The Foot Shooting Party (1994)

Good concept, poorly executed.

Absolutely brilliant

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Interesting short film with an ensemble cast of five virtually unknown young men at the time. It's a time capsule, really. Four of them have gone on to careers as character actors, while the fifth, of course, has shot to super-stardom.The quality of the videos posted on YouTube and Vimeo are grainy and dark, and the wigs are...well, obvious. Gregg and Heames appeared to have been lucky enough to wear their own hair, but the other three had to make do with the hair hats they were given. It's funny, but it doesn't lessen the punch of their performances.With the exception of Busey (who doesn't open his mouth once), the dialogue among DiCaprio, Gregg, Heames and Rapaport is natural and quite moving in places. They really pull you into the room with them, a silent witness to the moral/ethical dilemma they're hashing out, with very real and devastating consequences no matter what the final decision is on the fate of the foot. DiCaprio and Heames were the two that stood out as exceptional, here, for me, fighting like brothers not because they're angry but because the stakes are so high.Glad this finally surfaced some 20+ years later. It's worth a look, check it out.

"The Foot Shooting Party" is a 27-minute short film from over 20 years ago and the only reason this is somewhat still known today is not the inclusion of Gary Busey's son, but Leonardo DiCaprio. Still, in this little film here, which came out a couple years before "Titanic", and roughly when he had his breakthrough in Hollywood, he is not too great yet. Then again, nothing about this film is and that includes the script as well. Can't really blame DiCaprio for not (yet) being able to turn water into wine here. It's a bit of a shame as the topic is pretty interesting and could have made for a nice piece. It's about a young man who is drafted and told to go to Vietnam. His plan is to shoot himself in the foot, so he won't have to and we watch him struggle with the decision and also his friends. All in all, only a must-see for the biggest DiCaprio fans. Everybody else is not missing much.

As the director of this film my opinion is of course, biased but I must say, "The Foot Shooting Party" is a relevant film for our times. Its message is delivered beautifully by all of the cast most particularly Leonardo DiCaprio and Michael Rapaport. Five young men in a rock 'n roll band on the verge of success, get together to shoot lead singer/songwriter Bud (DiCaprio) in the foot so he won't have to go off to war. Gathered around a bottle of Tequilla, a pistol, and a target painted on Bud's foot--with red fingernail polish, so he won't blow his foot off--the evening degenerates into a passionate debate over what is right, what our obligations are to self and country, and whether anything any one person does can make a difference. The suspense--will he shoot himself in the foot or not, and the poignancy of this baby faced boy (DiCaprio turned 19 on the set) confronting such a serious decision is visceral.