Movie Details
| Title: | 8 Million Ways to Die | |
| Director: | Hal Ashby | |
| Year: | 1986 | |
| Genre: | Crime | |
| Times Seen: | 1 | |
| Last Seen: | 11.16.25 |
Other Movies Seen By This Director (2)
- Coming Home
- The Last Detail
| Date Viewed | Venue | Note |
| 11.16.25 | Internet | This Screening is part of event: DVRfest 2025 Jeff Bridges is an alcoholic ex-Sheriff's who becomes entangled when a high-price call girl comes to him because she wants to leave town but is afraid of her pimp. Rosanna Arquette plays another call girl and Andy Garcia is a... drug guy or something. Maybe I started this too late at night and having to split the viewing in half doesn't do it any favors, but I am not feeling this one. I forget why I got a copy - maybe because Jeff Bridges?, maybe in the context of going back to 80s movies that fell through the cracks? - but I swear I'm not trying to give this year's fest a theme of high priced call girls and red-light district sleaze. I think I'll have to pick today's movies more carefully. So why didn't I like this? Well, I think it was going for a neo-noir crime thriller vibe but it's a 70s movie made in the 80s. I don't actually love Bridges in this part, probably because he's basically The Dude now so seeing him shooting people and acting tough doesn't totally work on me. "Hand over the drugs, Maaan!" I think there are also some problems with the script and pacing. What should be very exciting climactic confrontations between Bridges and Garcia are played like casual conversations. And above all else, the 80s score killed this for me. It's that horns and synths beat-to-shit stuff you picture in your head when you try to think of 80s crime thrillers. It's so loud in the mix and plastered all throughout the film. I hate it. It might just be me. When I think of 80s I think of action heroes and franchises. I remember watching Tequila Sunrise because, hey, Kurt Russel and Mel Gibson, and scratching my head the whole time. I think maybe watching this movie was an effort to go back and see those types of films to see if I was just too young to understand what was going on (I definitely was) and maybe they're good movies, but this one was not it for me. It was just a bad time. Car phones, early computers (the shot of Garcia's goon holding a Mac mouse like it's a remote control is hilarious, and they held on it for so long!), hair gel, pony nubs... does not age well. And I've read enough Stephen King books to know this is not really how AA works? Maybe it was at the time but I thought stuff like being in love after 5 weeks sober was frowned upon. I guess when you're meeting's on a fucking beach it's allowed. Anyway, crossed that one off my list. |
