I knew about this film for three reasons, the romantic element it was meant to have, the leading male star, and the song by Phil Collins, besides that I just sat back and hoped for something interesting, directed by Taylor Hackford (An Officer and a Gentleman, The Devil's Advocate, Ray, Parker). Basically in Los Angeles, professional football player Terry Brogan (Jeff Bridges) is cut from his team, due to his age and numerous injuries, in need of money he accepts a job from an old acquaintance, the shady gambler and nightclub owner Jake Wise (James Woods). Jake wants Terry to track down his girlfriend, Jessie Wyler (The Thorn Birds' Rachel Ward), who has disappeared somewhere in Mexico, she is daughter of a wealthy land developer, who owns Terry's team, apparently she has stolen money from him, Jake claims he just wants to know what has happened to her. Terry is reluctant to take the job, but he is desperate for the money and knows Jake can blackmail him, Terry starts by visiting Jessie's mother Mrs. Wyler (Build My Gallows High's Jane Greer), to get information about where to find her daughter, but also to convince her business partner Ben Caxton (Richard Widmark) to reinstate him on the team. Terry travels to the eastern coast of Mexico, to Cozumel, an island in the Caribbean Sea, and he finds Jessie living there, she refuses any attempts he makes to approach her, as she is confident he was sent by Jake or her mother. Eventually they have a conversation, Terry has fallen in love with Jessie, they get much closer and happily spend the next few weeks together, Terry continues to call Jake claiming that his search is unsuccessful. Terry's team trainer Hank Sully (Alex Karras) is sent by Jake to investigate, he catches the lovers, he corners them into the ruins of Chichen Itza, wielding a gun, but a struggle ensues and Jessie ends up shooting Sully, she disappears, while Terry disposes of the body. Terry returns to Los Angeles, he is shocked to find Jessie has returned to Jake, who has a hold on Terry due to the incident between them in the past, and the death of Sully, so Terry is blackmailed into doing some dirty work. Terry breaks into the office of Kirsch (Saul Rubinek), the team's corrupt lawyer, who is involved in Jake's operation, only to find Kirsch there and dead, a security guard has been hired to kill Terry and make it look like he committed murder, but Terry fights off the security guard. Terry visits Kirsch's secretary Edie (Swoosie Kurtz), she tells him about a secret box containing information to bring down the entire syndicate and local politicians, after another security guard confrontation he is able to get the files. Jessie claims to still be in love with Terry, but stays by Jake's side, she tells Caxton everything she knows, unaware that he is actually Jake's boss in the syndicate, Caxton takes charge and arranges a meeting with Terry at at the site of a new construction project that he and Mrs. Wyler are backing. Terry is able to disarm the henchmen, he demands Caxton take down Jake, in exchange for the files, but Jake pulls a gun and threatens to kill Jessie, Terry drops his weapon, Jessie retrieves this and shoots Jake. In the end Jessie is forced to agree to Caxton's terms to avoid jail, returning to her estranged mother, and ending her relationship with Terry, months later Terry wants to look at Jessie one last time, before leaving Los Angeles to play with a team in Miami, Caxton reminds him he is no longer part of Jessie's life, all they can do is look at each other from a distance. Also starring Dorian Harewood as Tommy, Pat Corley as Ed Phillips and Bill McKinney as Head Coach. Bridges is alright as the guy in love but stuck in the middle, Ward is good as the not so innocent girl, and Woods does fairly well as the mean minor mobster, this film is apparently a loose remake of Build My Gallows High, I found the first half of the film pretty good, the love story is nice, but the second half is slightly confusing and uneven with the rest, it doesn't help that the show is just over two hours, at least it has the great song play in the end credits, overall I found it an average romantic thriller. It was nominated the Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Original Song for Phil Collins - "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)". Worth watching!
Review of Against All Odds
