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8 Million Ways to Die (1986)
Rate:
4
Viewed:
7/25
7/25:
8 Million Ways to Die was the final film of Hal Ashby's career.
It's safe to say the 80's had been a total disaster for him, thanks to heavy cocaine abuse. He would pass away
in 1988, leaving behind a small body of outstanding films such as
The Last Detail, Coming Home, and
Being There.
The first hour of 8 Million Ways to Die went well by shaping up as a neo-noir thriller
due to Jeff Bridges' strong performance. Then, the second half came, and it felt like a completely different
movie. Did Hal Ashby suddenly change editors or what? According to Wikipedia:
"After the film was completed, the Producers Sales Organization fired both Ashby and his editor Robert Lawrence
and hired Stuart H. Pappe as the new editor to oversee the film's post-production without Ashby and Lawrence's
participation. Pappe's edits drastically changed the film, deleting important scenes with Arquette and dubbing
new dialogue with Bridges."
Yeah, that's what I thought. Rosanna Arquette was so doing well until waking up in the same bed with Jeff
Bridges, and her character's personality completely disappeared. Until seeing 8 Million Ways to Die, I
thought Andy Garcia had never given a bad performance in any film. What an embarrassment for him, especially
during the drug deal gone bad which obviously could've been avoided in the first place by arresting everybody
beforehand. I wanted to tell the actor to stop shouting and start thinking about getting rid of that stupid
ponytail.
When Jeff Bridges' character followed the trail to the supermarket and observed what's going on in the rear,
I immediately figured that drugs had to be inside the logs. Later, he proved this discovery to Chance who
expressed shock afterwards. Consider me unimpressed by that scene because there's no way he didn't know.
Then again, I failed to understand his purpose in the grand scheme of things.
All in all, 8 Million Ways to Die showed how it's done for a film.