Lookin' to Get Out! (DVD, Extended Version, 2009) Barcode Cut

Description: The Oscar-winning film-editor-turned-director Hal Ashby had an undeniable hot streak in the 1970s: from Harold and Maude to The Last Detail, from Shampoo to Coming Home, Ashby's ragged style and politically-aware attitude were all over movie theaters. Thanks to some combination of bad luck and personal demons, Ashby hit the wall as the '80s began--which is when he embarked on Lookin' to Get Out, a barely-released Vegas comedy. Based on a script co-written by Ashby's Coming Home star, Jon Voight, the film follows two hustling buddies (Voight and Burt Young) as they scramble to raise funds to pay off a gambling debt. They get comped a fancy suite when Young gets mistaken for an old pal of the hotel owner, but will their good luck hold when they stake a gifted blackjack player (Bert Remsen in rare form) to a run in the casino? Adding spice is Ann-Margret, as a former Voight flame who just happens to be the current girlfriend of the hotel magnate. (Footnote to film history: her daughter is played by a very young Angelina Jolie, Voight's real-life daughter, in her film debut.) The set-up is unremarkable, but the film is distinguished by a couple of factors. One is that in the early sequences, Ashby and cinematographer Haskell Wexler capture a splendidly gritty urban feel that links this movie to the American cinema of the 1970s. The other is the sheer unlikability of Voight's character and performance. It's one thing to offer a self-destructive exploiter who serves as a kind of anti-hero, and quite another to give him a vague, incoherent reading that dribbles away into Cassavetes-like floundering right before your eyes. Bizarre. The film's DVD release is a significantly altered version from the movie that flopped in 1982; Ashby had re-cut the picture and donated it to UCLA before he died in 1988, and that previously-unseen (even by Voight) cut is immortalized here. It's an interesting, oddball movie, the kind of thing that could only have been brought off, and indulged, by Hal Ashby. Good pre-owned condition. Cases and discs may have light marks, but does not affect functionality. Any other flaws are in the description. See pictures for detail. Shipped out within 24 hrs. I ship every day the USPS is open. Thanks for looking!

Price: 9.99 USD

Location: Saint Louis, Missouri

End Time: 2024-11-11T19:58:18.000Z

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