'Lookin' To Get Out'

'Lookin' To Get Out' (R) (82) ***1/2

Writers: Al Schwartz and Jon Voight
Director: Hal Ashby
Starring: Jon Voight, Burt Young, Ann Margret, Bert Remsen, Angelina Jolie

In my grade school and high school days I absorbed a lot of movies on cable and video and discovered many adult themed movies I had never heard before. I also watched a lot of Siskel and Ebert review shows and saw them champion many movies that other critics hated. One of those movies was 'Lookin' To Get Out' with probably Jon Voight's last starring role and one of director Hal Ashby's last films. The movie was a box office bomb and critical disaster, the movie was delayed and there were rumors of trouble on the set. But Gene Siskel gave it four stars and Ebert loved it so I gave it a try and I found the hype was wrong and that this could be the best movie ever about Las Vegas and some of the losers that inhabited it. Now looking back at a new extended director's cut just released on DVD and watching a lot of movies this is my favorite movie about Las Vegas. Though it was filmed in late 1979 and it's a cheesy 70's,80's Vegas it still captures it very well.

It is about two losers in New York who are gamblers and the one character played by Voight is a very obnoxious one who has lost a lot of money to loan sharks. They travel to Las Vegas to get the money back and run into people from Voight's past. They include an ex girlfriend played by Ann Margret and yes at that time Ann Margret still looked hot. There was also two great supporting performances by Richard Bradford and Bert Remsen. Be forewarned this is a very loose, improvised movie in the style of John Cassavettes and the main character is a real jerk. The first hour is brilliant and funny setting up the main characters and letting us get to know them quickly but the end kind of loses steam. The location work in New York and Vegas is flawless. Hal Ashby films the scenes set in New York is back alleys and side streets that are grimy and seedy. He films the Vegas scenes in a fancy hotel and all the unusual places in it. The movie feels lived in and the loose dialogue makes it seem like real people talking instead of phony gangster dialogue. Jon Voight's character does get on your nerves but Voight is pitch perfect and Burt Young is a perfect, quiet counter balance. You also get a sexy Ann Margret you can enjoy staring at and a six year old Angelina Jolie. I might be in the minority on this one but I had fun. This is definitely a Hal Ashby movie because all of his movies have been quirky and unconventional starting with 'Harold and Maude'. If you want a conventional and seamless Vegas movie you will not get it but if you like something different check it out because I still think it's the best movie set in Las Vegas. Everyone let me know what your favorite movie is about Vegas because I am eager to know.