VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

SnoopyStyle Gabriel Caine (James Woods) is a con who helps others escape from prison. He gets released. With the help of fellow inmate Wolf Forrester (Randall 'Tex' Cobb)'s sister Emily (Heather Graham) and his partner Fitz (Oliver Platt), he is setting up a con in boxing obsessed Diggstown. He loses a bet to John Gillon (Bruce Dern) when he commands a boxer to take a dive. Corrupt Gillon owns the town. Gillon's son loses his new car to Fitz. Charles Macum Diggs, the namesake of the town, knocked out 5 fighters in one day. Fitz claims that "Honey" Roy Palmer (Louis Gossett Jr.) could knock out 10 Diggstown men in 24 hours. Fitz ends up betting $100k to Gillon's $10k with Gabe's backing.The most interesting thing is finding out what the con actually is because the bet is so lopsided. Woods is a great con man. It's a role that he's built for. Oliver Platt is a terrific sidekick. LGJ has some good chemistry with Woods. The con is a bit weak. It relies a bit too much on Honey's boxing and Gillon's hubris. I hoped for a more inventive con or at least a way to show that Gabe is somehow maneuvering the pieces every inch of the way.

tieman64 The majority of Michael Ritchie's early films focused on the competitiveness and ruthlessness of a then contemporary United States. Be it "Downhill Racer" (1969), "Bad News Bears" (1976), "Smile" (1975), "The Candidate" (1972) or "Semi Tough" (1977), all his films during this period are explicitly about competition, American institutions and individuals who put their personal goals (and/or profits) before a team, community or group (or vice versa).Like many directors of his era, Ritchie's career took a giant nosedive come the 1980s. But "Diggstown", released in 1992, toward the tail-end of Ritchie's career, remains a strong film. A fast and funny con movie, it paints a world of clever schemers and sinister cartels. Like Ritchie's earlier features, the cost of winning, rigged games and the dangers of organised power are themes which are brought up, but such things are mostly incidental. This is Ritchie in mainstream, crowd pleasing territory, and the film is far more optimistic than his earlier work. Amongst the cast, actors James Woods and Oliver Platt stand out as a pair of charismatic, clever con men. They take on a rigged world, and come out on top.7.9/10 - Worth one viewing.

johnbgardner75 Please excuse the rating, I'm actually watching it for the first time as I type.The reason for the posting is the unusual circumstances regarding how I learned of this movie - It was at least a year and perhaps several before it was released in 1992.I was in Dallas, TX at the Northpark Mall West 1 & 2, and for the life of me, I thought it was the opening of "Batman" I remember seeing. The reason this is odd is that I had heard "Diggstown" was held back quite a while between shooting and release, but batman was released in 1989 and Diggstown was released in 1992. Was it held back 3 years? In any case, while wrapped around the theater waiting for our movie, a production representative appeared and offered us the opportunity to be in a pre-release group for the movie Diggstown. We declined (fools)! It is just a bit of minuscule trivia that it apparently took years for the movie to be released and some 15+ years later I am finally watching it for the first time. Irrelevant, but I think, interesting for a movie that has been underrated from before its beginning.Damage

TOMASBBloodhound At least it has recently appeared on ESPN Classic so it would seem that a cult following may be building for this terrific film. I don't think this one lasted three weeks in the theaters around here, but the first time I saw it on cable, I was hooked. Diggstown is not only a hilarious film, but it's also one of the best "sports" movies I've ever seen.Our story has a small group of con men led by James Woods who are trying to outwit a corrupt small town kingpin. They bet that "Honey" Roy Palmer (Louis Gossett Jr.) can knock out ten of the town's best boxers in a 24 hour period. Palmer is an outstanding, yet aging talent who "never got his shot". His skills, and the help of some local insiders make Woods and Co think they have a real shot at robbing the town blind. The funny thing is how Bruce Dern, who plays the local kingpin, reacts. He is no fool. He knows that Palmer will be tough to beat, and that Woods is trying to con him. But he has too much pride to pass on the wager. He also thinks the boxing talent in town is certainly good enough to beat a forty-eight year old fighter no matter how good he used to be. You'd think the locals would have the upper hand, but Woods and his people have all kinds of tricks up their sleeve both leading up to and during the matches. Once the wager is agreed to, the film never lets you up for air.Diggstown is a very funny movie. James Woods could sit down and read the newspaper aloud and it would be entertaining, but here he has a great script to work with. Plenty of one-liners and intelligent dialog are used by everyone. The fight scenes are a considerable cut above any Rocky film ever made. It really looks like people are getting the crap beat out of each other in the ring. The motley crew of locals that Palmer has to fight are a hoot. One of them is even played by The Passion of the Christ's very own Jim Caviezel. He actually makes the mistake of calling Palmer the N-word in the ring. Yikes! There are numerous twists as the conclusion draws near. It becomes a question not of which side has the most endurance, rather which side has the biggest surprises in place to trip up the other. The final twist in one you will absolutely NOT see coming. For great comedy, spectacular fight scenes, and a surprise ending, check out Diggstown. It's a shame more people don't know about this film! 9 of 10 stars.The Hound.