A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

It's 1964 The Bronx. Violent Heinz (John Turturro) returns to his neighborhood after getting out of prison for an attempted rape of Linda (Jodie Foster). Harry (Tim Robbins) rescued Linda the first time but has turn pacifist since then. Somebody shoots a teacher with an arrow. Castro and Willie are two kids blowing up a store sign with cherry bombs. They pick up Melanie and Brita who are out of it from sniffing glue. Heinz is after Linda again thinking he's in love with her. Jamie would like to be her boyfriend who protects her.This movie is split in two. Turturro, Foster and Robbins inhabit one half. Turturro is great as the disturbed rapist. The penguins are weird. The acting is good but the script meanders a bit with a lot of strange turns. The other half has four lesser known actors. The girls are funny. It's odd that it seems to float on the surface of the movie without connecting to the other half. I do find the unknown actors' story interesting especially the elevator scene. I kept wondering what that story has to do with anything. The final reveal satisfied me to some extent. I wish it could have made more connections earlier in the movie.

Wish I could see this film, but I'm on my 3rd DVD from NetFlix, and the sound is no good on ANY of them. Very frustrating, because they say there is nothing they can do: all the DVDs are purchased directly from Westlake. Long history of customer complaints about the discs being unplayable because of the sound. Darn it!I am tempted to trying buying a copy somewhere, but how will I know that the one I buy isn't bad too? Other people have obviously seen it and not had the problems I have experienced. I checked the Westlake Entertainment website, but they don't even have this film listed. All suggestions will be gratefully received!

I rented the film for its elements (John Patrick Shanley, Tony Bill, obviously all of the cast members...) and I wasn't disappointed. It's not your basic thriller or even your basic offbeat ...uh...I don't know that there's a noun for this type of film. Cohen-y, quirky, but darker, less ironic...I think it falls into the 'you love it or hate it' category, like "A Box of Moonlight". Hmm. I don't think I could be less articulate about this work. How 'bout this: It's violent and funny. The performances are spot on. John Turturro is especially disturbing (as usual) as the psycho. And his mother (Rose Gregorio) is so strange and, like, aggressively out-of-it it's heartbreaking. The whole thing works so well that the ending - which does, at least for me, come as a surprise (or, rather, in that wonderful way, as a perfectly expected surprise) - is a true culmination of everything that came before. I think it's a great movie. The only reason I gave it "8" and not 10 is that I felt it was unnecessarily slow at points. But there you go. I liked Box of Moonlight.

Sorry, but I found this film, even with top notch actors, a bad taste film. Surprised Tony Bill directed this. There was no compassion for any of the characters. Everyone seemd to be a loser. Not one role seemd to have any conviction. They all seemd to be vacant and lost in a maze of self destruction. John Turturro, at least was thorough in his evil ways. But the Robbins character seemed poorly written and sadly the actor didn't find any salvation. The use of animals being beaten and killed, didn't please this viewer. Any more than throwing people off roofs. Violence was the theme and helplessness the winner. Not one character had my interest. In fact, they made me angry. It was a shame to see Miss Foster in this. Up to this film I had always liked her performances. Whatever possessed her to do this clinker? Not recommended for viewing, even on the tube.