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The Ambulance

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The Ambulance (1990)

March. 22,1990
|
5.9
|
R
| Action Comedy Thriller
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Josh meets a young woman who shortly afterwards collapses and is rushed to hospital in an ambulance. He follows after her only to find that there is no record her being admitted, and he soon learns that her roommate also vanished after being picked up by the same ambulance. Convinced of a conspiracy, Josh proceeds to investigate, despite the discouragement of the police.

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GurlyIamBeach
1990/03/22

Instant Favorite.

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UnowPriceless
1990/03/23

hyped garbage

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Konterr
1990/03/24

Brilliant and touching

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Calum Hutton
1990/03/25

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

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Conrado Meireles
1990/03/26

Pearl of the not-so-sold movies of 20th Century Fox. The name, opening synopsis, and cover are details of the film's historical context. Name and cover to get attention and a classic plot of a thriller movie. It's a really cool movie. The feature film talks about organ trafficking, private hospitals and research groups advancing in medicine. In a very thriller / suspenseful environment. And the protagonist is not the classic hero. A comic book designer, working for Stan Lee (who plays a special part in the film). For those who like classic films from the 80's / 90's, you'll love the movie. A different and cool movie. At the same time just another simple film of the 80s and 90s. But it is one of those movies that today would be impossible to do. For the simplicity of the adventures that these films approached. Simplicity that on canvas became a great adventure. In this more classic case, "one night, an adventure of life and death".

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metalrage666
1990/03/27

The one thing that struck me while watching this was; what in Gods name is going on?Eric Roberts spots this random woman on the street that he's seen a few times and he suddenly decides to pluck up enough courage to approach her and dazzle her with his non existent charm. When that fails he then tries to buy her affection with a cheap bracelet and a bright yellow Walkman from a street vendor. When that fails she inexplicably collapses on the street. All this is being watched by some guy in a car who makes a phone call resulting in an ambulance from the 1960s coming from nowhere and taking her away. Eric Roberts only manages to catch the woman's first name and the hospital she's being taken to, however when he goes to pay her a visit, no one's ever heard of her and no one matches her description. It's the same story from all the nearby hospitals. He then decides to go to the police. As Eric works as an artist for Marvel Comics he decides to take his own sketch of the woman to the police in the hope of identifying her. James Earl Jones plays a police lieutenant who is more than a little disinterested in wanting to know anything about it and generally seems angry about everything. When he decides to draw the outdated ambulance that took her, lieutenant Jones is even less impressed and orders him out. It turns out that the woman who collapsed is a diabetic. Her room mate who briefly teams up with Eric Roberts trying to track her down is also a diabetic. She tries to call home to see if her room mate has turned up and gets a recorded message to come alone to a city horse stable for the Hansom cabs. She then gets captured and taken away in the same ambulance. For some reason there appears to be some kind of illegal experimentation going on involving diabetics and some radical new treatment for the disease which even if it's somehow successful, will still result in the imprisoned patient being sold and killed and while watching this I couldn't work out why or what the ultimate goal was in all these captured diabetics. After some bumbling vaudeville like police work, the ambulance is tracked down to an invitation only nightclub where a rather pathetic shoot-out occurs. It would seem that with 20 or so cops all shooting at an ambulance, not one of them bothers to aim at the tyres. The captured patients are located in a mock hospital on the floors above the nightclub. And even though he's not a police officer, and was actually even considered a suspect, Eric Roberts tags along and finds his missing love interest who reveals to him that she has a boyfriend. If only she said that in the first place, but for me it opened up a big plot hole; why wasn't this alleged boyfriend ever looking for her? Where's he been in all this and why isn't he a suspect?So despite all Eric's been through he doesn't get the girl. He immediately turns his attention to the female constable who's been assisting with the investigation and who was the obvious backup or optional love interest. After a last ditch run in with the crazed head doctor who got away in the ambulance because movie police can't shoot straight, it ends up as a fireball at the bottom of a building site, Eric and his new lover find themselves together in the back of an actual ambulance and the rest of their lives writes itself. I just never got this movie at all. Nothing in this made any real sense to me and while some reviews are commending the black comedy, I simply didn't see it. This was far too stupid to be funny in any sense and what story there was seemed all over the place. The whole business of capturing diabetics for radical experiments was never fully explored. The idea of using an ambulance that went out of service 30 or 40 years ago and unbelievably going unnoticed by everybody is one of the most ridiculous ideas ever put to film. It's tantamount to using a steam locomotive for the same thing, eventually people are going to notice and begin to ask questions. For me, the best thing in this was Stan Lee, co-creator of some of the best Marvel comic heroes of all time, and even he was visibly unimpressed with the lameness of Eric Roberts. So if you love watching movies with no sense of purpose then I guess you'll go orgasmic over The Ambulance.

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FlashCallahan
1990/03/28

Josh Baker meets Cheryl, on the streets of New York. Suddenly she collapses, and she's picked up by an ambulance. When Josh wants to visit her in the hospital, it appears that she hasn't been admitted in the hospital. Josh follows the roommate of Cheryl, and she disappears after a ride in the same ambulance. It's up to Josh to solve the secret behind this strange vehicle.....Any film that features Stan Lee as himself as a main character, James Earl Jones chewing erratically as he dies, and Eric Roberts clearly under the influence of something, begs to be seen.Its a B movie of the highest order, and Cohen has crafted another wonderfully funny, and bonkers story.An old Ambulance is picking up diabetics and other sorts, in order to find the cure for diseases. There is a mad doctor at the end of all this, but first Roberts has to deal with Earl Jones being angry for no reason whatsoever, a cop who knows Earl Jones dentist appointments, Red Buttons stealing the film, and of course releasing a movie the same year his sister became the biggest on the planet.But its fun, and no matter how stupid the narrative gets, its fun plain and simple.Its a hard film to find, but you will be glad you sought after it.

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merklekranz
1990/03/29

"The Ambulance" is not really a "black comedy", although it does have moments of dark humor throughout. It really is sort of a hybrid comedy-suspense film. Eric Roberts carries things as the perplexed wannabe lover boy, while James Earl Jones comes and goes as a perplexed, somewhat irrational police detective. The movie is not overall terrific, but there are some memorable scenes, especially relating to the ambulance itself. Overall for a B movie, "The Ambulance" delivers enough entertainment value to recommend seeing it, however I doubt multiple viewings would be that rewarding. .......................... - MERK

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