Dark Comedy Tweeked by Hollywood.
Sam Raimi is the man. SPIDER-MAN surpassed just about everyone's predictions and is the biggest hit of the year (2002) so far (HARRY POTTER and THE TWO TOWERS may knock Spidey off, though). However, Raimi always was the man. He, Rob Tapert, and Bruce Campbell parlayed their little independent film (EVIL DEAD) into a great franchise and used it to start their careers.
CRIMEWAVE was the first major feature for all involved after EVIL DEAD. The film was written by Raimi and two other quirky directors, the Coen Brothers. The movie was largely filmed in Detroit and the lead character was originally written specifically for Bruce Campbell (you can just picture how much better the movie would have been with Campbell in the lead role instead of the no name they cast instead). However, that was before Tinsletown took over. Campbell was scrapped as the lead, but Raimi kept him on in a supporting role. A new beginning and ending was filmed because "audiences just won't get it otherwise" and...
Now That's Comedy!
This is one of my all-time favorite comedies. Louise Lasser and Sam Raimi have gone out of their way to make this film look as much like a cardboard box-propped B movie as you could get. So it's cheap! Hurray for this kind of cheap! What is the era? It has the feel of a mid-60's film, but with a splash of early 80's and mid-40's hair styles, huge clunky 70's tuna boat cars in close up scenes and 50's style automobiles packed in a few outside scenes, with big band swing music from the early 20th century. This movie capitalizes on sheer stupidity and pulls it off rather well. Don't expect an "Airplane" or "Naked Gun" brand of foolishness. This is in a class all it's own. I wish there were other films like this. My heart was broken to find that the only DVD it is available on is a region 2 coded European disc with no English option. Watch this film only if you enjoy lame comedy and don't mind laughing at things that make other people think you're not playing with a full deck.
This is a "DIRECTOR'S CUT" of a classic.
Here's something you should know about the new release of Sam Raimi's CRIMEWAVE, folks:
As Far as I know, and according to Bruce Campbell's commentary, this film was never actually (or at least widely) released in movie theaters. We all caught up with this on tape and on cable, back in the 1980s. I still have my VHS copy, which I've watched at least 20-30 times over the years, it being one of my very favorite Raimi Movies. I'm the guy who can literally quote chapter and verse from the dialogue. You need to now this about me, because today I ran the SHOUT! FACTORY Buy-ray edition for the first time (a thing of real beauty!), and it turns out this is sourced from a print that is actually more than SIX MINUTES longer than the version I've known and loved for so long. While not pointed out in the packaging, advertising, or even in Campbell's commentary, there are two scene extensions and one entire five minute sequence that were cut from the original release version, and...
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