Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Gary Fleder

Writer (WGA):

Scott Rosenberg (written by)

Release Date:

1 December 1995 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

They can die quickly. They can die slowly. But they must die!

Plot:

Five different criminals face imminent death after botching a job quite badly.

Plot Keywords:

Death | City Name In Title | Corpse | Tattoo | Sex In Car

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Andy Garcia	...	Jimmy 'The Saint' Tosnia
Christopher Lloyd	...	Pieces
William Forsythe	...	Franchise
Bill Nunn	...	Easy Wind
Treat Williams	...	Critical Bill
Jack Warden	...	Joe Heff
Steve Buscemi	...	Mister Shhh
Fairuza Balk	...	Lucinda
Gabrielle Anwar	...	Dagney
Christopher Walken	...	The Man with the Plan
Michael Nicolosi	...	Bernard
Bill Cobbs	...	Malt
Marshall Bell	...	Lt. Atwater
Glenn Plummer	...	Baby Sinister
Don Stark	...	Gus

MPAA:

Rated R for strong graphic violence and language, and for brief images of a sex film.

Runtime:

115 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:16 | New Zealand:R16 | South Korea:18 | Philippines:R-18 | Portugal:M/16 | Australia:MA | Germany:16 | Norway:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | USA:R | France:-16 | UK:18 | Argentina:16

Filming Locations:

Denver, Colorado, USA

Company:

Miramax Films

Trivia:

According to Jenny McCarthy during an interview on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" (1993), Christopher Walken "smelled like formaldehyde" and nibbled from an apple that had turned brown which he kept in his pocket.

Goofs:

Continuity: During the movie, they refer to the hit man killer as "Mr. Shush" (it even says as much in closed captions) - yet in the credits and chapter section, he is called "Mr. Shhh".

Quotes:

Easy Wind: Franchise, my brother from another mother!

Movie Connections:

References D.O.A. (1950)

Soundtrack:

You Always Hurt The One You Love

subtle and brilliant writing

It would be hard to dislike a film that opens with a Tom Waits tune and gives hitherto typecast actors a chance to, oh, I don't know: Act. First, Andy Garcia. What can I say about Andy? He's an attractive guy who all too often gets slated to play "the attractive guy." (His shamefully undeveloped character from Ocean's Eleven comes to mind). In this little indy film he gets a chance to actually embody a character and not simply be Andy Garcia (with capital letters). Then there's his love interest, Gabrielle Anwar (who elevated the already immortal tango in Scent of a Woman). Poor Anwar has been plagued with a lot of stock roles in lame movies since then, but here, like Garcia, she gets to explore her role and show the audience she can do more than make "hey I'm famous. Where's my check?" Al Pacino look good on the dance floor. Also fantastic are Treat Williams, Steve Buscemi, and Christopher Walken (who bests his Annie Hall AND Pulp Fiction cameos). The story is simple: Andy's character is an ex-mob guy who's gone legit then pulled back in for one last job, things go wrong, and he's got 2 days before he's going to be killed. In many hands this would be a B movie, but the writing is so clever and unique that this excessively played mob-movie thing seems like it's done for the first time. There are as many quotable lines in this film as any cult classic; my favorites include: "I knew the kid was lunchy, but not that lunchy." and meeting Anwar's character for the first time: "What's your name?" "Dagney." "Dagney? Wonderful name. Everyone should know a Dagney."

If you like films like Usual Suspects that combine the action genre with actual thought and character development rent this film and see if you can watch it only once. In the same ballpark try Way Of The Gun with Benicio Del Toro and Ryan Phillippe, another film where "pretty boys" are actually allowed to explore their craft of acting.