U Turn

I haven't seen all of Oliver Stone's movies, but of the ones I have seen, they've either been hit or miss propositions. I liked The Doors (1991) despite the pretension, but I really didn't care that much for Natural Born Killers (1994), his dysfunctional ode to America's love of spoon-fed violence (Stone decided if we wanted it that bad, he'd feed it to us with a shovel)...regardless of my predilections towards the director himself (personally, I think the guy is batty go nuts), he does manage to entertain, that is if you have the stomach for it...U Turn (1997), directed by Oliver Stone (Platoon, Wall Street, Born on the Fourth of July), stars Sean Penn (Colors, Carlito's Way), Nick Nolte (48 Hrs., Blue Chips), and Jennifer Lopez (Maid in Manhattan, Gigli). Also appearing is Powers Boothe (Sin City), Claire Danes (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines), Joaquin Phoenix (Gladiator), Billy Bob Thornton (Bad Santa), and Jon Voight (The Karate Dog, National Treasure).As the film begins we see a man, played by Penn (we later learn his name is Bobby) driving a lonely desert road, and he seems to be getting a little punchy, like one tends to get spending too much time behind the wheel. After his car blows a hose, he pulls into the town of Superior, AZ, which had definitely seen better days (the first person he meets is Darrell, a greasy mechanic whose probably never seen a better day). Anyway, while he's waiting for his car to be repaired, he wanders into town, unknowingly looking for trouble, finding it in short, orange dress answering to the name of Grace (Lopez). After giving her some assistance, she offers him a lift, to which they go back to her large house for a bit of the flirting which leads to the kissing...which is right about the time Grace's husband, Jake (Nolte) comes home...and he's none to pleased to see what he's seeing. After things get sorted out, Jake gives Bobby a lift back to town along with a proposal to kill his wife. Bobby wonders is he's serious, and Jake sloughs it off as a sort of joke...soon afterwards Bobby finds himself the victim of a serious of events that have now left him stranded in the town in serious need of funds (he owes big time to a Russian loan shark, who just happens to be sending an emissary to ensure prompt payment, or prompt removal of certain body parts). Anyway, Bobby decides to take Jake up on his offer, but the follow through is too difficult, especially with the presentation of a better offer, one from Grace for Bobby to kill Jake, steal his fat stash of hidden cash, and run off together...all right, with all this talk of killing someone has got to die, but who, and by whom? It's a twisty, downward spiral of anger, betrayal, deception, and chicanery, eventually leading to murder and a whole lot of bad mojo...as the annoying blind man says, `Nothing is as it seems.'First of all, if you've ever wanted to see Sean Penn get the beating (I did, as I'm still smarting from his 1986 stinker Shanghai Surprise), this is the movie for you...I'd swear the character can't go ten minutes without someone beating on him or talking about beating on him...which really isn't all that surprising as his character is a smarmy low level crook with a smart mouth, which he plays really well. As far as the others, Nolte's character of Jake seemed pretty nasty but almost sympathetic in a twisted way, that is until certain revelations came to light and then he was just downright icky (if you've seen the film you'll know what I mean)...as far as Ms. Lopez, I still think her best work was in the film Out of Sight (1998), but she does well here (I'm not just saying this because she had a couple of nekkid shots in the film, although they didn't hurt none). As far as the rest of the cast, they all did well, with a few standouts like Voight and Thornton. First of all, I didn't even recognize Voight under his make-up and prosthetics as the aged blind man expelling forth a steady stream of streetwise mystical mumbo jumbo (seems you can't have a Stone film without this element). And then there's Billy Bob as the greasiest, dirty, filthy, rancid, grimy mechanic I've ever seen, complete with fat gut protruding from a strained t-shirt. His character was a riot, adding a good dose of humor to an otherwise disturbing film (well, I wasn't all that disturbed, but then I'm cynical as hell). One of my favorite scenes involves Bobby trying to negotiate with Darrell, with Bobby is trying to pass off a $7,800 Movado watch to which Darrell claims is pretty useless because it doesn't even got any numbers on the face, comparing it to his $3.75 Casio watch that has all kinds of features, including a built in calculator. Oh, I almost forgot Danes as the town jailbait and her hyper jealous boyfriend played by Joaquin Phoenix (you gotta see this guy to believe him). I thought overall the story moved along really well, managing to keep a complicated tale of treachery pretty easy to follow, even providing a few, wicked surprises, full of sharp, quotable dialog. It may not offer anything in the sense of being original, but the fun is in the telling, which kept things interesting for the viewer. Make no mistake, this is a dirty, rotten, messed up world Stone puts forth which I don't mind visiting, but I wouldn't want to stay there. I mean here you have Bobby...okay, he's a crook with a shady past...but his résumé' never included murder, that is until his stay in Superior...the town, like an entity unto itself, steeped in stagnant desperation, saw an opportunity in him and proceeded to sink their slavering mandibles into this unsuspecting schmuck before he could realize the danger and escape, which did make him a sort of sympathetic character, despite the fact he wasn't necessarily a `good guy'...but then that's just my opinion. I should also mention the music, which seemed odd at times, was composed, orchestrated, and conducted by Ennio Morricone, the man behind the classic themes from A Fistful of Dollars (1964), Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), and The Untouchables (1987), to name a few. All in all I'd agree with others who stated this was a very good, albeit dark, Oliver Stone presentation of a contemporary noir.This DVD features both the wide screen (1.85:1) and pan and scan formats of the film, and the picture is sharp and clean. The audio, available in Dolby Digital 5.1 along with Dolby Digital 2,0 Surround comes through well. There's not much in the way of special features, as all that is included is a theatrical trailer and liner notes printed on an insert in the DVD case.Cookieman108

According to my opinion this movie is a cult classic. The atmosphere and humour contained within is such an addiction. I truly rate this movie as being ranked in the top 100 best movies of all time. When I first watched it I was immediatly absorbed in to it completly that I viewed it on repeated occasions. After that it changed my entire perspective on movies.Oliver Stone is a director to be reckoned with. His distinctive style of directing is in a class of its own. No other director can match up to his calibre. His previous movies suc as 'jfk' and 'natural born killers' received much critisism and box office success. However this venture was in a different category. He has managed to make a brilliant adaptation of John Ridley's novel 'straw dogs'. It stays loyal to the novel as well. The transition of the novel to the screen has resulted in a spectacular outcome. For Oliver Stone this movie probably did not require as much effort on his part due to the simplicity of the plot itself, but still the movie is high on quality.***************SPOILERS AHEAD**********************The movie centres around the theme of 'bad luck' The main lead bobby 'sean penn' is a desperate individual who is determined to fulfill his mission of pying back a russian gangster a loan. He is forced to take a stop in the small town of Superior (Arizona) due to car trouble. He leaves it in the company of Billy Bob Thornton. Meanwhile he tempted to spend time with Jeniffer Lopez though afterwards he discovers that she is married to Nick Nolte. Later a robbery in a store ends in his money being shredded. He is then talked in to killing Lopez by her husband, however he felt unable to. After his attempt to leave the town is unsuccessful he decides to go ahead with the plan to kill Nolte for his hidden stash of cash with Lopez.********************END OF SPOILERS**************************The main character is suffering from a case of bad luck syndrome. The movie presents this from a humourous perspective. Bobby's character has negative as well as positive shades. The movie totally relies on his presence to progress through all the segmants. The theme is in the same vain as 'body heat', 'the hot spot', and 'red rock west'. Many situations will seem reminiscent from those movies. This is a symbolic movie and many metephors are present in the scenes.In regards to the plot, substance is low. However the cinematography, close up camera angles really add to the movies quality. At certain points the movie will feel like a comedy drama with elements of seriousness. The close up frames captures the human feelings of the characters at those moments.The cinematography is truly the highlight of the movie as well as the scenes between Billy Bob and Sean Penn. The chemistry in the interactions betwen the two make history. The pace of the movie is slow but the viewer's curiousity for the character makes one watch on in eagerness. Maybe a ten to fifteen minute edit would enhance it overall.Ennio Morricone's background score injects life and a certain atmosphere in to the movie. The combination of western sounds with his italian style of music is a treat to listen to. The music compliments to the atmosphere of the movie and to the feeling of the lanscape of Arizona.This is the perfect getaway movie if you enjoyed 'Thelma and Louise'

ONE OF THE BEST FILMS EVER .........SEAN PENN IS BRILLIANT ALONG WITH NICK NOLTE AND OTHERS !!!I'VE WATCHED IT ABOUT 6 TIMES PREVIOUSLY ON MY OLD TV DISC RECORDER BUT WHEN MY RECORDER STOPPED WORKING { DUE TO OLD AGE PROBABLY ... IT WAS 10YRS OLD !!! } I WAS GUTTED TO LOSE ALL MY FAVORITE OLD FILMS .......TO THE RESCUE AMAZON .......GOT IT ON DVD !!! IF YOU'VE NEVER SEEN IT .........GO ONLINE TO WATCH THE TRAILER AND HEAR THE GREAT MUSIC SCORE BY ENNIO MORRICONE. THIS FILM YOU WILL TREASURE .......I WON'T GIVE AWAY THE PLOT BUT THE FILM IS DIRECTED BY OLIVER STONE .....THE CAST IS........ SEAN PENN...NICK NOLTE ...JENNIFER LOPEZ ...POWERS BOOTH ...CLAIRE DANES ...JOAQUIN PHOENIX ..JOHN VOIGHT AND BILLY BOB THORNTON WHO IS REALLY REALLY FUNNY. ENJOY

Loved the movie so much when it was first released that i had to visit infamous Superior AZ... The place is weirder in real life... Still worth to see if you like this amazing movie. What a music what an atmosphere! Actors play is exemplary - you are just immersed in action for full 2 hours. So dark!

Very poor quality and has subtitles you can't remove which was not srated by seller.

Stone used such words as "liberating" and "fun" to talk about U Turn's relatively quick production schedule of 50 days. Oliver Stone crawls through Quentin Tarentino's home turf here in this grat 1988 movie. It is as black and violent as a film can be, sort of Pulp Fiction meets Reservoir Dogs in the heat. Brilliant casting makes U Turn sizzle like roadkill on an Arizona blacktop. Sean Penn, Jennifer Lopez, Billy Bob Thornton, and Nick Nolte, John Voight dig right to the heart of human darkness, and then some.....Surely many viewers will find the level of violence (Nick Nolte - "Let him watch") and the completely depraved characters unappealing at best--my ex-girlfriend walked away less than halfway through this classic 1988 movie. Did i mention the fat cow is my ex??Anyhoo, I was riveted by the story, the characters, the action, and the stylistic approach Stone takes, with heavy use of filters and quick cuts to ravens, bleached skulls, setting suns, old photographs, and the like. That approach and the eerie score by Ennio Morricone also reminded me that the old Italian gypsy is still alive and working on soundtracks. Brilliant.

Good film