Fifty/Fifty (1992)

User Rating:

5.0/10   

Director:

Charles Martin Smith

Writers (WGA):

Dennis Shryack (written by) &
Michael Butler (written by)

Release Date:

26 February 1993 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Comedy

Plot:

Two bickering mercenaries are hired by the CIA to overthrow a South East Asian dictator. |

Plot Keywords:

Mercenary | Jungle | Coin Toss | Village | Buddy Comedy

Cast

Peter Weller	...	Jake Wyer
Robert Hays	...	Sam French
Charles Martin Smith	...	Martin Sprue
Ramona Rahman	...	Suleta
Kay Tong Lim	...	Akhantar
Dom Magwili	...	General Bosavi
Azmil Mustapha	...	Colonel Kota
Dharma Harun Al-Rashid	...	Sentul
Os	...	Jamik
Rohmat Juraimi	...	Muscular Rebel
Ursula Martin	...	Liz Powell
Sharudeen Tamby	...	Colonel Seng
M. Rasuli	...	Subaltern
Kenji Sevai	...	Helmsman
Ismail Bin Raimli	...	Elephant Man

Also Known As:

50-50

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Germany:16 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Penang, Malaysia

Company:

Cannon Group

Trivia:

At one point, Sylvester Stallone and Eddie Murphy were attached to star in this project together.

Quotes:

Jake Wyer: I got a plan. Full frontal assault.
Sam French: A full-frontal assault. That's your plan?
Jake Wyer: It's got the element of surprise.
Sam French: Suicide is always surprising.

A surprisingly good film... the first time you watch it.

I really liked this movie the first time I saw it, I found it to be funny, intelligent and highly ironic. However, for some reason I have never really enjoyed it since then and I don't know why.

Charles Martin Smith put together a list of cliches and in-jokes relating to action films and strung them together in a somewhat plausible plot. 50/50 is so subtle that it is often difficult to tell if it is an action/comedy or a parody of an action/comedy... I think that this is one of the movie's primary strengths, but also its weakness.

Again, the first time I watched this I thought it was a brilliant satire, but since then I have become less sure about its satirical side (it is clearly a parody, but I am just not sure if it is as brilliant as I first thought). I have met other people who have had a similar reaction to viewing 50/50, people who really liked it on an initial viewing but were not as impressed the second and third time around. I am really not sure what causes this phenomenon, but I advise anyone familiar with the action films of the 70s and 80s to see 50/50 at least once and enjoy it for the fun that it is.

Also, Peter Weller is fantastic anyway and he and Robert Hayes have surprisingly good chemistry on screen.