford played his role with breezy aplomb, looking appropriately lawyerly. Some say Debra Winger hated her experience with the film, but if she did, then she's a better actress than she's given credit for, because she showed outstanding chemistry in her scenes with Redford. Daryl Hannah, as usual, was a weak actress. Not to mention not particularly pretty. "Extremely attractive?" "Sensational body?" "Hypnotic eyes?" How about none of the above? Terence Stamp and Brian Dennehy turned in adequate, if workmanlike, performances.
Some rather big plot holes, albeit forgivable for the sake of drama. For instance, it's hard to believe that a major gallery with tens of millions of dollars worth of irreplaceable art inside would have neither a fire suppression system nor even smoke detectors. To even cover those works in such a building would have required exorbitant insurance premiums. Still, the script was rather good, with sometimes witty banter, unlike the crude, forgettable lines in Top Gun, penned by the same writers. Unlike that flick, these weren't cardboard characters, but that's expected since that was targeted for the testosterone crowd. This, like their script for the Secret of My Success a year later, was for a different demographic.
The 2003 DVD was, not surprisingly, a disappointment. Universal makes terrible DVDs and was working on getting a similarly bad reputation with HD DVD before that format surrendered in the HD format war. There's a massive amount of grain and noise in most scenes, although not so much artifacting as the 2000 DVD. There are precious few extras, only one rushed 10-minute "making of" featurette and the theatrical trailer. No TV teaser, which was what got me interested. No Rod Stewart music video with its courtroom setting, clips from the movie and appearance by Roscoe Lee Browne. No outtakes, brief portions of which were used in the end credits. No alternate ending, even though it was seen on broadcast TV, so we know it exists.
All in all, a fun reminder of the 80s and of NYC in the 80s.
The cast was generally quite good. Redford played his role with breezy aplomb, looking appropriately lawyerly. Some say Debra Winger hated her experience with the film, but if she did, then she's a better actress than she's given credit for, because she showed outstanding chemistry in her scenes with Redford. Daryl Hannah, as usual, was a weak actress. Not to mention not particularly pretty. "Extremely attractive?" "Sensational body?" "Hypnotic eyes?" How about none of the above? Terence Stamp and Brian Dennehy turned in adequate, if workmanlike, performances.
Some rather big plot holes, albeit forgivable for the sake of drama. For instance, it's hard to believe that a major gallery with tens of millions of dollars worth of irreplaceable art inside would have neither a fire suppression system nor even smoke detectors. To even cover those works in such a building would have required exorbitant insurance premiums. Still, the script was rather good, with sometimes witty banter, unlike the crude, forgettable lines in Top Gun, penned by the same writers. Unlike that flick, these weren't cardboard characters, but that's expected since that was targeted for the testosterone crowd. This, like their script for the Secret of My Success a year later, was for a different demographic.
The 2003 DVD was, not surprisingly, a disappointment. Universal makes terrible DVDs and was working on getting a similarly bad reputation with HD DVD before that format surrendered in the HD format war. There's a massive amount of grain and noise in most scenes, although not so much artifacting as the 2000 DVD. There are precious few extras, only one rushed 10-minute "making of" featurette and the theatrical trailer. No TV teaser, which was what got me interested. No Rod Stewart music video with its courtroom setting, clips from the movie and appearance by Roscoe Lee Browne. No outtakes, brief portions of which were used in the end credits. No alternate ending, even though it was seen on broadcast TV, so we know it exists.
All in all, a fun reminder of the 80s and of NYC in the 80s.