bribabylk ... and that's about the main thing going for it, and even he has a flat butt. Seriously, the whole thing about the murder weapon being a Civil War era musket has been done to death on the mediocre detective shows filling space on the TV schedules today; and it's pretty obvious who the killer is within the first 20 minutes. The performances aren't bad; in fact they're too good for the B-grade material. Hope everyone was well paid. You should really only see the movie if you have to watch EVERYTHING with Tom Berenger, or Steven Lang, or Kari Wurher, or Valerie Golina, etc. Ellen Green from "Little Shop of Horrors" makes a very brief appearance, and it was nice to see her again - she doesn't really get the film / TV work she deserves; kind of like Celeste Holme's career, which should have been bigger than it was. I saw this on cable; maybe the DVD has some extra features that make it more worth the while.

Woodyanders Tom Berenger gives a typically excellent and engaging performance as Ernest DeWalt, a retiring, laid-back and amiable former cop turned crime novelist and college professor who's asked by the fiery, enticing Elizabeth Laughton (well played by the lovely Valeria Golino) to investigate the murder of her unfaithful husband Alex (a fine Stephen Lang) and the disappearance of his sultry tramp mistress Jeri Gillen (a smoking hot Kari Wuhrer). Both DeWalt's attraction to Elizabeth and his precarious health complicate things to a substantial degree. Director Salome Brezinger, working from an absorbing script by Randall Silvis, wrings plenty of tension from the gripping story and adroitly creates a pungent, vivid and sweltering downhome Southern atmosphere. A top-notch supporting cast qualifies as another major asset: Robert Davi as a compassionate detective, Richard Edson as a sleazy whitetrash druggie, Geoffrey Lewis as a bumbling oaf, and Ellen Greene as a sassy diner waitress. As an added bonus, both Wuhrer and Golino take their clothes off. Anton Sanko's flavorsome, harmonic country score and Mauro Fiore's bright, pretty cinematography further enhance the overall sound quality of this nifty little winner.

Aristides-2 This will be a "Why" review which will then provide some "Answers". Why: does the college teacher teach a class from an elevated proscenium stage? Answer: The location manager of the film forgot to book a classroom on the day the scene was to be shot. College graciously allowed them to use their theater for a couple of hours. Why: are some of the students in their thirties? A: The "main" student in the scene, an older man, was chosen because he's related to one of the producers. The director, seeing him at lunch with his producer friend, realizes that he will stick out like a sore thumb and therefore tells her casting person to cast most of the class with, errrrh, older actors. Why: does the Berenger character, a former cop for god's sake, act like a virginal nincompoop when he speaks to almost anyone else in the film? A: B., without a strong director, he directed himself and decided to play dumb-naive Southern. Why: does the missing waitress appear from time-to-time as a fantasy-image? A: to show audiences that the prof is a "famous writer" who desperately needs a muse......to write true crime crap yet! Why: does the scene with the muse, riding on the external front of prof's car, have the background moving backwards? A: because the director, cinematographer and script supervisor forgot or didn't know that when you have a camera axis change from scene to scene what appears forward-going will project backwards. Why: does the color of the prof's car change on a car surveillance sequence? A: See previous answer and add property master, teamster and key grip to the answer. One of these people should have caught the error Why: and how could the town's newspaper know, the day after the murder, that "the waitress" was in the car with the victim? No one saw them together. A: a thing like this will happen to a hack writer grinding out a script under time pressure. Why: does the prof. keep injecting a yellowish fluid into his arm? A: Maybe his body doesn't provide enough urine for his every six hour evacuations and so he has to add it to his system. Why: didn't the savvy ex-cop, investigating a missing person who was present at a murder, make the connection that a huge hole being dug by two retards (set in the South so of course common folk are all perverted, repressed morons) near the site of the crime scene take days if not weeks to think that it might be a place to bury another murder victim. (This burial site is next to the murderer's house which is located near huge swamps which would be perfect to get rid of a body; oh the inbreeding that takes place Down South and the damage to the intellect!.) Much, much more but only time for one more Why. Why was this movie made? A: They thought with Berenger in it they could market it into profitability. As if that would be enough given the illogical script they were planning on filming. Too, he probably got more money than they wanted to spend and started cutting costs in many ways that unfortunately turned up on the screen.

MIKE-966 I've seen Valeria Golino in comedies, but till now not in such a film. In this film she shows what an allround actress can. I was deeply impressed by both of the players, Tom and Valeria. It's a pity that I didn't see the full length of the film, but it held me in my chair from the beginning to the end. My advice: See the movie.