Robert J. Maxwell It's a pretty decent movie as these things go. Baldwin is Doc McCoy, newly released from prison in order to commit a high-end robbery. Faced with cheating partners, he and his wife, Basinger, make off with a gym bag full of large notes and are pursued throughout the Southwest to the Mexican border, where they finally take off on their own. There is some conflict internal to the family because Basinger had to allow the head of the parole board, also the manager of the robbery, access to her succulent body, and Baldwin resents this, sometimes violently, for the first two thirds of the movie.Lots of action, more explicit sex and brutality, and competent performances, yet something is missing. The chief subtrahend is originality. It's a remake of Sam Pekinpah's film of the same name, with Steve McQueen and Ali McGraw, from the 1960s. Pekinpah's production was edgier, with unexpected incidents, and used some magnificent locations in west Texas. And the production design and set dressing were superior. Even so quotidian a setting as a garbage dump outside of El Paso reeks with atmosphere in Pekinpah's film. Here, it's just a garbage dump. The same can be said of the interior -- and the exterior, for that matter -- of the seedy hotel in which the final shoot out takes place.But it isn't so much these details that detract from one's enjoyment of the film, it's the realization that it was done -- and done better -- almost thirty years earlier by a director in whose veins the balance between booze and talent was proportionate. How much in the way of credit should accrue to writers, directors, and producers who simply imitate a successful earlier movie in an attempt to cash in on its popularity and on the loosening of moral strictures in Hollywood? The remake is not quite shot-for-shot but almost, and much of the dialog is identical.Generally speaking, the performances here aren't bad, even though Baldwin is groomed on his release from the slams like a Hollywood star and lacks McQueen's jailhouse haircut. Kim Basinger does a bit better in the role of prisoner's wife than Ali McGraw did, for that matter. McGraw, unfortunately for her, cute as she was in her darkly furry way, always sounded as if she'd just graduated from Wellesley, which at one time she had.And the direction is competent without adding much to the goings on. Slow motion is used where Pekinpah had used it. And, if you want an instructive scene, watch the trio of bad guy Michael Madsen, Jennifer Tilly, and the DVM James Stevens when Madsen and Tilly become playful and start throwing take-out food at one another -- fried chicken and french fries. Madsen, without provocation, becomes angry and orders Tilly back into the front seat. In Pekinpah's movie the take out is barbecued ribs with sticky tomato sauce and they're tossed back and forth with abandon. The bad guy remains in the back seat and, pelted about the face with a couple of hefty ribs, grows visibly more irritated until he ends the game in an outburst of pique. Both the players and the car's interior are coated with Texas barbecue sauce. There's hardly any comparison in the effectiveness of the two, almost identical, incidents. Pekinpah's is superior.None of this should stand as a condemnation of the remake itself. If it stands alone, it's suspenseful and diverting. The world is largely divided into good guys and bad. That usually makes for easily digested entertainment and this movie delivers the goods.

daddioe Burton Gilliam played Gollie, the hotel clerk. Gilliam also starred as Lyle in Blazing Saddles. Die hard Blazing Saddles fans should not miss the subtle spoof on "Lyles" famous line: "C'mon boys! The way you's lollygagging around here with them picks and 'em shovels, you'd think it was a hundred and twenty degrees. Can't be more 'n a hundred and fourteen!" "Gollie" subtly spoofs his Blazing Saddles role by referencing the temperature while he's nervously making small talk with Doc. He refers to the temperature feeling like "it was a hundred and fourteen!" I'm surprised the trivia buffs seem to have missed this one. Gilliam is a fine actor.

filthy_morphine Nowhere near the original. It's quite accurate copy bringing nothing new to the story. But the directing is very poor. Basinger is weak - without good directing. Baldwin is simply just a second league compared to McQueen. I watched it just out of curiosity, being a huge fan of Peckinpah's masterpiece, and I got what I thought. Almost a B movie with second rate acting and directing. I wasn't even disappointed, I just don't know what they were trying to do. This remake doesn't try to play with the original material, it's not a tribute and indeed it lacks some really good actor of its era.It reminds me of a bad xerox copy of wonderful photograph.This is a complete waste of your time. Save yourself 2 hours or watch the original (again:)))

ccthemovieman-1 This was a very entertaining, if morally way below par, action movie which consistently keeps your attention with intense scenes. Kim Bassinger probably looked as good as she ever looked which is saying a lot. She has one of the steamiest scenes I've ever seen on a mainline film (my tape was the "unrated" version) but at least it was with her real-life husband (at the time) Alec Baldwin.This re-make of the 1972 film also has Michael Madsen, James Woods, Mike Morse and Jennifer Tilley - all playing sleazy characters. They are so bad they make Baldwin & Bassinger look like monks. This movie is not exactly Mary Poppins. There's almost too much of a mean edge to it....almost. Perhaps I enjoy ogling Bassinger too much to can this movie for its baseness.Whatever, this entertains to the degree that it makes it a very quick two hours. There is no way you could get bored watching this film.