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joseroberto29
Reviews
Soldier in the Rain (1963)
Despite Gleason and Blake Edwards, not really a comedy.
Something about this movie just gets to me. I'm a big McQueen fan, and have seen this movie classified as a failed attempt at comedy. But anyone looking for a lot of laughs is looking in the wrong place. While McQueen, as Eustis Clay does overact in this movie, as he was apt to do as he was approaching super stardom, you get the sense he is a true outsider trying to make it as sane as possible for himself. He hates the army, hates being away from his dog, but has made the best of things around him by never letting go of his dreams of civilian success and constantly setting himself up for that point in his life. Jackie Gleason, as Sgt. Slaughter, (is this where the wrestler got his name?) is perfect as the stoic career soldier, set in his routine while amusingly watching his buddy's attempts and thoughts of what the two are going to do once they get out. Gleason knows he's not going anywhere, but is too much of a friend to shoot down his pal. Tuesday Weld is very good as the young lady who came close to probably getting Gleason to actually start coming to McQueen's line of thinking. Future TV stars Tom Poston and Adam West have funny bit parts worth looking for. But the friendship between McQueen and Gleason, from the scene where Gleason pretends he's a doctor over the phone to get McQueen a fan to one of the final scenes where McQueen forgets one of his get-rich schemes due to concern for his hospitalized friend, is what makes this movie standout. The movie is bittersweet throughout.
Collision Course (1989)
If you're from Detroit
The movie is worth watching if you're from Detroit or are familiar with the area, as a lot of the city's highlights are featured as scenery. It's also decent if you just have to watch Jay Leno as an actor. But there's a reason he's a show host. Pat Morita never seems confident in his role as the visiting cop. It's a little comical at first, especially if one is only familiar with his roles in the Karate Kid movies and Happy Days. Jay Leno seems overly smug as the guy who's smarter than his superiors and they resent him for it. He must have had a lot of fun driving the cars he got to in the movie. Maybe they were his own, as he is a huge auto enthusiast. It's a very clichéd cop movie that's been done dozens of times. But, no movie captures Detroit better.
No Holds Barred (1989)
When reality checks out
Somehow, somewhere, someone thought this was a good idea. Maybe to put a hot figure like Hogan in a movie was a good idea, but this was pure dreck. It's worth watching to see Hogan speak French, though. That scene was worth a very unintentional laugh. But the rest is so contrived it makes Full House seem like Upstairs/Downstairs. The dialogue is so bad, so outside of the realm of what people actually say to each other, it appears to have been written by a group of bored 11-year olds who had yet to make contact with anyone over the age of 21, and just assumed that's how people talk. And the attempt at a tear-jerking scene between Hogan and his injured (what do you expect when you try to attack someone bigger than you are?) brother falls apart because whatever the two are saying to each other through their tears is incoherent. Wrestling fans will like the appearance of old timer Jos Leduc, but Stan Hanson, a legend based on what he could do in the ring, was way over the top, forgive the Stallone reference.