Don't Look Back (1996)

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

The acting in this movie is really good.

I was curious to see this one again, both because I hadn't seen it in a long time (and subsequently didn't remember much of it) and I had seen 'One False Move' recently, a somewhat offbeat thriller, which was written by Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Epperson as well (although here, there were more writers involved). And, to begin with: the writing here is again quite well done, except for the end of it, where I didn't much care for the choice to let Morgan have his 'day at the beach' - including a poor death scene and, at the very end, Jesse and Steve are seemingly not feeling more than a just little awkward about all that had gone down...Again, like in 'One False Move', there is some pretty hard violence in it, in which Amanda Plummer 'steals the show' as a victim when her Bridget meets her untimely end. Then, there's a (short) scene that reminded me strongly of 'Pulp Fiction', but then again, maybe 'Psycho' was the first to use the idea of the coincidental meeting at a crosswalk...? The point made elsewhere in a review that the viewer would feel burdened to sympathize with lead character Jesse, as he is selfish, reckless and at the root responsible for all the ensuing misery, is a fair one and well taken into account by yours truly. But also note the great writing (ideas / dialogues) in parts such as the 'public toilet drug bust'-, 'the out in the woods rehab'- or the 'is he talking about her or her boat'-scenes. Well, great, they're sort of devious and original - offbeat for short, I suppose.The acting is overall pretty good, though I found some bits by Corbett not up to par, e.g. in the aforementioned doozie of a death scene.7 out of 10.

Billy Bob Thornton comes across well as a calculating drug dealer who wants his money back. Retreiving it from the loser "druggie" (Eric Stoltz) who stole it leads to Galveston, where Stoltz is hiding out. The movie is engaging, with a logical plot, and decent character development. Screen time is divided about equal between Thornton's pursuit and Stoltz's reuniting with his old Texas cronies. "Don't Look Back" has one very important flaw, and unfortunately it is a desperately weak ending. The "Rambo-like" conclusion seems forced, and totally out of place with what has preceded it. Nevertheless, there is enough good solid plotting, and quirky characters to keep it afloat. - MERK

Predictable Unmotivated Pointless Caricatures Contrived Actors did what they could Actors clearly indicated they were embarrassed to do this Not one emotional connection REAL SEQUENCE FROM FILM "Who you callin?" (sic) "The police"(sic) "You can't do that, Stevie. Hang up the phone"(sic) "Jesse got a sh-t load o' drug money, you can't go involving the cops"(sic) "I'm not so sure stealing money from criminals is a crime. Even if they arrest him at least he'll be alive"(sic) "Listen to me, Stevie, this ain't handled right, Jesse's gonna end up dead. Now hang up that f-in phone." (sic) Best Friend starts to load up guns Brother, "Hey, what're you doin'?" No answer. "Hey, I got a family to worry about." (Keep in mind his child is sitting right there watching-ish all of this) Then more and more and more expositionNotice how in the above sequence, at no time do the police on the other line say, "Hello? Hello? Uh, we can hear everything you're saying. We're sending someone over there right now." Embarrassment for all. Oops.

{SPOILER ALERT} This HBO movie came out about five years ago. It's too bad because it probably would have done pretty well in theaters considering the cast. There are a lot of recognizable faces here, but hang on, let me go through the plot real fast.Jesse, is a struggling musician who moved to Los Angeles from his hometown of Galveston, Texas. Sometime during the seven years he was there, he became a heroin addict. One night he comes up dry and while looking for a quick fix, he stumbles onto two men (one being Dwight Yoakem) arguing over a botched drug deal. He steals a briefcase containing $300,000 and decides that he's going back to Galveston to straighten his life out.When word works it's way back to Marshall (Billy Bob Thornton in a real Badass role) that a good chunk of his money has been ripped off, he and his cronies start a trek through L.A. looking for Jesse. It's clear that Jesse really doesn't have a clue just how over his head he is. These are some hard-asses who could care less about life. All they want is what's theirs. They're looking everywhere for Jesse, visiting his hangouts, and even killing off some of his friends.Meanwhile, Jesse's in Galveston. He's staying with his two best friends who are doing their best to ween him off the heroin. When they question his money, he says that it all came from a lucky night in Vegas.It's pretty obvious from the get-go what's going to happen and how things are going to turn out. We know that the baddies will eventually find their way to Galveston to kick Jesse's ass, and this would be fine. Jesse is a wholly unsympathetic (but somehow likeable) character. All of the real suspense comes from worrying about his totally innocent buddies who have made decent lives for themselves.Even though the ending is somewhat predictable, it does not hurt the rest of the film. There is a lot of fun along the way. I had a blast seeing Billy Bob in a part like this. It reminded me a lot of his character in "One False Move". He looked NOTHING like he does today and he was about forty or fifty pounds heavier then, I'd say.Dwight Yoakem is disposed of pretty early. It was funny seeing Billy Bob giving HIM a hard time after it being "vice versa" in Sling Blade.Eric Stoltz (Lance from "Pulp Fiction") does fine here. The man is a very talanted actor and the part of Jesse seems tailor made for him. He is very convincing as the failed musician who unintentionally brings trouble with him.