Against All Odds (1984)

Director: Taylor Hackford

Starring: Rachel Ward, Jeff Bridges, James Woods, Alex Karras, Jane Greer, Richard Widmark, Dorian Harewood, Swoosie Kurtz, Saul Rubinek

More info: IMDb

Tagline: She was a beautiful fugitive. Fleeing from corruption. From power. He was a professional athlete past his prime. Hired to find her, he grew to love her. Love turned to obsession. Obsession turned to murder. And now the price of freedom might be nothing less than their lives.

Plot: Los Angeles Outlaws receiver Terry Brogan is cut from the team because of a shoulder injury. Needing work, money and a sense of purpose, Terry gets a lucrative short term job with an old acquaintance, nightclub owner Jake Wise. The job is to locate his girlfriend who is hiding out somewhere in the Mayan Riviera. The girlfriend, Jessie Wyler, just happens to be the adoptive daughter of the Outlaws' ruthless owner, Grace Wyler. Jessie doesn't much like her mother, who in turn doesn't like that Jessie's in a relationship with Jake, a man known to be on the wrong side of the law. Once Terry finds Jessie, she is waiting for him, or at least someone sent by Jake. But without telling Jake, Terry decides to quit his job as he is falling in love with Jessie, who seems also to be falling in love with him. But it isn't until they get back to Los Angeles that Terry slowly sees the big picture of where he fits into Jake's life and to what extent Jake will go to get Jessie back.

My rating: 4/10

Will I watch it again? No.

This is the first of many films I hope to bang through in my attempt to watch every single film that has a Phil Collins song.  I'm kidding.  That would signal the beginning of the end of the life of Scorethefilm.  I've got way too much pointless shit movies to watch.

 WOW!

Ugh.  The first half wasn't so bad and it held my interest but the second half is where the picture drives off the cliff into a nosedive into dullsville.  The romance was so hokey.  Jessie (Ward) must have been something in the sack because otherwise I can't see anyone wanting to be with her unless maybe they had a thing for broads with a British accent.  When it comes to personality she's terrible unattractive. Larry Carlton & Michel Colombier's score is mostly a bunch of noise and it sounds like they gave up on it before the audience had a chance to. For a while I thought I was watching a remake of OUT OF THE PAST (1947), a great flick I saw in a theater a long time ago, but at some point the comparisons fade and it loses what little momentum it had and goes off in a few directions.  All I could think about (besides asking the end credits to start rolling) is how I should rewatch OUT OF THE PAST.