Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead (DVD)

Things to do in Denver when you’re dead:

1 Organise roadside ambush.
2 Try to cover up the botched job.
3 Avoid being hunted down by the hitmen.
4 Start a family.
5 Die.

Quite a list, eh? Well Jimmy ‘the Saint’ (Andy Garcia) certainly has a lot to do in this brutal gangster movie. I’m about to reveal a bit more about the plot, so if you don’t want to know it, skip the next section (it ...
...running round trying to patch things up - tying up several loose strings in his life (including an affair, with Dagney (Gabrielle Anwar), and relationship with a hooker, Lucinda (Fairuza Balk)) and protecting his friends.

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It ’s a brutal violent gangster film, in the mould of Reservoir Dogs (and featuring Steve Buscemi (Mr Pink) as Mr Shhh, a hitman). There’s plenty ... more

Things to do in Denver when you’re dead:

1 Organise roadside ambush.
2 Try to cover up the botched job.
3 Avoid being hunted down by the hitmen.
4 Start a family.
5 Die.

Quite a list, eh? Well Jimmy ‘the Saint’ (Andy Garcia) certainly has a lot to do in this brutal gangster movie. I’m about to reveal a bit more about the plot, so if you don’t want to know it, skip the next section (it shouldn’t spoil the movie though).

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In the opening scenes, we see a man, Bernard (Michael Nicolosi), assaulting a young girl in a playground. At first, we don’t know what’s going on, or how this relates to Jimmy ‘the Saint’ when we cut to him.

The plot begins to develop when we find that Jimmy used to work as a gangster, and he’s taken before a disabled crime lord (known as ‘the man with the plan’ (Christopher Walken)). Bernard is the man’s son, and has been ‘troubled’ since his high school sweet heart ran off with another guy. Now the man wants Jimmy to take this guy out of the picture.

The action involves Jimmy rounding up four of his old friends: ‘Franchise’ (William Forsythe) now a settled family man; ‘Pieces’ (Christopher Lloyd) a leper working in a porn cinema; ‘Critical’ Bill (Treat Williams) notorious for his violence and ‘Easy Wind’ Earl (Bill Nunn) a big black guy who did time with Bill, and is unhappy about working with him again, to help him do the job.

Unfortunately their roadside ambush goes wrong, leaving Jimmy running round trying to patch things up - tying up several loose strings in his life (including an affair, with Dagney (Gabrielle Anwar), and relationship with a hooker, Lucinda (Fairuza Balk)) and protecting his friends.

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It ’s a brutal violent gangster film, in the mould of Reservoir Dogs (and featuring Steve Buscemi (Mr Pink) as Mr Shhh, a hitman). There’s plenty of guns and blood, I lost count of how many killings there were too. What’s more, unlike Reservoir Dogs (where most of the violence is only suggested and off camera) this is more graphic. It’s this, presumably, that earns the 18 certificate. Although there is suggestion - and a hooker - there isn’t really much sex in the film, but there’s a lot of bad language (mainly the F word). Overall, it’s not a film for children.

It’s not just mindless violence though. The characterisation’s pretty good - even the minor characters have plenty of individuality. As for Jimmy, while he may lead a shady double life as a gangster, he’s a decent bloke with a good heart; and he does his best to take care of Dogney, Lucinda and his friends. Even though I’d never heard of most of the cast, the acting’s good all round and passes as believable.

The storyline’s good too. Although at first I wasn’t sure what was going on, and feared it might be more a random collection of incidents than a coherent plot, it soon came together. Admittedly Dagney, and perhaps even Lucinda, is/are unnecessary; there’s no fully developed romance sub plot, but it makes Jimmy more complete as a character than running a one-dimensional gangster movie, without changing the style of the film.

The tense gangster action/drama is broken at times too by some funny scenes, generally involving violence (the best bits being when Bill goes psycho, in true Mr Blonde style).

I only noticed the soundtrack once or twice before the closing credits, which, I guess, shows it was pretty appropriate. It includes Tom Waits, Stereo MCs, Ice-T, Bing Crosby, Johnny Cash and Buddy Guy.

Overall I thought this was a good movie, one that I definitely enjoyed. I know a lot of people probably wouldn’t like it, and the content is likely to put many off. If you’re a Tarantino fan though, this will probably appeal to you too. Similar to Reservoir Dogs admittedly, but still an enjoyable film in its own right.

http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0114660/
Duration: 115 minutes
Rated: 18 (violence, hookers, swearing…)
Amazon have the DVD for £6.97 and VHS for almost twice as much (£12.99). Shop around, you may get it cheaper.
 

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