The Big Bounce

As I'm a product of the 60's, this is classic fare for the movies. Campy yes, but many were. Someone mentioned the soft nude scenes, etc. Well, that was the usual fare as well. We didn't get 'in your face' sex. I miss those days, to be honest.

Now, as far as the music is concerned, whether the music matches the movie is debatable. One should realize 'The Mike Curb Sound' was quite popular to the straight-laced of my era. I enjoyed it but I enjoyed Zappa and Reed too.. go figure.

As a record collector, The Big Bounce soundtrack is one that should be included in one's collection. In fact, the original pressing is collectible now. There are a few quite nice tracks on it. Curb almost got a little out there on couple tunes, but, he reeled himself back in.

I think I know music pretty well as I have collected since the 60's and I say, in and of itself, the album is pretty darn good.

In its own sexy, shoddy way, this 1969 film version of an early Elmore Leonard novel is better than the recent "hip" version with Owen Wilson. It mixes film noir conventions with teen exploitation riffs and a fair amount of nudity for a guilty pleasure that's redolent of late 60s/early 70s cheeseball cinema.

Ryan O'Neal is a drifter (good hearted, of course) who hooks up with Leigh Taylor Young, a bad girl out for "kicks." Leigh gets Ryan into bed and then into vandalism and robbery and...well, you know where the film is going. It's the journey that's the fun.

O'Neal had a sort of bruised likability that worked for him on TV's Peyton Place and he uses it effectively here. Young, married to him at the time and his PPlace co star, is sulky and seductive and, oh yes, naked a lot as a girl who just wants to have fun. Their brief love scenes have a fair amount of steam to them and watching them drop their bell bottoms to go skinny dipping gives the whole movie a certain "Boogie Nights" flavor. The (then) O'Neals were one hot couple.

There's a good supporting cast: Robert Webber, Lee Grant, doing a dry run for "Shampoo" as a horny divorcee, James Daly, a nice, slimy villain who pimps out Ms. Young to some business men, and Van Heflin in what may be his last role. On the downside, the direction is a bit flat, lacking in the kind of edge that can really make a crime story cook. And the score, as noted in another post, is atrocious, poured like syrup over scene after scene.

The Big Bounce definetly qualifies as a guilty pleasure, what with Ms. Young going hysterical and smashing a living room up with a fire poker and O'Neal smashing an opponent smack in the face with a baseball bat, and in the credits no less. All in all, this version is preferable to the Owen Wilson one in which you can practically see the actors' tongues push out their cheeks as they condescend to the materail. Here there's a fair amount of sweat, exploitation and a hint of camp as the good looking leads go through their noir paces. Worth a rental.

"Elmore Leonard called this adaptation of his book "an awful movie"...IMDB Trivia.

"The Big Bounce" is Ryan O'Neal's first theatrical film. I saw it mostly because one of the supporting actors is Van Heflin...a darn fine actor from Hollywood's golden age.

Jack (O'Neal) is a guy who's drifted since being discharged from the Army. He also is a guy with a criminal record for Burglary and Assault. Perhaps this is why Nancy (Leigh Taylor-Young) is so smitten with him. Regardless, she takes her clothes off OFTEN to get the drooling Jack to do what she wants. Now he protests a lot...but off come her clothes and he complies. This leads to complications, such as when she runs a dune buggy off the road (possibly killing the occupants) for kicks. She also proposes he help her with a robbery...one that will be 'fun'. And, once again, he agrees to go along with this flaky lady...and you assume it's because of her super-powers of persuasion...in other words, her hot bod. What's next? See the film yourself and find out.

In some ways this is a tough movie for some to watch. After all, there are not 'good guys' in the film. But it is a mildly interesting character study of a woman who appears to have a Borderline Personality with strong Antisocial features (I used to diagnose folks when I was a therapist and this one is right or at least close!).

You probably noticed the quote from IMDB where the writer calls this an awful film. Obviously he wasn't thrilled with it. I didn't think it was terrible, though a few of the characters and plots are WAY underdeveloped...especially the one involving Lee Grant and her onscreen daughter. It's almost criminally underdeveloped and it really doesn't work well...as if they edited out most of this plot but forgot to edit out it all. But as far as the plot involving Young, it is compelling. After all, you wonder....is she some nutty thrill-seeker or is she setting him up? Neither one is good...and possibly the nutty thrill-seeker angle is worse considering how extreme her behaviors are! I liked but didn't love the film...and think it's worth a look.

By the way, this film has a significant amount of nudity. You might not want to show it to your kids or your mom or Father O'Reilly.

Most of the other comments on here are pretty accurate. This movie really showed the loosening up of Hollywood as far as female nudity went. We get to see the beautiful Leigh Taylor-Young in various stages of nudity and looking good dressed too. Ryan never looked better. Lee Grant perfected the role of a perpetually uptight woman in Valley of The Dolls and this seems to be a continuation. The only actress in this movie that really shined was Cindy Eilbacher who could act rings around any other child actor of this or later era. Her few scenes really stand out and almost seem to be from another movie. Loved the cars, the clothes, the great character actors and YES I did love the music but it was all wrong for this movie. I think this music was meant for Dean Martin's last Matt Helm movie with Sharon Tate that never got made. It was lush orchestrated loungy pop music but was all wrong for a crime-noir movie. It really threw me off but I enjoyed hearing it from another room when I wasn't watching the screen. This also has some really great campy lines mainly from Van Heflin calling Leigh a "Quiff" in one scene and various other vague vulgarities. I really enjoyed watching Van go near the edge of camp and then pull back a bit. James Daly was perfect as a high class sleazebag. Look for Ryan's brother Kevin as the passenger in the dune buggy scene.

Overall much better than the horrendous remake, especially if you like movies that are so bad they are good.

Well basically my description says it all... not a bad movie but terrible music, especially from a period of such GREAT music. The music really ruins the movie. It's about a worker who gets in a fight and hits another worker in the face with a bat and well i dont want to ruin the movie if you feel like seeing it, despite the music....