Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995)
Director Gary Fleder's dark, witty and cool take on the gangster heist gone wrong movie initially marked him out as one to watch but he never came close to the brilliance of this again.
The irrepressibly cool Andy Garcia plays Jimmy 'The Saint' a retired mobster who is called back by his former boss 'The Man with the Plan' (Christopher Walken in subdued but still chilling form) to do one last job. When it goes spectacularly wrong Garcia and his four associates (Christopher Lloyd, Bill Nunn, William Forsythe, Treat Williams) find themselves the targets of Walken's hit man Mr Shhh (Steve Buscemi)
As good as the story is and as visciously violent as it is, it's the wonderfully rich dialogue that propels this film along together with it's oddball characters and offbeat casting best represented by the now sadly departed Williams. His character the wonderfully memorable 'Critical Bill' has lines to kill for throughout this production.
The comparisons to Tarantino are inevitable and ill informed because this is a classic in it's own right despite the fact it was shockingly ignored on it's release but one i managed to see at the cinema and once again on dvd last night.
I would be desperate for a Blu-ray but seeing as it was produced and owned by (Rather than simply distributed) a certain jailbird i'm not holding my breath. See Dogma (1999) as another prime example of something we'll never get on Blu-ray.
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