Kelly WandDead Presidents
September 23rd 2006 03:12
Awesome.
This film is just plain awesome. I could pile on the superlatives but awesome will cover it.
I am not without my own stupid prejudices. I have avoided this film for years. Studiously. I didn’t give it a chance. It was just the title that put me off. A heist movie called “Dead Presidents.” Shit, hadn’t I seen that already. No, they were the Ex Presidents in “Point Break. It didn’t matter. Different shit, same stink. You know what I’m saying?
I liked “Point Break” in spite of how dumb it is. The last thing I needed was a stupid clone movie, full stop. Life is too fucking short to relive old glories. And with that simple assumption, the film’s fate was sealed. Never would it darken by DVD player.
Years later, when director/producers Albert and Allen Hughes made “From Hell”, I was forced to say that these guys were good. I felt a tinge. I should really check out the back catalogue. But you know how these things go. Obscure films on DVD? You know how your local Blockbuster feels about them. They have three hundred copies of everything Adam Sandler has been in but everything else gets lost somewhere.
My friend over in Rozelle told me about a documentary the Brothers Hughes has done on real life pimps. She raved about it but couldn’t actually produce a copy for sale or rent. This guy in Marrickville sang its virtues too. He went so far as to tell me that if he had a copy, he’d rent it out to me for free. It was a shame the shop’s copy had vanished somewhere.
Sometimes I can be - not so much a lazy bastard but – one who can be easily distracted. Just as there are plenty more fish in the sea, there are plenty more films on the market. Once upon a time, any self respecting film fan could pretty much see every film of note ever made. These days, such a task would be impossible. There have been more films made than could fill several human lifetimes. You can’t see them all.
A long story cut short, I fall upon a scratched up copy of “Dead Presidents” in an ex-rental bin. Video Ezy are asking $6.95 and I decide to give it a go. The guy at the counter told me “good choice.” As soon as I clicked play, I wondered how I could ever have been so stupid as to avoid this film.
This is a film that grabs you by the lapels, tosses you against a wall and screams “pay attention”. My assumptions concerning the cloning of “Point Break” were unfounded. This film was the antithesis of “Point Break”. There was no glamour to be had in the crime. This is a blaxploitation film without the exploitation. It is the kind of film that Spike Lee probably thinks he is making and is only now maturing towards.
Its great strength lies in the believability of its characters. Their flaws are not plucked from a hat to serve the needs of the plot. When a character fucks up, it doesn’t mean he or she is defined by that mistake. He or she may make the same error again or perhaps they won’t. The plot moves forward not through carefully laid design but through the inevitably that arises from a whittling away of options.
Central character Anthony doesn’t want to follow his brother into university, he wants to do something different. He grabs any opportunity he can to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. He flirts with petty crime before signing on to go to Vietnam. Whilst those around him crack, Anthony shows no sign of pressure. It is easier to take a second tour than to return home and meet his daughter. He doesn’t even write to the child’s mother.
When he returns home, he simmers and drinks. He can’t accept that the mother of his child might have seen someone else in his absence. This man in question is a petty gangster who effortlessly proves he is more of a man than our war hero protagonist. Anthony takes it out on the woman before running out to drink more.
Jobless and flirting with a career in alcoholism, Anthony lays out the plans for an armoured car heist. His team is awash with bad choices. Part of you wants him to get away with it. You want him to escape this misery he is in. Most of you doubts he could possibly succeed.
“Dead Presidents” is a film with the words “all time classic” stamped all over the cover. Don’t be the kind of dickhead I was. See this film.
This film is just plain awesome. I could pile on the superlatives but awesome will cover it.
I am not without my own stupid prejudices. I have avoided this film for years. Studiously. I didn’t give it a chance. It was just the title that put me off. A heist movie called “Dead Presidents.” Shit, hadn’t I seen that already. No, they were the Ex Presidents in “Point Break. It didn’t matter. Different shit, same stink. You know what I’m saying?
I liked “Point Break” in spite of how dumb it is. The last thing I needed was a stupid clone movie, full stop. Life is too fucking short to relive old glories. And with that simple assumption, the film’s fate was sealed. Never would it darken by DVD player.
Years later, when director/producers Albert and Allen Hughes made “From Hell”, I was forced to say that these guys were good. I felt a tinge. I should really check out the back catalogue. But you know how these things go. Obscure films on DVD? You know how your local Blockbuster feels about them. They have three hundred copies of everything Adam Sandler has been in but everything else gets lost somewhere.
My friend over in Rozelle told me about a documentary the Brothers Hughes has done on real life pimps. She raved about it but couldn’t actually produce a copy for sale or rent. This guy in Marrickville sang its virtues too. He went so far as to tell me that if he had a copy, he’d rent it out to me for free. It was a shame the shop’s copy had vanished somewhere.
Sometimes I can be - not so much a lazy bastard but – one who can be easily distracted. Just as there are plenty more fish in the sea, there are plenty more films on the market. Once upon a time, any self respecting film fan could pretty much see every film of note ever made. These days, such a task would be impossible. There have been more films made than could fill several human lifetimes. You can’t see them all.
A long story cut short, I fall upon a scratched up copy of “Dead Presidents” in an ex-rental bin. Video Ezy are asking $6.95 and I decide to give it a go. The guy at the counter told me “good choice.” As soon as I clicked play, I wondered how I could ever have been so stupid as to avoid this film.
This is a film that grabs you by the lapels, tosses you against a wall and screams “pay attention”. My assumptions concerning the cloning of “Point Break” were unfounded. This film was the antithesis of “Point Break”. There was no glamour to be had in the crime. This is a blaxploitation film without the exploitation. It is the kind of film that Spike Lee probably thinks he is making and is only now maturing towards.
Its great strength lies in the believability of its characters. Their flaws are not plucked from a hat to serve the needs of the plot. When a character fucks up, it doesn’t mean he or she is defined by that mistake. He or she may make the same error again or perhaps they won’t. The plot moves forward not through carefully laid design but through the inevitably that arises from a whittling away of options.
Central character Anthony doesn’t want to follow his brother into university, he wants to do something different. He grabs any opportunity he can to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. He flirts with petty crime before signing on to go to Vietnam. Whilst those around him crack, Anthony shows no sign of pressure. It is easier to take a second tour than to return home and meet his daughter. He doesn’t even write to the child’s mother.
When he returns home, he simmers and drinks. He can’t accept that the mother of his child might have seen someone else in his absence. This man in question is a petty gangster who effortlessly proves he is more of a man than our war hero protagonist. Anthony takes it out on the woman before running out to drink more.
Jobless and flirting with a career in alcoholism, Anthony lays out the plans for an armoured car heist. His team is awash with bad choices. Part of you wants him to get away with it. You want him to escape this misery he is in. Most of you doubts he could possibly succeed.
“Dead Presidents” is a film with the words “all time classic” stamped all over the cover. Don’t be the kind of dickhead I was. See this film.
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Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Great review of a kick ass film. A review for this one will turn up on my blog as well.
Saw it at the cinemas about 4 times and goes into my home cinema rotation at least 3 times a year.
The music, the epic three act narrative, the performances, the sheer flair and bravery with both camera work and editing. The word tour de force is thrown around to loosely this days, but this film is worthy of the title.
Enough gushing. Yes I love this, and everyone should face the challenge and see it now.
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
I also highly recommend the Hughes brothers debut feature Menace II Society.
Dead Presidents is their masterpiece thus far, but Menace is also certainly worth a look.
The doco the Hughes brothers did called American Pimp is also a gem for those who like that sort of stuff. It had me in stitches.
I think its only available on VHS in Oz.
Comment by Bob Short