Against All Odds (1984)

A gangster hires an ex-football player to find his girlfriend. When he finds her, they fall in love, and the twists start to appear.

Director:

Taylor Hackford

Writers:

Eric Hughes (screenplay by), Daniel Mainwaring

Stars:

Rachel Ward, Jeff Bridges, James Woods

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 2 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Rachel Ward	...	Jessie Wyler
Jeff Bridges	...	Terry Brogan
James Woods	...	Jake Wise
Alex Karras	...	Hank Sully
Jane Greer	...	Mrs. Wyler
Richard Widmark	...	Ben Caxton
Dorian Harewood	...	Tommy
Swoosie Kurtz	...	Edie
Saul Rubinek	...	Steve Kirsch
Pat Corley	...	Ed Phillips
Bill McKinney	...	Head Coach
Allen Williams	...	Bob Soames
Sam Scarber	...	Assistant Coach
Jon St. Elwood	...	Ahmad Cooper
Tamara Stafford	...	Kirsch's Girlfriend

Storyline

Reluctantly, the penniless, injured, and down-on-his-luck former football player, Terry Brogan, accepts to track down Jessie Wyler: the ex-girlfriend of the old friend and shady nightclub owner, Jake Wise. Now, on the sun-kissed beaches of picturesque Cozumel, Terry not only finds the elusive woman but also, unexpectedly, falls head-over-heels for Jessie, against the backdrop of suspicion and betrayal. More and more, Terry finds himself trapped in an intricate web of passion, intrigue, and murder, as Jessie starts to feel the burden of choice in this dangerous love triangle. Can there be a future?

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Plot Keywords:

nightclub | mexico | gangster | sex scene | los angeles california | 

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Taglines:

From the director of "An Officer and A Gentleman" comes a different kind of film.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Crime | Drama | Romance | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Official Sites:

Sony Movie Channel [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 March 1984 (USA)

Also Known As:

Out of the Past

Filming Locations:

Riviera Country Club - 1250 Capri Drive, Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$13,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$3,766,128, 4 March 1984

Gross USA:

$21,689,062

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$21,689,062

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, New Visions, Columbia-Delphi Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

128 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Phil Collins was contacted by director Taylor Hackford to record a song for the movie. Collins had written "Against All Odds" (originally entitled "How Can You Just Sit There?") for his first solo album, "Face Value" (released in 1981), and it was one of many songs on the album which were about his first wife, who had left him. Collins had left the song off the album because he felt he had enough ballads on "Face Value" already and he hadn't included it on his second solo album, "Hello, I Must Be Going", either. After Taylor Hackford's request for a song, he decided to return to it and recorded it in two days, one day in New York, the other in Los Angeles, aided by legendary record producer Arif Mardin.

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Goofs

The blood disappears from Terry's hand as he runs out of the building after tending to Hank.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Terry Brogan: Señor! Have you, uh, seen this woman?
Taxi driver: Oh - no, sir.
Terry Brogan: Gracias.

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Alternate Versions

CBS edited 9 minutes from this film for its 1986 network television premiere.

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Connections

Referenced in Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film (2006)

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Soundtracks

MY MALE CURIOSITY
Written by Kid Creole
Performed by Kid Creole and The Coconuts (as Kid Creole & The Coconuts)
Courtesy of Sire Records/Island Records/Champion Entertainment

User Reviews

This film does not work. Why not? Now there's a question...

This is the sort of film that you leave, recognizing that the film as a whole never "came together", but trying to figure out just WHERE it went wrong. The script was (or at least should have been) intelligent, the actors were competent... so what went wrong?

The best answer I could come up with (and heaven knows I'm no big shot Hollywood critic) was the way James Woods portrayed the character of Jake. This guy should have come off as a bigger-than-life, high-level Mafioso type; I got the impression of a cheap hood who tried to make himself look big as the front man for the real boss. When Jake orders the ex-football player to do a routine murder and the jock goes along with it, it doesn't underscore what a big man Jake is; it cheapens the lead character to think that he'd take orders to commit murder from the weaselly underling.

It didn't help this movie in the long run - okay, maybe its box office - that the continuous play of Phil Collins' "Against All Odds" on radio and MTV effectively made this movie a must-see... and regardless of how good the tune was and what it was nominated for, the lyrics had NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with what happened in the course of the movie.