Customer Reviews

One for the Road [VHS]

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1 star:		(3)

 

 

While not the biggest budget movie ever made, the power of this true personal story really resonates. The film vividly demonstrates the power of a heart being changed through the message of God's love and grace. It may seem a little "preachy" to some, but the fact is that Cecil's Moe's life WAS completely changed by the message, and that has to be good news for anyone who is willing to listen. No one, no matter what their condition, is beyond the possibilities of God's care.

This was a pleasant surprise. I was expecting a bunch of dribble from Lifetime. However, I saw this as a faith movie. This may very well have been a true story of Cecil Moe. I'm not sure where he was born, but he had a good struggle throughout his early life where his mother becomes ill, and is left in care of by a abusive nurse named Myrna. This is where the children should stand up, and be noticed as Cecil's mother would die at the hands of Myrna, and Cecil's father is so snowed by Myrna that he doesn't listen to Cecil's plea to get rid of Myrna, and then it's too late as Cecil's father becomes a willing slave to her, and even to the point of making him forget that Cecil is his son. Then Myrna manipulates Cecil's father into shipping off Cecil into the Navy, and when Cecil's father tries to go see Cecil before he's shipped off to war Myrna abuses him to keep him from going. Unfortunately, Cecil finds out about his father's death after being overseas, and then begins his addiction to alcohol. He marries, and has 2 sons, but his alcoholism comes first because in Cecil's eyes it is his savior. However, after 12 years of marriage to both Johnny Walker, and his wife Cecil becomes aware that he can't be married to the both of them, so he goes out of despiration to a local pastor, and bares his soul, and then the pastor leads Cecil to Christ in a new way he never heard before. Before this Cecil would go to church, and hear the word of God, but it didn't sink in until this point, and before he leaves the pastor's home Cecil welcomes Jesus Christ into his heart, and home. However, his wife is at first skeptical because of all the broken promises before, and then because he becomes true to his word, and then it's she feels inadequate. The ending is rather good as it shows the word trying to convict Cecil's wife, and Cecil facing his own temptation by going into one of his old neighborhood haunts to work. This is a good movie to help those who are so focused on alcohol that they're on the last legs. For Christians this can be a good movie to help you stay focused.

This is a true story of a man who struggles and eventually comes to grips with his alcoholism. It almost has the look of a home movie. Sound quality is poor, and cinematography could be better. The story itself is excellent, but the ending is a little bit over the top. If you are going to show this to a church group, it might be ok. Otherwise, there are hundreds of better movies out there.

Here's how you do it: Believe in God and repent for your sins. Then things should turn around within the next day or so.

Until the last fifteen minutes, this movie just plays as a bad recap of a drunk's crappy life. His mom dies. His stepmom's a btch. His dad dies. He drinks. He gets married. He has kids. He drinks some more. His wife gets mad. He disappoints his kids. The wife threatens to leave. He calls up a reverend late night b/c he wants to kill himself. Then after the recap happens, that's when we get the "Left Behind"-like subtle message.

"He needed a paycheck". This is the phrase I had to repeat over and over once credits started to roll so I wouldn't lose my respect for Madsen.

Madsen drops to his knees and begs Christ's forgiveness. Once he does, he walks outside and actually says that he sees the world in a different way. He tells his wife that he's found God and that's good enough for her. Flip scene four months and the wife is tired of going to church. End the movie as Madsen walks by the bar and gives a soliloquy about how happy he is with Christ and without alcohol. Final moment? He gives a little dismissive wave to the bar (i.e. sin house) and give a gay, Miami-Vice, after-school special congratulatory jump in the air as the camera freeze-frames. See why I had to repeat the phrase? "He needed a paycheck".

Man this movie is bad. The B-Grade 80's production values don't help much. The script could have easily been a "Touched By An Angel" episode. It could have been knocked out in 30 minutes plus commercials. The acting is wooden and never believable. Even Madsen, of whom I'm a big fan and is the soul reason I sat through this, makes it clear that this is his first acting job and he doesn't know his a$$ from his elbow yet on camera. 45 minutes into it I started to get discouraged. This thing was like homework. I just wanted to put it away and say that alright, I saw half of it. That's good enough. But no. If I sat through Cheerleader Ninjas, I could sit throughout this. Some of the Dialogue is so bad that it's classic. I'll stick some quotes at the end of this so you can enjoy them too.

That's about it. To wrap it up ,this thing is a piece of crap that should stay flushed with the rest of the turds. But hey! Look! Michael Madsen! (See also TILT, EXECUTIVE TARGET, MY BOSS'S DAUGHTER, etc). Now I've gotta rewatch Reservoir Dogs and watch Madsen torture a cop to get my respect back for him. See ya, Kids.

"This stuff's gonna make me go blind, but I'm gonna drink it anyway" - Madsen's first taste of cheap alcohol

"I don't understand! Everything seems so beautiful!" - Madsen walking outside after confessing to God

"I'm going downtown later and pick up a bible and I'm gonna get a haircut too" - Madsen after converting at the dinner table, because Satan lives in your hair

Michael Madsen plays Cecil Moe: husband, father, alcoholic. When his wife finally decides to leave him and take the kids with her, he calls Reverend Baird (who is played by the real-life Cecil Moe) and asks his advice.

The low budget and sometimes unintentionally funny script is somewhat redeemed by a good performance by Michael Madsen, but in the end, the movie is too blatantly preachy. This movie is, according to the blurb on the back on the DVD, an "inspirational drama". This means "Christian drama". It was directed by Edward T. McDougal, who has made several christian films. They are what some christians would call "witnessing tools", but they really do mostly preach to the choir. If you like that type of movies, go ahead, but otherwise don't bother, unless you're a die hard Michael Madsen fan.

The picture quality on the Westlake DVD is bad and not worthy of a full price DVD.

Definitely an odd debut for Michael Madsen. Madsen plays Cecil Moe, an alcoholic family man whose life is crumbling all around him. Cecil grabs a phone book, looks up the name of a preacher, and calls him in the middle of the night. He goes to the preacher's home and discusses his problems. The preacher teaches Cecil to respect the word of God and have Jesus in his heart. That makes everything all better. Ahh...if only everything in life were that easy. The fact that this "film" looks as if it was made with the funds of a donation basket certainly doesn't help.

This movie came across my life by the grace of God, but people had to be obedient to their calling to enable me to see the wonderful God that I serve, in action ! Thank you for being in God's acre reaching souls and making a big difference in a sin-stricken world to make it a better place.