homman-hofiel2

Good film. Starting with the good, Amanda Seyfried was lovely beyond words as Sophie. She had allure and acted with real charm, and her vocals were very lightweight and tuneful. Meryl Streep, I actually liked her. I did worry that her singing was too low in "Money Money Money" but she really emotes in "The Winner Takes it All" and she looks gorgeous in the sunlight. However, I have to concur with those who didn't like Pierce Brosnan's singing, it had a decent tone at times but it was flat and lacked support particularly in the infamously bad rendition of "S. O. S". Julie Walters was also a disappointment. I don't hate Walters, far from it, I think she is amazing, however she isn't given as much to do, and her singing I found on the shouty side.

6/10.

OK now I'm not going to try and say that this film is by any means a true classic, BUT it is a type of classic.

in so much as that it has the man Dolph, mostly half nude, and it has guns, and some really nasty ones at that. so the plot is really weak, nobody is going to buy into the fact that one guy can save a nation but thats not the point, its really just a vehicle for Dolph to do his thing, which is to look tough and sound funny in a monotone kinda way.

i really like the torture scene where the guy is sticking large needles through Dolphs anatomy, actually looks pretty realistic considering its not a big budget film, and also i like the scarification that Dolphs little tribesman friend does for him while he is drugged.

the highlight of the film for me is probably the goofy relationship that is forged between Dolphs character and the little bushman, its really fun. the language barrier is well played out but the writers and actors have enabled this element to flow very well and their means of communication is really very effective at translating the messages of the relationship for the film.

so do yourself a favor and go rent the DVD as it has at long last been released, and sit back and enjoy some cornball action for all its worth.

just don't expect any special features cause their isn't any.

Because of his tragically erratic, often interrupted career, Robert Rossen is rarely put into the pantheon of great Hollywood directors. However, he produced three films which deserve a permanent place among the classics, All the Kings Men( probably the best film about American politics), Lilith( one of the greatest films about mental illness) and this, a movie which DESERVES to be ranked with the hundred greatest, and possibly the fifty greatest, American films. It is superbly acted, brilliantly photographed and edited, and directed with clarity and assurance. In a just world ( if there is such a place), an special Oscar would have been bestowed on Newman, Laurie, Scott, and Gleason AS A GROUP. Piper Laurie was unforgettably poignant, Scott unforgettably sleazy, and Gleason... well, Gleason simply IS Minnesota Fats. Paul Newman almost certainly deserved the Oscar.It was an amusing irony, perhaps a little joke by God, that the bartender in the movie was played by none other than Jake LaMotta.