sol1218 ***MAJOR MAJOR SPOILERS**** Multi-plotted crime thriller involving L.A narcotic detective John Parker, James Slader, who ends up in far-off Vedalia on stress leave from the LAPD and gets involved in the robbery of the towns bank of over a half million dollars.***SPOILERS FROM HERE ON END**** It takes a while to figure out what and who exactly Parker is in that the movie keeps jumping back and forth in what's going on in it. As we soon find out Parker was involved in a drug bust gone wrong back in L.A where his good friend and partner Det. Mike O'Grady, Alf Humphrerys, and four other cops and drug dealers were killed. Having a religious conversion in experiencing his friend and fellow cop O'Grady's last words before he finally passed away Parker became the target of the members of a number his fellow police on the narcotic team. Those fellow cops feel that the guilt ridden Parker is going to talk to a grand jury about their, as well as his, shaking down drug dealers for their ill gotten cash. Something they've, as well as Parker, been doing for years. With Parker now implicated in the Vedalia bank job members of the L.A narcotics division headed by Parker's boss Lt. Vince Marino, Robert Miano, come to the town's police departments aid in order to get the on the loose Parker to give himself up before he ends up dead! Which is exactly what they in fact intend to do to him!On the run with a bullet stuck in his gut courtesy of Vedalia Deputy Sheriff Ray DeCarlo, David Keith, Parker ends up in the safety of local Veldalia hospital nurse Natalie wright, Leslie Stefanson, home sweet home outside of town. Not only had Parker met Natalie the night before at a local bar, where she bought him a drink, but as It turned out Natalie is the ex-wife of Deputy Sheriff DeCarlo the guy who just happened to have shot Parker during the bank robbery escape!It's later with rookie FBI Agent Rick Kindall, John Livingston, checking out all the fact that it becomes clear that Parker was the right man in the wrong place at the wrong time when he bank robbery happened! The right man that is for both his fellow members of the L.A narcotic division as well as Deputy Sheriff Decarlo and his partner Tommy Meeker, Alex Zahara, in him ending up taking the rap for them!Very well done but overly complicated film that's not really that complicated at all in how it tells its story about police corruption in a number of Rashomon-like time frames and flashbacks. We get to see John Parker a fugitive from the law perused by a number of lawmen who in fact are the one's responsible for the crimes that he's being accused of committing! Somewhat let-down of an ending but at the same time in Parker willing to put his neck on the chopping block with the threat of being murdered by the crooked cops, as well as testifying before a grand jury about them, that's the only ending you can really expect a movie like "The Stickup" to have!

johnnyboyz I think The Stickup is worth your time, overall, if not by an awful lot. I've seen a lot worse than The Stickup, films that have been so much worse and yet have garnered ten times the attention this little joint USA/Canada 2001 production attracted. The film very lightly tackles ideas to do with identity and whether we, as well as the other characters, believe certain individuals are capable of certain things. The film also adopts a neo-noir tone as the lone lead becomes increasingly involved with low-key crimes in a low-key location as he engages in relationships built on shaky trust with mysterious women and the boundaries around him to do with legal and illegal are blurred.The film isn't without its annoyances, but it's unfolded in such a manner that is both nice to look at and easy to just let oneself loose inside of that you begin to grin as the film unfolds more so than you do groan. The film opens with a car chase, a car chase that unashamedly throws in all the clichés and incidences you'd associate with a typical car chase. You've got your near miss with another oncoming car, you've got your incident in which one of the vehicles spins wildly out of control but gloriously has a patch of dirt or gravel to spin onto rather than a brick wall or fifty foot drop thus allowing the regaining of control and you've even got your little stunt at the very end which involves a car overturning. I was pleased it didn't blow up like usual - maybe they couldn't afford it.The man being pursued is John Parker (Spader) and his pursuers are law enforcement. This immediately draws us to conclusions it's only right for them to get their man because surely anyone running from the law must have done something wrong, right? Parker gets away and next we see him in a church, blood dripping from his hands and a big bag of money he's got with him as we assume he repents any sin he may have just committed. What begins in the audience's mind as a tale of regret and putting things right quickly turns into something a little more. The crime infused male fantasy is stepped up a notch when Parker comes into contact with Natalie Wright, played by Leslie Stefanson, who's a nurse in the local hospital.These two come together, initially, in a bar because of a certain song Parker puts on and she comes over. What that song was slips my mind and to a degree, that is a great shame, because here is a chance to reinvent a certain musical track much in the vein of what Tarantino does but also to use it as a reoccurring melody throughout these two person's journey. Once they get talking, Natalie speaks of her divorce and how unhappy she is, as you do to complete strangers from out of town you meet in dodgy bars, and they spend the night at her place somewhat eerily under the resentful eye of her ex-husband Ray DeCarlo (Keith). This guy doubles up as the local sheriff and is same individual that chased Parker in the first scene.What struck me as a little sloppy and silly was the fact she's suddenly helping Parker when he needs it, primarily through the fact he washed her dishes and cleaned up her apartment the following morning. But when she does find out there is a lot of stolen money in Parker's possession and hears about a bank robbery, she puts two and two together which is when the relationship is strained. It's at this point I assumed Natalie would go down the femme fatale route and attempt to take the money for herself but no, the film remains grounded in the small town in which they inhabit and it doesn't branch out to anything other than that. Rather than think that was a bit silly, I thought it was fine and if that's where you want to go then alright and I bought most of it even if, as a result of this non-double cross on Wright's behalf, the film plays out as more of a buddy routine between love allies than it does anything else.There is a degree of spectacle in the film, something that is quite impressive given the understated and direct of video feel this film has. It is bargain bin at you local store or catch it late night on some cable channel, all the time shaking your head in disbelief the film was made in 2001 and wondering where all the time has gone, material if we're all honest but it's perfectly fine. The film is polished and the sense of the spectacle is hammered home as it all unravels in an entertaining way as twists, turns and double crosses become apparent. The film ends in a daft shootout in the woods, meaning we've come all this way just for a guns blazing routine and the background jazz music for some scenes gets a bit annoying but on the whole, I feel it would take someone really cynical to dismiss this piece of work.

charproc-1 Rowdy Herrington's 2001 film The Stickup fools you, or tries to, and is fun to watch as the story unfolds. It begins with the cops chasing a bank robbery getaway car. As we used to say, it starts in the middle and goes both ways. There are flashbacks, and the story is told first from one person's point of view and then another's. There is a surprise around every corner, and each time we get more information we see the bank robbery with new eyes, as it were.The Stickup is a comic adventure/romance/mystery complete with cops, robbers, more cops, a newly-fledged FBI Special Agent, a pretty woman(Leslie Stefanson as Natalie Wright), Our Hero(Spader as John Parker), and two enigmatic Indians. If you happen to see it in the video store, I highly recommend it—it's loads of fun, and despite a couple of plot holes (suspend your disbelief at the door) is ultimately satisfying. The positive vibes from this movie far outweigh the negative. The high speed car chases appeal to the men, and the boy-meets-girl story is for the girls, and the inscrutable Indians are for everyone.The Stickup's low budget does not interfere with its fast-paced story and Spader's wonderful acting—is he a good guy or a bad guy? The mood-setting soundtrack begins as bang-bang stick'em up robbery music over the menu and segues into brassy, 1940s film noir blues as background to the sporadic encounters of Our Hero and the pretty woman ), each more tantalizing. "Damn Right I've got the Blues" plays over their first encounter in the bar, and again over the credits. Original music credited to David Kitay sets the mood throughout.John Livingston, as FBI Special Agent Rick Kendall on his first case as Agent-in-charge, is hilarious in his delight with his first bank robbery and real dye packs. "Wicked!" he says, and "Cool!" He takes such joy in his work, and as the case draws to a close, he is seen talking on his cell phone to his mom.

amusinblue Picked up a couple of videos to watch on this rainy Saturday afternoon. Oh what a waste of time this movie was. Can I get my money back? I love James Spader. What a great actor. I'm sure he wouldn't have taken this role if it wasn't a good script -- originally. Too bad that in the process of making this film so many bad decisions were made.What I found to be the most disappointing was the casting of the lead (and only) female character. There just wasn't any chemistry between Leslie Stefanson and Spader. I can think of SO MANY other actresses who could have been far more believable, interesting and competent. Stefanson couldn't deliver a convincing performance. If Natalie really was attracted to Parker, why didn't she act like it? His reasons for getting involved with her were obvious -- he needed her help (and wasn't going to turn down her quick invitation to jump in the sack) -- but what were her reasons for getting (and staying) involved with him? Even when they first met, there was no flirting, no dalliance. This mysterious man just shows up one day and brings excitement and intrigue into her otherwise duller-than-dull life, yet we see no emotion from her. Natalie took a lot of serious risks helping Parker, yet Stefanson's performance left me wondering why. Being his nurse as well as his lover, one would expect some tenderness, some warmth from her. I found her to be cool, aloof and sarcastic. There should have been some fervor from her to justify her actions.The main storyline of this movie involving the crime and the mystery of solving it was a good one. But the simultaneous "romantic" relationship between Natalie and Parker never heated up as they became more involved with each other, and it should have. That was a disturbing distraction to me.