User Reviews

Gabriel Caine is released from prison and his team is already setting up to be in play and let the games begin. James Woods is totally believable as a good confidence artist you can't keep down. Now there's the little matter of a place called Diggstown where if you keep your fingernails clean, you can end up robbing the whole place blind without ruining your manicure. Yeah, it's cheesy and stereotypical how the white man gets to play the brain or mastermind and the black guy plays the brawny muscle with heart and soul. But 'Honey' Roy Palmer is ready to do his sweet thing whether you sign on for the ride or not. So what's it gonna be? Are you in or out?

This film is of particular interest because it is the Heroic Plot Pattern flirting with themes of sacrifice or martyr without getting too serious about it. It's like the Twelve Labors of Hercules set in a boxing ring. Certainly improbable that a forty eight year old man could send ten good men to the canvas in twenty four hours. But it becomes wildly entertaining to see just how Caine and his team intends to get it done. Surprises abound in this spirited romp through chicanery mixed with sudden death and knockout blows. Lou Gossett Jr., through acting prowess alone sells you on the idea that he can take on any ten fighters in the town, despite having nothing special to show in the legs. You could say it is wisdom and experience over the ignorance of youth and unqualified vitality that gives Roy Palmer the advantage.

Meanwhile, Caine sets up his bets with the local town owner John Gillon played by Bruce Dern with southern fried menace and local mobster and loan shark Victor Corsini acting as a silent partner on Caine's behalf. Since Fitz as played by Oliver Platt in a laughably clever pool room scene has already prepped the scam, it behooves Caine now to establish the setting with Gillon for the main event. So the aging Palmer shaves his head and gets ready to rumble. He even gets to meet the man who the town is named after while doing roadwork, the nearly brain dead Charles Macom Diggs. This scene and deaths of Emily Forrester's brother Wolf Forrester and Hambone Busby's brother Slim, give the film it's dark edges, but at its center this movie is a lighthearted exercise in One-upmanship.

The fighters come and go through the ring, but at times it appears the real contest is between Caine and Gillon, as they match wits and execute their ploys against each other. Palmer shows his legendary skill, but each new opponent is diverting and offers something of a special, unexpected challenge. Perhaps one of the best parts of the movie are the witty asides that Woods and Gossett trade between rounds at ringside. Woods also tries to do Bogart with Heather Graham as Emily Forrester, but this takes neither of their character arcs very far. It's obvious he's this veteran and seasoned con man, and she's just a nice girl fresh out of college with no hint of the savvy Lauren Bacall had about her. Any hint of romantic involvement between them somehow simply reeks of jail bait, and besides his underhanded machinations have already gotten her brother killed, no matter how indirectly.

Directed by Michael Ritchie, the pacing tends to puts the moralizing to the side in a kind of shuffling of the cards to misdirection. The fight choreography and cinematography by Gerry Fisher keep you on the edge of your seat and at ringside looking eagerly forward to whatever may be happening next. James Newton Howard's musical score vibrantly captures the good ole boy folksy rhythms of this honky-tonk town. I tend to think that the leads and supporting characters are actually better than the material they are given, no matter how sharp and intelligent it appears to be. You even get to see Jim Caviezel take one on the chin before you get to know him better later on. But Diggstown proves to be a wild and woolly place to visit unless you've worked out all the angles and the odds in advance.

The cast of the movie is really great, and they're given some good dialogue. The only problem is that it quickly becomes clear James Woods, as the lovable-rogue con man, is all lovable and not much of a rogue; while Bruce Dern, as the evil mayor of Diggstown, is all evil. You know there are going to be some twists along the way to the end, but one sort of twist gets ruled out fairly quickly, namely, the kind where you find out you may have been rooting for the wrong party.

The movie involves a series of boxing matches, and all kinds of surprises can arise involving the details of each matchup. But I didn't find them too surprising; at the end you feel kind of deflated, asking, Isn't there one more twist coming? Louis Gossett, Jr., as the boxer, isn't given much to do. Heather Graham is given almost nothing to do. She looks great; in her later movies she looks like an anorexic. Oliver Platt's part is completely routine as Woods's sidekick.

Gabriel Caine (James Woods) has just been released from prison. He meets John Gillon (Bruce Dern) who owns Diggstown--a town full of boxers. He bets Caine that he can't find a man who can beat 10 Diggstown boxers in a row. Caine finds boxer Roy Palmer (Louis Gossett Jr.)--but he's 48 and might be too old to do it.

The details of the plot are a little sketchy--I only saw it once back in 1992. My gym was giving out free passes to it and I figured why not? James Woods is a great actor and, even if the movie sucked, he would be good in it. I saw it with a friend at a small crowded theatre in Boston. It wasn't much to begin with and some characters seem to be there for no reason. I'm still not sure what Heather Graham was doing there (except looking great). But the movie and situations grew on you and, by the time the big boxing event came at the end, the audience was rearing to go. **PLOT SPOILER** It all leads to a GREAT ending which had my audience roaring, applauding and cheering like crazy! This happened well over 10 years ago and I have never forgotten the thrill of that moment. **END SPOILER** Also Woods was great and Dern chewed the scenery again and again and AGAIN. Wait till you see and hear his final prayer before the boxing match begins!

This came out and bombed almost immediately--it's basically a forgotten movie. Still it's worth catching if you see it on TV or at the DVD store. It REALLY comes to life with an audience! I give it a 7.

James Woods versus Bruce Dern was a pretty good casting call for this picture. Both effectively convey the type of smarmy characters that one usually finds behind the scenes of boxing fixes in movies dealing with the subject. As far as con jobs go, this isn't in the same league as "The Sting", but it still has it's moments with twists and trip-ups along the way that momentarily derail, but never stop Gabriel Caine (Woods) from pulling off that final win against John Gillon's (Dern) ringer.

The one disconnect I had with the story line was when Gillon left ringside to confront the Busby Brothers about their payoff. I went back and checked out the scenes leading up to it and couldn't find anything that would have tipped Gillon off to the double cross. The ruse with Gillon forcing his son Robby to walk out of the fight was a neat twist to rig the count on how many men faced off against Honey Roy Palmer (Louis Gossett Jr.). Caine and Honey Roy had some fun working that black motivation thing, it came in handy against the Tank (Jeff Benson) and offered a neat wind up to the story.

There's probably any number of interpretations one can offer for the resolution to the story. I guess the best one can go with would be Caine's ability to operate a few steps ahead of his opponent, figuring that Minoso Torres (Alex Garcia) would wind up heading for Diggstown when he got his prison release. Dern's character gave a sneak preview of how the tables would be turned on him when he gave a thumbs down to his boy Buck (Rocky Pepelli) earlier in the film.

It's a cast of champs in this drama with comic elements about prize fighting, involving an ex-con James Woods who ends up managing veteran prize fighter Louis Gossett Jr. And bets that he can take on 10 of the top fighters from Diggstown. Of course when you have got great actors like Woods, Gossett and Bruce Dern involved, you've find me an embarrassment of riches, but the problem is that the script has so much going on there's not enough time for real character development outside of the three main veteran actors, and the screenwriters idea of comedy is having one of the competitors dealing with flatulence while in the ring with Gossett. Oliver Platt and Heather Graham co-star, with Orestes Matacena having an important minor role as a mobster threatening Woods over the investment he made on Gossett's side.

It's all based on a bet that ex-cons Woods and Dern make, and neither character is exactly someone of decent character, making Gossett a victim of their sordid plans. The film deals with some major racial issues, having Gossett going from dancing around the ring to knocking out his opponent when called a racial slur. Dern is the manager of the competitors, and at one point he's seen talking to one of his black boxers with a noose around their neck. Quite disturbing, especially with how things turn out. For Gossett expected to be able to take on ten professional prizefighters in a certain period of time doesn't seem realistic. Non-boxing fans will probably not be all that interested, and it lacks the depth of other films about a sport whose purpose I've never gotten outside of the sick public desire for carnage. I'll stick with the classics like "Champiom", "The Set-Up" and of course "Rocky".