If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

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

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Good Day For It probably won't be seen by many people, except for the die hard fans of the actors involved (like myself), and the occasional casual viewer who stumbles upon it on a shelf of an obscure rental store, or perhaps an obscure corner of netflix. This is too bad, because it is an excellent, moody, emotional and tense tale of a man facing the fears of his past and reconciling with his family.The always awesome Robert Patrick stars as this man, Luke Cain, a tortured soul who once made a dangerous but necessary decision to rob a lot of money from his employer, nasty and sadistic crime kingpin Lyle Tyrus (the terrifyingly intense Lance Henriksen) , to save his baby daughter's life. He leaves his family after this, and does not return for fifteen years, when his daughter is older. When Lyle's gang spots him in town, things get violent and past emotions rise.Everyone in the cast is great, from Mika Boorem as Luke's hurt but hopeful daughter, Samantha Mathis as her mother, Richard Brake as Lyle's slimy brother Norman, and Hal Holbrook as a kindly Diner cook. But performance wise, the show belongs to Robert Patrick, a tremendous actor who had yet to be given a lead role until now, and plays it with a forlorn melencholy, and a stoic toughness that proves he is an actor to be reckoned with, and should be given far more roles such as this. Good Day For It is a great little indie feature with all the right touches of subtlety, beautiful rural cinematography, and smoldering danger. Highly recommended.

The good stuff: excellent cast, fabulous moody cinematography, and good suspense.The not-so-good stuff: most of the cast don't get to do much, the anachronisms, and the suspense being largely generated by the very, very slow pace.I'm a big fan of both Robert Patrick and Lance Henriksen, and I was thrilled at the chance to see these two actors together. Unfortunately, there's just one scene with the two of them. Since this film is a lot closer to portraying "real life", the performances are appropriately understated. It was obvious that bad things were going to happen, but it was impossible to say just how and when it would all play out, even right up to the end.Among the things that irked me was that some of the other excellent actors didn't get much screen time or their characters were basically along for the ride (literally for Christian Kane). Robert England made the most of his limited role, though, and I found him to be the creepiest of the pack of baddies. As much as the visuals were done well, I'd have liked less time devoted to landscape and more time devoted to character development and interaction.I found the Deputy Doug character to be poorly written and thus irritating to no end, despite a strong effort by Joe Flanigan. While I get that as a rural deputy he doesn't see a lot of action, he seems to forget whatever police training he's had. I was literally yelling "Call for backup!" several times while watching this at home on DVD. You can tell he knows things aren't right on several occasions, but he doesn't do anything about it. You see the conflict on his face, but he takes no action. He only seems to remember he's a law enforcement officer near the end when he's ready to take on the protagonist, because he remembers him from a photo, taken 15 years earlier, from a newspaper article on microfiche. (Yes, microfiche. Apparently only the teen daughter has any connection to modern society with her laptop.) But before that, he does nothing about the four bad guys with police records, who he had already pulled over once and let go, and who have his friends Rose and Hec obviously nervous when he picks up dinner at the diner. Instead, he drives off and then takes an exceedingly long time to even look in his take-out and see that his order is purposely wrong. Was the Doug character meant to be stupid or a coward? Or both? His actions or lack thereof have no consistent logic, so it's hard to tell.On the whole, it's a decent film and worth a look, but save it for a day when you can handle the dreary atmosphere and the extremely slow pace. And I dare you to not notice the rotary phone.

Hats off to Robert Patrick, Hal Holbrook and writer/director/producer Nick Stagliano for an engaging, entertaining and very original film, GOOD DAY FOR IT. Without revealing too much, the movie lures you in with one possibility and then unfolds many others as it evolves. A simple, beautifully shot tale of how life can force you to make tough choices but that, occasionally, love can prevail. With an outstanding supporting cast (Kathy Baker, Mika Boorem, Lance Henriksen, Robert Englund, Joe Flanigan, Richard Brake AND Christian Kane), the movie artfully combines humor, drama, captivating cinematography and a terrific soundtrack by alternative country singer/songwriter Matthew Ryan. See the film - I'm sure you'll be glad that you did!

let me start by saying that i"m not surprised that no one has reviewed this stupid movie before me. I came to IMDb to read other reviews and there were none. big surprise. this movie is very slow and tedious. you keep waiting for something to happen and nothing really does. all the actors look old and tired. i am a fan of Robert Patrick since terminator 2 and he has been in some good films but this is not one of them. here he just looks old.real old. you look at some people and wonder what happened to them. he is just here for the paycheck as are all the actors. this movind could be described as slumming for them because they are all well known. this is one movie they should leave off their resume. it is an embarrassment for them. very very low budget. nothing to see here, move along please, as a policeman would to you at an accident scene. this film builds some suspense but there is no pay off at the end. nothing to see here, move along please!