When I first saw this film back in the day, I was very surprised to see a clever, critical and well-thought crime film. It has stuck with me for years, but you know what happened when I just saw the film again for the first time in 20 years?It wasn't that bad, really. Especially given that I found the VHS cassette in a trash bin, and the explosive first scene - the big caper with Nixon masks on the robbers - was left out from the TV-taped film. The film was still entertaining and interesting enough to warrant the revisit, but the film suffered from being too much from the eighties, you know, full of testosterone, but still with somewhat stilted narration. There are holes in Larry Cohen's script and the whole concept of the film seemed a bit implausible, but the character of James Woods is left vague enough to stir up interest. Brian Dennehy is his usual affable good, but I'm not sure if he's convincing as a cop author.
But still, criminally overlooked if you look at the eighties' cop films in general. Best Seller doesn't ask easy questions nor does it give easy answers. It's just that you don't really know what the question is.
Hey, Vince Keenan reviewed the movie here!
More Overlooked Films here.
I remember liking this one a lot at the time but it's been a long while since I saw, thanks for for the nudge! I love Larry Cohen's high concept scripts though they are rarely as good when he gets bounced from them and others direct them (as happened here and with I, THE JURY too - and what the hell Sidney Lumet thought he was doing when he agreed to shoot GUILTY AS SIN I have no idea).
ReplyDeleteI think I must've seen GUILTY AS SIN when it came out, but I have absolutely no recollection of it.
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