Genres

Visitors Review

P. McNamee 2012-05-26 00:10:29

Drama with a hint of a musical about it

Some may say this film doesn't know where it is going, it starts as adrama,then a thriller, a musical, a comedy and back to a drama. It was a mixtureto be enjoyed. Nick Nolte fans should not be disappointed. This was a lowbudget venture and it doesn't show. The casting director certainly earnedtheir money on this one with a rich mix of character actors who today arevery well known but maybe not at the time this was made. One for thecollection.

Robert J. Maxwell 2012-05-25 09:03:44

Shoot to Kill

Robert Maxwell rmax304823@yahoo.com wrote: It's difficult to evaluate a film in which you've been to even theslightest extent involved. You tend to wish it well. I was anatmosphere person in the prison scenes here, filmed at a cement factorya few miles outside of Wilmington, North Carolina. I watch it withgusto, not only my scenes but all of them. Nick Nolte wearing what hethinks is the high-collared coat of a Broadway producer. I had aterrific scene in which I hand an inmate a glass of milk with my thumbin it and he throws it back at me. (They had trouble refitting me aftereach take, what with my neck as it is.) Marilisa and I finally wound upputting a safety pin through the flesh of my neck, so anxious was I tobe Taft-Hartleyed into SAG. It was the only production I worked on inwhich the character had a name, Bruce Olson. Thank Bog for JohnHancock. He picked me out of a lineup to play the sloppy correctionsofficer because I looked least like Doctor Jeykll and most like Mr.Hyde. I was so nervous that when he called "action" I mimed the scene,not knowing the cameras were rolling. Hancock called me aside, pattedme on the shoulder, and gently told me that "Action" meant the wholething, as if I were the village idiot, instead of a highly dignifiedand educated personage in the Wilmington community. As far as the moviegoes, I've seen better, insofar as I can divorce myself from it, theway a doctor does with a patient. The riot scene was no joke. I was amember of the riot squad, went through a blistering two-day course incrowd control, and a bit of burning phosphorous dribbled down into myface between the plastic shield and the goggles and burned off myeyebrows. Confused by the smell of incense and burning hair I milledaround trying to look fierce. Must have succeeded because one slightlybuilt African-American kid was positioned opposite me (I was wardrobedin an international orange jump suit with black belt, black boots, gasmask, helmet and face plate, and riot baton) and shakily said, "Hey,don't hurt me, man." Stumbled over a couple of inmates, who really wereinmates, or rather ex-inmates. At the end of the day I went to the PAand told her I'd locked myself out of my car, how could I get back in?Libby hollered, "Anyone here know how to get into a locked car?" andevery hand shot up. It was a tough shoot overall. Everyone in the riotscene wound up bruised. I wish the effort had been worth it, but itdoesn't seem to have been, even at more than ten years' distance. Iwish it had been a better movie, but it's not too bad as it is. Aboveaverage. Let's say that.

2012-05-16 03:19:04

terrific

This movie is a very special movie. I wish it were on DVD, but the powers that be haven't released it yet. Hopefully one day it will be available. The movie is about Lee Umstetter's creativity in prison from his nadir at failed attempts at suicide to an almost broadway hit with his play, Weeds. To my surprise, some of the more moving songs of the play were composed by Melissa Etheridge, whos music I never got into. Nick Nolte's performance was terrific as well as the rest of the cast's performance. I have never seen anything like it and probably never will. If there is a complaint, I think the play's music could have been sung better, but perhaps the realism of the movie was against that idea.

A.G. 2012-05-15 15:48:46

Strong story and very powerful

The story about the prisoners changing their lives through stage plays was very powerful.Gift Harris did a great job as the inmate who started the riot in the prison after feeling unjustly denied their opportunity to continue watching the play that Nick Nolte and his actors were presenting. They were telling the story of how the inmates were feeling. Two thumbs up for this film. I give this film an A.

2012-05-07 07:52:23

Weeds

A great movie! One of my all time favorites. Incredible acting by Nolte especially when he reads the letter giving him parole. The music is also incredible, who would have known William Forsythe had such a fantastic voice.

2012-05-06 15:07:52

Excellent still

This review is from: Weeds [VHS] (VHS Tape) This is one of the best movies I've ever seen. Nolte is powerful and convincing. I'd love to see this on DVD. This movie is all heart against a brutal background.