Josephina
Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.
thejcowboy22
Larry Garfield (Danny Devito), is a corporate raider, deconstructing and selling off failing companies for prophet. Short and egotistical donut popping Larry or as his adversaries call him "Larry The liquidator", has his eye on buying out a New England based cable and wire company. This small town company employs most of it's residence. Owner in the autumn years the infamous Gregory Peck as Andrew Jorgenson and his wife Bea (Piper Laurie).Short and pudgy Garfield travels to Rhode Island and enters the factory and already complains about too many stairs but explains that a buy out is more wise than staying barely afloat. Jorgenson demands that he leaves the premises but the reality is there . Enter Stepdaughter/business attorney Kate Sullivan (Penelope Ann Miller). Smart, elegant yet feisty as Jorgenson has a plan to have Kate captivate the money hungry Larry and have him change his mind about swaying the stockholders. Jorgenson was right about Larry being smitten with Kate but as far as business goes Larry is not budging. Wife Bea makes a special trip to Larry's Manhattan headquarters offering one million dollars in greenmail to go away but Larry kindly tells the desperate woman, "I don't take money from widows and orphans." Meanwhile the company's President Bill Coles,(Dean Jones) is fearful of a company takeover forcing him into unemployment with no severance, offers his vote of the shares in Garfield's favor for one million dollars but only if the share make up the margin of victory.In that case he'll receive half. The dyes have been cast and the final showdown at the plant will take place. Iconic Gregory Peck's plea to keep the company afloat and little loud mouth Danny DeVito making sense of a changing economy telling the stockholders to invest in something else. Norman Jewison magic hasn't lost it's luster as DeVito and Peck work well together. Love the failed courtship between Devito and Miller as well. I thought this was a great vehicle for Danny DeVito in one of his most finest performances in his long and interesting career. Alvin Sargent's screen writing is superb as the rebuttal scenes at the plant are priceless . The two actors with their cadence and mannerism make the scenes so real. I give this movie half a dozen donuts out of ten.
Momcat_of_Lomita
This movie is great entertainment that delivers a message without being preachy. And a measure of how successful it is: it makes you believe that Danny de Vito and Penelope Ann Miller actually could be a great, sexy couple! It is very much a movie of its time: the late 80's, early 90's, when corporate "raiders" and hostile takeovers of firms were in the news. Stock traders made fortunes and corporations were laying off thousands of people at a time as CEO's sought to raise the price of their stock, and it didn't matter what a company was making-- or not making-- as long as the price of the stock stayed up.So, in this environment of "greed is good" and Wall Street being the tail that wagged the dog of American productivity, we have this movie, which pits the good guy, Andrew "Jorgie" Jorgensen (played by the archetypal good guy actor, Gregory Peck), against the bad guy, corporate raider Lawrence Garfield (played by Danny de Vito).Jorgie is the majority stockholder and CEO of New England Wire & Cable Company, a firm that is a creation of his family and whose interests and employees he regards as a responsibility of his family. As played by Peck, Jorgie is the acme of decency and old-fashioned conservative values: hard work and thrift, expecting loyalty from his employees and demonstrating loyalty in return. Stubborn and resistant to change where he sees change as conflicting with his values. An upright, honest, virtuous man who believes that moral rightness will always be recognized and will always triumph.Danny de Vito is his nemesis: a corporate raider who rose from hardscrabble beginnings in the Bronx to a posh Manhattan office and mansion, whose expertise is in finding stocks that are undervalued and making a profit through manipulating the market. He is unabashed about what he does: he loves "the game," as he calls it, and plays it with the fighting spirit of a junk-yard pitbull. There's no malice in what he does, no hard feelings, but also no apology for the carnage he leaves in his wake. He's just doing what he's best at doing.And so de Vito identifies New England Wire & Cable as a prime target for takeover: the company is worth far more than the value of its stock. That's all de Vito needs to know, and the fight is on.The interest comes when Jorgie brings his step-daughter in to advise on how to fend off de Vito. Penelope Ann Miller plays Kate Sullivan, a young hot-shot lawyer in a Manhattan legal firm. She's a HOT hot-shot, no doubt about it, and much of the movie centers on her interactions with de Vito.The thing de Vito brings to his role is great energy and joy. This is a character that could be played as dark, as evil, as someone to be reviled, but there is a genuine likability to de Vito even as you see that what he's doing causes a lot of people a lot of harm, and that he's not above doing unethical things if he thinks he can get away with them. But for all that he's definitely not a "good guy," he's someone you can't really dislike. He's a rogue, but he's a rogue completely without malice. Just like a tiger will tear the throat out of its prey and is a dangerous predator, but is still a beast with qualities that make you admire it-- from a distance, or with the bars of a cage to protect you.The movie's final battle, the scene where Peck and de Vito make speeches to the company stockholders in support of what they represent, is an amazingly articulate piece of writing that is as superbly acted as anything you're going to see in the movies. IMO that one scene alone makes the movie worthwhile. That there's so much more to like about this movie really makes it a winner.Dean Jones has a role in the movie that I think is one of the best of his career. I don't think he got the respect in his career that he deserved; he did a lot of work in Disney films, and I think this caused people to take his talents as an actor lighter than they should. He's excellent in his role here.And Penelope Ann Miller-- she is absolute dynamite in this role, she's really the backbone of the action. Her interactions with de Vito are warm and believable and the chemistry between the two of them WORKS.There are some flaws to the movie: the biggest is that there is apparently some back-story, some conflict between the Jorgie character and Miller's character, that isn't made clear. She's Jorgie's step-daughter and it's apparent that at some time in their lives, there was a conflict, and that there is a reserve between them. But it's never made clear what the issue was, and to this extent the movie isn't satisfying.Piper Laurie's character, Jorgie's wife, is also perhaps not fully realized. She's good, but there's something missing, something I can't really describe.But those are small quibbles. Over all, this is a superb movie that I think is one of de Vito's best roles, and is a funny, thoughtful, well-written story that characterizes a particular time and issue that were defining to America.
bonzi
This rather entertaining feel-good movie about a "corporate takeover shark" attacking a mom-and-pop business is ruined by some of its star lineup delivering mediocre at best performance. DeVito, of course, is brilliant as ever, and some minor roles are delivered quite well. But Peck's performance feels half hearted and mechanical, and Penelope Ann Miller acts on par with an average high school production.Multi-layered interplay between DeVito's takeover artist and Miller's yuppie star lawyer is supposed to be the backbone of the movie. However, Miller wooden acting fails to bring any subtlety to it, and as the result I had difficulty believing DeVito's side, as well.Gregory Peck was relying on clichés of his decades of acting, but failed to deliver convincing angst of a man losing the centerpiece of his life.So, watch, but don'r expect brilliant performances.
