Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Scott LeBrun Jeff Bridges portrays author Lawrence Blocks' character Matt Scudder in this picture, and his able performance is one of its few virtues. Matt is a detective for the L.A. Sheriffs' Department who is also an alcoholic. Ultimately, his drinking costs him his marriage and his job. However, he is soon approached by a hooker named Sunny (Alexandra Paul) to remove her from her unhappy life, and when he gets involved, he incurs the wrath of a smug drug kingpin (Andy Garcia) and a powerful pimp (Randy Brooks).Sadly, this was the final theatrical credit for editor turned director Hal Ashby. A recovering substance abuser himself, he had little to no creative control over the final product. He wanted something grittier and closer to the novel (which this movie barely resembles), the producers wanted a feature film version of 'Miami Vice'. But what really hurts it is the poor script (credited to Oliver Stone and R. Lance Hill (a.k.a. "David Lee Henry"), which moves at a snails' pace and doesn't encourage us to really care about the characters.The lack of success is not for lack of effort on Bridges' part. He, the intense Brooks, and the amusingly slimy Garcia entertain the viewer sufficiently. But Paul is miscast, and Rosanna Arquette, as one of Sunny's co-workers, looks like she couldn't care less. Familiar faces in supporting roles and bits include Vyto Ruginis, James Avery, Tommy 'Tiny' Lister, Rosalind Allen, and Loyd Catlett.Absolutely gorgeous photography, good use of locations, an atmospheric score by James Newton Howard (one of his earliest), stunning helicopter shots, and some jarring violence work in the films' favor. But it goes on too long (especially that climactic confrontation in the warehouse, which becomes unbearable rather than tense), and has too much inane dialogue.The man who made "Harold and Maude", "Coming Home", and "Being There" deserved a better theatrical swan song than this.Five out of 10.

wes-connors Los Angeles police detective Jeff Bridges (as Matthew "Matt" Scudder) drinks on the job and use excessive force. In the opening scenes, he shoots a drug dealer, passes out, then loses his job. After speaking at an "Alcoholics Anonymous" meeting, Mr. Bridges receives a mysterious note requesting he help hooker Alexandra Paul (as Sunny) pull out of the sex trade... Bridges is reluctant, but she pleads, "I don't wanna be a whore anymore!" Uncooperative pimp Randy Brooks (as Willie "Chance" Walker) doesn't let his ladies off easily. Bridges becomes even more acquainted with prostitute Rosanna Arquette (as Sarah) and her head customer Andy Garcia (as Angel Moldonado)... "8 Million Ways to Die" is interesting as the last feature film directed by Hal Ashby, a great "actor's director" who lets this story get away. The improvisational quality adds realism - but you have to know when to stop, what to re-write, and how to edit. Witness, for example, the scene when Bridges meets Mr. Garcia in a parking for snow-cones. Something is wrong.**** 8 Million Ways to Die (4/25/86) Hal Ashby ~ Jeff Bridges, Rosanna Arquette, Andy Garcia, Alexandra Paul

shark-43 I am a huge Hal Ashby fan - he was a brilliant editor (Oscar winner for In The Heat Of The Night) and an even better director (Being There, Coming Home, Shampoo, to name a few) but this film is a mess. I just read a book on Ashby's life and here was a lot of trouble on this film - the studio wanted a sleek Miami Vice type film and of course Ashby wanted a gritty movie closer to the author Laurence Block's books. You can tell there's huge chunks missing - the film is disjointed - Bridges does a nice job playing the damaged cop but in one of the worst pieces of miscasting - Alexandra Paul plays the sultry hooker who is supposed to lure Bridges and she is awful - about all she can play is flirty sorority girl and their scenes are dull and boring. Rosanna Arquette has nothing to play - a one dimensional another hooker with a heart of gold. Garcia does his best with what he has to play and there are some good scenes btwn him and Bridges. But overall, a schlocky mess with a terrible 80's synth score.

MisterWhiplash ...for Hal Ashby, it's something of a tragedy in the course of his career. At this point, to give some background, he wasn't getting the same kind of prime work he did in the 70s (Harold and Maude, Last Detail, Coming Home, Shampoo, Being There), this despite the fact that he won an Oscar as editor and nominated for director. After some low-budget comedies- and a less than great Rolling Stones movie- he took on this neo-noir co-scripted by Oliver Stone, and had a good cast in place with Jeff Bridges playing the on-off lush ex-detective, Rosanna Arquette as the call girl entrapped by cold, grinning/vicious pimp/pusher played by newcomer Andy Garcia. It seemed like a solid genre picture, one that could hopefully make a few bucks among the crowds looking for another fix of action and crime and romance and what-have-you.As far as I know, I'm not sure why Ashby was then fired midway through by the producers. Maybe it was paranoia on the producers part (Ashby had an addiction to cocaine, ironically considering the subject matter of the film, and perhaps he was still on it during filming), or he did genuinely screw up somehow, but seeing that he wasn't part of the production all the way through, it casts the film in something of another light. Taking it as it is, there's some entertainment to be had with the tense dialog from Stone between Bridges and Garcia, and also some good chemistry between Bridges and Arquette. Hell, there's even a compelling undercurrent of redemption that's to be had with Bridges's Matthew coming back from bad alcoholic blackouts to track down the killer of the call girl Sonny.But, and this is the crucial part, the film often has the feel as though it was seriously meddled with by the producers. This isn't to say Ashby's touches with his actors isn't there, as that's compelling enough, but the soundtrack in place makes this so painfully scream out 1980 THRILLER! that it boggles the mind like a hangover with Miami Vice. And there's even a section of the plot that, as perhaps with Matthew as well, blacks out right after Sonny's death. Certain other scenes don't feel like they had that touch of what came at least mostly naturally to Ashby, which was interesting editing. It would've been one thing if this was just another in a series of damned efforts from the director (apparently another film he made also had this happen to him), but given that it's also his final directed feature, albeit after the fact, adds to the shamefulness.Does 8 Million Ways to Die deserve a director's cut? Maybe so, maybe not, as it stands it's a competent, mostly satisfying thriller. But we'll never know either way.