Newly re-mastered in HD! Set in Key West, Florida, Peter Fonda (Killer Force, Ulee s Gold) plays Tom Skelton, a bum who gets a job as a fishing guide in his old hometown. Nobody wants to have anything to do with Skelton, least of all rival guides Nichol Dance and Carter (Warren Oates, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia and Harry Dean Stanton, Alien). Faced with financial disaster and widespread hostility, he turns to his wealthy grandfather Goldsboro (Burgess Meredith, Rocky) for help. Taking time off from his lovemaking sessions with sexy secretary Bella (Sylvia Miles, Midnight Cowboy), his grandfather pumps some money into Tom's operation, and our hero makes his peace with Carter. A climactic fight with Nichol puts an end to that problem, while Tom's romantic relationship with Miranda (Margot Kidder, Superman) helps him sort out his priorities. Director/writer Thomas McGuane (Tom Horn) adapted the script from his own novel. The stellar cast also includes Elizabeth Ashley (Coma), William Hickey (Prizzi s Honor) and Joe Spinell (Maniac).
L**E
I lived and fished in Key West during that era. Knew Thomas McGuane's mother.
With a strong connection to the content of the movie I am sorry to say that it was not my cup of tea. I lived and fished Key West 3 days a week for 4 years. I bought fuel, ice and bait at the Cow Key Marina where it was set, using Cow Key channel to get to and from the deep water canal I lived on. I was a close friend of several of the light tackle guides there in the 70's. I knew Thomas McGuane's mother and she was justifiably proud of her son. The fishing scenes were lame (we weren't even told that the fish that Fonda's character chased into the mangroves was a permit). Not the best acting, not the best cinematography. Could have used many more lower Keys scenes. Confusing story line and unrealistic circumstances. I really wanted to love this movie, just could not do it.
Z**N
Dvd was in excellent condition. Played great.
Entertaining movie.
J**N
Oates and Fonda
Terrible image quality, never released on DVD so I guess you can't blame Amazon, I am glad that they are making out of print titles available. The film is a mess for the most part, with a very excellent cast who seemed to be improvising , and not very well. One thing that stuck out to me was how sexy Margot Kidder was here. I didn't usually find her all that attractive but here she is amazing. The mAin attraction is to see Oates and Fonda together because they were such good friends.
T**E
It gets very, very hot in Key West
Though Peter Fonda is never a draw into a film for me (I'm more of a Henry man, myself), this of course has Warren Oates in it; one of the crown jewels of 70's-era American Cinema. And what? Harry Dean Stanton also? That's right and wait until you see the electricity between him and Elizabeth Ashley. Almost made me forget Margot Kidder was in the film.Special mention must be made of Burgess Meredith in the best role I can remember seeing him in since "Day of the Locust", here playing Fonda's Grandpappy with a penchant for Sylvia Miles. That's right! I said Sylvia Miles! The next thing I'll be telling me is that Joe Spinell is in this already talent-packed movie. He is? He is! There, I told me so.We can thank Scorpion Releasing for remastering this latest (2015 edition of the 1975 movie) DVD, and my hat goes off to Amazon for providing access to these less-than-mainstream film classics to be made available to the general public.
R**S
Bizarre Edits
This is NOT a great film. However, it has it's moments and you can take it or leave it like a lot of art. However, I'd like the art to be left alone in its original form, instead of re-edited, as was done here. The sound quality, as another reviewer commented, is very poor, but the worse sin is that this cuts scenes and uses an alternative ending.Cut scenes include lechy Burgess Meredith groping his assistant in a line lifted directly from the novel: "The french have a word for it, but I call it pussy". Also uses an ending different from the one I saw originally. Who chooses to make these edits?This definitively answers the question of why we'd like to own our media instead of having it be in the cloud -- because we want the movie to stay the same as time passes, not change subject to the whim of the director or producer or whoever decides to re-edit a film for the cloud release.
B**2
It's so bad that it's almost worth watching
It's not the worst movie I've ever seen but it's probably the stupidest. Maybe the poor acting can be excused because they are working with such a lame story and script. Although Burgess Meredith is entertaining, the movie fails to be funny, if that is what it's trying to do. It has scenes unconnected to the plot such as one in a jail and another in what seems to be a blimp warehouse. So after all this it's no surprise that the ending is laughably bad. They literally just quit.
R**N
A Faithful Movie Adaption.
...Of McGuane's novels, "92 in the Shade" is perhaps my favorite. His movie adaption of this work is true to the quirky characters developed in his novel, and recreates the unique ambiance of the Florida Keys/Key West experience, and the sense of his character's fated participation in a script set in a cosmic "play" of Life that was also such a pleasurable part of the book.Cast selections were fitting...and this was one movie experience that left me with the same feeling as the prose, although the paths taken in the telling were quite different. I feel that McGuane's direction was essential to this success and the capturing of the subtle nuances of this story on film.An interesting independant film. McGuane's fans should find it true to the tale...
J**T
Four Stars
Liked the movie, except for the ending which kind of left me hanging.
W**L
Five Stars
Quick and without any complication!Itam as discribed100% satisfied
