nicki_stovall

I usually agree with Roger, but after seeing his review I thought- "C'mon Roger, It can't be!! I mean were talking about the Minority Report team here!" I callously disregarded Ebert's "Thumbs Down" and went to see the movie anyway. Boy was I WRONG! Roger Ebert was right on the money. This movie limps along for two-odd hours and gets more and more rotten with each minute. Oh, there are moments of great visuals and sounds, but nothing else. I stopped counting plot holes after thirty minutes. One of the biggest was Tim Robbins' character. His contribution was yet another dose of confusion to this already murky mess, and I still have no idea why he was even in the movie to begin with! I found myself pleading for the end, though when it came I must admit that it was neat seeing Gene Barry and Ann Robinson (from the 1953 WOTW) together again after 52 years. Apart from that, it's barely worth a matinée price.

If you've never seen this classic (or haven't seen it in a long time), not only will you laugh- you'll be surprised at all the familiar faces and how many of them have come to be matched in other movies through the years. Nicholson directs himself in this western comedy. He is the perfect dolt, saved from the gallows by a squeak. His future "wife" (Mary Steenburgen) is the "straight-man" amid a host of wonderfully comic actors. It's a hilarious formula that works!

The connections are: Nicholson, Danny DeVito, and Christopher Lloyd were all in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". DeVito directed Nicholson in "Hoffa". Tracy Walter was Bob, one of Nicholson's henchmen in "Batman", was Tyrone Otley with Nicholson in "The Two Jakes", and was Ezra with Lucy Lee Flippen (Diane Haber in "Goin' South") in the Amazing Stories episode "Mummy Daddy". Jeff Morris was the owner of "Bob's Country Bunker", where the Blues Brothers (hence, John Belushi) performed behind chicken wire for a bar full of rowdy rednecks. Christopher Lloyd was with Mary Steenburgen in Back to the Future III. Veronica Cartwright was Felicia Alden in "The Witches of Eastwick" with Nicholson.

I'm sure I missed some.

A wonderfully conceived biopic of how Sherwood Schwartz's idea became one of the most watched comedies in TV history, even to this day.

I loved it as a kid and still often watch with my boy. Too bad Tina Louise still harbors some latent hostility for the old show, and this "True Story" as well. It would have been so great for her to be a part of it. The behind-the-scenes stuff is a riot, and the actors who play the castaways are top-notch. It's wonderful seeing Dawn Wells, Russell Johnson, and Bob Denver together, talking about the fun times, and the poignant moments about Jim Backus, Natalie Schafer, and Alan Hale, all who have since passed away. I never understood why the critics were so merciless in their hatred of the show. I'd pit 'Gilligan' against the tripe on TV these days anytime!