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Diggstown (1992)

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34 Nutzerkommentare insgesamt

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6 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
the con is on..., 21. Juli 2002
Author: mcfly-31 von anaheim, ca

Tremendously overlooked conjob flick concerning Woods and co. trying to mastermind a huge payday over a smalltown giant. Jimmy gets out of the pokey and heads to the title town, which is lorded over by Dern. A bet is made that Woods boxer, played by Gossett, can wipe out ten men in one night. What ensues is a ton of double-crossing, trickery, and surprises right up until the final moment, which is a doozy. Terrific performances by all (Woods as always is a dynamo), as the comedy and suspense are mixed perfectly. Film wasn't given much of a chance, as most movies get about 2,000 screens, this one only found its way to a little over 700, which would explain its anonymity. But if you find it you should get hooked like us cult fans who had the chance to go along for the great ride.

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5 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
One of the best con movies you will ever see., 21. August 2005

Author: pippahinchley-1 von United Kingdom

this is a superb movie that really should have been seen by many many more people than it clearly has been. The best James Woods performance I have seen , superb support from Oliver Platt, Bruce Dern and - well, everyone in it. The script is tight, sharp, incredibly clever and very very funny. I'm not a fan of boxing movies, don't let it put you off. yes, the sting ultimately revolves around a fight, well, ten fights, to be precise, against just one man - but really it's a hugely satisfying con movie that ultimately becomes about vengeance, paying for your actions and finding the morality amongst the money. It's brilliant. Buy it/get it from a video shop that has old movies, steal it, whatever it takes.

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5 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
A fine Movie, that probably had a poor advertising campaign, 23. Januar 2005

Author: mjw2305 von England

One night, years ago now, I stumbled across this movie on Sky (known as Midnight Sting in the UK) With a fine cast including James Woods, Bruce Dern, Heather Graham and Oliver Platt, I had stumbled onto a really good movie.

James Woods is a con man who with the help of his partner (Oliver Platt) sets up a fight between his age old friend Honey Roy Palmer, an ageing but very accomplished boxer and any 10 Diggstown men (a small out of the way boxing loving town, controlled by Bruce Dern) The con is on, Woods and Dern set the wheels in motion on this exhibition of boxing, and as the stakes get higher you will find yourself engaged by the tension of the event. Who is hustling who? And why? I am amazed at how few people seem to have seen this movie. So if you fancy a film, with a some good laughs, a clever story, a fine cast and a cracking ending. Then give it a try, yes there are better films, but there are far more that are worse.

8/10 Go and rent yourself a copy

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
top notch!, 24. Februar 2006

Author: E_Bengtson von United States

I find Diggstown to be one of the best movies of all time. My only regret is that I don't have amnesia so that I can go back and experience the ending for the first time again.

I love the background music. Storyline and plot are wonderful. I can watch this movie over and over again. There are at least 50 great quotes that I use on a daily basis. Acting is good throughout. Some of the best acting is by the extras in the background of the bar scenes.

James Wood is terrific, maybe his best role ever. Lou Jr. is very believable as an aging fighter. Bruce Dern plays a scumbag to a tee. Tex Cobb's best role also. Platt is terrific (as he always is). Only disappointments were Heather Graham - She gave a lackluster performance, and Hammerhead - he was way too young, should have been more aged.

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Excellent con/boxing flick, 11. Juni 2002

Author: caseychief von Missouri

Diggstown is one of the few movies that has ever made me actually cheer out loud. If you've seen it, you know the moment at the end that I'm talking about. I've seen it a few times now, and even though I know how it ends, I still love seeing the ending over and over. It's pretty much a formula movie, but is well-done and has some very clever moments and one-liners thrown in to keep you interested. Take for example when Woods and Dern are discussing the rules for the fight. Woods opens a bottled drink in one motion only with his thumb (twisting, not prying), right before answering one of the questions posed to him. It's a great effect and lets the audience know just how smooth Gabriel Cain is.

Louis Gossett does a great job and is believable as a boxer. The fights are obviously over-choreographed, but they're still better than any of the horribly unrealistic Rocky sequences. Oliver Platt is excellent as Cain's sidekick, Fitz. Look for Heather Graham before she became a celebrity....some things never change, though....yowsa!

I definitely recommend Diggstown...it's not an award-winning or thought-provoking type of movie, but it's a lot of fun.

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3 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Shamefully overlooked. Woods has never been better., 21. Juli 2005

Author: TOMASBBloodhound von Lincoln, NE USA

At least it has recently appeared on ESPN Classic so it would seem that a cult following may be building for this terrific film. I don't think this one lasted three weeks in the theaters around here, but the first time I saw it on cable, I was hooked. Diggstown is not only a hilarious film, but it's also one of the best "sports" movies I've ever seen.

Our story has a small group of con men led by James Woods who are trying to outwit a corrupt small town kingpin. They bet that "Honey" Roy Palmer (Louis Gossett Jr.) can knock out ten of the town's best boxers in a 24 hour period. Palmer is an outstanding, yet aging talent who "never got his shot". His skills, and the help of some local insiders make Woods and Co think they have a real shot at robbing the town blind. The funny thing is how Bruce Dern, who plays the local kingpin, reacts. He is no fool. He knows that Palmer will be tough to beat, and that Woods is trying to con him. But he has too much pride to pass on the wager. He also thinks the boxing talent in town is certainly good enough to beat a forty-eight year old fighter no matter how good he used to be. You'd think the locals would have the upper hand, but Woods and his people have all kinds of tricks up their sleeve both leading up to and during the matches. Once the wager is agreed to, the film never lets you up for air.

Diggstown is a very funny movie. James Woods could sit down and read the newspaper aloud and it would be entertaining, but here he has a great script to work with. Plenty of one-liners and intelligent dialog are used by everyone. The fight scenes are a considerable cut above any Rocky film ever made. It really looks like people are getting the crap beat out of each other in the ring. The motley crew of locals that Palmer has to fight are a hoot. One of them is even played by The Passion of the Christ's very own Jim Caviezel. He actually makes the mistake of calling Palmer the N-word in the ring. Yikes! There are numerous twists as the conclusion draws near. It becomes a question not of which side has the most endurance, rather which side has the biggest surprises in place to trip up the other. The final twist in one you will absolutely NOT see coming. For great comedy, spectacular fight scenes, and a surprise ending, check out Diggstown. It's a shame more people don't know about this film! 9 of 10 stars.

The Hound.

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
A fun and funny movie, 1. November 1999

Author: Movman von Mt. View, Ca

I like James Woods. Yes he is over the top blah blah blah but he takes risk and among his many bad films there are many good ones. In this movie he is at his best. The veteran actor paired with Louis Gosset Jr. does a great job. Gosset is also great as the overweight but still feisty boxer. The we are to old for this is a subtle joke that runs throughout the movie. The film has good twists and turns and real nasty villain played by Bruce Dern. When you get a few quality professionals as they did in this film you tend to produce a quality product. The script is sound and everyone looks like they had fun making the movie. The film has charisma, atmosphere, and a great deal of whit. In my opinion it is one of the better boxing movies made as well. The Great White Hype is witty but at many times is forced and requires more knowledge of the boxing industry for its jokes. Raging Bull is of course a masterpiece so there is no touching that, but if you are in the mood for a good comedy and just a flat out good movie I recommend it.

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
Satisfying Con Picture, 24. August 1999

Author: Foggy-7

James Woods, Oliver Platt, and Lou Gossett Jr. all are perfect in this con operation involving 10 consecutive boxing matches. James Woods especially is at his best as the mastermind with more at stake than just the money. A poor ad campagin really hurt this in the theateres, but catch it at your local video store the next time you can.

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2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Worth Wagering On, 13. Oktober 2000

Author: Guy Johns von Orlando, Florida

Though not spectacular in any way, "Diggstown" is light enough entertainment to enjoy and root for.

After being released from prison con man Gabriel Caine (James Woods) and his partner Fitz (Oliver Platt) go to Diggstown, a small town in Georgia named for a now paralyzed boxer. They soon become involved with town owner John Gillon (Bruce Dern) by making a bet. The bet: Underrated boxer "Honey" Ray Palmer (Louis Gosset, Jr.) can beat any ten Diggstown residents in boxing matches within a twenty-four-hour period. The stakes start off as money and cars, but the wager eventually is pushed up into millions of dollars, town property, and most unexpectedly to Caine, human lives.

Though Caine and Fitz aren't the classic good guys they are essentially likeable. Helping the viewer to approve of them was their friendship with Gossett's character, who is hardworking, kind, and definitely likeable. Also helping to paint them as heroes is there almost immediate rivalry with Gillon. Dern played this role well making him an extremely slimy character. In the last half hour, the filmmaker's had me strongly hoping for his downfall, though there were several parts where he and the script went over-the-top.

Another good element to "Diggstown" was the ten fights. They weren't so violent and bloody that you couldn't enjoy them. I also appreciate the end which caught me off guard. With the twist Gillon presents, I wasn't sure how it would end. Now, how many sports-based movies can you say that about?

Most of these qualities were shown in the last thirty minutes. The rest of the film was entertaining enough, but it didn't do much except give the characters a reason to argue. Obvious fluff was the romance between Caine and his friends much younger sister Emily (Heather Graham), though I was relieved it didn't feature the standard romance stupid kiss.

With one or two viewings, "Diggstown" provides some action and humor scenes that pack just enough punch for me to bet on.

Six stars out of ten.

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3 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Not the greatest film, but a lot of fun!, 18. März 2001

Author: kergillian (kergillian@hotmail.com) von Montreal, Canada

Don't watch this film for quality. It's quite generic, most of the acting is second-rate, and the cinematography is pretty much non-existent. That out of the way, this is still a really good film. It's an enjoyable plot, constructed Western-style, to manipulate the viewer into a specific reactionary mode. There's the good guys, the bad guys, and a really great showdown. Sub-plots?? Who needs 'em! Sex? Bah! Violence? Enough to please the average blood-thirsty film-goer, but not enough to push away everyone else. I think what really pushes this film above it's seemingly highest limits it's a very strong main cast. The secondary cast is average, nothing really special about them, but the main three characters have personality, a strong sense of the characters they play. James Woods is the strongest of then. Woods has this habit of signing on with generic, hopeless films and making them worth watching (The Hard Way comes straight to mind), and he usually surrounds himself with a strong, expressive supporting cast. This film is no exception; he adds character to Gabriel that I'm sure wouldn't be apparent in the script. He becomes the character and the character moulds to his own perspective. Louis Gossett Jr. backs up Woods nicely. He pretty much plays himself (which is always an amusing role). he also has a habit of signing on with awful films, though he's not nearly as successful as Woods in improving them (one word: Firewalker). But here, his chemistry with Woods shows. They play off of each other very nicely, and most of the film's strongest lines, even scenes, involve the two of them (especially in the showdown boxing scenes, where their dialogue is at it's absolute best). Oliver Platt and Bruce Dern also help to raise the level of the film. I've always been a fan of Platt's, and this is no exception. Like Gossett Jr, his chemistry with Woods is strong and some of the film's best lines are when they're together. Dern is as strong as he can be with a fairly one-dimensional character; he's a very expressive actor, and so his facial expressions and body language help to strengthen an unfortunately weak character. In other words, he did the best with what he had to work with. Heather Graham...adorable and a strong actress. But not in this film. In fact, I have no idea why she was even in this film, her character was a transparent plot device, and was all but useless. In some films, using a character to further the plot or explain important details can work out fabulously (like the janitor in The Fisher King) but here it falls flat. Her dialogue is stilted, and her character is only there for very obvious purposes. And the frail attempt at sparking up a sort of love-interest between her and Woods fizzles miserably through lack of chemistry and the dissipates altogether after a few appraising glances and a flat flirtatious word or two. The biggest problem with this film is the ending. Obvious and overly cheezy, it also falls very flat. Anti-climactic beyond belief, I felt robbed. I wanted more. The boxing matches were well-constructed and when they finished the film probably should have just ended there. But it was dragged out with a few very poor and generic scenes that wasted the sense of fun which had been predominant throughout the film. Overall, definitely worth watching at least once, especially for fans of Woods, Platt and/or Gossett Jr. A film likely to be forgotten soon after watching, but fun to watch just the same. 7/10.

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