cult film freak: THE BIG BOUNCE

Written by James M. Tate / 2/27/2011 / No comments / drifter , elmore leonard , leigh taylor-young , robert ryan , robert webber , sixties , van heflin

THE BIG BOUNCE

2/27/2011 | No comment

year: 1969 cast: Ryan O'Neal, Leigh Taylor-Young, Van Heflin rating: ***

Elmore Leonard said no film "got it right" until GET SHORTY and JACKIE BROWN, and that's after many of his books and stories were translated to the screen.

There are good and bad during that time, and this lies somewhere in-between. Ryan O'Neal is an unassuming drifter in a small Florida town. He's told to leave after bashing a local with a baseball bat, but stays for a job working a beach side motel, where he "befriends" Lee Grant and gorgeous gold digger Leigh Taylor-Young: who's nothing but trouble in a Film Noir kinda way.

The acting and story are fine (especially Taylor-Young), but the music... sounding like a kid's TV show with lyrics narrating the film and characters... is the real problem, turning what could have been an intriguing melodrama into a bland, forgettable one.

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Tags : drifter , elmore leonard , leigh taylor-young , robert ryan , robert webber , sixties , van heflin

James M. Tate

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