Review of 8 Million Ways to Die (1986) by Ola G — 09 Jul 2011

Matt Scudder (Jeff Bridges), an alcoholic detective with the sheriff´s department, takes part in a drug bust that results in a fatal shooting of a small-time dealer in front of the man's wife and kids. Scudder ends up in a drunk ward, suffering from booze and blackouts, damaging his career and his relationship with his daughter and estranged wife. A prostitute named Sunny comes to him for help to get out of the business. Scudder is then introduced to the wealthy drug dealer Angel Moldonado (Andy Garcia) and his girlfriend, Sarah (Rosanna Arquette), who is a friend of Sunny's and a high-priced hooker herself. Sunny is suddenly killed and Scudder falls off the wagon. When he picks himself up out of the gutter, Scudder realises that Angel killed Sunny and starts a one man vengeance against Angel...

Been several years since I saw this thriller. I reckon a young Jeff Bridges was on top of the game for sure, not that he is bad now, but he had a certain presence back then. He is solid in "8 Million Ways To Die", so is Andy Garcia and Rosanna Arquette. The story is however a bit wishy washy and that goes for Hal Ashby´s direction as well. Apparently he more or less threw away the script and allowed the actors to improvise the dialogue. But, that is not evident in the movie. There´s sparks between Garcia and Bridges in their one on one scenes. When reseeing 80´s thrillers, I find myself really paying attention to the muscial score. That was a different ballgame back then. I love that movie sound that was in these kind of movies back then. And I had forgotten how much I liked Rosanna Arquette. She was a stunner in the 80´s. "8 Million Ways To Die" is not too bad. I like it.