Deadfall ( * * * * * )
Ahhhh, Deadfall. Where to begin? The first time I saw this movie I was staying at a hotel room with a friend at DragonCon, and as soon as the cast credits started to roll we were both hooked: Michael Beihn, James Coburn, Peter Fonda, Charlie Sheen, and Nicolas Cage all in one movie? A movie directed by Coppola, no less...Christopher Coppola! (This is long before Sofia Coppola made being a non-Francis Ford Coppola fashionable, mind you). Deadfall is the ultimate con, so to get too far into the plot would spoil the fun. Let's get to the stats.
Acting: Nicolas Cage gives, in this movie, the greatest ever screen performance by an actor. Not only does he seem to be on drugs during every reaction shot, he incoherently screams so much of his dialogue that virtually none of the ADR (additional dialogue recording) matches up. Also, his accent changes in every scene. Barmy from scene one, where he plays an aw-shucks grifter ("Pick a card, FRIEND!"), he slowly comes to an acting boil ("Well it's a crazy fucking world we live in CAPTAIN JACK!") both figuratively and literally, as evidenced by his memorable death courtesy of a deep fryer. Beihn is on hilarious autopilot, as is his co-star Sarah Trigger, who acts with all of the depth and conviction of a first-time porn star whose winning audition was held at a bus stop or train station. Charlie Sheen and Angus Scrimm each chew up scenery as the villains Morgan "Fats" Gripp and the Evil Doctor Lyme, who has a robotic claw hand for no apparent reason. It's like a James Bond villain dropped by to hang out in a genre film because he didn't mind working for scale. Coburn is magnificent in a rare dual role, and delivers the best dying line ever early in the film: "My brother took the cake." It is an all-around actor's showcase.
Story: Standard, possibly substandard crime noir fare. Joe Donan (Beihn) plays a grifter whose pop apparently dies during a con gone wrong. Led by his father's diary's enimgmatic clues to LA, he is entangled in a web of double-dealing and deception, and he runs afoul of his uncle's psychotic Henchman Eddie (Cage). Coburn plays both his father and uncle, and he tries to draw Joe into his next big con, with unpredictable results...
Typical dialogue: "What's your name, kid?" "Mitch." "Wanna make some money Mitch?" "Doin' what?" "I'd like to speak to Lou Donan." "Who's askin'?" The preceeding exchange between Beihn and the waiter Mitch is delivered so awkwardly and hilariously that I nicknamed my Mitsubishi truck "Mitch" in the actor's honor. And who could forget Coburn in his Texan drawl shouting, "Thompson, what the hell you tryin' to pull, god damn yew!"
Direction: This was Christopher (nephew of Francis Ford and brother of Nic Cage) Coppola's first gig, and it is his best. Because of this fucking brilliant movie, I saw his other piece of shit movies, including Clockmaker, G-Men From Hell, Ballad of the Gunfighter (which I'll recommoned for the freak-out ending, if nothing else) and probably half a dozen others I'm blocking out. The one good thing about his other films is you can always count on a cameo by Billy Floyd, the ugliest actor in Hollywood, who my friends and I traditionally refer to only as "Mister Fucked-up Face."
Overall: Deadfall has so much to offer. The diamond-ring cake. Sarah Trigger naked, and the most depressing love scene since Michael Beihn's other love scene in The Terminator. James Coburn saying "Man" about a million times. Nic Cage saying "Friend!" about a million times. The sequence where Cage freaks out and attacks a guy in a bar shouting, "Hi-fucking-ya, man!" while karate chopping a complete stranger, after dousing another complete stranger in the face with whiskey and squealing "What are you looking at?" Cage taking out his rage on "fucking hangers" and shouting "Somebody's tryin' to kill me man!" and then chewing up more scenery than I thought was possible delivering the line, "What am I a fuckin' retard huh?" The most left-field third act you're likely to see in a movie, ever, that's not directed by David Lynch. Morgan "Fats" Gripp rambling about Mark Twain while his sidekick Sausage steals scenes. Holly the donut girl, who was so "hot" that Christopher Coppola married her. Coburn biting a woman. Peter Fonda pinches the bridge of his nose and saying "Later," in the most contrived, wooden performance ever given, until the after-sex scene later in the movie when Michael Beihn gives the most contrived, wooden performance ever given when he tells Sarah Trigger "I'm not sure...that I'm ready...for you." The climactic showdown on the merry-go-round, that has Coburn at his leering best. It's not that they don't make movies like Deadfall anymore...they never made movies like Deadfall.
Tredekka Rules:
Acting: Nicolas Cage gives, in this movie, the greatest ever screen performance by an actor. Not only does he seem to be on drugs during every reaction shot, he incoherently screams so much of his dialogue that virtually none of the ADR (additional dialogue recording) matches up. Also, his accent changes in every scene. Barmy from scene one, where he plays an aw-shucks grifter ("Pick a card, FRIEND!"), he slowly comes to an acting boil ("Well it's a crazy fucking world we live in CAPTAIN JACK!") both figuratively and literally, as evidenced by his memorable death courtesy of a deep fryer. Beihn is on hilarious autopilot, as is his co-star Sarah Trigger, who acts with all of the depth and conviction of a first-time porn star whose winning audition was held at a bus stop or train station. Charlie Sheen and Angus Scrimm each chew up scenery as the villains Morgan "Fats" Gripp and the Evil Doctor Lyme, who has a robotic claw hand for no apparent reason. It's like a James Bond villain dropped by to hang out in a genre film because he didn't mind working for scale. Coburn is magnificent in a rare dual role, and delivers the best dying line ever early in the film: "My brother took the cake." It is an all-around actor's showcase.
Story: Standard, possibly substandard crime noir fare. Joe Donan (Beihn) plays a grifter whose pop apparently dies during a con gone wrong. Led by his father's diary's enimgmatic clues to LA, he is entangled in a web of double-dealing and deception, and he runs afoul of his uncle's psychotic Henchman Eddie (Cage). Coburn plays both his father and uncle, and he tries to draw Joe into his next big con, with unpredictable results...
Typical dialogue: "What's your name, kid?" "Mitch." "Wanna make some money Mitch?" "Doin' what?" "I'd like to speak to Lou Donan." "Who's askin'?" The preceeding exchange between Beihn and the waiter Mitch is delivered so awkwardly and hilariously that I nicknamed my Mitsubishi truck "Mitch" in the actor's honor. And who could forget Coburn in his Texan drawl shouting, "Thompson, what the hell you tryin' to pull, god damn yew!"
Direction: This was Christopher (nephew of Francis Ford and brother of Nic Cage) Coppola's first gig, and it is his best. Because of this fucking brilliant movie, I saw his other piece of shit movies, including Clockmaker, G-Men From Hell, Ballad of the Gunfighter (which I'll recommoned for the freak-out ending, if nothing else) and probably half a dozen others I'm blocking out. The one good thing about his other films is you can always count on a cameo by Billy Floyd, the ugliest actor in Hollywood, who my friends and I traditionally refer to only as "Mister Fucked-up Face."
Overall: Deadfall has so much to offer. The diamond-ring cake. Sarah Trigger naked, and the most depressing love scene since Michael Beihn's other love scene in The Terminator. James Coburn saying "Man" about a million times. Nic Cage saying "Friend!" about a million times. The sequence where Cage freaks out and attacks a guy in a bar shouting, "Hi-fucking-ya, man!" while karate chopping a complete stranger, after dousing another complete stranger in the face with whiskey and squealing "What are you looking at?" Cage taking out his rage on "fucking hangers" and shouting "Somebody's tryin' to kill me man!" and then chewing up more scenery than I thought was possible delivering the line, "What am I a fuckin' retard huh?" The most left-field third act you're likely to see in a movie, ever, that's not directed by David Lynch. Morgan "Fats" Gripp rambling about Mark Twain while his sidekick Sausage steals scenes. Holly the donut girl, who was so "hot" that Christopher Coppola married her. Coburn biting a woman. Peter Fonda pinches the bridge of his nose and saying "Later," in the most contrived, wooden performance ever given, until the after-sex scene later in the movie when Michael Beihn gives the most contrived, wooden performance ever given when he tells Sarah Trigger "I'm not sure...that I'm ready...for you." The climactic showdown on the merry-go-round, that has Coburn at his leering best. It's not that they don't make movies like Deadfall anymore...they never made movies like Deadfall.
Tredekka Rules:
- Rule 1: No Movie Can Get More Than 5 Stars, Not Even Deadfall.
- Rule 2: Any Movie With A Deadfall Alum Automatically Gets 2 Stars.
- Rule 3: Suck Actor Penalty; Any Movie With A Suck Actor Automatically Loses Between One And Five Stars, Depending On The Actor. (The Suck Actor Penalty for Deadfall is as follows: Charlie Sheen--minus 2 stars. Thus, any movie with Charlie Sheen both gains and loses 2 stars, since he is both a suck actor and a Deadfall alum.)
- Rule 4: Sweet Actor Bonus; Any Movie With A Kick-Ass Actor Automatially Gains Between One And Five Stars, Depending On The Actor. (The Sweet Actor Bonus for Deadfall is: James Coburn--plus 1 star.)
- Rule 5: Spitting = Good Acting. (Any performance wherein an actor spits copiously while delivering dialogue is a sign of unqualified good acting. In this case, the spitting is done by both Cage and the fake-beard-wearing Good 'N Plenty guy, as he utters the line, "Sam Fuckin' Peckinpah") Plus 2 stars, one for each expactorating actor.
- Rule 6: Over The Top Acting Award. (Any film role that is truly over the top earns the movie between 0 and 5 stars. In this case, Nic Cage in the performance of his or any other lifetime earns the film 5 stars, putting the total stars earned at eight. But due to rule number one, no movie can have over five stars--not even this one.)
Tredekka Score: 5 Stars (* * * * *)
posted by Tredekka at 8:20 AM
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