Against All Odds (1984)

Director:

Taylor Hackford

Writers:

Daniel Mainwaring (1947 screenplays)
Eric Hughes (writer)

Release Date:

2 March 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Crime | Drama | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

She was a beautiful fugitive. Fleeing from corruption. From power. He was a professional athlete past his prime. Hired to find her, he grew to love her. Love turned to obsession. Obsession turned to murder. And now the price of freedom might be nothing less than their lives.

Plot:

A gangster hires an ex-football player to find his girlfriend. When he finds her, they fall in love, and the twists start to appear.

Plot Keywords:

Nudity | Beautiful Woman | American Football | Neo Noir | Remake

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 2 nominations

Cast

Rachel Ward	...	Jessie Wyler
Jeff Bridges	...	Terry Brogan
James Woods	...	Jake Wise
Alex Karras	...	Hank Sully
Jane Greer	...	Mrs. Grace Wyler
Richard Widmark	...	Ben Caxton
Dorian Harewood	...	Tommy
Swoosie Kurtz	...	Edie
Saul Rubinek	...	Steve Kirsch
Pat Corley	...	Ed Phillips
Bill McKinney	...	Head Coach Stassen
Allen Williams	...	Bob Soames
Sam Scarber	...	Assistant Coach Sam
Jon St. Elwood	...	Ahmad Cooper
Tamara Stafford	...	Kirsch's Girlfriend

Also Known As:

Gegen jede Chance (Austria) (West Germany) [de]
Bez szans (Poland) [pl]
Contra todo riesgo (Spain) [es]
Contre toute attente (France) [fr]
Due vite in gioco (Italy) [it]
El poder y la pasión (Argentina) [es]
Erotas dihos avrio (Greece) [el]
Farlig impuls (Denmark) [da]
Kaikki pelissä (Finland) [fi]
Mot alla odds (Sweden) [sv]
Paixões Violentas (Brazil) [pt]
Przeciw wszystkim (Poland) [pl]
Vidas em Jogo (Portugal) [pt]

Runtime:

128 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Singapore:M18 | USA:R (Certificate #27136) | UK:15 (theatrical rating) | UK:18 (video rating) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Canada:R (Ontario) | South Korea:18 | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 (1984) | Peru:18 | Sweden:15 | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Chichén Itzá, Yucatán, Mexico

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

The fictional football team named the L.A. Outlaws is supposed to be the L.A. Raiders.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Brogan finds Kirsch lying dead in the shower the camera zooms in on a close-up of Kirsch's face. You can see that Kirsch's pupils are constricted by the bright light. A real corpse's eyes would be fully dilated.

Quotes:

Jake Wise: It's simple: either you want to play football again, or you don't.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Best of Film Noir (1999) (V)

Soundtrack:

AGAINST ALL ODDS (TAKE A LOOK AT ME NOW)

VERY loose remake of "Out of the Past"

Ex football player Terry Brogran (Jeff Bridges) takes a job from sleazy friend Jake Wise (James Woods)--find his ex girlfriend Jessie Wyler (Rachel Ward) who shot him and ran away with a large amount of his cash. Terry tracks Jessie to Mexico...and immediately they fall in love. That's the first hour--the second hour becomes very convoluted with murders and double crosses all over the place.

Interesting movie which is a semi-remake of "Out of the Past". In fact Jane Greer from the original plays the mother of her character here! The original was a strong, well-written film noir. This is not film noir--it's a combination romance/mystery/melodrama. Also Greer played a totally amoral woman in the original--here Ward isn't amoral, just misunderstood. Also Bridges is all pumped up and him and Ward work wonderfully together. Their frequent very R rated sex scenes really work. And it looks great--a portion of the film takes place in Mexico. Still there are definite problems here.

One character, Edie (Swoosie Kurtz) is introduced to provide some REAL clumsy exposition...and doesn't pop up again until a HOUR later. I had forgotten who she was! Alex Karras is incredibly bad in his role. The plot gets way too confused. And the movie isn't sure what it wants to be. It switches gears so much I thought I was gonna get whiplash! The best part of the movie--an incredible car race down Sunset Blvd. has NOTHING to do with anything in the movie! The acting is pretty good. Bridges (in one of his few commercial films) and Ward LOOK fantastic, have great bodies and are both good in their roles. Woods is, surprisingly, pretty wooden. Greer isn't in much but she IS very good. And Richard Widmark hams it up in his small role.

Also the film has a surprisingly somewhat downbeat ending. And there's a wonderful title song by Phil Collins (nominated for an Academy Award).

A very interesting movie. I give it a 6. A sizable hit in its day--but that's because of the steamy sex scenes between Ward and Bridges.