Customer Reviews

Florida Straits

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

 

 

Though this isn't a great movie, it IS good. I remember seeing this on cable when I was about 16 or 17, and I liked it then too. The other review has a decent plot summary. I disagree with his assessment of Fred Ward and Raul Julia's performances however. I'll admit that Ward gives a typical performance, very similar to others he did around that time of his career (the mid 80s), but Raul Julia's portrayal of a man who just got out of a Cuban prison (after 20 years) is quite memorable. Filled with passion and driven obsessively by his love for, as it turns out, a woman-not gold, Julia's performance IS the reason this movie gets 4 stars from me. His scene with this woman is wonderful, touching, and ultimately, heartbreaking. I'll also admit that the direction/pacing is a bit slow (and the script is derivative), but I liked all the main characters. Daniel Jenkins' performance is solid as the arrogant wanna-be-somebody-rich and/or famous kid who drives Fred Ward's character crazy. I liked the interplay between Ward's and Jenkins' characters too. Though hardly original, the way their relationship develops into a friendship is believable, at least here on screen. There are a few movie cliches, but they don't detract from the watchability of the film. If there's anything to hate about this movie, it's the music. This kind of sh@#ty keyboard drivel is a big reason why music in the 80s sucked big time (with exceptions to Metallica, Guns N' Roses, Duran Duran, The Police, and U2). With repeated viewings, what gets to me most about this film is how much I love Raul Julia's performance and how awful the music is. See it anyway though, for Raul Julia (RIP).

I had watched this Raul Julia movie back in the 80's but my husband had never seen it - we watched it and have really enjoyed seeing it! Great service from the supplier!

Director Mike Hodges was interviewd for the British magazine Crime Time some years ago and resolutly refused to even talk about this movie ,claiming it was so bad he wished to expunge it from the memory banks .
Frankly , I was suprised by this because while a long way from memorable this is not an utter turkey either ,just a little pedestrian .
Raul Julia plays a man arriving in Florida after serving 20 years in a Cuban prison for his participation in the ill fated Bay of Pigs invasion .No sooner does he arrive than he sets about making plans to return to the island for he knows the location of a cache of treasure ,money that would have been used to set up a new government in Cuba ,had the invasion been a success .He joins up with a down at heels charter boat skipper -Fred Ward and the latter's partner ,the young and headstrong Daniel Jenkins a wanna be adventurer .
Together they land in Cuba and set about trying to escape with the cache of gold but things do not go as planned what with other seekers after the gold and government agents stirred inti the mix .
This has two usually admirable actors in Julia and Ward but neither are up to their usual standards largely due I suspect to a stilted and mundane script .
The movie is at least well shot , with South Carolina standing in for Cuba but the whole enterprise is flat and lacking pace or tension ,For this I blame Hodges' direction .It lacks pace and vigour and so never becomes more than a routine time filler and given the talent on display that is a pity