Review of Stick (1985) by Spookie M — 10 Dec 2013

He only directed four feature films, but I thought Burt Reynolds could have had a career as a director if he'd chosen to and had kind of a Robert Aldrich style of tough filmmaking. "Stick" is something of a mixed bag, but I do think it's somewhat underrated.

Elmore Leonard co-wrote the screenplay adaptation of his own novel, but disowned the end product after the studio forced Burt to reshoot much of the film and eliminate most all of the humor. This story concerns Ernest Stickley begin released from prison, who then quickly gets involved with a Florida drug deal gone wrong.

The best Elmore Leonard film adaptations all had a great mix of humar and violence ("Out of Sight," "Jackie Brown" or "Get Shorty") but this film, like most of his film adaptations gone wrong, focus simply on the tough guy aspects of the story.

Although this film lacks the quirky humor of Leonard's book, it still has quite a bit to like. Burt is good as the title tough guy. You've also got a good supporting cast that includes Candice Bergen, George Segal, Charles Durning, Alex Rocco and most notably Dar Robinson as the tough albino Moke.

Robinson was a Hollywood legend in the stunt community and his role here was his one and old significant role as an actor. He has one spectacular stunt at the end of the film that's considered by many to be one of the greatest movie stunts of all time.

Robinson made a very memorable villain here and I'm sure he would have had an acting career ahead of him if it hadn't been for his untimely death a year later. Overall, "Stick" is far from the best Leonard film adaptation, but taken as a gritty 1980s action flick, it holds up and is a quality film.