Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995)

Beautiful, moving film.

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Thing's to do in denver when you're dead, stars a young Andy Garcia as 'Jimmy The Saint' who is given a job by Christopher Walken's character to bring him his son back to him before he gets wacked for feeling up children. On the way through this journey of finding his son, he hires a bunch of professional hit men to help him stop anyone who's in his way. It co- stars Gabrielle Anwar, a love interest for Andy Garcia. & the rest of the knock out cast includes Christopher Walken, William Forsythe, Christopher Lloyd, and Steve Buscemi. I would definitely recommend this film for anyone to watch, as i've seen it twice and it is really enjoyable to all. The director of the film is Gary Fleder (Kiss The Girls, Don't Say a Word) who does a fantastic job in putting together such a tremendous cast and movie.

Jimmy 'The Saint' Tosnia (Andy Garcia) runs an afterlife advice business which is a service that allows his 'terminally ill' clients the opportunity to leave a recorded message (via video) to their loved ones after they have passed away. With his business currently in a bit of slump, Jimmy is presented with an opportunity to make some easy money from criminal overlord Christopher Walken (who is simply credited as The Man With The Plan). Walken offers Jimmy $50,000 dollars simply to rough up a man who is marrying his son's ex-girlfriend to try to stop him from marrying her. Due to some heavy debts, Jimmy agrees to do the job, but requests help from some of his criminal cronies; Pieces (Lloyd), Franchise (Forsythe), Easy Wind (Nunn) and Critical Bill (Williams). However, the job doesn't go to plan and as a result of their failure Walken hires an assassin to track down and kill the 5 men.The first half of this film isn't actually too bad - yes it's a little slow to get moving, but it does seem to present itself as a potentially interesting and thrilling story. The problem with this film is that the first aspect of the story (the job) is built up rather admirably only then to come to an end rather abruptly. This in itself wouldn't be a problem if the film had the same flow about it after 'the job' has been completed, but the truth is that it doesn't I'm afraid....Once the job is completed the film generally splits off in 3 different directions; Tosnia and his relationship with Dagney (Gabrielle Anwar), Tosnia and Lucinda (Fairuza Balk) and the assassin hunting Tosnia and his team down. Aside from making the second half feel unfocused, none of these elements are really strong enough on their own to make me care about what's going on? Tosnia's relationship with Dagney was uninteresting and took up far too much screen time. The story arc involving Lucinda was half-cooked and left unfulfilled - it also didn't seem to add much to the story. Finally the story arc involving the assassin pursuing Tosnia's gang wasn't given nearly as much screen time as it should have been given. As mentioned too much time was spent on lousy and uninteresting sub plots. I also felt that there was too much focus on Tosnia and his relationship and not enough time was given to his criminal gang meaning that character development was practically non-existent. As a result of this, the film lacked intensity and more importantly there was a noticeable absence of thrills on offer as well.Anyone who has seen any of Tarantino's films will no doubt notice some similarities between the feel of this film and the feel of Tarantino's films, but that's basically all TTDIDWYD manages to achieve. When watching this film you get the violence and profanity of your average Tarantino film, but what you don't get is good dialogue and strong storytelling. Essentially then what you're left with is basically a Tarantino film but with all the good bits removed.TTDIDWYD is a very poor film and is probably one of the biggest wastes of acting talents that I've seen. I've given it a 3 out of 10 but that's only as acknowledgement to the many talented actors that were involved in this shambles.

When Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction hit the scene in 1994, it took filmmakers and cinephiles by surprise that a film involving murder, betrayal, and theft could also be so wickedly funny and hilariously in its conversational fluidity. Tarantino was fearless, not worried about halting the plot-progression for just a short amount of time so the characters could ramble or comment on something random and completely off topic. As simple as it was, it was surprising to many; here was dialog unrelated to the plot and central story being used with such confidence.Because of how Tarantino took convention and ordinary crime-drama filmmaking by storm, he obviously spawned many inspirations and "copycats." I only bring this up because, for reasons I have trouble understanding, people have written off Gary Fleder's Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead off as a Pulp Fiction ripoff. Since its release in 1995, the film has gone far under the radar and scrutinized, only to be viewed by the curious cinephile or a hardened crime drama fan; consider me both.The film stars Andy Garcia, a leading man I, and many, it appears, have forgotten about as much as we forgot about this particular film. He plays "Jimmy the Saint," an ex-con looking to get out of the business and run his own shop where people record their wills for their family and friends before they die. Catering to the business serves as his day job, until he's approached by his paraplegic boss "The Man With the Plan" (Christopher Walken), who requests his services for one more little odd job. Unsurprisingly, the job goes wrong, and this means Jimmy is in the hottest water. Now, Jimmy must find a way to secure his own future, as well as continue to maintain stable connections, while pleasing his newfound love interest (Gabrielle Anwar) through all this chaos. In the meantime, we are introduced to a wide variety of characters played by big-name actors: a quiet hit-man nicknamed "Mr. Shhh" (Steve Buscemi), ex-gangster "Pieces" (Christopher Lloyd), petty-thug "Big Bear Franchise" (William Forsythe), the loquacious "Easy Wind" (Bill Nunn), and the argumentative and angry "Critical Bill" (Treat Williams).The film bears a relatively age-old story, but the film is complicated by strangely vague dialog and an overabundance of characters with unique names. The dialog itself seems to be describing linear, straight-forward statements and requests and loading them with slang and alienating jargon that takes a great deal of time getting used to.Once one comes to terms with the dialog, at hand, Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead becomes your average mob flick, comfortably paced, sometimes fun in a gloomy way, and often brooding and dark, like the dapper characters it focuses on. If director Gary Fleder and writer Scott Rosenberg (who's eclectic filmography includes the amiable Kangaroo Jackand the wildly misunderstood Pain & Gain) has anything down here, it's the films tone, which knows when to be comedic and when to be haunting at just the right times.Consider the scene when this particular operation goes wrong, and Jimmy and his gang land themselves in hot water. Up until this scene, the film has maintained a traditionalist mobster theme of being mildly dark and slightly comedic. When this incident occurs, it suddenly all goes black and the seventy of the gang's actions finally catch up to them. Fleder shows this nicely and packs a lot of character intrigue here with such a great cast.Films centered around crime and the mobster lifestyle are often broken up into three categories with cinephiles: the classics, Scorsese, and everything else. While Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead exists in the latter, it is nothing shy of an enjoyable and intriguing viewing. The actors possess enough charisma and charm to carry out a screenplay like this, Fleder's direction always seems to hit the right tones, and Rosenbaum's writing always finds ways to take dark and exciting turns. The fact that the film has somehow mingled its way into being mistaken for a clone of one of the most popular crime dramas of all time is quite a shame because of how much quality is in its product to begin with.Starring: Andy García, Christopher Walken, Christopher Lloyd, William Forsythe, Bill Nunn, Treat Williams, Steve Buscemi, Gabrielle Anwar, Jack Warden, and Fairuza Balk. Directed by: Gary Fleder.

Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead is an excellent and very underrated Gangster Film/Crime Drama that is filled with great direction,an amazing cast,a terrific script and a wonderful soundtrack and is a one of the most Underrated Gangster Movies and Crime Dramas of all time.Set in Denver,Colorado,Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead tells the story of an ex-Gangster named Jimmy 'The Saint' Tosnia(Andy Garcia)who has gone straight and is running a legitimate business and things are going well for Jimmy until his former Boss local crime lord called The Man With The Plan(Christopher Walken)hires Jimmy to do a job for him which makes Jimmy call up his old crew. But when the job goes wrong Jimmy is allowed to live but the rest of his crew are going to be killed and Jimmy has to save his crew before it's too late.Released in 1995,Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead is an amazing and underrated Gangster Film Crime Drama that unfortunately came out a year after Quentin Tarantino's masterpiece Pulp Fiction and was a big failure at the Box Office and many critics dismissed the film and wrote it off Denver as a Pulp Fiction knockoff and a pale imitation of Quentin Tarantino's films. Thankfully,since it's 1995 release Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead has earned respect and a Cult Following over the years and is seen as the great Gangster film and Crime Drama that it is. TTDIDWYD is a great film that gives viewers a look at the city of Denver,Colorado that we have never seen before in movies or television because when you think of the city of Denver you think snow,trees,mountains and the Winter cold,but,with TTDIDWYD viewers are shown a gritty part of Denver,Colorado that wrapped in the world of Gangsters and Film Noir attitudes where the characters are tough and dark and a world where crime and death is in the air and is a world where the characters follow the laws of the streets and violence is the only way to survive. This movie is a Gangster Film and Film Noir that has some of the familiar trademarks of the two genres such as Gangsters,criminals and shows a dark underworld that is cynical and brutal but this film gives us a Gangster movie and Film Noir in a much different style and language that is creative as well as harsh and surreal pulling viewers into a world that's all it's own. This is a film that is also filled with cool and sharp style and great substance and is a film that grabs you by the throat and never lets you go until the very end and you are glued to the screen wanting to know what happens next and the plot and story moves along at a great pace with unexpected surprises. What I also love about the film is that despite being a Gangster movie and Crime Drama there is a lot of heart and depth with some of the main characters where you feel like Jimmy and some of the other characters wanted to do more with their life. Jimmy The Saint is a great character because even though he wears suits and is cool he wants to lead a straight life away from the Crime world and looking love and trying to find his own morality in the dangerous world he lives and works in and the way Jimmy works with his crew and the way he is outside of his criminal life truly makes Jimmy a very complex character. The screenplay by Scott Rosenberg is amazing and well-written,with Rosenberg giving the main characters great dialog that is original and fresh,gritty and riveting and at the same time darkly funny and offbeat. The great screenplay is one of the things that makes this film wonderful. The violence in the film is brutal,dark and shocking because you never know where or when the violence is going to happen and the violence fits with the tone of the film. The ending of the film is amazing because while the ending is tragic and sad the ending will leave you with an optimistic feeling and will put a smile on viewers faces. A great conclusion.The cast does great jobs in their roles. Andy Garcia is excellent Jimmy 'The Saint' Tosnia,with Garcia bringing,coolness,intensity and depth to the role. Christopher Lloyd,(Pieces),,William Forsythe(Franchise),Bill Nunn(Easy Wind)and Treat Williams(Critical Bill)all do great jobs as Jimmy's old crew. Christopher Walken is amazing as The Man With The Plan,Jimmy's old boss. Steve Buscemi is riveting and memorable as Mr. Shush,a deadly hit-man. Jack Warden is great as Joe Heff,a guy who's telling the film's story. Gabrielle Anwar is fantastic and sexy as Dagney,Jimmy's love interest. Fairuza Balk is wonderful and memorable as Lucinda,a local prostitute. Bill Cobbs(Malt),Marshall Bell(Lt. Atwater),Michael Nicolosi(Bernard)and Glenn Plummer(Baby Sinister)give good performances as well. Also,lookout for appearances by Don Cheadle(Rooster),Jenny McCarthy(Blonde Nurse)and Tiny Lister Jr.(House)The direction by Gary Fleder is brilliant and stylish,with Fleder always moving the camera and bringing a dark and gritty visual style to the film. Great direction,Fleder.The score by Michael Corvertino is great,dark and mysterious and matches the film's Noirish tone. Wonderful score,Convertino. The film also has a fantastic soundtrack with songs by Warren Zevon(Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead),Johnny Cash(Folsom Prison Blues),Ice-T(Mind Over Matter),Blues Traveler(Get Out Of Denver),Tom Waits(Jockey Full Of Bourbon),Louis Armstong(Makin' Whoopee),Bing Crosby(AC-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive),Dean Martin(You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Loves You),Cachao(Lluvia,Viento Y Cana,Rain,Wind And Reed,A Gozer Con Mi Combo,To Rejoice With My Combo),The Neville Brothers with Buddy Guy(Born Under A Bad Sign)and more. Fantastic soundtrack.In final word,if you love Gangster Films,Film Noir,Crime Dramas or films in general,I highly suggest you see Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead,an excellent and very Underrated Gangster film,Film Noir and Crime Drama that you can watch again and again. Highly Recommended. 10/10.