Everybody Wins

The Chemistry between Winger and Nolte is very dry. If you need a lot of blood, gun play and explosions then this movie is not for you. It unfolds in a tortured manner which I happen to enjoy. The people of this small town are not flashy or larger than life, They are ordinary and have settled into a predictable pattern. The importance of each character is presented to us in an unpredictable sequence which tends to keep the audience off balance and somewhat unsettled. Most of the interplay is understated- another feature which, in an era of grandiosity, is refreshing. If the viewer has the patience to allow the story to unfold the reward will be well worth the investment of time.

I can see why this film was not a success at the box-office. For a thriller, it is far too talky and at times the plot unfolds purely through scenes of conversational exposition. There are no chases, no shootouts, and only the briefest of sex scenes and courtroom sequences. The reason is because the film is concerned solely with character. Even the film's supposed theme, that of corruption infecting everybody (even down to O'Toole's teacher sister), is only half-heartedly dealt with. There has been speculation that the play upon which the screenplay is based was inspired by Arthur Miller's relationship with Marilyn Monroe and this is an interesting consideration. Angela is a frustrating character although not without charm. O'Toole certainly falls for her in a big way and I suspect that might be the reason this got termed a film noir. Sometimes you wonder just how much effort the critics put in. Yes, a cursory scan of the plot would reveal the elements of a noir: private investigator, mysterious seductress, murder, corruption - but watching the film it feels less like a noir and more like one of those small town dramas, like Gene Hackman made in the 1980s, such as TWICE IN A LIFETIME or FULL MOON IN BLUE WATER. And the gang of church-building bikers, led by cinema's favourite fruitcakes Patton and Wilhoite, seems to have wandered in from an entirely different movie. That said a script by Miller will undoubtedly give up some fantastic dialogue, which is definitely the case here. You can tell the guy's pedigree as even some of the throwaway lines are beautifully written.

I rented this movie with my wife via Digital Cable because the teaser sounded interesting and we honestly hadn't heard anything about it. After watching it, I understand why. This movie is pointless and stupid. I knew as soon as it opened that we were in trouble. The scene the opening credits and the music all look like the belong in three different films. I couldn't say enough bad things about this movie.

Everybody I know say that this is a horrible movie.I can´t understand why.Good story,good acting by Nick Nolte and Debra Winger.OK it is not a masterpiece exactly but you can watch the whole movie and afterwards think about it for 1 hour or so.

Sometimes movies work for a whole variety of reasons. It might simply be because there is a great director at the helm but then even great directors make bummers now and then. Sometimes the story is just so damned good it hardly matters who the director is and sometimes a movie works because one or more of the cast carries it. "Everybody Wins" works because it's got a fine director working at the top of his form, (Karl Reisz), a terrific original screenplay by the playwright Arthur Miller and probably career-best performances from leads Nick Nolte and Debra Winger.

Nolte is the celebrity investigator hired by a flaky 'do-gooder' to prove the innocence of a teenage boy she knows on a charge of murder. From the outset, you know this isn't going to be a conventional 'thriller'. You know instantly that Winger's character of the supposed 'do-gooder' is, shall we say, a little on the strange side; that her come-on to Nolte is so quick she may even be a nymphomaniac and that Nolte's investigation is going off in directions that conventional thrillers don't. You also know that Arthur Miller doesn't do 'conventional'.

Of course, the talent on the screen didn't translate into a commercial success. Even the critics, with the exception of Pauline Kael, who loved the film, were stand-offish. Here was a crime movie that no-one could understand or know what to make of but in its off-the-wall way it was trail-blazingly original and I still think it's one of the truly great American films of its decade. If you don't know it, seek it out and give yourself over to its sublime strangeness.