Inside Moves (1980)

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Roary (John Savage) jumps out of a highrise in a suicide attempt. He barely survives and ends up as a cripple in a poor Oakland neighborhood. He starts going to a local bar where Jerry Maxwell (David Morse) is the friendly bartender. It's a place where regulars gather and play cards. Jerry is a Warriors fan bringing Roary to a game. Jerry challenges player Alvin Martin in an one-on-one game and almost wins. The bar is in danger of closing and Roary buy it. Jerry is frustrated with flighty girlfriend Anne and his inability to get an operation to fix his leg. Lucius beats up Jerry and Anne goes off with him. Alvin Martin gets a $3 million contract and offers to lend money for Jerry's operation. Roary falls for waitress Louise (Diana Scarwid).Richard Donner directs this movie of a man regaining his life. John Savage is a solid base. David Morse shines in a something more than a supporting role. The story can ramble on a little because there is no set direction for the plot. It has that 70s feel of an undefined life course. There are some solid performances not just from the two men and Scarwid.

Sweet little movie which could've easily been titled "Max's Bar". It stars John Saxon as a badly damaged man, Roary, whose suicide attempt left his body crippled in that his back is twisted(Saxon's ability to convince us wholeheartedly of this is a major accomplishment he desires mucho accolades)affecting the way he walks. He enters into a bar, meeting a bartender named Jerry(David Morse) with a bum knee, linked to a junk whore named Anne(Amy Wright). With 10 grand, Roary sees fit to use his cash to help pay of the debt owed on Max's Bar, and with his assistance, the business takes off. Jerry, his mouth getting the best of him, challenges a star basketball player for the Golden State Warriors, Alvin Martin(Harold Sylvester), to a round of ball and almost beats him, setting off a sequence of events he couldn't have dreamed of..thanks to Roary, who becomes Jerry's loyal and honorable pal. Jerry's Achilles' heel is Anne who returns to him after a stint with a vicious pimp, Lucius(Tony Burton). Lucius and his goons batter Jerry, with Anne returning to him. So Jerry gives up on life and it's to Roary's credit that he is snapped out of his depression and given a new lease..a talk with Alvin, and Roary might help Jerry follow a dream.Richard Donner's Inside Moves is about dreams, and not forgetting those who helped you along the way. With such a wonderful cast, including a superb supporting group, bar loungers who share a common cordial friendship with each other, such as Bill Henderson(..as wheel-chair bound Blue Lewis), Stinky(Bert Remsen, as the blind joker, always tickling the funny bones of his gang), and Wings(Harold Russel, the vocal leader of the boys, with no hands..many will remember him from The Best Years of Our Lives), I couldn't help but embrace them. Steve Kahan is Donner regular, Burt, a bartender/waiter(who later was the boss of Danny Glover and Mel Gibson in the Lethal Weapon movies)and Jack O'Leary is bar owner Max, who wouldn't increase taxes on his customers which caused his financial troubles.This is the kind of movie which tugs on the heartstrings, it's a gentle, caring film without a bad bone in it's body. Tony Burton's pimp creates the only real violence in the movie, and he's drawn into this story's little setting by good-for-nothing Anne, who leeches on naive Jerry for drug money. The camaraderie among the cast is genuine and pleasant. The budding romance between Roary and a waitress, Louise(..portrayed by Diana Scarwid) only injects more sparks into an already luminous film. Good use of street locations, one of Richard Donner's most off-beat and smaller scaled pictures..very invested in the characters. While I've always responded in kind to Donner's explosive actioners, it's nice to know he could make such an endearing film. Any other time and John Saxon's character would've been exploited as an object of ridicule or comedy. I can't believe I have never even heard of this movie before..go figure. Saxon is the heart and soul of the movie and his work with Scarwid and Morse simply works wonders.

Inside Moves is a nice film that sort of combines the best of 70s-styled minimal cinema with the heart you would expect from a Richard Donner film. The most interesting thing about the making of this film is that it's the movie Richard Donner did after he was fired from Superman II. Donner had been a highly successful television director for nearly 20 years when he got his big break on 'The Omen' in 1976. On that hit, he was offered 'Superman' and directed a large scale classic. We'll see most of his vision for 'Superman II' later this year when 'The Donner Cut' comes out on DVD. However, 'Inside Moves' is a small scale film that tells a simple human story and shows that Donner can win with both big and small films.The opening prelude is quite stunning. John Savage plays Roary, a man who walks up to a building, goes in, and jumps out the window of the 10th floor to commit suicide. He fails and after recovery, he ends up disabled and with nothing. He walks into a bar and finds himself among other disabled people, including Jerry (David Morse in an early lead role) whose bad knee prevents him from following his dream of playing basketball. Roary finds that these people openly kid about their disabilities and at the same time care about each other. Roary begins to open up and find hope and cling to his new friend, Jerry. When Roary helps Jerry get money to have an operation that will fix his knee, Jerry forgets his roots and leaves the bar, disappointing his friends. It's up to Roary to deal with his own emotions and feelings for a fellow waitress (nicely played by Diana Scarwig in an Oscar-nominated performance), and calling Jerry out to return to his friends at the bar.There are a few schmaltzy moments, but this film has focus and heart. Donner always succeeds in that. More than that, this film has some wonderful issues that are touching and make you think. Remembering your roots, friendship, love for someone with a disability, and how one person's success can mean so much to his friends are just many of the slices of life that this film depicts. It's all done with taste and intimate style that makes you feel like you know these people. I found myself laughing at jokes that i didn't even think were funny because I simply liked and cared for the people. There are lots of veteran actors you'll recognize including Steve Kahan (Donner's cousin, who is in nearly every Donner film), Bill Henderson (a wonderful actor who is one of the most friendly people you wish you'd meet) and after a 34 year absence since his Oscar-winning performance in 'The Best Years of Our Lives' - Harold Russell - whose disability of having metal hands is not exploited. This film doesn't treat people with disabilities in such a way. You don't look at the blind man's lack of eyes, or the man with the metal hands, you look at people. The whole cast is wonderful. A lot of the actors get to etch characters that they don't get to do in every role they take. Richard Donner deserves a cheer for this small film with a big heart.

John Savage provides us with another look at his exceptional talent with perhaps his finest performance since The Deerhunter, with a supporting cast including Oscar-nominated Diana Scarwid and another of my favorites, David Morse. A truly feel-good movie, directed by Richard Donner, that explores the depths of human emotion while depicting the sometimes comedic, sometimes heartwrenching stories of characters who are all crippled, either physically, mentally, or morally. It is a great mystery to me why this movie has not been made available on DVD, and if I knew how to achieve its release, I would be relentless in my pursuit of that goal!