Underrated 90s movie: True Crime.

[Jack Scorpion]

I think Clint Eastwood has great taste. Westerns, noir, cop drama and piano jazz pretty much sum up my own taste in movies. I think he is a great leading actor, too, but I've never much caught on to his melodramatic style of directing. I've never disliked his directing, but none of the movies which he has directed has made it to my favorites list.

Except True Crime.

Kind of a forgotten movie from 1999. Even his Bloodwork, an inferior movie, is more memorable. I think True Crime is a very true recollection of noir storytelling -- small personal storyline with Eastwood playing (not a cop!) a reporter down on his luck, his whole life depending on "his nose." To recapture his own life, he tackles a seemingly impossible story against the wishes of his superiors in effort to save the life of a possibly innocent death row inmate.

The scope of the movie is so small that I think its capacity for being a great movie is insufficient and overlooked, but I still usually include it in a list of my favorites, especially in a list of my favorite movies from the 1990s.

 

[Harp]

TC

I missed this earlier. May give it a look, sounds interesting.

 

[WEEGEE]

Undervalued Eastwood

A Perfect World


1993 was a good year on the whole for films.

http://www.imdb.com/List?year=1993&...ng=7;Most popular titles;1993 by average vote


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107808/

Undervalued a decade ago, this film is better than Eastwood's other heralded directorial efforts., 24 July 2004
Author: Sandcat2003 from New York


Do not confuse any of the archived reviews by national critics labeling this movie as "mediocre" and merely "watchable" as accurate statements. This movie is one of Eastwood's most interesting and controlled efforts behind the camera. There is less blatant scenery chewing in "A Perfect World" than contained in Eastwood's unduly praised "Mystic River." And although "Unforgiven" brought Eastwood an Oscar, "A Perfect World" is much more effective in its employment of Eastwood's usual methodical pacing and his ability create empathy for men who are "bad, but not the worst" of society.
For those that are not Costner-philes, this is one of the few movies that viewers should be unable to find ways to deride Costner as an actor. Costner's performance as Butch is by far the best of his career. Actually, it would be better to note that his performance is nomination worthy (er... was) simply for the fact that I know many people view Costner as a flat actor that is not really on par with other actors of his generation. The scenes between Costner and his young costar are extremely interesting. Butch is given almost all the dialogue because eight-year-old Phillip is more or less a pupil of Butch's (or surrogate son if one thinks of the blatant implications); thus, this movie almost entirely belongs to Costner and the development of his character and he does a pitch perfect job.
The movie itself has some simplicities in its other characters, such as Eastwood's Ranger, Dern's criminologist, and the gaggle of law enforcement personal tracking Costner's character. John Lee Hancock's script is not the strongest when focusing in on their additions to the narrative. Plus there are some overly simplistic social commentaries on the role of the penal system, but those are far outweighed by the mass of the film. And Eastwood works around the few weaknesses of the script much better than he did in Hancock's adaptation of "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil."
Considering that Eastwood is a competent director who has created mostly middling works or has been praised for efforts that are far exceeded by the scripts themselves, such as "Unforgiven" and "Mystic River," "A Perfect World" is quite a good film. Also of note is the cinematography and framing of all the shots. Almost all of Eastwood's films, regardless of the shot and lighting conventions of the genres in which he has worked, are terribly sloppy and poor in their presentation. Jack N. Green has been his longtime cinematographer of choice; therefore, it is not as if a new voice was thrown into the mix adding to the success of this film visually in comparison with Eastwood's other works. Nonetheless, Eastwood succeeds in much of his direction in this film and
Costner's performance makes this film a nice little gem that was undervalued a decade ago.

 

[Jack Scorpion]

A Perfect World


1993 was a good year on the whole for films.

http://www.imdb.com/List?year=1993&...ng=7;Most popular titles;1993 by average vote


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107808/

Undervalued a decade ago, this film is better than Eastwood's other heralded directorial efforts., 24 July 2004
Author: Sandcat2003 from New York


Do not confuse any of the archived reviews by national critics labeling this movie as "mediocre" and merely "watchable" as accurate statements. This movie is one of Eastwood's most interesting and controlled efforts behind the camera. There is less blatant scenery chewing in "A Perfect World" than contained in Eastwood's unduly praised "Mystic River." And although "Unforgiven" brought Eastwood an Oscar, "A Perfect World" is much more effective in its employment of Eastwood's usual methodical pacing and his ability create empathy for men who are "bad, but not the worst" of society.
For those that are not Costner-philes, this is one of the few movies that viewers should be unable to find ways to deride Costner as an actor. Costner's performance as Butch is by far the best of his career. Actually, it would be better to note that his performance is nomination worthy (er... was) simply for the fact that I know many people view Costner as a flat actor that is not really on par with other actors of his generation. The scenes between Costner and his young costar are extremely interesting. Butch is given almost all the dialogue because eight-year-old Phillip is more or less a pupil of Butch's (or surrogate son if one thinks of the blatant implications); thus, this movie almost entirely belongs to Costner and the development of his character and he does a pitch perfect job.
The movie itself has some simplicities in its other characters, such as Eastwood's Ranger, Dern's criminologist, and the gaggle of law enforcement personal tracking Costner's character. John Lee Hancock's script is not the strongest when focusing in on their additions to the narrative. Plus there are some overly simplistic social commentaries on the role of the penal system, but those are far outweighed by the mass of the film. And Eastwood works around the few weaknesses of the script much better than he did in Hancock's adaptation of "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil."
Considering that Eastwood is a competent director who has created mostly middling works or has been praised for efforts that are far exceeded by the scripts themselves, such as "Unforgiven" and "Mystic River," "A Perfect World" is quite a good film. Also of note is the cinematography and framing of all the shots. Almost all of Eastwood's films, regardless of the shot and lighting conventions of the genres in which he has worked, are terribly sloppy and poor in their presentation. Jack N. Green has been his longtime cinematographer of choice; therefore, it is not as if a new voice was thrown into the mix adding to the success of this film visually in comparison with Eastwood's other works. Nonetheless, Eastwood succeeds in much of his direction in this film and
Costner's performance makes this film a nice little gem that was undervalued a decade ago.

Good post.

I've seen The Perfect World. I am a Costner-phile and I did enjoy this movie.

However, I spent the last 30 minutes of that film crying my eyes out and I'll never forgive it.

Your username doesn't have any relation to my favorite photographer, Mr. Fellig, does it?

 

[WEEGEE]

Usher " Arthur" Fellig

Yes, In honor of the man, myth and legend...Weegee.

Jack Scorpion,


Do you rember an even less attended or remembered movie from 1993

with Dennis Quaid , Meg Ryan , James Caan and Gwyneth Paltrow named

"Flesh and Bone". If it were a foriegn language film it may have been hailed as the years best.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106926/

 

[Jack Scorpion]

Dang. You really got me there. I've never heard of that movie.

1993 was a good year, though I think 1995 was heavily decent, too.

1993 also had In the Line of Fire, another good Eastwood movie.

Ever since seeing The Big Easy, I've really liked Dennis Quaid. I'll check that movie out.