After the release of Bonnie & Clyde, The Graduate, and Easy Rider, there was a major shift in filmmaking called the New Hollywood Movement. Throughout the 70s, many prominent directors made films that challenged social norms and taboos. Among those directors, including Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, and Francis Ford Coppola, was Hal Ashby. Ashby was an editor on The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming and In the Heat of the Night. He then transitioned to directing his first film The Landlord in 1970. He also made other notable films like Harold & Maude, Shampoo, and Being There. While many directors went on to continued success in the 80s, others couldn’t reach the same heights as before. With Ashby, his later films either had a troubled production or were commercial/critical failures. This came to a head in what was his last film, 1986’s 8 Million Ways to Die.
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Based on the Lawrence Block book, the follows Matthew Scudder (Jeff Bridges), an ex-cop turned private detective who struggles with alcoholism, which gets him fired, divorced, and distanced from his daughter. After an A.A. meeting, he’s invited to a club run by Chance Walker (Randy Brooks). There he meets a call girl named Sunny (Alexandra Paul), who goes back to his place. Failing to seduce him, she confides in him her fear of Chance and asks Scudder to convince Chance to let her go. After Scudder is told that Chance treats the girls well, Sunny ends up kidnapped, murdered, and thrown off a bridge. Soon, Scudder is convinced that a local drug dealer/crime boss known as Angel Moldonado (Andy Garcia) is responsible. Digging even deeper into the investigation, Scudder uncovers a plot by Moldonado to deal drugs through Chance’s legitimate businesses.
Getting into what really works, the cast in this movie is phenomenal. Jeff Bridges does a great job playing a former alcoholic struggling with his demons trying to redeem himself. Rosanna Arquette, on top of being gorgeous, is also great as a call-girl who overtime develops a relationship with Scudder. Andy Garcia absolutely steals the show as Angel, always bursting with manic energy and going toe-to-toe with Scudder. While she has a smaller role, Alexandra Paul is quite gorgeous and is what starts the conflict. Randy Brooks is also fun as Chance who, while he is a crime boss, does have a set of ethics. Also, be sure to look out for James Avery, aka Uncle Phil from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, as a D.A. The score by James Newton Howard is great, who uses mostly synth music that gives it that gritty 80s vibe.
Unfortunately, this movie was quite the problematic production. For one, the script, originally written by Oliver Stone, was heavily rewritten by R. Lance Hill. Hill was actually hired after Ashby wrote 50 pages of a potential script, which the producers actually liked. Ashby stopped upon finding out the studio hired Hill for rewrites, not helped by Hill only reporting to the producers. Then, Hill’s version of the script was heavily rewritten by Robert Towne, under the pseudonym David Lee Henry. Honestly, you can tell since there are some plot points that are dropped and some things don’t make sense. Also, the editing in the film is very choppy, feeling almost haphazard. There are scenes that just happen without much explanation, as if scenes leading up to them were cut out. A large part of this is due to Ashby being fired after principal photography ended and the studio took over.
Sadly, the movie was a massive flop when it came out, making only $500,000 against an $18 million budget. While it was not liked by critics at the time, it has gone on to something of a cult following. There are people who love it and people who hate it, both sides of which I can understand. But in spite of the movie’s flaws, I still actually enjoyed it. While the movie could’ve been better had the producers not interfered, what is there is still a well-done crime thriller. The cast is great, the performances are memorable, the action sequences are fun, and it has a solid 80s vibe. Overall, 8 Million Ways to Die is a flawed but well-made and underrated crime thriller.
