Customer Reviews

Diamond Men

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Diamond Men" is one of those low-budget charmers that inhabits its own little world, far away from Hollywood glitz, and does so very persuasively. Eddie, a diamond salesman with 30 years' experience, can no longer get insured for the road after a heart attack, so his only chance to stay in business is to train his young, hotdogging replacement, Bobby. The first half of the movie is about the clash between wise, low-key Eddie and brash, fun-loving Bobby, and the unlikely friendship that arises between them. The second half--most of which takes place, improbably, in a backwoods massage parlor--has more to do with the reawakening of love and hope. Unfortunately, it also leads to a twist ending that feels rather cheap after the sharp authenticity of what has come before. One could also complain about the low budget showing in the occasionally rough photography and editing. Nevertheless, "Diamond Men" is well worth seeing for its needle-sharp dialogue and memorable characters. The lead performers are superb. Robert Forster--an actor who projects both imperturbable cool and rock-solid decency--is the perfect Eddie, and Donnie Wahlberg--Mark's brother and a former New Kid on the Block--is the archetypal lovable scamp as Bobby.

I particularly liked this movie because it is a strong and interesting story about people I could know. Its not set in some fantasy world, but in small town America. It addresses real problems that we encounter;like losing your job and having to train your younger replacement, with empathy and wit and keen psychological insight. Its only weakness is that it is not slickly filmed, but the content and acting performances far outweight the cinematic special effects.
Its a film I have thought about a lot since I first viewed it last summer at a preview for a film class I attend. I have since voted it my personal favorite film for the year of all the films we viewed.

Love them or hate them, Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel, followed by Richard Roeper, exposed the American public to films that may never have been seen otherwise. Through their television show, they exposed films that were having difficulty getting distributed. Recently, Ebert and Roeper favorably reviewed a film called "Diamond Men", a small independent film starring Robert Forster and Donnie Wahlberg. The film has just been released in LA. The theater for the Sunday matinee screening I attended was about ¾ full, remarkable for a film that is independent and received almost no publicity.

Eddie Miller (Robert Forster) is a traveling salesman. He drives through the small towns of Pennsylvania, selling his companies line of diamond jewelry. And he does a remarkably good job at it. After one visit, he has a heart attack, putting him on the sidelines as he recovers. Returning to work, raring to go, he learns that he can longer sell on the road. No insurance company will cover him and when he is carrying over $1 million in samples in his trunk, that becomes a serious problem. The company offers him an alternative: Train the new guy who will take over your route. Then maybe they will find something for him to do. He reluctantly agrees and soon meets his new partner, Bobby Walker (Donnie Wahlberg). Bobby is young and brash and they initially don't get along very well.

"Diamond Men" is a very small, independent film. Robert Forster served as one of the Executive Producers and saw the film as a showcase for his acting ability. He was correct. Forster is the best thing about the film, an actor seemingly revered by other actors, his recent roles have been created to showcase his abilities. Forster has a natural, laid back quality in his characters that seems to be at odds with his age and physical size. It is this contradiction that makes these same characters so interesting. Also, Eddie is a man of a lot of experience and wisdom, a role that seems custom fit for Forster. Forster avoids showy theatrics and makes Eddie seem human. A serious man, when he finds out that he is about to lose his job, he takes the sensible approach, and accepts the temporary assignment his company offers. He goes about the business in a very workman-like way and soon finds himself reluctantly accepting the new guy under his wing. The relationship between the two men is the basis for the film and creates an engaging look at their lives.

Donnie Wahlberg is less successful, but also good. Bobby, younger, brasher, more excited, is completely the opposite of Eddie. Wahlberg doesn't have the range of Forster and this becomes evident when his character whines and pleads with Eddie, rather than talk. At times, this behavior seems a good match for the character, but at other times it seems very showy and theatrical and draws the viewer out of the film.

As the characters criss-cross the state of Pennsylvania, Eddie reluctantly becomes Bobby's friend and actually appears to like him. Naturally, the salesman come into contact with other people along the way. The film is always more successful when Eddie is interacting with people of his maturity. When Eddie eventually meets Katie (Bess Armstrong), the film seems to be moving along the right track. Armstrong's character is the emotional and mature equivalent of Eddie and they make an interesting and engaging couple. When they meet, the film seems to know where it should go and how it should get there. Earlier, when Eddie meets a young prostitute, the scene is funny but also seems more at home in a television sitcom.

"Diamond Men" is a very low budget film. It is the type of film in which every interior scene is shot with the curtains closed, to control the light. But, in a way, this only makes the film better and more pleasing. Once you look past the fact that everyone has their curtains closed in the middle of the day, you start looking at the story, the relationships, the characters. Overall, they are all excellent and much more engaging than in a major Hollywood production in which twenty times the money was spent.

My biggest complaint about the film would lie in the ending. It is completely predictable, rushed and feels almost tacked on. The ending would've benefit greatly from a little more time or discussion focused on the eventual outcome.

Go see "Diamond Men" and you will be pleasantly surprised.

One of the best movies I've seen in a very long time. The changing relationship between the seasoned, but soon to be unemployed diamond salesman, and the brash young man he is asked to train as his replacement is developed beautifully. Forster and Wahlberg are superb! Bess Armstrong as a not-so-young woman with a questionable past plays the part to perfection and is just as beautiful as she was twenty years ago. She, as Katie, and the young but quick learner replacement both play sensitive roles in bringing back the meaning of life to the older salesman.
This is a "don't miss" movie from the opening credits to the surprise ending. I hope it goes to videotape when the movie run is finished.

Excellent film, you see some resemblance to Wahlberg's little brother Mark, in his ability to play an understanding, sympathetic character--and someone you can empthasize with as well. Two salesmen, one old and one in his late 20's are paired up, in order to give the new recruit experience. Will they get along? Is the old man training his replacement? All we know is, the old timer himself still needs a job-and we don't know if he'll have one at the end of the movie.

Touching film with some twists, laughs and tears.

Warning: this is a character study. Those viewers interested in mindless explosions and frenetic car chase sequences need not apply.

"Diamond Men" is a fascination, with equal parts drawn from the themes explored in such films as "Tin Men" and "The Color of Money." That this film didn't find a larger audience is a mystery.

Robert Forster is stunning in his role as Eddie Miller, an aging diamond salesman who suffers a heart attack. In his quest to keep his employment after recovering, Eddie is relegated to training a young upstart (played with reasonable appeal by Donnie Wahlberg). However, Eddie eventually realizes that he has as much to learn about life from his cocky protege, and this is where the film makes some surprising and wonderful turns as a side trip to a local bordello masquerading as a simple massage parlor changes both of their lives ... for the better.

Still, what makes "Diamond Men" work is the artistry of Forster. He inhabits the body of Eddie Miller with a grace and ease reserved for veteran actors, the likes of which Paul Newman, Tom Hanks, and Al Pacino normally get. Forster -- almost the 'odd man out' in selection -- gives a tour de force performance from the film's first few scenes all the way down to his wry smile in the conclusion. Wahlberg, the young upstart, plays the young upstart convincing. Jasmine Guy is on board, reaching nice marks as the 'madame' of the massage parlor. And Bess Armstrong -- along for the ride as a masseuse with a past she's trying to forget -- gets wonderful mileage out of only a handful of underwritten but crucial scenes. All in all, this is one well paced acting package.

Occasionally, the cinematography is a bit off, with some characters being partially chopped off the screen, but such minor flaws are easily dismissed. The film contains a few scenes that could've been edited for better pacing, and -- as already mentioned -- Armstrong's role was far too small for my liking: she leaves you with just a hint of 'the woman who was,' wanting to know so much more.

Still, it's hard to dismiss that "Diamond Men" remains a gem.

If you like your movies full of action and excitment, look elsewhere. But if you're willing to invest the time watching this one, you may be in for a very pleasant surprise. Jack Forster plays an ageing jewelry salesman or a "diamond" man, recovering from a heart attack, who is forced to take on a young (and cocky) younger apprentice (played to perfection by Donnie Walberg)...either that or the older man will be immediately fired.
What starts out as a hate/hate relationship slowly gives way to grudging tolerance and then to a gradual friendship, if a bumpy one. I won't reveal the climax of this movie but it does turn things in a totally different direction than expected. With lesser actors, this could have been a dull, even deadly, movie. But Forster, always able to command attention in his lowkey way, and Walberg are a pair that makes this movie fly. Definitely recommended.

I enjoyed this movie and I would recommend it. Forrester carries this movie, if you liked him in Jackie Brown, then you will like him in this.

On the downside, I was not entirely happy with the DVD. The Anamorphic disc is a bit misleading, as you actually see more on the 4:3 setting of your DVD Player. If you have a 16:9 TV as I do, it ends up clipping off the top and bottom of the picture, including some of the captions (aka "Week 1" etc). In some scenes you can tell the tops of peoples heads are being clipped.

Even worse, the commentary, which I enjoyed, refers in some scenes to what you see in the "widescreen print" of the film but even at 16:9 setting, you do not see these things on this DVD.

If they ever make a new transfer of this movie from the widescreen print, I would increase my rating of that DVD to 4 stars.

I find it suprising that with two prints of the film, they would choose the lower aspect ratio one to make to DVD, and then worse than that, they then chose to master the DVD in 4:3 with letterbox and then have use the anamorphic feature to clip the 4:3 letterbox version to a 16:9 view. This is exactly backwords. Let the DVD player add the extra black letterbox for the 4:3 folks and give full fidelity to people with 16:9 TVs. Happily, not many movies are transfered this way.

Tells the story of the old school traveling diamond merchants. Before the rise of the internet business, this was how many small town jewelers obtained inventory for their shops. Men, and typically that's who did this work, moved from town to town in a circuit - bringing along with them cases filled with sample merchandise, often made with real stones and real precious metals.

Robert Forster, one of the all-time underrated actors of my generation, plays Eddie Miller - the top seller for a wholesale jewelry company. Unfortunately, the stress of fighting for and ultimately losing his beloved wife to cancer triggers a mild heart attack. This health issue, on top of the company's modern restructuring (Employer Translation: "Going Younger, Going Cheaper") means that new management finally has the excuse to get rid of the experienced, higher paid salesman.

Despite pointing out that he remains one of their best consistent performers, plus the decades of service he's given to the company and its late founder, the asinine son and newly appointed company president has decided gray war horses like him are no longer wanted. However, a small branch of opportunity is held out. If he trains his replacement - he *might* be given the chance to work at the home office. Maybe.

What choice does he have?

His replacement comes in the form of another of my favorite under-appreciated actors, Donnie Wahlberg. Long since removed from his boy-band days, he's proven time and again that he has the acting chops for much bigger and better roles. I had hoped the amazing show "Boomtown" was his ticket, but constant network tinkering waylaid the creators, forcing them to 'fit' the show into the pathetic pre-processed mold of Powerpoint graphs and focus groups. Never a good idea to tinker with something unique and special; you're basically chopping off its wings and still expecting it to fly. It's true about people and true about tv shows. And when corporate hacks get involved - wing clippings usually follow.

In this production he plays Bobby Walker, a "modern" salesman; brash talk, techno-wired and what we used to say in the service: Young, dumb and full of bleep. That Wahlberg is able to completely envelop and believably portray the role is an awesome testament to his acting skills.

One of the many things I love about this movie is the long-neglected discussion about the new faces in the business world - every one of whom seem intent on proving themselves by tossing aside dedicated and talented workers simply to impress the bean counters and investment speculators. A quick and immediate boost to the bottom line at the cost of integrity and long-term company health. This business newthink is undoubtedly one of the reasons why this country is floundering under the leadership of these grab-the-easy-money-and-move-on-to-wreck-another-company trained business school parasites. I curse the day that 'Wall Street' became ingrained in popular culture. Instead of a warning for these Ivy schooled muckers, it became a twisted template to emulate.

This sublime film completely captures the well-paced drama of these two men - one at the end of his journey and the other at the beginning. How does Eddie begin to contemplate a life without a job or financial future? And how does Bobby's growing internal conflict resolve itself as his instructions from the corporate office didn't include befriending, appreciating and ultimately admiring the old school salesman.

'Diamond Men' is an extremely enjoyable, quietly intense and dense character study that affords the audience a chance to really know and care about the people involved. I strongly recommend this to fans of classically trained filmmaking and screenwriters.

Personal Note: I want to give props to Bess Armstrong. She's had a tough career trying to be taken seriously after years of playing chirpy innocuous characters. I like and appreciate that she gained through age the ability to shed away the perception that she was just a ditzy weakling. Underneath that spritely fresh-scrubbed finish was a tough old school actress after all.

This product was in excellent condition!! I recieved it fairly quickly!! Actually, i probably received it really quickly,but I was so anxious to watch it, it seemed to take too long. LOL. but it was an excellent transaction and I would definitely buy from this seller again!!!! And the movie itself was awesome!!! I LMAO!! if you are a Donnie Wahlberg aka DDub fan, this movie is a must see!!!