FALL TIME

  • Post author:
  • Post category:Uncategorized


FALL TIME(director: Paul Warner; screenwriters: Steve Alden/Paul Skemp; cinematographer: Mark J. Gordon; editor: Steve Nevius; music: Hummie Mann; cast: Mickey Rourke (Florence), Sheryl Lee (Patty/Carol), Stephen Baldwin (Leon), David Arquette (David), Jonah Blechman (Joe), J Michael Hunter (Big John), Jason London (Tim), Steve Alden (Officer Lyle), Jeff Gardner (Ken), Michael Edelstein (Bank Manager), Suellen Yates (David’s Mom), Tom Hull (Gas Station Attendant), Sammy Kershaw (Officer Donny), Richard K. Olsen (Officer Duane); Runtime: 88; MPAA Rating: R; producer: Edward Bates; Live Home Video; 1995)
“A direct-to-cable indie bank heist drama starring Micky Rourke, in a tailor-made role as the kind of sleaze that’s both menacing and hilarious.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

A direct-to-cable indie bank heist drama starring Micky Rourke, in a tailor-made role as the kind of sleaze that’s both menacing and hilarious. First-time director Paul Warner has a lively premise going but the writers Steve Alden and Paul Skemp can’t make this quirky caper/comedy flick over mistaken identities that believable or keep it interesting throughout or from becoming too muddled, nevertheless it has some entertainment value due to its sicko goofiness, colorful performances, clever plot twists and a healthy display of 1950’s nostalgia: references to the “Lone Ranger and Tonto” and Mr. Peepers’ TV show, the vintage ‘big fin’ cars and a futile emergency first-aid practice site on Main Street in case of an atomic attack.

It’s set in the late 1950s in rural Caledonia, Wisconsin. Recent wiseguy high-school grads David (David Arquette), Tim (Jason London) and Joe (Jonah Blechman) dressing as 1930’s styled gangsters in dark suits and sunglasses borrow without permission the 1955 Black Caddy of Big John, David’s father, and plan a prank ‘murder’ in front of their small-town bank on Main Street. Tim fires blanks from a real gun at someone who is dressed like Tim, Leon (Steve Baldwin), and then shoves him in the trunk and speed off to their country hideout. They will soon discover their mistake and are taken hostage and tortured by an irate Leon, who fears that his heist partner and ex-con lover Florence (Mickey Rourke) double-crossed him. The tan leather clad Florence, the mastermind behind the robbery, quickly reacts to the robbery being botched by taking the befuddled Tim, still on the street after the incident, at gunpoint as a hostage, instead of doing the more logical thing of following the black Caddy. After a homoerotic torture and sophist philosophy session, Florence Nightingale convinces the teen to rob the bank. Tim’s given one bullet and told to empty the vault and take as a hostage the bank loan officer Patty (Sheryl Lee), who is on the robbery. Then Florence will enter as an FBI agent and this will give Patty and Tim the opportunity to flee with the loot and return to the teens’ hideout, where Florence will later meet them. But the caper and the prank turn into a macabre bloodbath–which is poorly and unconvincingly acted out with mucho bathos.

REVIEWED ON 12/29/2006 GRADE: C+

Dennis Schwartz: “Ozus’ World Movie Reviews”

© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DENNIS SCHWARTZ