Top of the World (1997/I)

Director:

Sidney J. Furie

Writer (WGA):

Bart Madison (written by)

Release Date:

16 July 1998 (Singapore)

Genre:

Action | Thriller

Tagline:

Surviving Is Against All Odds

Plot:

In Las Vegas for a quicky divorce, a just-paroled ex-cop and his wife wander into the Top of the World Casino...

Plot Keywords:

Casino | Police | Robbery | Beautiful Woman | Slot Machine

Cast

Peter Weller	...	Ray Mercer
Dennis Hopper	...	Charles Atlas
Tia Carrere	...	Rebecca Mercer
David Alan Grier	...	Detective Augustus
Joe Pantoliano	...	Vince Castor
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa	...	Captain Hefter
Peter Coyote	...	Doc 'The Butcher'
Julie McCullough	...	Ginger
Martin Kove	...	Carl
Kevin Bernhardt	...	Dean
Eddie Mekka	...	Joe Burns
Derek Annunciation	...	Fredo
Dell Yount	...	Mac
Alexander Mervin	...	Benny
Michael Delano	...	Lieutenant De Rosa

Also Known As:

Cold Cash
Showdown

MPAA:

Rated R for violence and language.

Runtime:

100 min | Germany:93 min (cut version) | Argentina:95 min | USA:99 min | Spain:94 min (DVD edition)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Canada:R (Nova Scotia) | Iceland:12 | Spain:13 | South Korea:15 | Australia:MA | Germany:18 | Norway:15 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | Sweden:15 (direct to video) | UK:18 (video premiere) | USA:R | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Hoover Dam, Arizona-Nevada Border, USA

Company:

Millennium Films

Quotes:

[In the casino near the slot machine]
Ginger: What are you starin' at?
Ray Mercer: Honey, where I'd just been you get a lot of trouble for staring. What's your name?
Ginger: Ginger.
Ray Mercer: Ginger, do me a favour, will you? I'm not allowed to gamble. So all you have to do is just walk up, put the two Twenties in the machine and pull that lever. Whatever we win we'll make fifty fifty. What do you say?
Ginger: Oh, no!
Ray Mercer: Come on. You're my lucky star!

Movie Connections:

Edited into Disaster (2001)

Soundtrack:

ON TOP OF THE WORLD

Goofy Fun

Yes, it looks like a big bloated bomb. The production values aren't exactly top-notch. The camera angles are often far off, the acting can be very misguided (maldirected), some areas of bad sound, and David Alan Grier is in it. All are signs of a bomb to watch out for.

But surprisingly, this is one to watch. It has a unique story which is beefed up with actually funny jokes and genuinely offbeat characters. The action scenes are very well done, too. It has many old-school action sequences with no CGI's and great stunts. Its got nicely done shootouts and an excellent car chase, but somehow it doesn't feel structured around and for the action. It keeps its focus on the story, which I'll get to...now.

A uniquely fun Peter Weller plays an ex-cop, ex-con who gets out of jail on parole. The first thing on his agenda is to knock off his ex-wife's new husband (Dennis Hopper in one of his most generic performances to date) by swindling a way to win the jackpot at his casino. Or is his (HOT) wife Tia Carerra (at her most hot) in on it too? This one is, out of a lot of reasons, unnoticed because a bigger-budget but sub-par movie called "Ocean's Eleven" happened to be released four years later. "Top of the World" is much better, because the action is better and it doesn't need cutesy and lame humor to seek a wide audience's approval. Plus, I'd pick Peter Weller over George Clooney any day of the week...not to mention Julia Roberts isn't even 1/1,000,000 of Tia Carerra.