Dirty Deeds

Starring:Bryan Brown, Toni Collette, John Goodman, Sam Neill, Sam Worthington, Kestie Morassi, William McInnes, Andrew S. Gilbert, Garry Waddell, Felix Williamson, Derek Amer, Laeini Baille, Rudi Baker, Bille Brown, Michael Brownjohn, Joanne Cahill, Paul Chubb, Ray Devitt, Tim Draxl, Gabriel Egan
Director: David Caesar
Studio: Paramount
Product Type: DVD

Description

DIRTY DEEDS opens with business as normal for prominent Australian gangster Barry Ryan (Brown) who runs the girls, clubs, and illegal casinos. Ryan's wife, Sharon (Collette), sees little of her husband as he spends most of his time with fellow mobsters or his mistress. But things start to get out of hand when Ryan's business is threatened by a Chicago Mafia boss who sends two of his thugs to check out the casino scene for a potential takeover. When Tony (Goodman) and Sal, the two goons sent to check things out, try to fit in to Australian culture, they end up sticking out like two giant sore thumbs. Barry will have a difficult enough time negotiating with the Americans, but the biggest drama occurs when it is discovered that one of his own gang members has been less than truthful.

Customer Reviews:

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap.......2006-10-03

I am a huge fan of Bryan Brown. He is hillarious without even trying to be and a real larrikin. He is one of Australia's greatest exports. Even with the strong cast in the film, it is definitely his movie. Any fan of his will love this movie.

Brown plays "Barry". A sydney underworld crime figure who has the monopoly on the Pokie business in Sydney. He is powerful, greedy and street-wise. He has a deal with the local police boss to do whatever necessary to keep his business moving, as long as he keeps the violence of the streets and keeps paying his cut.

Enter two American gangsters who want a big slice of the action, bigger than what Barry believes they are entitled too. What follows is a tug-of-war between the two for control of the pokie trade. Throw in a few twists, a bit of deceipt and manipulation and you basically have your plot.

Its the cast and the soundtrack I believe are the movies biggest assets. Most people will recognise John Goodman, Sam Neil and Toni Collette, who's abilities speak for themselves but special mention must go to Sam Worthington, Kestie Morassi and Felix Williamson.

Williamson who is actually Aussie plays Sal, Goodman's gangster buddy from Chicago. Worthington is a young up and comer who has gone on to star in other great Aussie flicks such as 'Somersault', 'Gettin Square' and 'Thunderstruck'. And this movie provided a launching pad for the very talented Kestie Morassi, who international audiences will remember as one of the British backpackers from 'Wolf Creek'.

I can understand how overseas audiences may not get some of the dialogue. There is lots of slang and dry humour, but provides great entertainment nonetheless.

1969 gang action in Sydney Australia .......2005-06-15

2002 Australian R-rated (Strong violence and language)/ Crime Thriller. Also known as "Knocking Mr. Big" (in Australia), and "Sacré Boulot" (French Canadian title).

DVD Features: The DVD contains two methods to play the film, either in Full Screen (film fits the TV screen, but cuts off some of the top and bottom action) or Widescreen (otherwise known as "Letterbox," the black bars at the top and bottom of the screen, cutting off the activity on the sides) mode. The movie can be heard in English (5.1 Dolby Digital or 2.0 Dolby Stereo) or Spanish (2.0 Dolby Stereo). The DVD also contains a trailer for the film.

Credits: The movie stars: Bryan Brown (Barry Ryan; "F/X"; from Sydney Australia), Toni Collette (Sharon Ryan; "The Sixth Sense"; from Sydney, Australia), John Goodman (Tony; "Barton Fink"; from St. Luis, Missouri, USA), and Sam (O')Neill (Det. Sgt. Ray of the Police; "The Big Dish"; from Northern Ireland, UK - family moved to New Zealand when he was 7). The movie co-stars Sam Worthington (Darcy "Ryan" -the nephew; "Hart's War"; Australian), Kestie Morassi (Margaret; "The Merchant of Fairness"; from Adelaide, Australia), William McInnes (Hollywood; "Look Both Ways"; from Queensland Australia), Andrew S. Gilbert (Norm; "Ned Kelly"), Gary Waddell (Freddie; "Heatwave"; from Victoria Australia), and Felix Williamson (Sal; "Babe: Pig in the City"). The movie is written and directed by David Caesar (writer: "Mullet"; director: "Greenkeeping").

Plot: It's 1969 and Barry Ryan controls things in Sydney Australia (including the casino slot machine trade). Two Yanks from Chicago, Tony (more level-headed fellow, just wants to do business) & Sal (hot-tempered, trigger-happy guy), members of the mafia, head over to Sydney with new high-tech slot machines to show around casinos and also offer to buy out Ryan. Meanwhile Ryan's nephew comes back from Vietnam and attempts to adjust to civilian life (obsessed with trying to figure out what pizza is, and gets a little too close to his boss's mistress, Margaret). While this is occurring, an internal Sydney gang warfare breaks out (though there is some confusion over where the gunfire is coming from, might have some US mob help, might not). Also, there is some possible conflict between the two US mob personnel.

Review: Considering the little I knew about the film, I was very surprised when the movie opened in a 1969 Vietnam wheat field. Great opening music, though (the music throughout is great, for the most part). Strange, a helicopter arrives in the middle of a wheat field and delivers pizza to some soldiers (and picks up some soldiers, one of whom ends up in Sydney being picked up by Barry, his uncle). Then the movie starts to make sense, with Tony & Sal flying from Chicago to Sydney Australia with a high-tech slot machine. All this occurs before the opening credits. Great lead out from the opening credits scene of mean looking men in suits entering a casino in Sydney and busting up the slot machines (lead by Barry). Oh, and it might help if the movie had been made with subtitles considering the thick accents.

Great car chase in the movie. The providers (Freddie's gang) of the slot machines that Barry destroyed right after the opening credits pulls up beside Barry and the nephew and shoot at Barry, just one shot though (forgot to load more). Barry drives the car and chases after the rival gang while his nephew attempts to get out their only gun stuck under the car seat.

Interesting take on Vietnam offered in the film. One of the mafia men from Chicago, Sal, notes that the mafia is behind the Vietnam war. Apparently, the mob wants to make some money from the drug trade. As Sal notes: black people and poor white trash get sent to Vietnam, get hooked on drugs, go back to the states and get their friends hooked as well.

Quite an interesting little film with everyone seeming to have their own agendas (some secret, some not). Most of the acting is good, and most of the characters have depth, though some, like the internal rival Sydney gang, have rather thin to non-existing personalities. The Australian accent is a little hard to understand sometimes (doesn't help that the music sound-level and dialogue sound-level seem to be set at two different levels). The plot is solid, but the tension is mostly missing. Considering the Australian film financing in this film, I would assume that the action occurs in Australia, though it is hard to tell (other than the giant desert). Overall, I would give the film 4.10 stars.

Down Under Down and Dirty.......2004-01-08

Here's the mix: throw in a coupla Yank Mafia guys--Sal and Tony. Blend with an Aussie mob operation based in Sydney, circa early 70s. What's the op? Slot machines. This is what's driving Sal and Tony's boss after the money to be made. Made men means make money. How Jimmy, the Mafia boss, found out about all the cash in Sydney is beyond the scope of this flick.

But that's OK. This works great. John Goodman is Tony, a kinda soft hearted Mafia soldier who's the perfect counterpart to Sal, his violent partner--shorter on brains and faster on the trigger finger (except when boar hunting). Bryan Brown is Barry, the main Aussie gangster who runs things in Sydney. Barry is married with a young son, but this doesn't stop him from cussing right to his kid's face or getting nasty when he has to.

Barry's not big on any takeover from the Yanks. Who would be, with a nice steady income stream every week? Not even for a coupla mil. This leads to some punchy (literally) things taking place, not least of which is Barry's nephew taking up with Barry's mistress, a young know-it-all waitress. Barry's wife, played by Toni Colette in a great performance, takes none too kindly to the extracurricular shenanigans.

And Barry's local rivals, one of whom was killed by Barry's men, are not exactly thrilled with Barry either. All this adds up to an edgy neo-noir with a unique Australian flavor. Very nifty. Writer-director David Caesar uses a hip, slice and dice jump-cutty style that is a teensy bit garish, but mostly works really well for the material. Skewed camera angles fit in with the period piece trappings--including spot on rock music and loud-color dress.

A different kind of neo-noir, entertaining and fun. Recommended.

Dirty Deeds Done Right.......2003-12-24

What happens when the Chicago mob moves in on the Aussie nickel slot-machine business? John Goodman's world weary wise-guy takes on Bryan Brown's edgy mob boss in this action-packed black comedy that does for the gentlemen what "Down With Love" did for the ladies--brings back the 60s through an affectionate and humorous lens. Sam Neil and Toni Collette put in strong supporting performances as Bryan Brown's corrupt cop "pal" and his feisty wife, and Sam Worthington demonstrates excellent comic timing as the lad just back from Nam who can't decide whether he wants to be a gangster or open the first pizza parlor in Australia.
Worth renting, just to hear Bryan Brown's advice to his young son on how to get vampires out from under the bed, and if you happen to be (as I am) a fan of any one of these fine actors, you won't be satisfied until you add this film to your collection.

Good Fella's in thongs.......2003-11-09

Good movie- But if you are interested in another great Aussie Gangster film starring Heath Ledger and Bryan Brown- Hunt down "Two Hands", you won't regret it- unfortunatly,as yet it is not available on Amazon.

Average customer rating:

Is This Movie Smarter Than a Fifth Grader
Every Actor's Got To Start Somewhere
Not Another Teen Movie!!!
dirty deeds indeed
weak, weak, weak... American Pie RIPOFF

Dirty Deeds (Unrated)
Starring: Milo Ventimiglia , Lacey Chabert , Tom Amandes , Matthew Carey (II) , and Mark Derwin
Director: David Kendall (II)
Manufacturer: Freestyle Releasing
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000BGH240
Release Date: 2006-01-10

Description

An American Pie-style teen comedy in which a high school senior tries to become the first student to complete the coveted "10 Dirty Deeds"… an outrageous series of challenges that must be completed between dusk and dawn on the Friday night of Homecoming weekend. The mild-mannered Zach, (Milo Ventimiglia) shows he is no pushover when he takes on the deeds to protect the younger brother of the girl of his dreams (Lacey Chabert).

Customer Reviews:

Is This Movie Smarter Than a Fifth Grader.......2007-04-04

Short Answer: No

This caught my attention on HBO because I noticed that the producers are a bunch of former and current Pro Baseball Players. An opening day pity rebroadcast must explain why it was shown at all.

The characters would have been stock characters if any of them were even developed that far. This movie gets it so wrong that it isn't even clear that the jocks dominate the school, whether the psycho in the pickup is a jock or not, whether the hot girls are popular or hermits, whether the dorks are oppressed or just slightly less popular. I think all the nerds get laid without even much of an effort. When even timeworn cliches are beyond the comprehension of the writing staff it might be time to consider writing something less complicated; maybe the "hip" slogans on a McDonalds bag. Let the Family Guy Manatees write films like this, its their specialty.

Even the appearances of the hot girls are screwed up. None of them are in it more than about 4 minutes total and they don't have much to do but stand around. How hard is it to have a scene where someone visits a beach or has a car wash? Its been done in teen movies since the 50s. Its really hard to screw that part up. It was screwed up here.

I'm glad baseball is back in season so that a sequel is less likely.

Every Actor's Got To Start Somewhere.......2006-09-25

Dirty Deeds is one of those movies that you sit through saying to yourself, "this is idiotic", but instead of abandoning it midway through you find yourself still sitting through it until the credits begin to roll.

It's silly. It's a teenager movie. It's been done a million times before in Hollywood (most of the time poorly). Dirty Deeds is one of the sub-par high-schoolers-making-mischief-attempts where if you're perusing cable late one night--and can't find anything else on your 500 channels--is maybe worth a stop if you're determined to watch TV instead of just going to bed.

But who knows...you might be seeing the beginning of some great careers! Just look what 1980's teeneager movie Hollywood Knights launched for the likes of Michelle Pfeiffer, Tony Danza, Robert Wuhl and Fran Drescher. Everybody's got to start somewhere, right?

Not Another Teen Movie!!!.......2006-05-22

Milo Ventimiglia (Gilmore Girls, The Bedford Diaries) stars as Zack Harper, a kid who helps out his friend Kyle who is in a bit of a rut. Kyle was challenged by a senior to do the Dirty Deeds. The Dirty Deeds (there's 10 of them) are just random things on a piece of paper the person has to accomplish. There's also a record that has never been beating before. So, Milo sets out to do the Dirty Deeds and there's also a party being thrown at a house where they keep a scoreboard of how many Milo has done. Not Another Teen Movie!! Just had to say that but its bascially what it is. In American Pie you had Jason Biggs doing the pie and in this, well Milo Ventimigla enters a bag of whole wheat bread (if you know what I mean). Milo helps the film but nothing is special about this movie. More moronic characters. My advice is watch it (Unrated or not) once and the decisions are up to you. Also starring Lacey Chabert (Not Another Teen Movie, Mean Girls) of course, Mark Derwin (One Life To Live, Heist), Zoe Saldana (Drumline, Pirates of the Caribbean), Panso Gorson (South of Nowhere, Dear Wendy), Billy L. Sullivan (My Life, Little Big League), Ray Santiago (Meet The Fockers, Pinero), Todd Zeile (King of Queens, SNL), Michael Milhoan (American Gun, Pearl Harbor), Erin Torpey (Crescendo, One Life To Live), Arielle Kebbel (Aquamarine, Be Cool), Dave Power (Frailty, Boston Public) and Charles Durning (The Final Countdown, Rescue Me) for some odd reason that I dont know why. What does the Unrated version have to offer? Female Nudity what else?!!

dirty deeds indeed .......2006-03-20

watching this film i felt i had seen it before . it follows the same teen movie cleshays that we know so well offering nothing new for this type of movie . saying that i've seen worse and fans of teen comedys will probable find it entertaining for the most part . the main reason i got this was that the talented Lacey Chabert is in it . acting in the type of film that she made fun of in not another teen movie . lacey does her best with the material and what little screen time she has but she is not aloud to show her true comic potenshal as she was in films like mean girls .
in my opinion this film is not bad it's just very avarge .

thank you for reading my review .

weak, weak, weak... American Pie RIPOFF.......2006-02-07

I'm actually really shocked that the reviews for this have been so good. I don't know... maybe when I was a teenager I would have found the jokes in DIRTY DEEDS funny, but not anymore. Although, I laughed at AMERICAN PIE (the first one) and that was pretty sophmoric? Not sure. So, I finally came to the conclusion that DIRTY DEEDS... JUST WASN'T FUNNY.

The concept in Dirty Deeds is a pretty decent one. The school has a secret list of dirty deeds hidden and very few have attempted to, or have completed all of them in one night. And when they do complete all 10 deeds, they get to add another for the next to take the challenge. The deeds range from... punching the toughest guy in the school, bringing a dead guy from the morgue to the school, drinking a beer in front of a cop... etc. etc. etc.

But the concept was wasted with poor writing, sophmoric sense of humor and a weak attempt to capitalize off the success of all the other teenager having sex comedies that have come rolling out of the gate ever since Hollywood figured out that teenagers are making up a very large percent of the Movie theatre revenue intake.

Yet, the jokes in DIRTY DEEDS never really exceed stuff that made me laugh when I was ten. Somebody getting punched real hard, masterbation, or somebody farting... and of course... as the title of my review suggests... of course it has the American Pie ripoff jokes. In American Pie... the character "does it" with a pie... in Dirty Deeds... it's a loaf of wheat bread... and of course the jerk principal buys the loaf and eats it... wondering what the white... yeah... I won't elaborate.

And then there's the hot girls like Lacey Chabert, Arielle Kebbel and Zoe Saldana! I like them all. They're all very pretty. They do nothing. In fact... all three of them may as well have been credited as cameos because they weren't in it much. Lacey Chabert is in it the most, but her character is VERY VERY SERIOUS and apprently not into having FUN and it comes across. She has no jokes at all. Zoe Saldana has a very very very tiny role and Arielle Kebbel has a small role in which she makes out with some dork freshman because he had the balls to talk to a senior.

I've had it folks. I have it with the RIPOFFS and the sequels and the remakes and the lack of originality. The writers need to take some time and make sure the laughs deliver. The studios need to stop greenlighting things that aren't ready, just so they can catch the tail end of a dieing trend.

DIRTY DEEDS is a bad movie that could have been better if the makers would have had a more original goal in mind, instead they chose to CONFORM, rush into production and it went straight to the video shelves.

Average customer rating:

Is This Movie Smarter Than a Fifth Grader
Every Actor's Got To Start Somewhere
Not Another Teen Movie!!!
dirty deeds indeed
weak, weak, weak... American Pie RIPOFF

Dirty Deeds (Rated)
Starring: Milo Ventimiglia , Lacey Chabert , Tom Amandes , Matthew Carey (II) , and Mark Derwin
Director: David Kendall (II)
Manufacturer: Freestyle Releasing
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

Teen | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

School Days | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( D ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B000BGH23Q
Release Date: 2006-01-10

Description

Customer Reviews:

Is This Movie Smarter Than a Fifth Grader.......2007-04-04

Every Actor's Got To Start Somewhere.......2006-09-25

Not Another Teen Movie!!!.......2006-05-22

dirty deeds indeed .......2006-03-20

weak, weak, weak... American Pie RIPOFF.......2006-02-07

Average customer rating:

Dirty Deeds

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

Dirty Deeds/Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic

Average customer rating:

FUNNY AS A TUMOR

Dirty Deeds/Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic

Manufacturer: Vivendi Visual Ent
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Customer Reviews:

FUNNY AS A TUMOR.......2007-04-02

Sarah Silverman is the essence of hype. A big name husband and incessent appearances on DINNER WITH FRIENDS led to the disasterously unfunny Comedy Central gig which is hopefully cancelled. But none of this adds up to even a whisp of talent. You want funny women? Watch Megan Mooney.

Average customer rating:

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
1969 gang action in Sydney Australia
Down Under Down and Dirty
Dirty Deeds Done Right
Good Fella's in thongs

Dirty Deeds [Region 2]
Starring: Bryan Brown , Toni Collette , John Goodman , Sam Neill , and Sam Worthington
Director: David Caesar
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

( D ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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