Diggstown

No review content available.

No review content available.

There are very few movies, including most of my all-time favourites, that I can watch more than once a year without getting bored. In fact, "Diggstown" is the only one I can think of. As other IMDb reviewers have pointed out, not a scene or a line is wasted; the movie pulls you forward. It's as much fun as any good "con" movie, but has a lot more to say than "The Sting" (a film that I love) or any other such that I can think of. If the reason for its relative obscurity is the usual one---the studio held focus groups and decided not to put much advertising money behind the film---then I'm baffled. Do they give Oscars for casting? "Diggstown" deserves one. Gossett and Platt are extraordinary. (Gossett, in my opinion, gives the best performance of his career---high praise indeed.) Woods and Dern, two actors whose work I haven't always been crazy about, are perfect here. It's fast, hilarious (with Gossett getting most of the best lines) and, as The New York Times wrote, "improbable (and) vastly entertaining." Oliver Platt's fleecing of the locals in the bar early on is one of the funniest scenes I know of. I love introducing friends to "Diggstown." Without exception, their reactions are, "Holy crap! How come I've never heard of this movie??!!" Then they ask to borrow it.

There are three Con movies I really love. "The Sting", "Paper Moon" and "Midnight Sting (or Diggstown)". I don't bother to compare these three, because each has its own quality. Diggstown's strength lies in the great and obvious chemistry between all the main actors and even the supporting ones. True that Woods steals every scene he is in, but he feels so at home in the skin of Gabriel Caine, that we forgive him just to watch him do his cool one liners and gestures, like opening a bottle of Wild Turkey with his thumb. Oliver Platt gives his performance a full go in all the scenes he is alone. Together with Woods, he steps down a bit. Louis Gosset jr. was never better than in this movie, that is my honest opinion. You really buy his aged but still able boxer, and he trained the choreography well. Dern is juast as a smooth villain we like him to be. Though his role is quite one dimensional, he manages that we feel for him and understand his goals, though we truly loathe him. The story is quite plain but the execution superb. The production design is good. You really believe this to be some backwater city in the equally backwater Olivair County. The only criticism I have to make is the very constructed and thankfully not executed love interest (Heather Graham). Though she looks cute she never got into character. You could cut her role right out of the movie without missing her. Even her only service to the con men, getting the financial info, could easily be done by everyone else. So all in all, this is a great film to watch, beer in hand and popcorn in a bowl beside you. 8/10 stars