Kattiera Nana I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

ShangLuda Admirable film.

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

moonspinner55 Roger L. Simon adapted his own novel about how the wonderful/volatile, idealistic 1960s evolved into this cynical age, the corrupt and immoral 1970s. One-time student activist from Berkeley, now a weekend-dad working as a private eye, becomes involved in a case of political dirty pool when the liberal elect for California's governor is falsely implicated in a partnership with a fugitive radical. Star Richard Dreyfuss, one of the top actors at the time (following "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and his Oscar win for 1977's "The Goodbye Girl"), also co-produced this mystery yarn, turning it into a wan and wholly unconvincing actor's showpiece. Sporting a shaggy, curly hairstyle and a thick mustache, Dreyfuss isn't quite at home in these plastic, fake-noir surroundings--he doesn't even try to assimilate himself. Whether he's fighting with his ex-wife or romancing a former girlfriend, the actor is relying on externals and shtick (that of a raffish Jewish snookums) to take the place of a performance, something which director Jeremy Paul Kagan appears to be complicit with. Dulled-out and bland, the picture certainly isn't helped by Bill Conti's obtrusive music, nor by Frank Stanley's muddy cinematography. A minor hit, the film was soon forgotten in the wake of Dreyfuss' hot streak coming to an end. *1/2 from ****

dougdoepke Okay, the 30's had Sam Spade, the 40's had Philip Marlowe, and the 50's had Cold War PI, Mike Hammer. So why shouldn't the 60's have its iconic private dick too. His name is Moses Wine. He stands 5-5, wears glasses and exercises on a skateboard. His hard knocks' schooling is courtesy the Berkeley college of street protest and radical rhetoric, where he majored in Pinko Studies and How to Grind Up the Establishment. There are no stacked blondes in his life, only an ex-wife hitting him up for child support and two little boys he takes on cases when he can't find a sitter. He wouldn't know a fedora from a fez, a Lucky Strike from a Pall Mall, or a whiskey and soda from a scotch and water. And instead of bashing evil-doers-- such as people who call him a "liberal"-- he pickets their house. On the other hand, if things get really rough, he can put in a call to the ghetto or the radical underground or even a cop siren when a door gets grease-gunned to death. In short, Moses Wine is Mike Hammer's worst nightmare come true.In the Big Fix, Wine (Richard Dreyfuss) is on the trail of somebody, it's not always clear who. But it has something to do with sabotaging a political campaign. Turns out it's the campaign of a liberal politician, of all people, but then Wine needs the money, and besides everyone else has trimmed their hair and sold out-- so why shouldn't he. Along the way, he meets some interesting types, like the establishment barracuda (Fritz Weaver), and the movie's versions of Abbie Hoffman (F. Murray Abraham) and maybe the Symbionese Liberation Army's Bill and Emily Harris (Bloch & Grody). But my favorite is his crusty old aunt. She's sort of the stand-in for every old lefty who never gave up the labor fight. Now she spends her time in a Jewish old age home, debating the fine points of anarchist theory and telling touring politicians how things really are. So naturally, when Wine bursts into the opening refrain of the Internationale, we know where the inspiration comes from and, more importantly, where he comes from.Sure the mystery's about as clear as air quality in downtown LA. So don't expect a tidy wrap-up. But then the great Raymond Chandler figured life doesn't come in tidy packages either. Anyway, don't expect to see this one-of-a-kind at the White House any time soon or even at your local Democratic headquarters. But it is well acted and produced, with a lot of humorous touches and an approach that thankfully never gets heavy- handed. So thanks be to co-producer Dreyfuss for daring to entertain where politically correct Hollywood has long feared to tread.

bmacv When it was released in 1978, there was already a distance built into The Big Fix, based on a detective novel set in the ashes of the counterculture. The story had been commissioned by Rolling Stone magazine from Roger L. Simon, who wrote the script. On its release, the film was already drawing on images of the late 60s that had ceased to be memories but had already entered a misty mythology. Richard Dreyfuss, fresh from the Spielberg hits (Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind) that had made him a star. not to mention his Academy Award for The Goodbye Girl), plays Moses Wine, aonetime rebel who has fallen on hardtimes. His wife, Bonnie Bedelia, has divorced him (though he dotes --rather tiresomely -- on his two sons), and he earns his keep as aprivate investigator when not smoking up and playing solitaire Clue in his -- there's no other word -- "pad." Operatives of a political campaign sign him on to find out who is waging a dirty-tricks campaign to link their candidate to a legendary radical, now disappeared deep into the underground. The story has some interesting twists, particularly those involving Susan Anspach, John Lithgow and F. Murray Abraham, but the plot tends to disappear into holes here and there, as though told in a marijuana haze. Viewed in the new millennium, The Big Fix unfolds behind two scrims of nostalgia: The one in the story itself, where 60s has-beens, unhappy with how the world has turned, yearn for barricades and love-ins; and the one revealed by the talents who made the movie, where that yearning for the heady days of the counterculture -- Berkeley! Vietnam! Hash brownies! -- has developed its own, peculiarly fusty period flavor.

tinman-7 An excellent film for Dreyfus. At this point (1978), the best known films with Dreyfus were "American Graffiti"(1973), "Jaws"(1975), "The Goodbye Girl"(1976) and "Close Encounters"(1977). Dreyfus did a great job inviting the viewer in and sharing his (Moses Wine's) feelings about the late 60's and its effects on the students at Univ of California Berkley. Wine wanders aimlessly to find out who is pitting various ethnic and political groups, etc. against each other. He does not find out who the true enemy is until the end of the movie. You won't either. John Lithgow also appears in one of his first films. Look for Mandy Patinkin as the pool cleaner. F. Murray Abraham and Susan Anspach also star.