merklekranz

Meticulous look at the lack of honor among thieves. Robert Mitchum is caught and facing a prison term. His efforts to make a deal to lessen his sentence puts into motion a prolonged negotiation. Who is ratting on whom is the basic question that drives the film. There are few sympathetic characters and some questions that hang uncomfortably, yet the excellent acting and dialog maintain interest. Those looking for action should look elsewhere. MERK.

The positive here is John Candy in one of his early movies. "Going Berserk" unfortunately is one of Candy's lesser films. It is strictly a hit or miss rambling narrative of skits that really don't have any glue holding them together. Pat Hingle is the foil instead of John Vernon, but overall everything is at best average. This is more of a curiosity for seeing a very young John Candy and his potential that was on the horizon. Eugene Levy is unfortunately mostly wasted as a manic film producer. MERK.

As a black comedy"Six Ways to Sunday is marginal at best. While it does have a few dark comedic scenes, the comedy is way overshadowed by strangeness and graphic violence. The cast does an excellent job with a choppy storyline that jumps from chuckles to crude sexual suggestions to over the top killings. Mention should also be made for the soundtrack , which is quite good. If you are prepared for a film that quite frankly doesn't make a whole lot of sense, then stick with it for the great characters on display. MERK.