8 Million Ways to Die (1986)

A former police detective, still recovering from his alcohol addiction, is seemingly drawn into L.A's criminal underworld after stumbling upon a local drug ring.

Director:

Hal Ashby

Writers:

Lawrence Block (based upon the book by), Oliver Stone (screenplay by)

Stars:

Jeff Bridges, Rosanna Arquette, Alexandra Paul

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jeff Bridges	...	Scudder
Rosanna Arquette	...	Sarah
Alexandra Paul	...	Sunny
Randy Brooks	...	Chance
Andy Garcia	...	Angel Maldonado
Lisa Sloan	...	Linda Scudder
Christa Denton	...	Laurie Scudder
Vance Valencia	...	Quintero
Wilfredo Hernández	...	Hector Lopez (as Wilfredo Hernandez)
Luisa Leschin	...	Hector's Wife
Vyto Ruginis	...	Durkin
Henry O. Arnold	...	Homicide Detective (as Chip Arnold)
James Avery	...	Deputy D.A.
Jack Younger	...	Drunk
Zoaunne LeRoy	...	Nurse

Storyline

Scudder is a detective with the Sheriff's Department who is forced to shoot a violent suspect during a narcotics raid. The ensuing psychological aftermath of this shooting worsens his drinking problem and this alcoholism causes him to lose his job, as well as his marriage. During his recovery through Alcoholics Anonymous, he meets a mysterious stranger who draws him back into a world of vice. In trying to help this beautiful woman, he must enter a crime-world of prostitution and drugs to solve a murder, while resisting the temptation to return to his alcohol abuse.

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Plot Keywords:

alcoholics anonymous | alcoholic | snow cone | party | shouting | 

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Taglines:

Death comes to all except those who deserve it most

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

As Oliver Stone was busy in Mexico shooting Salvador (1986) and thus unable to rework his screenplay before production began, Hal Ashby started to write his own script for 8 Million Ways to Die (1986). Ashby worked from both Stone's script and the original novel by Lawrence Block as well as his own research. The fifty pages that Ashby wrote had neither the fiercely evocative color of Stone's screenplay nor particularly exciting dialogue, yet they were the starting point for a much more complex and psychologically interesting film and were consciously designed as a blueprint that the actors and possibly other writers could move forward with later. Ashby gave the fifty pages he wrote to producer Stephen J. Roth (who said he liked them) but abruptly stopped work on his screenplay when he discovered that, without his knowledge, PSO had hired R. Lance Hill to rewrite Stone's script. Ashby, who had confidence in his own screenplay, felt hurt and told Roth, "I don't think I have ever had that one happen to me before." He was further upset on learning that Hill was to report to Mark Damon, cutting Ashby out of the rewriting process completely.

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Goofs

Boom mic reflected in car window (at around 1h 12 mins).

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Quotes

Joe Durkin: The murder rate used to be a thousand a year. Three a day, and that was high. Now it's five. Higher in the summer. Fourteen two Fridays ago. We get the death penalty six, seven times a day, only it's not for murderers, it's for ordinary citizens.
Matthew 'Matt' Scudder: Yeah, there are 8 million stories in the naked city. Remember that old TV show? What we have in this town is eight million ways to die.

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Connections

Featured in A Life in Film (2007)

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Soundtracks

On The Edge of Love
Performed by Tollak
Written by Cynthia Weil and Scott Cutler
Engineered by David Kitay

User Reviews

Underrated Mid-80's detective film

This film is consistently rated at or below the median for it's genre and period. In my opinion, this is an unfair rating... the film is better than it has been portrayed.

Jeff Bridges plays Matt Scudder, a down on his luck detective who is suspended by the LAPD after a violent confrontation with a suspect.

Bridges life spirals down (in something of a preview of the character he would later play in perhaps his best film, 1991's The Fisher King) into chronic alcoholism. He receives an unexpected invitation to a party hosted by Angel Maldonado (Andy Garcia in an early role) and there the story proper begins.

Scudder is drawn into the dark side of LA's party scene by "Sunny", one of Maldonado's erstwhile hangers on. Through this connection, Scudder determines to bring down Maldonado's drug empire - and make off with Maldonado's favourite girl...

All standard hollywood stuff, but reasonably well done. The mid 80's seems to have been a fairly soft time for truly good films, but this one is worth watching. I give it 7/10 on the public scale...

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

25 April 1986 (USA)

Also Known As:

8 Million Ways to Die

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$18,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$609,955, 27 April 1986

Gross USA:

$1,305,114

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,305,114

Company Credits

Production Co:

Producers Sales Organization (PSO)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

115 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1