Ernest "Stick" Stickley (Burt Reynolds) is released from prison after serving seven years for armed robbery. All he wants to do is to reconnect with his daughter Katie. He goes to Fort Lauderdale, Florida to join up with his prison buddy Rainy. They are hired by Chucky (Charles Durning) to deliver money to drug lord Nestor. They get double-crossed and Rainy is killed. Rich investor Barry Braun (George Segal) fanboys over Stick and hires him to drive. Kyle McClaren (Candice Bergen) is Barry's advisor.
This is Elmore Leonard and Burt is directing. It is trying to be Scarface (1983). Burt has this devil-may-care attitude which works great for comedic action. He has a sarcastic charisma that defuses some of the needed hard noir crime drama. Now, I assumed that the opening double-cross is Nestor stealing from Chucky. When that's shown to not be the case, it puts this inciting incident into problematic writing. There are better ways to stage the situation. I do like Segal, but less so with Candice Bergen. Segal is fun. Bergen is not wide-eyed enough or combative enough for the romance to heat up. I like some of this. I like some of the stunts. I still love Burt.
This is Elmore Leonard and Burt is directing. It is trying to be Scarface (1983). Burt has this devil-may-care attitude which works great for comedic action. He has a sarcastic charisma that defuses some of the needed hard noir crime drama. Now, I assumed that the opening double-cross is Nestor stealing from Chucky. When that's shown to not be the case, it puts this inciting incident into problematic writing. There are better ways to stage the situation. I do like Segal, but less so with Candice Bergen. Segal is fun. Bergen is not wide-eyed enough or combative enough for the romance to heat up. I like some of this. I like some of the stunts. I still love Burt.