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jerrypadden2004
Reviews
Every Girl Should Have One (1978)
A perfect example of a producer ruining a good movie!
I happened to know someone who worked on this film and I was invited to a screening of the director's cut when it was entitled, "Ring Around The Diamond." It was an extremely entertaining, clever, witty, fun, crime-caper-comedy. It was very well written and directed and I liked it so much that I waited for it's release on video so I could add it to my library. Then disaster struck. I found out that the producer went into the editing room, barred the writer/director, Robert Hyatt, and chopped it all up. He tried to change the story, eliminated characters and even changed the title to "Every Girl Should Have One." He also added a new character with re-shoots that is a black woman who not only looks like, but is actually dressed exactly like the "Aunt Jemima" figure on the old pancake mix box that the NAACP had barred. This producer succeeded in alienating the entire African/American film audience in America. What was this guy thinking? This is a good example of a producer ruining a perfectly good movie. I wonder of this guy ever heard the old saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"
Deadly Ransom (1998)
A really fun, slam-bang action movie
I'm an independent film buff and I saw another film by this writer/director, Robert J. Hyatt, called "Dead Man's Run" and I liked it so much that I sought out more of his films and found this one. Once again it has a very interesting story for a low-budget action movie with great characters played by very talented actors. Sidney Liufau is a very original and great bad guy. Brion James and Francesco Quinn, son of the legendary Anthony Quinn, bring humor to this really fun, slam-bang action movie. The lead actor, Loren Avedon, is not up to his role and if it was not for him this film would have probably gotten a lot more recognition. But, the rest of the cast overwhelms him and carries the day. Lisa Crosato is very good as the only female lead in this strong supporting cast. It's a fun rental.