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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Tough guys don't dance--and tough authors can't direct. Or at least that was the case with Norman Mailer and this mid-1980s potboiler. An overheated murder mystery obviously written for the money, the book became Mailer's return to moviemaking (after his quixotic efforts in the mid 1960s). This one, which stars Ryan O'Neal, is about a writer whose excessive drinking means he can't remember if he committed a murder and so must talk to everyone he knows to find out. Unfortunately, even with a cast that includes Isabella Rossellini, Lawrence Tierney, and Clarence Williams III, all of that talk doesn't make for an interesting movie. --Marshall Fine
Product Description
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Norman Mailer wrote and directed this charmingly cracked nightmare comedy (Los Angeles Times) based on his best-selling 1984 novel. Set during the lonely emptiness of off-season Cape Cod, Tough Guys don't Dance features outstanding performances from Ryan O Neal and Isabella Rossellini. When wannabe writer Tim Madden (O Neal) wakes up from a memory-erasing drinking binge with an atomic hangover, he learns that it'll take more than a day to recover'since there is blood in his car and a severed head in his basement! Now, with a corrupt chief of police watching his every move, Tim must piece together the hazy events of the night before to solve a murder he mayor may nothave committed!
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
27 of 30 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
The mere fact that MGM deemed this film worthy of a DVD release has to be a cosmic joke. I remember seeing this film on it's initial run back in 1987 in it's opening(and closing) week and there were, including myself, three people in the audience. I loved every minute of it. This film has it all. Ham-handed direction by writer Norman Mailer, convoluted plotting, overwought writing. In other words, brilliant. Mailer is ably assisted by a game cast that includes Ryan O'Neal(Mr. Box-office Poison), Isabella Rossellini(fresh from "Blue Velvet"), Wings Hauser(brilliant in the film,"Vice Squad"), Lawrence Tierney(Joe Cabot from "Reservoir Dogs"), and Penn Jillette(Penn and Teller). In a perfect world the catch phrase "Deep-six the heads" should have entered into the common vernacular. Anyone who fancies themselves a film buff should see this film once. Just to believe it.
21 of 23 people found the following review helpful
By D. Hartley
Format:DVD
If "offbeat noir" is your clarion call, this is your movie. (Our one-star reviewers completely missed the bus to Irony on this one). Written and directed by iconoclastic writer Norman Mailer, "Tough Guys Don't Dance" is assured cult status,now that it is available on DVD. Ryan O'Neal gives a deadpan performance reminiscent of his work in "The Driver". O'Neal plays an inscrutable ex-con with a conniving "black widow" for a wife, who experiences five "really bad days" in a row, involving drugs,kinky sex,blackmail and murder. Due to some temporary amnesia,however,he's not sure of his own complicity (O'Neal begins each day by writing the date on his bathroom mirror with shaving cream-keep in mind, this film precedes "Memento" by 13 years!) Veteran film noir icon Lawrence Tierny (cast here 5 years BEFORE Tarantino thought of resurrecting him for "Reservoir Dogs") is priceless as O'Neal's estranged father, who is helping him sort out events (it's worth the price of admission alone to hear Tierny bark "I just deep-sixed two heads!"). Equally notable is a deliciously demented performance by B-movie trouper Wings Hauser as the hilariously named Captain Alvin Luther Regency. Norman Mailer's "lack" of direction has been roundly criticized, but his minimalist style actually works perfectly for the story, giving his movie a David Lynch feel (although that might be due to the fact that Isabella Rossilini is in the cast and the soundtrack is by Lynch stalwart Angelo Badalamenti!) Film fans who also happen to be LITERATE (i.e., those who actually READ) will eat this one up.
16 of 18 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:VHS Tape
Disregard all the negative reviews! Whatever Mr. Mailer's intentions, this film contains some of the funniest dialogue in cinematic history! Nearly every line is a classic. Examples:
"Lonnie's dead! Jessica is dismembered! Patty Loraine's off on some kind of a toot! And I'm about to go into business with you two unbelievable sleazos!" - Wardley Meeks
Police chief: "I believe that you love your wife."
Ryan O'Neal: "No more than twice a week."
O'Neal: "What makes surgeons happy? To cut people up and get paid for it. That's happiness."
In addition to the dialogue, Tough Guys Don't Dance boasts fine photography that evokes the light and atmosphere of Provincetown, some of the wackiest characters this side of a John Waters comedy, and a labyrinthe plot that rivals Chandler's The Big Sleep in terms of complexity and utter confusion.
See it now! Before the ghosts of Helltown invade your seance!
Most Recent Customer Reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
I remember this from when I was young
I don't quite know why I bought this. It was fairly lame when I saw it the first time and some form of longing for the detritus of Norman Mailer lead me here again. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Brian Boyce
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not as good as I remembered
I saw this movie at the movies years ago and for some reason thought it was good. After watching it again I don't know what I was thinking.
Published 4 months ago by Jeffrey
2.0 out of 5 stars
This Movie Sucked in a Sucky Way!
After stumbling across the unforgettable "Oh God, oh man!" YouTube sensation of a clip, I bought this movie hoping for a delightfully awful cinematic experience a la "Troll 2" or... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Kingzgrrl
4.0 out of 5 stars
I will assert that this movie does have Deathguts!
Norman Mailer - writer and director of this film - says, in the interview extra on this DVD - that he wanted to make a "subtle horror movie." Subtle? No. Horror? Read more
Published 23 months ago by Richard Masloski
5.0 out of 5 stars
Let's you taste the atmosphere of the 80s
One scene out of this movie (Oh man, oh God) goes around the internet as being the worst movie scene ever. I wanted to see the movie so ordered the DVD. Read more
Published on February 5, 2011 by M.J. Baars
3.0 out of 5 stars
Oh God, Oh Man, Oh God, Oh Man
Oh God, Oh Man, Oh God, Oh Man, Oh God...
If you can find this movie, watch it simply for the laughs and don't expect to get anything else from it. Read more
If you can find this movie, watch it simply for the laughs and don't expect to get anything else from it. Read more
Published on July 17, 2009 by RideTheCatfish
3.0 out of 5 stars
Norman Mailer, Director?
Back in the 80s, Norman Mailer turned his novel "Tough Guys Don't Dance" into a screenplay that he went on to direct. Read more
Published on May 1, 2009 by Kevin M. Derby
3.0 out of 5 stars
Perhaps They Shouldn't Direct Either
Written and directed by Norman Mailer, Tough Guys Don't Dance is based on his 1984 novel of the same name. It is a tale of intrigue and murder on Cape Cod. Read more
Published on April 12, 2009 by Richard Bellush, Jr.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A VERY MAILER MOVIE (AS IN GREAT, EMBELLISHED WITH SPEEDBUMPS)
When classmates in the 60's were reading Salinger I started reading Mailer. And haven't stopped. Until he died last week. Read more
Published on November 14, 2007 by Roy Clark
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Movie
Norman Mailer's genius shines through with every scene. Very entertaining and plenty of black humour.
Published on September 2, 2007 by binkinsect
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