Against All Odds

The single thing that stand out most for me in this film is the very last shot of Rachel Ward looking at the camera while Phil Collins, singing the title song, says "How can I just watch you walk away, when all I can do is watch you leave".

If you've ever been part of a couple where 2 people loved each other so very much, but it had to end because circumstances like jobs, school, parents, etc. made it impossible to continue, this movie is for you.

If you've lived through a time in your life when you and your friends/lovers were immortal-young lions-with the world at your feet, but one day you sense a change of seasons in the air... a change that for shadows the coming of the real world you always knew was there but that you had hoped against hope to avoid, you'll love this movie.

Great characters, solid performances, top notch script, beautiful natural scenery in Mexico, great soundtrack and a real "LA in the 80's" feel. For the most part the film holds up well today and the "look" is timeless. Very few holes in the plot, if any, and a fine supporting cast.

I thought the plot was far superior to most cardboard cut out Hollywood love triangles. That may be due to the fact that Against all Odds "borrows" a lot of stuff from the movie "Out of the Past" starring Kirk Douglas in 1947. I really enjoyed it, but probably for different reasons. As a kid I loved football. When I first saw this film I had to be 12. The movie combines football with beautiful scenery from Cozumel Mexico, (and of course the beautiful Rachel Ward) just enough to grab my interest and take me away from my miserable existence that is the Midwest. As I watch it now 20 years later I am still filled with joy. Amazing how selective the mind can be. I recommend it. It will take you to another time for a while. A place devoid of terrorists, war, anger, and hate. you know the things our media (local news)crams down our collective throats everyday. Not that the film's subject matter is very glamorous. Just what reality was 20 years ago, which although violent doesn't even come close to what we deal with today. When I lived through the cold war and the fear of nuclear Armageddon, I never thought the situation could get any worse. Boy was I wrong. Show how much we know as children. Check out the movie. Its great to open those time capsules every once in a while and slip out of this unreality. To maybe even draw insight into how we got to this point?

Against All Odds is an less than effective remake of Out of the Past that RKO noir classic that starred Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas and Rhonda Fleming. Not that the players in this film are bad, far from it. But the whole basic structure of the story was completely changed.

What made Out of the Past the classic it is, is the moody tension and overwhelming sadness surrounding the leading characters. Most of all Jane Greer who is an evil temptress beyond description bringing death and destruction to all around her.

Jane Greer is in this film, but as the mother of Rachel Ward who plays the part Greer had in the original. Ward in this one is just a spoiled young woman who runs off with bookie James Woods to upset mom and then runs off with him.

Greer is the owner of a professional football team in Los Angeles which she runs with her high priced fixer of a lawyer Richard Widmark. I think they're characters are modeled on Joan Payson who was the original owner of the New York Mets and M. Donald Grant who was reputed to be the hard character Widmark portrays.

Anyway Jeff Bridges gets into the act when he's cut from Greer's team and goes to work for Woods trying to locate Ward. The rest of the film is pretty much following the plot of Out of the Past until the ending which is completely different. Remember how everyone ended up in the RKO film and the same doesn't happen to most of them.

Still it's not a bad film, but Against All Odds just won't be a classic.

I expected a cringefest, but actually ended up liking this movie a lot. Befitting its era, it has a sleazy "Miami Vice" atmosphere, complete with Porsches, Ferraris, casual jackets, big hair and a great soundtrack including a live show by the one and only Kid Creole. But there's more. Nice location shoots in Mexico - Cozumel, Tulum and Chichen Itza. Jeff Bridges and James Woods, who play fairly complex characters well. A dark script that delivers some good moments, especially during the final 30 minutes.

Yes, it's a B-movie, and at times it feels like a protracted episode of Knight Rider, the A-Team or the aforementioned Miami Vice. But is that a bad thing?

If you're looking for a real 80s experience, find "Against All Odds" on VHS, pop it in your VCR and soak it in.

"Against all Odds" is a 1974 moody remake of the noir classic "Out of the Past" and ultimately less successful. This time around, it's not Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer (though Greer appears in this films as the owner of a football team) but Jeff Bridges and Rachel Ward. The film also stars James Woods, Alex Karras, Swoozie Kurtz and Richard Widmark. Ward plays Greer's daughter, who runs away from her boyfriend (Woods). When Bridges is cut from the football team, bookie Wood hires him to find his girlfriend. Trouble follows.

Somewhere post-Thornbirds, the beautiful Ward started playing bad girls. Here she's not so much bad, as Greer's character was in the original, but more of a brat and an ingrate. Totally unlikable. The cast is very good, but too much to type so that there were no surprises in the story. Ward usually plays a user, Woods someone snarky, Widmark bad guys, Greer cold as ice. So after meeting everyone, it wasn't hard to figure out that Bridges was asking for trouble. Oh, and did I mention that Saul Rubinek often plays slime and Pat Corley is usually a crooked politician? It was almost paint by numbers.

Despite some beautiful scenery, some good scenes and good acting, Against All Odds left me disappointed. The plot, as in Out of the Past, is a little convoluted, which would be okay if, at the end, you cared. I didn't.