Against All Odds (1984)

Director:

Taylor Hackford

Writers:

Daniel Mainwaring (1947 screenplays)
Eric Hughes (writer)

Release Date:

2 March 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Crime | Drama | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

She was a beautiful fugitive. Fleeing from corruption. From power. He was a professional athlete past his prime. Hired to find her, he grew to love her. Love turned to obsession. Obsession turned to murder. And now the price of freedom might be nothing less than their lives.

Plot:

A gangster hires an ex-football player to find his girlfriend. When he finds her, they fall in love, and the twists start to appear.

Plot Keywords:

Beautiful Woman | Female Nudity | Neo Noir | Remake | American Football

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 2 nominations

Cast

Rachel Ward	...	Jessie Wyler
Jeff Bridges	...	Terry Brogan
James Woods	...	Jake Wise
Alex Karras	...	Hank Sully
Jane Greer	...	Mrs. Grace Wyler
Richard Widmark	...	Ben Caxton
Dorian Harewood	...	Tommy
Swoosie Kurtz	...	Edie
Saul Rubinek	...	Steve Kirsch
Pat Corley	...	Ed Phillips
Bill McKinney	...	Head Coach Stassen
Allen Williams	...	Bob Soames
Sam Scarber	...	Assistant Coach Sam
Jon St. Elwood	...	Ahmad Cooper
Tamara Stafford	...	Kirsch's Girlfriend

Runtime:

128 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Singapore:M18 | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 (1984) | Peru:18 | Sweden:15 | USA:R | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Chichén Itzá, Yucatán, Mexico

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Phil Collins was contacted by director Taylor Hackford to record a song for the movie. Phil Collins had written "Against All Odds" in 1981 for his first solo album, "Face Value", and the song was originally entitled, "How Can You Just Sit There". Phil Collins left the song off of the album because he felt he had too many ballads on "Face Value" already. After Phil Collins's contact with Taylor Hackford, he recorded the song in two days, one day in New York, the other in Los Angeles.

Goofs:

Continuity: During the race scene between Terry Brogan and Jake Wise, Jake's dog, who is riding in the front seat with him, disappears during the high speed scenes and then reappears at the very end of the race scene. Also, as Jake prepares to pass a motor home, a rear hatch is open on the motor home and then suddenly it is closed.

Quotes:

Jessie Wyler: I think about you.
Terry Brogan: I think about you too lady. Let's leave it at that.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Retrosexual: The 80's" (2004)

Soundtrack:

BALCONY

Bloated remake

Saw this again recently a week after watching "Out of the past." The latter is one of the classiest of film noires, while this one is a bloated modernized version that pads the spare, tight frame of the original with layers of glitz, bad dialog and a shameless display of constantly explaining the plot, as if the viewer has had to break for commercials every fifteen minutes.

By itself it would have been just another average Hollywood yawn. But as it crassly tries to be a remake of a classic it needs to be taken to the Woodshed and buried! The original had the slow unveiling of a really bad woman, while this one turns her into a "poor little rich girl", manipulated by circumstances. Jane Greer repeats as another bad woman, just of an older generation. She is the only one whose character sticks to the grittiness of the original.

After that the acting is bad. Bridges is too young and inexperienced to do much with a loud script. Ward shows her basic lack of talent. Nice looking, and O.K. when she is asked to be angry, but as her character reveals itself her acting unravels into pained angst. Woods shows little of his dangerousness, perhaps because the script constantly demands that everybody explain their motivation.

It is not only the script that ruins the movie. The soundtrack is discordant and annoying, and the only good piece of music(Collins) is saved for the final credits. For me the juxtaposition between the two movies would be like having Hemingway rewritten by Grisham.