Columbus Day (2008)

A thief tries to fix the damage done during the biggest heist of his career.

Director:

Charles Burmeister

Writer:

Charles Burmeister

Stars:

Val Kilmer, Bobb'e J. Thompson, Richard Edson

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Val Kilmer	...	John Cologne
Bobb'e J. Thompson	...	Antoine
Richard Edson	...	Manny
Marg Helgenberger	...	Alice
Ivana Milicevic	...	Cheryl
Lobo Sebastian	...	Jimmy Espinosa
Michael Muhney	...	Detective Daniels
Sean Blakemore	...	Officer Walters
Wilmer Valderrama	...	Max
Ashley Johnson	...	Alana
Mark Kelly	...	Leonard
Miles Platt	...	Edward
Jack McGee	...	Paul
Courtney Thomas	...	Woman
Shelley Malil	...	Babul

Storyline

A thief tries to fix the damage done during the biggest heist of his career.

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Plot Keywords:

thief | father daughter relationship | shotgun | hit with a baseball bat | suffocation | 

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Taglines:

A game of life & death.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some violence and language

Details

Official Sites:

Omega Entertainment Group [us]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 June 2010 (Spain)

Also Known As:

Az utolsó meló

Filming Locations:

Echo Park, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$7,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bert Marcus Productions, Columbus Day the Movie LLC, Trigger Street Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Although the film was conceived of as an indie drama, when producer Elie Samaha took control of the film, he attempted to change the film to fit the action genre. Samaha recut the film against the wishes of the director and cast. This included shooting new action scenes. Since Val Kilmer refused to shoot these new scenes, Samaha used a stunt double to play the part of Kilmer. There are now two versions of the film: The director's cut (a quiet, character-based drama intended for film festivals like Sundance), and Samaha's action-based cut, intended for a video release in Eastern Europe.

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Goofs

Most readily apparent during close ups of Johnny inserting coins into the pay phone, beginning with the phone call that Johnny makes to Manny to warn him, and subsequent call, the type of pay phone Johnny is using, changes repeatedly from one that has the coin slot towards the left side and the coin return lever to the right side, to the type that has the coin slot to the extreme right and the return lever towards the center and back again.

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Quotes

John Cologne: After I'm done talking to you, I feel good.

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Connections

References Wheel of Fortune (1983)

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Soundtracks

"They Took The Fall"
Music by Michael A. Levine
Lyrics by Carolee Mann
Performed by Carolee Mann

User Reviews

What happens when a jerk runs the show

OK, I am not personally sure that Val Kilmer is a jerk, but John Frankenheimer, who directed him in The Island of Dr. Moreau, said about him: "...I will never work with Val Kilmer again. There isn't enough money in the world." He also said: "Will Rogers never met Val Kilmer." No doubt this refers to Rogers saying he never met a man he didn't like. A giant studio and a good director can minimize the effect of a prima donna narcissist on the movie itself. But when Val runs the show you get a mess like this. Don't think this was some artistic genius film ruined by the distributors. Val did with this what he probably tried to do with Island... make the entire movie all about Val with Val in every scene. Like a giant TJ Hooker episode, where Shatner could dictate that he appear in 90% of the scenes. Great narcissists make crappy movies. That's why the studio tried to add action scenes as the last resort, to save this mess. You can see the original movie in there-- and it sucks even worse than the action re-cut. So don't expect another Tombstone, this is either going to be boring drama drivel or incoherent action drivel, depending on which cut you see. Like all truly dreadful movies, it is fractal. The badness scales from the grandest story arc to the tiniest detail and everything in between. Everybody was phoning in their performance, no pun intended to the story line. You can almost hear them grinding their teeth waiting to get this turkey over with, and that is everyone from the director to the sound-man to the janitor to the intern getting the donuts.