Customer Reviews

U turn [VHS]

5 star:		(51)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

Adapted from John Ridley's (who also wrote the screenplay) novel Stray Dogs, U-Turn is a darkly humorous, hypnotic film noir. Shot on a $20,000,000 budget and featuring an outstanding cast (Sean Penn, Jennifer Lopez, Nick Nolte, Jon Voight, Billy Bob Thornton, Claire Danes, Joaquin Phoenix, Powers Boothe), it's surreal visual quality was due in part to all the outdoor scenes being shot using Kodak 5239's color reversal stock, which intensified colors and tones. When Sean Penn turned down the role due to schedule conflicts, Bill Paxton replaced him, but Paxton backed out a week before filming began and Penn was available again for the movie. Thankfully, Penn accepted the role and ended up giving yet another great performance. Jennifer Lopez got the role of Grace after salary negotiations with Sharon Stone fell through. Lopez couldn't have picked a better role, and she played the femme fatale to perfection!

As the movie opens, Bobby Cooper (Sean Penn) drives into the small town of Superior, Arizona to get his broken car fixed. The only mechanic in town is a greasy hick named Darrell (Billy Bob Thornton, who gained around 50 pounds for the role!), and Bobby has no choice but to leave his beloved "1964 & ½" Mustang with him. Bobby has an overdue gambling debt in Vegas, and has several missing fingers to prove it. He's on the run from ruthless mobsters who'll stop at nothing until they get their money or kill Bobby. Superior appears to have nothing to offer to Bobby, until he meets Grace McKenna (Jennifer Lopez), a sultry vixen who makes seduction an art. She invites Bobby to her house, and he gladly accepts. And while they're kissing each other at her house, Grace's husband Jake (Nick Nolte) walks in and promptly throws Bobby out.

Grace had somehow "forgotten" to mention her husband to Bobby, and he is reluctant to go anywhere near her again. That is, until he hears an offer from Jake, who will pay Bobby to kill the adulterous Grace. Bobby agrees and when he sees her again they drive to a remote location by a cliff. But when the time comes to push her off the cliff, Bobby can't bring himself to do it, and they have sex instead. Then Grace tries to convince Bobby to kill Jake, and Bobby walks away, disgusted with both her and Jake. Back in town he meets even more strange people: Jenny (Claire Danes), a bratty teen who quickly tries her best to flirt with Bobby. Then Toby N. ("People call me TNT") Tucker (Joaquin Phoenix) shows up. Toby happens to be the psychotic boyfriend of Jenny, and at various times throughout the movie Toby will be a source of annoyance to Bobby. Also at various times throughout the movie, Bobby hears words of wisdom from an old blind man (Jon Voight).

To further complicate things, an armed robbery takes place while he's in a small shop, and all his money (which was owed to the mobsters) is lost. He scrapes up barely enough money to buy a bus ticket out of town, and things finally start to look positive for Bobby. By the way, at this point in the movie Liv Tyler has a brief cameo. Anyway, Bobby's chance to leave Superior by bus is destroyed (literally) when Toby "TNT" tucker shows up and eats the bus ticket. Afterwards, Toby receives a much-deserved beating from Bobby, who at this point is ready to do anything to get out of Superior. Bobby then faces the fact that Grace is his last hope for leaving the miserable town, and he tells her he is ready to kill her husband Jake. But Bobby doesn't know the "dirty" secrets that Grace is hiding (including a relationship with the town`s sheriff, Virgil Potter (Powers Boothe), and once he finds out who the real Grace is, it might be too late to escape Superior.

I'm not saying that U-Turn is Oliver Stone's best film, but it's definitely my personal favorite of his. The surreal cinematography, haunting music composed by Ennio Morricone, and the breathtaking scenery of the Arizona desert create a great atmosphere for greed, lust, betrayal, and murder. Unfortunately, the DVD is bare-bones in regards to special features. There's no commentary or documentary, only the theatrical trailer and a brief booklet which summarizes the making of the film. It's really a shame, because nearly all of Oliver Stone's other movies have been released on special edition DVDs. Hopefully, we won't have to wait too long before this underrated modern noir gets the proper DVD treatment. The movie gets 5 stars easily, but this DVD deserves 0!

This is the fourth time in four years that I've been watching Oliver Stone's U TURN. I admit it sincerely, I didn't like it so much the first times but I kept watching it because there was something in the movie that attracted me. And I know by now that any quality movie deserves more than a single showing if you want to express an objective opinion about it.

There is much to discuss about U TURN's content, arty effects or characters. The movie can also be the beginning of hour long discussions on the homages and the references, evident or more subtle, distillated by Oliver Stone along the road. Take the final scene, for instance. Watch it again with the final scene of King Vidor's DUEL IN THE SUN in mind. The Sean Penn-Jennifer Lopez bloody show takes a totally different dimension, doesn't it ?

So one of the reasons of the cult status gained by a peculiar movie is the pleasure the movie creates with each new vision. Like a classical music opus, the film must never make you feel as if you had digested its entire substance. You must feel unsatisfied, ready for a next showing right after the end credits. With U TURN, you'll be sure to possess a DVD that will outlive the most sophisticated DVD players.

A DVD zone "they don't like it but I do".

Oliver Stone's U Turn is a small town Arizona story with love crosses and plot twists galore. A drifter (Sean Penn) breaks down in the Arizona back-woods and gets entangled with a spitfire (Jennifer Lopez) who wants to leave her twisted, abusive husband (Nick Nolte). The husband, on the other hand, wants his wife murdered. The town mechanic (Billy Bob Thornton) is a greasy local who dislikes city slicker outsiders and doesn't aim to make Penn's character's life any easier. Our hero also gets mixed up with a cute local waitress (Claire Danes) seeking refuge from her abusive boyfriend (Joaquin Phoenix).

The movie is a day-in-the-life-of look at a strange little desert town with hidden undercurrents and long-standing family secrets. With an all-star cast and plot upheavals galore, the viewing is a full-on thrill-ride. Highly recommended. Also check out Clay Pigeons.

U Turn (Oliver Stone, 1997)

I'm a big fan of Stray Dogs, the John Ridley novel upon which U-Turn is based, and I avoided the film for while because, really, how many film adaptations of your best-loved novels actually work the way you want them to? I shouldn't have worried, though; U-Turn is the stuff, most decidedly.

The plot: Bobby Cooper, an on-the-run tennis pro (Sean Penn) has his car conk out on him just shy of a very, very weird little desert town. One of its residents, Grace McKenna (Jennifer Lopez), immediately catches his eye, but he soon finds out she's married to a nasty old character named Jake (Nick Nolte), who'd just as soon see her dead-- and offers Bobby fifty grand to do the deed. Immediately, a complex web of deceit unfurls among all the characters, complicated by a number of even stranger events happening at just the wrong time to make Bobby's life miserable.

The main thing that sticks out about this movie is the caliber of its cast, and the caliber of the performances they give. When you have to stick Jon Voight and Billy Bob Thornton seventh and eighth in credits order, you've got a high-powered cast working for you. All of them are spot on. The plot moves forward at almost blinding speed (just as it did in the book; Ridley adapted his own novel), and the viewer has very little time to do anything but clench his teeth and hang on for the ride until the final credits roll. It's just plain fun. I'm not sure why I stopped watching Oliver Stone flicks in the late eighties (okay, yeah I am-- Born on the Fourth of July, The Doors, and JFK back to back got a little heavy in to the world of way-out conspiracy theory for me), but I'm glad I've started again. *** ½

This an extremely hated movie.Not only does it have an average customer review of a mere 3 1/2 stars on Amazon but it appeared in a book called "I Hated,Hated,Hated This Movie" by Roger Ebert.I love the directing, (which is rare cause I don't like
Oliver Stone) I love the screenplay by John Ridley(so much that I later read the book "Stray Dogs" by Ridley). Sean Penn in a funny and great performance plays Bobby Cooper. Bobby is a down-and-out gambler with two of his fingers missing from his hand.
While driving his beloved 1964 1/2 Mustang Convertible to get to Las Vegas to pay off a debt,his radiator hose busts causing him to wander into the town of Superior,Arizona. He meets Darrel
(Billy Bob Thornton at his greasy best), a grease covered mechanic who Bobby later calls (among other things) "dumber than a sack of hammers". After leaving his car to the mechanic he meets the lovely and exotic Grace. A fiery vixen married to a much older man (Nick Nolte), who wants him dead. Turns out Nolte's character Jake wants Grace dead as well. This film in which most of the characters aren't developed except the main characters is the kind of movie I like.The cinematography's weird.The music which any other time would be happy sounds creepy and the climax of the film is awesome. One of Sean Penns best films, A+.

Small time hood, played with fidelity by Sean Penn, blows a hole in the water hose of his 1964 and a half red Mustang out in the desert and has to limp into Superior, Arizona, pop. about 100, temp 100-plus. He shoulda made a u-turn. He's already lost two fingers because he wasn't able to pay some dudes the $13,000 he owned them, but now he has the cash in his backpack. Next problem (number two) getting his car fixed by Darrell's other brother Darrell, an inbred hick mechanic from hell, played chillingly by Billy Bob Thornton. This guy you won't forget. Problem number three, a muy caliente Apache babe (Jennifer Lopez) who starts to play with more than his mind. Problem number four, her husband, (a lecherous and morally corrupt Nick Nolte) who wants him to kill her. Problem number four and a half is a blind Indian shaman (Jon Voight, believe it or not) who plays with his soul.

All this is tolerable, but as he's getting a soda in the local groceria, it's robbed and they take his backpack with all the money in it. The senora who is robbed recovers in time to shot the robber with the backpack in the back with a shotgun. Only problem is number five, the buckshot blows Penn's money to smithereens (nice touch), and he is now flat broke and can't pay the $150 to get his Mustang back on the road. Problem number six, a small town tart (Claire Danes) cozies up to him to get her macho boy friend jealous enough to want to beat our boy to a pulp. Problem number seven, in his desperation to get enough money to blow town, our hero calls his main creditor and tells him where he is (seems dumb). His creditor wants more than the other three fingers. Problem number eight...

Well, I didn't take notes, so I'm losing track. But trust me, he's got more troubles to come.

This is in some ways an amazing film. It's part Clint Eastwood western, where there are no good guys, and part urban thriller, where you never know who is double crossing whom (but take a hint, they all are) or what is going to happen next. The atmosphere is compelling, all hangs together well, and we have something close to a film noire masterpiece until the scene on the cliff where our hero is supposed to push her off. Juggling the psychology in the film with the psychology he's working on the audience, Oliver Stone loses his grip and everything goes to ill-logic and blood and bodies. Hey, it's tough to concentrate through a whole stinkin' movie, even if you are Oliver Stone! Nonetheless there are so many striking images and clever scenes and so much original movie shtick here that I give you a Kmart guarantee you'll be entertained.

Sunday, April 18, 2004 / 4 of 5 / Guilty, gritty pleasure. Admittedly, U-Turn is a guilty, gritty pleasure. It's one of those movies that has a compelling but amoral anti-hero protagonist, much like another in this genre, `Romeo is Bleeding'. Like that film, we witness the disintegration, physical and mental of the main character whose vices have finally caught up with him with a vengeance. Oliver Stone's splice and hack techniques work wonderfully and the amazingly strong cast seems to be having a ball with the seedy story. Sean Penn is Bobby on his way to pay off gambling debts after having his two fingers cut off by Russian gangsters. His 64 Mustang blows a radiator hose in the podunk town of Superior, AZ. While there he gets rolled, loses his cash, endures further physical abuse and is tempted to kill numerous people, from J-Lo, to Billy Bob Thornton, to Nick Nolte, to Joaquin Phoenix. The interactions are comical in their depravity, this film really straddles genres, flowing from noir to black comedy and back. No one trusts anyone and incredibly you feel sorry for Bobby as the film reaches its crescendo. The more I think of it, the more it conceptually mirrors Romeo is Bleeding with Penn and Oldman's weak, amoral central characters at the mercy of the strong females in J-Lo and Lena Olin. I think it's good for a viewing ever so often, more would be too exhausting and make one feel a bit too dirty. Recommended.

This movie is filled with people you will recognize. Sean Penns' character is the basis of the movie. It is basically just the story of a day that will have you asking "what could go wrong next" and "how bad can this guys day get". I definitely found the movie worth watching. Some wierd camera camera angles and shots let you know the director is "Oliver Stone". Joaquin Phoenix plays a hilarious character and every scene with him is great. Billy Bob Thorton plays a good role as a the crazy mechanic, who you definitely would not want working on your car. If you like Oliver Stone or movies like "Very Bad Things" you should enjoy this one.

This was one of the worst movies of the year! The whole plot was stupid and the execution and direction made it worse. No one should be more embarrassed than Jon Voight. This is verifiable evidence of a low point in his career. Everyone else in this film should leave it off their resumes as well.

Oliver Stone crawls through Quentin Tarentino's home turf here in this adaptation of John Ridley's Stray Dogs--it's as black and violent as a film can be, sort of Pulp Fiction meets Reservoir Dogs in the heat. Brilliant casting makes U Turn sizzle like roadkill on an Arizona blacktop. Sean Penn, Jennifer Lopez. Billy Bob Thornton, and Nick Nolte dig right to the heart of human darkness, and an absolutely unrecognizable Jon Voight appears as the blind Indian wise man who is likely none of those things. Surely many viewers will find the level of violence and the completely depraved characters unappealing at best--my wife walked away less than halfway through. But I was riveted by the story, the characters, the action, and the stylistic approach Stone takes, with heavy use of filters and quick cuts to ravens, bleached skulls, setting suns, old photographs, and the like. That approach and the eerie score by Ennio Morricone also reminded me of David Lynch's Twin Peaks. It's surely not a movie for the mainstream, but I'm glad I saw it.