8 Million Ways to Die

SPOILERS!!!!

What a reputation this film has.  Back in the '80s I dismissed the previews on HBO, expecting this to be a typical entry in the '80s crime cycle.  I was already into things like MANHUNTER and Miami Vice; 1986's 8 MILLION WAYS TO DIE just looked tired.  Even to a wide eyed teen who ate this shit up (OK, maybe not TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A.).  I forgot about it for many years.  But later I began reading some reviews from those who were hailing a lost camp classic.  A film so inept and over the top that it might even merit midnight screenings, complete with can-quote-every-word fans who would hoot and roar accordingly. This was celebrated director Hal Ashby's final film?

When I finally got to it last year, I wondered if I saw the same movie everyone was laughing at.  Here was indeed what I had expected all those years ago - another sleazy '80s crime noir, complete with a period James Newton Howard score.   Nothing all that different, honestly.  Lawrence Block's book of the same name was adapted by no less than (among others) Oliver Stone and Robert Towne, but other than some moments of inspired hysteria and a few funny lines, standard issue stuff.

Jeff Bridges plays Matt Scudder, a disgraced alcoholic ex-cop.  He's lost his job, home, wife, and maybe his daughter.  He's in AA, seemingly on the mend, but then he meets a somewhat pathetic hooker named Sunny (Alexandra Paul) who ends up dead.  Is Angel Moldonado (Andy Garcia), a local drug lord, responsible?  Where does Sarah, one of Sunny's fellow working girls, (Rosanna Arquette) fit in?  Or Chance Walker (Randy Brooks), another criminal who owns a gambling club and was once busted by Scudder?

Standard stuff.  But there are eccentricties.  Mainly from Angel, who likes to indulge snow cones while he talks business.  Ashby also punctuates the film with odd throwaways now and again.  I did like the flat tire car chase.   Some of the dialogue is amusing, especially Sunny's as she tries to seduce Scudder.  It's like a lost line from CRIMES OF PASSION.  Elsewhere, there are also two references to Maalox.  Most of the time, the movie is considerably foul mouthed.

There are also fine performances.  Bridges again straddles the tough/confused/weary/slacker/hunk divides and is always appealing.  Some of Arquette's best work is here, and Garcia has fun chewing the scenery. For all his haminess, it seems he reigned it in a bit.  Or was that Ashby's doing? Many reports state that 8 MILLION WAYS TO DIE was taken away from him in post production, but the film's interest in spending quality time with characters, letting them interact and breathe, is reminiscent of the director's '70s work. Improvisational at times.

Most of the film's rep. is because of that warehouse showdown near the end.  I found it well staged and entertaining.  And yeah, awesomely campy.