Customer Reviews

Shoot Or Be Shot [VHS]

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

 

 

I'm a big Shatner fan, but even Captain Kirk couldn't save this movie. The formulated plot was completely predictable and the acting way too cheezy, even by Shatner standards. I wasn't laughing with, or even at, this film. It was just a plain waste of time to watch.

The ONLY thing in this movie worth watching is Shatner's brief, kooky performance. He doesn't really get enough time on camera to make sitting through the film's sappy script a salvagable movie watching experience though. Shatner quite simply can't carry the entire film, given the time alloted to him. If you could edit this movie down to just the enjoyable parts with Shatner, it would be about 15 minutes long. The rest of the movie is simply filler material, at best. I would have rather just watched 90 minutes of Shatner ad-libbing.

If you want to watch a good indy flick with lots of Shatner in it, I'd recommend the movie Free Enterprise instead. Better acting. Better script. Much more Shatner.

If you HAVE to watch every single film Shatner has ever been in, go ahead and watch this. If you just want to watch a good movie, don't bother.

SHOOT OR BE SHOT is a funny flick in which William Shatner plays a character who will stop at nothing to see a wild dream realized. Only one problem: the man is crazy. Literally. Certifiable. And when you toss the nut into a motley crew of assorted sleazy producers, eccentric directors, typecast bimbo actresses and actors trying to break out of their Mexican TV roots, the results are volatile!

Think of FREE ENTERPRISE and you find a group of similar misfits in SHOOT OR BE SHOT. Like the former, the latter is about filmmakers stuck in one niche of the Hollywood scene, trying to move to another level. Shatner's character would settle for any level, as long as his movie script gets made. And he'll see it shot, even if he has to literally kidnap an entire movie production team and hold them at gunpoint to get them to 1) read his script and 2) film it his way. When you put it that way -- "Shoot or be shot!" -- it seems like a no-brainer. Best to shoot the man's film, right? Of course it's never that easy.

SHOOT OR BE SHOT is also cousin to Steve Martin's BOWFINGER. While BOWFINGER is much funnier, you have to admire SHOOT OR BE SHOT for its spirit and for the passionate convictions of several of its characters -- including, and on top of the list, its Number One gun-wielding Nut! And by the way, said nut wears a "Chubby Rain" T-shirt throughout the movie (those who saw BOWFINGER will get the tribute).

Critics have had a lot of fun tearing into William Shatner's acting over the years. I think it's wonderful that he's finally getting the last laugh, scoring a recent Emmy, landing a new TV show, having fun with his commercials and dramatic recordings (HAS BEEN, for example). Shatner deserves praise, not pans. He has worked hard to hone his comedic talents. They're on great display in MISS CONGENIALITY, and here again in SHOOT OR BE SHOT.

Give it a shot! (Sorry -- couldn't resist!)

Wierd... kind of surreal movie... a 3 in the morning vibe. A little dorky in spots. Very funky jazzy disco song for the theme... I dug it.

Gentle viewer, stop wasting your time and money on films starring Ben Afflack, Tom Cruise, Will Smith, and Nicholas Cage. They are all no talent yokels that stand in the shadow of a true pioneer and thesbian of the celluloid arts. I am talking of none other than William Shatner, the star of the original Star Trek TV series and Kingdom of the Spiders.

Shoot or be Shot takes on a trip through so many levels and with so many characters intertwined in a similar fate, that it's hard to describe in human words what was actually accomplished on screen. Shatner plays an insane mental patient who escapes the hospital, steals a car, and robs a convienence store. He has a script for a movie that he believes is the greatest thing since 'Gone with the Wind'.

He eventually runs into a crew trying to make a movie of their own. We have a hack producer who only produces B rated sleaze, a young director who believes plots and scripts are pointless in making a film, and a B movie actress who disguises herself to star in the film of no name, title, or plot. Why? Loooooong story, you'll have to see the film for this one, but I'll give you a hint. She had an affair with the producer.

When Bill meets up with them, he hijacks their trailer at gunpoint. Bill's one of many great lines is after he shoots a whole in the windshield and tells the driver "See that hole? Follow it!".

Alas the film is not made, but there's a great shootout at the end with cool explosions.

I recommend this film for people who have taste and can appreciate fine performances by a supurb cast.

SHOOT OR BE SHOT is really over-the-top and outrageous, but I think it works! William Shatner is great as a gun-toting loonie who hijacks a movie crew to make them film his script. About mid-way through, this movie had gotten so bizarre that I wondered if it was going to turn into a flop, but the good script holds together to the very end. Perhaps I should note that I'm quite tough on movies, and don't much enjoy a lot of recent ones, but to me this one is fun. Shatner said in his 2008 autobiography Up Till Now: The Autobiography that he decided to be in this film because the script sounded like it would be fun to do, and I can see why he thought that since he has an offbeat sense of humor. Also very good in this is Julianne Christie as one of the actresses in the movie crew. I liked that her romance with one of the actors was not sappy but was also quirky like the rest of the film, yet still believable. A nice feature is that this DVD is wide-screen on one side and standard on the other, but the only extra on it is previews for some more films. I agree with another reviewer who said to give this movie a shot!

I'm probably in trouble with a family of good friends who let me spend New Year's Eve with them because of this movie. He came all the way from the other side of their considerable domicile to ask me to hold it down, I was laughing too loudly. Low budget? Yes. Predictable? Iffy. Hilarious? Oh, yes. I managed to hold it down but I think I pulled a muscle, my ribs hurt in the morning. Maybe you have to be a Shatner fan or know some of his history, but he got some good licks in and the situation was priceless!

A movie like no other. It doesn't work as a comedy. It doesn't work as a drama. It doesn't work as camp. Never has a movie failed on so many levels - it is flawless in its putridity.

One wondered what Shatner's character's script could contain that it made Harry Hamlin's eyes roll so, for who could conceive of ANY script worse than that of "Shoot or Be Shot." We must assume that this movie was written, produced and directed by escaped mental patients, and so is testament to the Americans with Disabilities Act.

God Bless you, William Shatner. Watching you work is a pleasure no matter what the forum - you are a phenomenon, a true original, and I think you've come to realize this in recent years. Enjoy every cent, every new gig, every fully deserved round of applause it brings. Milk it, Bill - milk it forever.

We laughed, we cried. But mostly we just cried.