Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

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

Jenni Devyn Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Zoooma I've seen this one before, at least 2 or 3 times in my adult life and a few, I'm sure, as a kid watching with my dad. It's been a good dozen years since I last saw it and it's amazing how much of the movie I was familiar with -- about every scene. Prison movie, football movie, Burt Reynolds movie, even has a pretty good car chase! This is without a doubt a man's movie. Is that sexist? I don't want to be but it really is. I am not saying women can't watch it and enjoy it just as much as their male counterparts, but this is what being a man is all about! Don't give me no Pretty Woman or Steel Magnolias on a Sunday afternoon, give me football, hard hitting American football! Thank you director Robert Aldrich and thank you Burt for this fun and well acted 70's classic!--A Kat Pirate Screener

classicsoncall Ever since I saw this film back in the Seventies I manage to recall it with particular fondness. There's something about Burt Reynolds' character as the flawed underdog hero that makes you want to root for him along with his band of merry misfit convicts. For even though they're all incarcerated for various crimes against humanity, they appear to be more sympathetic than the brutal guards who play for semi-pro glory under Warden Hazen (Eddie Albert). I remember thinking that Albert was miscast when I first saw this, calling to mind his Green Acres TV character, but I have to say, he really gets into his role here and is particularly effective as a villain.The film makes effective use of a variety of real life pro football players, guys like Ray Nitschke (Bogdanski), Sonny Sixkiller (The Indian) and Ernie Wheelwright (Spooner), thereby lending some additional authenticity to the game scenes. I know there's already been a 2005 remake starring Adam Sandler, but wouldn't it be something if they made another picture using the Cincinnatti Bengals as the all-prison team? You can't get any more real than that.What I think I enjoyed the most about the film was the integrity shown by characters like old Pop (John Steadman) and Granville (Harry Caesar), and eventually even Paul Crewe (Reynolds) himself. You can't help but think of them as honorable men even if they made mistakes in their life that wound them up in prison. There's also the humor in bits like the swamp reclamation scene, the 'broke his 'f...ing neck' scene, and the Bogdanski ball-breaker sequence.I'm not one for repeated viewings of the same flick but I've seen this one a few times over the years and I still get a kick out of it. I guess it helps that I like Burt Reynolds, but there's something about the picture itself that makes it memorable as well as entertaining. I like the idea of the underdog getting his revenge against The Man and sticking it in his trophy case.

Nazi_Fighter_David Burt Reynolds plays Paul Crewe, a reprehensible character discovering, in a prison, dignity and esteem… You see him, at the beginning of the movie—as a rising star—beating up a woman, stealing her car, drunken driving, insulting cops in a bar, resisting arrest… He's seen so funny when he insulted the miniature cop who's about to arrest him, while the cop's partner is laughing openly… Eddie Albert was very charming when he meets Paul Crewe at his arrival to Citrus State Prison… Aldrich wanted to play Warden Hazen as the guy who had the veneer of normalcy, the veneer of being a good executive, the veneer of keeping it all together till it starts unraveling… He really was just a despicable, oily, warden type… In one game scene, we see him over and over again, getting up just with that same look of shock on his face… Ed Lauter (Captain Knauer) is wonderful… He runs the football team… He is a bad guy and he represents everything that is wrong with that prison system and everything else… He changes as a result… And to see that is just so delightful… He's got the classic Ed Lauter's scene at the end… James Hampton plays Caretaker, the character who brings the team all together and pushes Burt's character ahead to win the game… Ray Nitschke plays the toughest, meanest linebacker in football… Richard Kiel, Bob Tessier, Charles Tyner, Michael Conrad, and Harry Caesar give the film a certain veracity, you almost thing you are in jail

John T. Ryan The Prison Film, now there's a breed of Cat all its own. And it is one 'Genre' of Movie that seems to always resurface every once in a while and bring new wrinkles and variations, in accordance with the customs and mores of the particular time then present.Surely we all have had some favourite movie that could be classified as a Prison story, at least partially. As a 'list' of some representative films, at least partially in this column would be: THE BIG HOUSE(1930) with Wallace Beery and Chesteer Morris, I AM A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAIN GANG(1932) with Paul Muni, THE SECOND HUNDRED YEARS (1927),THE HOOSEGOW(1929) and PARDON US(1931) all 3 Laurel & Hardy.Others over the years would include; EACH DAWN I DIE(1939), BRUTE FORCE(1947), Elvis in JAILHOUSE ROCK (1957)COOL HAND LUKE(1967, PAPPILLON(1973))and even the recent SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION(1994).* So, we take the unmistakably winning charm of the Prison Film, blend in generous portions of Drama, Pathos, Humor, Action and Farce and we have a Comedy, in the Classic sense, and a good sample Prison movie for the Mid 20th Century 1970's.The crowning touch was the cast. A true gem stem to stern, the players in the story performed as a well coordinated unit, a sort of repertory company. Just about every player does his job to the utmost, within the framework of the story of course.The star of the show, one Burt Reynolds was a Molvie Actor who was just about at the very pinnacle of a great carer. He had demonstrated a definite versatility in the roles he took, of which there were many. The spectrum ran from DELIVERENCE(1972) to SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT (1977). But the Public seemed to prefer him in a semi-serious but carefree character.Other than the Star, Mr. Reynolds, the cast included: Eddie Albert as the treacherous, underhanded backstabber of a Warden. Bernadette Peters as the WEarden's Secretary and just about the only Female seen after the opening sequence. Michael Conrad as veteran Footballer/Convict, Nate Scarborough, who becomes the heart and soul of the Con's Football team. James Hampton, best known as 'Hannibal Dobbs' on "F TROOP"(1965-67), was "Caretaker", and the biggest back-up to Crewe's Coaching and Team organizational Set-up.Other's who deserve a mention(as really all of the cast does, are:Ed Lauter and Ex Pro football Players Joe Kapp(The Waklin' Boss), Mike Henry and Ray Nitschke as the Prison Guards. Harry Ceasar, John Steadman, Charles Tyner, Michael Fox, Bob Tessier, Richaed Kiel. Former U of Wassington QB, Sonny Sixkiller, has a good supporting role as convict"Chief" Anita Ford (Woo, Woo, Woo, woo!) is a real eyeful as Crewe's angry ex-girlfriend.So, his Paul "Wrecking" Crewe was a has been, top College and Pro Footballer, a Quarterback by trade. And it's not just Father Time and Mother Nature that have "benched" his career. We get some smatterings of the story, but not the whole truth. In short, Paul Crewe had been involved as the central player in a "Point Shaving" scheme's with some Underworld Gambler types.(It would seem that the story has plenty of relevance today!) At the time of release, THE LONGEST YARD must have been considered a better than average release of the yearly Paramount Pictures' output. We can remember that there was a promotional poster of Burt as Paul "Wrecking" Crewe, with the offer being touted on an offer sheet/coupon that was available in the supermarkets.Having been thought of and promoted even as a comedy, it is a strangely complex movie, displaying many different levels of story telling. While, it's true that it is a great film to be viewed as a Comedy with an audience, it also has a few serious strands running through the fabric of the scenario. Love, happiness, success, loyalty, class and exploitation are all examined as they relate to the guys at the Prison and to all of us in this weary World.NOTE:* There are a lot of films, which while strictly speaking, couldn't be considered to be 'Prison Films', do have a great component of Prison themes in them. Two of Chaplin's come to mind; first is THE PILGRIM (First National, 1923)and the feature MODERN TIMES(Chaplin Company/United Artists, 1936).