Against All Odds (1984) Full Review

Film Scene Investigation

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Transcript

00:00hey guys i hope you're all doing good it's me beau back on the film scene investigation channel

00:19with another film review in today's video i'm going to be taking a look at the 1984 romantic

00:28thriller against all odds now i first came across this film many years ago when i was delving into

00:37phil collins's greatest hits i was uh you know getting into music at the time and phil collins i

00:46had you know seen some of his uh music videos and one of them in particular was against all odds

00:52i think i was watching it on vh1 classic or something and yeah in this video there was

01:00footage of the movie splice dealing with it i remember i noticed jeff bridges in the footage

01:07and later found out that this movie was or had the same name as the song so yeah um that was my first

01:15kind of introduction to against all odds and eventually probably about maybe three or four

01:21years later i finally sat down to watch it for the first time so against all odds from 1984

01:29was directed by the filmmaker taylor hackford and was based on the novel build my gallows high

01:37from 1946 this 1984 version was produced for around about 13 million dollars but went on to make

01:47over 20 million at the box office and even garnered an oscar nomination for best original song when it

01:55comes to the narrative the movie focused on the central character terry brogan who was played by actor

02:03jeff bridges an injured football player who had just been cut from his team he wanted to continue

02:10playing and you know have a full-length career but unfortunately his injuries were too severe for

02:17him to carry on terry was obviously a very dedicated player you know he loved his profession and wanted to

02:26still be involved with the game but even his peers were suggesting that he basically quit

02:32and you know save himself save his body from any further injury with no future prospects

02:39no future career path terry was down on his luck i mean he thought that was pretty much it his life

02:47was over and then he met his friend jake who was played by actor james woods and jake had a proposition

02:54for terry you see jake needed someone to go find his ex-girlfriend jesse wyler who had stolen money from

03:02him basically she'd outsmarted him she'd ran off with his money and jake wanted it back terry was

03:10confused by the proposition but considering he could no longer earn money playing football jake's offer

03:18of 30k up front seemed very tempting all terry had to do was get on a plane and travel over to mexico

03:26and pick jesse up you know jake made it sound so simple but of course the situation was a lot more

03:36complicated as jesse was the daughter of mrs wyler the owner of the football team that terry used to play

03:44for you see if he got involved things could get messy and potentially backfire on him so of course

03:53terry was very hesitant to accept jake's offer since terry still felt very apprehensive he decided

04:01to meet mrs wyler one-on-one face-to-face so they could discuss his future at the football club terry

04:08actually used the opportunity to plead his case and try and convince mrs wyler to get him back on the

04:16team but she outright refused since there was no way of terry getting back on the team he begrudgingly

04:25accepted jake's offer and got on the plane and traveled to an island off of mexico you see in his

04:32exercise if mrs wyler wasn't going to help him in his career then well terry was going to go and help

04:39himself by finding her daughter once he arrived on the island it didn't take long for terry to find

04:46jesse who was playing by actress rachel ward initially she gave him the cold shoulder i mean he was a

04:53stranger after all and even though he tried to you know play it cool she yeah wasn't interested i think

05:01given the circumstances in which jesse left los angeles with jake's money basically you know

05:09stealing it from him and then running away of course she was a little worried about the potential

05:16repercussions as the days followed jesse realized that terry wasn't a threat and that you know she

05:24could trust him and so the two became close eventually the two began this passionate love

05:31affair all the while jake was waiting back in los angeles for updates terry had taken jake's money

05:39he had accepted the offer and was given clear instructions to go and get jesse but suddenly

05:46he fell head over heels he fell in love and well there was no going back for him it was also quite clear

05:54that jesse was pretty happy on the island i mean she had this nice setup she had jake's money she didn't want to

06:02leave and of course terry wasn't going to leave without her so the two ended up staying for weeks on the island

06:09without letting jake know it was like forget about that guy let's just go and have this passionate love affair

06:17and yeah just live happily ever after but as you can imagine back in la jake was getting more and more

06:25angry after not receiving any updates from terry he had given this money over he thought he could trust

06:32his friend and suddenly he'd been ghosted this all led to terry's friend hank sully showing up on the

06:39island ready to take jesse back to la you see jake had become too suspicious about what was going on

06:47and wanted answers so he decided to send hank to do his dirty work so the couple were found and held at gunpoint

06:56with hank telling jesse she needed to return asap back with him to los angeles of course she didn't want to go

07:05and there was no way that terry was going to just allow that to happen as you can imagine tensions

07:11flared and eventually terry and hank got into a fist fight terry tried his best to fight back but hank

07:20got the better off him and was about to kill him when suddenly jesse picked up hank's gun and shot him

07:26dead jesse of course didn't mean to kill hank i mean it all happened so quickly she just wanted the

07:35two to stop fighting and so she picked up the gun and next thing you know she pulled the trigger hank

07:41was dead she was a murderer and that was a burden that was just too big for her to accept so in a

07:50surprising move jesse ended up leaving the island and actually traveled back to los angeles to be with

07:58jake you see jake could give her an alibi if the authorities started asking questions about the

08:04whereabouts of hank sully jesse certainly did not want to go to prison i mean she was a murderer she

08:12didn't mean to do it but it happened and well she was gonna have to face some prison time unless jake

08:19could vouch for her now this movie had one of those unique end sequences where the final scene

08:27blends into the end credits you had jesse standing there looking at terry terry looking at her you know

08:35the two lovers that wanted to be with each other but they you know they couldn't be and the phil

08:39collins song against all odds playing out it was this bittersweet moment and what made it work

08:48was the combination of not just a brilliant song by phil collins but also the beauty of rachel ward

08:55blending all of that together made for a very romanticized ending with all the sensibilities of

09:02the 1980s i i loved it and uh i thought it was a brilliant brilliant decision you know for the camera

09:12to linger on rachel ward's character as the credits rolled i mean to me it was um far more impactful

09:21than to just fade to black now one thing i wanted to mention was the film's overall look and aesthetic

09:29now there can be no denying that against all odds was a very well-made production that had some

09:35beautiful visuals throughout from cinematographer donald e thorin from the sun-drenched beaches

09:42to the mystical island ruins i mean all of that it was all there on show for the audience to absorb

09:50also shooting on location in mexico that's not cheap that would have cost some money so it was good

09:59to see that the filmmakers fully utilized their surroundings now while i really appreciated the

10:05overall style of the film i must say it really did remind me of the 1984 television show miami vice

10:15with the vibrant colors and the exotic locations there were a number of similarities that i noticed when

10:25i was watching against all odds what i find most interesting is that against all odds predates

10:32miami vice i mean the movie was filmed one year earlier in 1983 and was released before september of

10:3984 when the show debuted now clearly the executive producer michael mann who was behind miami vice

10:47yeah it was obvious he took a lot of inspiration from the movie scarface but having seen

10:55the full five seasons of the show and then watching against all odds i think it's quite plausible that

11:01michael mann took some influence and some ideas from this movie i mean for example we saw this car race

11:10between terry and jake they were both racing these sports cars and honestly looking at some of the

11:17camera angles the close-ups of the bumpers the wide shots of the cars zooming past it was all very

11:24reminiscent of the car chases that we saw in the early seasons of miami vice it's just something

11:30that i wanted to bring up something that uh that i noticed because when i've you know read up on miami

11:38vice and the history surrounding the show yeah i mean scarface you know the movie al pacino that

11:45often gets cited as a major influence but uh against all odds doesn't and um yeah to me it's quite

11:52baffling because there's clear comparisons of the two as for the performances i thought jeff bridges

11:59was great in the leading role playing terry brogan the down and out football player bridges brought his

12:08natural charm and likability to the screen that made his character terry quite endearing when i think back

12:17at some of the characters decisions terry certainly wasn't uh you know the smartest guy i mean running

12:25away with you know 30k in your pocket and thinking that there would be no repercussions i mean that's

12:31pretty stupid but with the power of jeff bridges performance you still was able to feel some sympathy

12:40for the character even when he made stupid decisions actor james woods did a decent job playing the

12:47dubious antagonist jake wise now his character was this slimy nightclub owner who was selfish and thought

12:57he could control people by using his money but when it came to jesse well that backfired on him

13:07now this movie ran for well over two hours and james woods you know had a pretty limited amount of

13:14screen time so all things considered he actually did quite an impressive job playing the bad guy and

13:21making the most of his screen time as for actress rachel ward well she was fantastic in the role as jesse

13:30wyler and for me the perfect casting choice her character was this seductive femme fatale who was

13:41guarded by privilege and was even willing to sacrifice her own happiness in order to avoid prison

13:49now there's no denying that back in the day rachel ward was a very attractive woman but specifically

13:59singling out her performance and her role in this movie i have to say that uh times ward was

14:08mesmerizing and whenever she was on screen you couldn't really take your eyes off her i mean you know

14:15she was that captivating and that leads me on to one of the other aspects that i really enjoyed about

14:21this movie and that was the chemistry between rachel ward and jeff bridges the two had this natural

14:29back and forth chemistry you know it didn't feel forced and it was also believable that someone like

14:36terry in his position in his situation would indeed fall head over heels for jesse and of course with the

14:45romance comes the love scenes and when i was watching these love scenes play out i did think

14:52about rachel ward's husband brian brown so rachel ward and the actor brian brown they got married in

15:001983 the same year that against all odds was filmed and i don't know it just popped into my head this thing

15:08of like man i wonder what brian brown must have uh felt you know watching this movie and seeing his

15:15wife you know simulate sex scenes of you know this hollywood heartthrob in jeff bridges maybe i'm just

15:22a little bit old school but uh i think i would feel a little bit or find it a little bit difficult to

15:29accept you know my wife simulating sex scenes you know in such a provocative way but um i guess that

15:38you know comes with the territory of you know marrying an actress i'm sure rachel ward told

15:44brian brown ahead of time if we marry you know you're not going to change my career path i want

15:50to be an actress and that comes with the territory so he had to accept it i guess and you know he's

15:55also you know done romantic films and you know got naked on screen and stuff like that with women so

16:01it is what it is but um yeah just watching against the odds you know for the first time in many years

16:07seeing this very you know provocative passionate you know love scene between jeff bridges

16:14and rachel ward yeah it made me uh think man it must be pretty difficult for uh brian brown to watch

16:22this and so dislikes for against all odds from 1984 my biggest dislike for the film would have to be

16:32its overall length as for me there could have been at least 10 to 15 minutes of footage that could have

16:40easily have been removed this was a good film and i do recommend it but i think it could have been a

16:48great film if it was a tighter edit now this wasn't a big deal you know it's not a major factor

16:56it didn't really ruin my overall viewing experience but there was just a lot of filler you know stuff

17:05that didn't really go anywhere and you know for example the sequence inside jake's nightclub we saw

17:13this musical performance with these dancers and this singer and a hat and for you know a couple of

17:21minutes the film just kind of just focused on this band playing this this music act and it just felt

17:30unnecessary i mean if something was going to happen on stage then yeah i get it you know build it up

17:38make tension you know but just to cut to this random musical performance i don't know just didn't

17:46work for me and obviously this was a you know big hollywood production so i wouldn't be surprised if

17:53the studio had given some notes and said you know they requested a certain length a certain runtime

17:59but um either way there was just at times a lot of uh a lot of filler and i wish that yeah it had been

18:10re-edited edited down and maybe you know condensed for a much quicker tighter pace and so ratings for

18:19against all odds from 1984 i'm gonna be rating this movie a solid 5.5 out of 10 against all odds was

18:31your quintessential 80s noir romantic thriller that starred jeff bridges and rachel ward entangled in this

18:40forbidden love affair as mentioned earlier their chemistry they had together it was a key element

18:47a major highlight that brought a lot of intrigue to the story what i find most fascinating is the

18:55film's title theme you know written and performed by phil collins against all odds the song itself

19:01you know that had some major major success and in actual fact it's actually overshadowed the movie

19:11i mean when people think about against all odds they would immediately think of the song before they

19:17would think of the film it was a power ballad it's a real classic i mean i've heard it ever since i was a

19:25kid on the radio and yeah i mean it was phil collins's first us number one it earned him a

19:32grammy it got him an oscar nomination so yeah i mean more people know about the song than the movie

19:38itself if you've seen against all odds then please let me know your thoughts and memories in the comment

19:44section below for those out there who haven't seen it or for those who haven't seen this one you know

19:51in some time i would definitely recommend it if you're a fan of 80s cinema then absolutely you'll

19:58definitely get a kick out of this but more specifically if you're a fan of the show miami vice

20:04as i am then i think you'll not just notice the comparisons and the similarities but you'll

20:11appreciate them too so yeah if you're a fan go definitely check this one out and well that is all

20:17from me today guys i do hope you've enjoyed this review of against all odds from 1984 i'll be back

20:24next week with yet another cult movie review if you like what i do here guys please consider

20:30subscribing to the channel and of course take care

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