Customer Reviews

Elmore Leonard's Gold Coast [VHS]

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First shown as an orginal Showtime movie last fall, Gold Coast snuck into home video this June with little fanfare. This little gem of a movie deserves at least some the fanfare given its other "sister" Elmore Leonard theatrical releases. Based pretty faithfully on Leonard's book of the same name it stars a perfectly cast David Caruso as Maguire, who in this role gets to smile, be funny, and gets the girl -- worth the price of admission right there. Marg Helgenberger as Karen and Jeff Kober as Roland are also excellent in their roles, with special kudos to Mr. Kober who makes Mr. Leonard's goofy character a villain you love to hate. Peter Weller's direction is fast paced and snappy, it doesn't hurt to have read the book before you see the film. Special mention must also be given the cinematography, the locations are beautifully shot and are visually stunning. Those scenes shot in the late afternoon sun and at the pool by night just make you long to be there! The musical score is wonderfully brassy and jazzy, underscoring perfectly the tone and feel of the film. Though it may be hard to find this video it's worth the effort. So fire up the VCR, pour yourself a tall, cool drink, and take a trip to the Gold Coast as only Elmore Leonard can take you. END

Keys for writing a good crime novel don't only affect settings characters or even plot. A great part of succeeding implies to find a good pace and an appropiate style. A good crime novel has to be direct to the bone, suggest violence instead of carefully describing it, use two words instead of three, hide sentimentalism. Laconism and latent violence are the key elements, as important as a carefully chosen setting or treacherous characters with something to hide. Not many writers have succeeded in understanding this, Donald Westlake, James Ellroy and Elmore Leonard being two of them.

And Peter Weller has understood all this as well. We already knew he was an underated actor, but with this film he shows that he is also a good film director. Almost nothing in his film is superfluous. His film is dry, laconic, shows violence only when it is necessary, it lacks, at any level, any gratuitous detail. With this, he sums up all the characteristics of a good crime novel (don't worry, you get as well a great setting and a good deal of characters with something to hide) and he adds a good deal of elegance.

Maybe some people would prefer a more ellaborate plot, or more violence and nudity, or too many impossible plot twists. But anybody who enjoys reading a good thriller should not miss this one.

This made for TV movie is a diamond in the rough! Good pace, great style, awesome character building.... all in all a great crime drama. And from one David Caruso fan to another... trust me, it's worth every penny! Plenty of 'eye candy' goin' on in this movie! :) This is actually my favorite movie of all of his movies. The role, even thou in a crime drama, is not his typical. As said in previous reviews...he does get to smile, and he does get to have a bit of fun. It's a breath of fresh air. Only bad part is that this was never released on DVD...and probably never will be. The VHS copies of this are getting hard to come by...and when you do get ahold of them they are rather pricy. But again I say, the cost of admission is worth every penny! My suggestion is to get ahold of it on VHS and VCD it. You'll love the movie and want to watch it over and over again.

This was actually a decent film, BUT the price was definitely steep when I bought it.

Fast delivery!

This made-for-TV movie is hard to find. Since it's only available in VHS, I had it converted to DVD (perfectly legal for your personal copy). Great love scenes. What more can I say...it stars David Caruso!