The Things You Don't Think About
The plot is a standard one. Our private detective, Harry Ross, makes a simple delivery for a friend and discovers a murder. Then he discovers several more. The police suspect him, but let him go. He wades through the confusion, taking the occasional beating. Finally, he solves the mystery. Then re-solves it. We've seen the plot before. But this movie isn't great because of the plot. It's the characters.

Excepting a very young Reese Witherspoon, who bounces through an early scene, the main characters are all...old. Paul Newman, Gene Hackman, and James Garner are seasoned actors who know their craft and themselves through decades of experience. They use this knowledge to bring a world-weary, knowing depth to their characters. Not-so-old Susan Sarandon and Stockard Channing also invest their characters with this depth of years, their beauty undiminished by it. These people have lived complex lives and learned something from them. They know who they are.

They know each other, too. You can hear it in how they talk, the abbreviated references to shared events and sadly remembered friends. You can hear it in the silences. There are silences of understanding, when nothing needs saying. And there are silences of considered restraint, when something is thoughtfully left unsaid. ("You haven't apologized to me," complains Gene Hackman. "You haven't been listening," Paul Newman chides in return.)

My favorite exchanges between Paul Newman and James Garner occur while they seem to be resting from previous scenes' exertions. Their words are sometimes blunt, sometimes carefully incomplete, always casual, yet rich with reference and understated implication. These men understand each other with fewer words than younger men use. They haven't the energy or the need to say more.

See this movie with someone you think you know well. It may give you something to talk about. Or carefully not talk about.

Film noir for the everyman and woman
Back in Feb '08 I found out about this movie because I was in a Paul Newman phase of movie watching. It turns out that two of my other favorite movie stars James Garner and Gene Hackman were also in it, so I purchased it. I don't know what the reviewers of the day back in 1998 were thinking but I think that they were not thinking right when they dissed this movie. This movie deserves to be watched and is a "fun" movie as well as an intelligent one. Susan Sarandon shines in this movie and Reese Witherspoon is a hottie in her first adult role and Stockard Channing is delightful in a small role. It all has an excellent cast of character actors and actresses and should be viewed by the readers here at Amazon. RIP MR.Newman

An All-Star Cast, a Good Story
I was in the mood for an old-school style murder/detective flick, and plugged this one in. 60 seconds into the film I get hit with a MAJOR "double" topless scene starring Reese Witherspoon (10 years younger). Gratuitous? Anyway, after re-gathering and re-trenching from that, I did indeed settle down into a Humphrey Bogartesque murder mystery.

Maybe the most significant mark of this film is the very heavy-duty cast . . . Paul Newman (aged like fine wine), Gene Hackman (the BEST), Susan Sarandon (hate her politics but enjoy her work, and again, a gratuitous look at her backside), James Garner (fortunately, no skin shots here), Reese Witherspoon (all of her), Stockard Channing (I don't care for her, personally, but she is a NAME).

A good whodunnit tale. Fading starlets, ex-cop private eyes, slithering opportunists, the always pleasant L.A. vista as seen from Mulholland Drive. Enjoy. Adults only please (nudity, language, shooting/beating violence).

Solid performances by top actors
This film features fine performances from screen legend Paul Newman, up and comer Reese Witherspoon, and more. This is a better film than the reviews it typically gets from most professional reviewers. Well worth watching, especially if you like the Paul Newman performance in Nobody's Fool.

Terrific cast. That's all.
There is a terrific cast here, and their acting is as good as usual. The story is good enough to keep you interested, but not really any better than a typical episode of some old detective show like the Rockford Files or Hart to Hart. It's not really about solving the crime from clues, but just Newman getting involved in murders and beat up, and I figured out who the real bad guy was right away. But if you're a fan of Paul Newman, Gene Hackman, Susan Sarandon, Stockard Channing, or James Garner, you'll get to see good acting by all of them. And even if you're not, you'll get to see both Sarandon and Reese Witherspoon naked in the same movie.