User reviews

This is definitely not your typical family fare. It's the story of a smalltime thug (Mic) with a bad temper, who gets released from jail. He's greeted at the gate by his longtime buddy (Tommy) who has decided to reform. He wants to go to Las Vegas and bring Mic along. Well, the fact that Mic has a bad temper and is an ex-con should tell you enough to know what will go on. The Golden Eagle is a rundown hotel full of poor, depraved people. A place where dreams come to die an ugly death.

None of the characters was very appealing, the filming is very dark and the story moves slowly. It's an exercise in character definition and acting. If that's what you're looking for in a movie, then this is the movie for you. However, my main problem with it, and the reason I rate it a 6, is that it's not entertaining. When I pulled the DVD out of the player, I didn't feel like I enjoyed myself, The movie didn't move me or make me think and that's a big failure in my book.

"Night at the Golden Eagle" is just a few steps away from being a perfect film, we don't get the opportunity to absorb the climax before it ends, so by the time the credits roll it felt incomplete.

The story isn't about resolutions, but instead the opposite, if you ever wondered where the people who don't "make it" go after they've failed, or where society's unwanted leftovers collect, or where those with potential ultimately find themselves on the wrong side of fate's door there are a lot of them out there right now on the streets, and they're getting younger and younger, get your teen to see it they might learn something.

NIGHT AT THE GOLDEN EAGLE (2002) ***1/2 Donnie Montemarano, Vinny Argiro Natasha Lyonne Ann Magnuson, Vinnie Jones, Sam Moore, Fayard Nicholas, Miles Dougal, Badja Djola, James Caan (Cameo) . Character driven piece of pulp fiction with career criminal Montermarano recently released from a stint in the joint and hooking up with his old cronie Argiro whose plans on going straight including his newly returned to society buddy to a jaunt to Las Vegas ends up with some cruel twists of fate on a sweltering night in the titular Los Angeles flophouse. With the feel of a novella come to life the ensemble cast of misfits, losers and degenerates set in this moldy enclave of despair permeates like a rotting carcass thanks largely to filmmaker Adam Rifkin's vision of hell on Earth (kudos to the ace cinematography by Checco Verese for his seamy look at the underbelly of humanity at its worst). Grim, uncompromising and deftly cutting to the bone of contrition.

I love low budget films that pay off and are very entertaining, especially Indie ones. Take Clerks as one example. Director Rifkin, is a very interesting movie maker. Just go back The Dark Backward- original genius, or Look, which had some very disturbing and realistic themes, like this one. At the end, of this 90 minute viewing, you feel like you've been slapped around the face a few times. Speaking of slapping: Vinnie Jones's performance here as a brutal and uncompromising pimp, who lures really young girls off the bus, with dreams of stardom, then turns them out on the street, is electric, playing one of the most scariest pimps I've seen, and I've seen a few. Another great pimp playing performance was that of Brian Tarantina in the little but potent straight to video drama, Runaway Dreams. Jones also plays the charm of the pimp, wonderfuly. ANATGE takes place in a run down, but kind of legendary old hotel, that caters for a lot of tricks, a few old people, ex cons, and we see at first sight, how pimps, pros work it, but too as people, we get underneath the characters, and see them as real people. Ann Marguson (Panic Room) is great as the worn hooker who really puts so much into her character, her and Jones really shine in this, while American Pie's Lyonne, really shows us, she can really act, and act up a storm she does. To say there's bad acting in this film, truly warrants 50 floggings. Newbie, Nicole Jacobs (what happened to her) with her fresh hot fifteen old looks, and fresh off the bus, completes the talent chain of great acting, for she really shines as Lorrianne, pimp Rodan's (Jones) newest profitable discovery, and he's a really smooth operator, where the little lass, busts her cherry the same night. Also exuding hotness, sexiness, Lyonne must be praised as the slightly older teen hooker, Amber, blowing us way with her presence. The performances are so believable, where a lot happens in one night, the plot involving two ex cons, one recently released, where they get involved in a real pickle, in an accidental manslaughter, and try to cover it up, which kind of backfires for one of them. The film has been shot in that grainy, brown swarthy color ala: 187 film, and it really works, especially for the atmosphere, where the nights are really hot and a lot indeed, happens over the night, in this low key movie, another gem that must be sought out. It's painfully evident, there was a lot of struggle to make this movie, whether production, or financial, but I'm glad the struggle was overcome. The movie though has more straight to video appeal. Not everyone will like this movie, but again, Rifkin, shows you don't need much moolah, to pull off something engaging or visually viable, and this movie really has moments that affect, with some real moments of unease, thanks to Jones. The outcome of the Lorianne character, coming to accept her life here as a popped virgin pro, is one of those affecting and sadly realistic moments.

After spending more seven years in prison, the criminal Tommy (Donnie Montemarano) is released and his former partner Mick (Vinny Argiro) is waiting for him to take him home. Mick is an ex-convict that is straight now, working as a janitor in a porno shop and living in the decadent and filthy Golden Eagle hotel in Los Angeles. He tells Tommy that he has saved 2.5 thousand dollar and has bought two tickets to Las Vegas for them. Mick's intention is to find a job in a casino and begin a new life with his old friend in a nice place. The dirty Golden Eagle is a joint where prostitutes meet clients and losers and decadent people live.

When Mick goes to work his last night in his job, Tommy brings the prostitute Amber (Natasha Lyonne) to the room to have sex with her. Amber works with her friend Sally (Ann Magnuson) on the streets and their pimp is the strong Rodan (Vinnie Jones) that is luring the fifteen year-old runaway Loriann (Nicole Jacobs), promising that she will become a cinema actress. Tommy fails with Amber and she mocks him. Tommy gets angry and kills Amber. When Mick returns to his room, he finds her body. Will that be the end of Mick's dreams?

"Night at the Golden Eagle" is a depressing feature with unpleasant characters. The story is awful, without humor or moral, and the subplots are repulsive. The lead plot refers to Mick and Tommy and is neither good nor interesting; the subplot with the young prostitute is depressive; the plots with the lonely old tapper and his dog and the television viewer are melancholic. In the end, "Night at the Golden Eagle" is a movie that will make you feel completely down. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "A Iniciação" ("The Initiation")

The story of small time crooks, low-income senior citizens and others on the fringe, Night at the Golden Eagle shows one night in their sorry lives. From the ex-con just getting out of prison to the loser desk clerk, everyone in the hotel has some large or small drama going on.

While other reviewers chose to see this as gritty and realistic, I didn't think so; street walkers, for example, are seldom as good looking as Natasha Lyonne, or as articulate. You could expect a lot more drug use and a lot fewer pretty faces in a flea bag hotel, the characters living there wouldn't be nearly as interesting.

The movie is shot in dark tones with a distinct style, presumably to give it more atmosphere; that works, it doesn't distract from the action. The production values are as high as anything else, this isn't a B movie at all.

The film misses the mark, though, it's a decent movie but not a real slice of life as it aims to be. With a couple of quick edits it could easily be the movie of the week on TV.

I'm not a fan of Adam Rifkin's lighter, more commercial stuff ("The Chase", "Detroit Rock City") but I was blown away by "The Dark Backward", which is one of the darkest, most transgressive contemporary films I've seen and that made me seek out "Night at the Golden Eagle", which I also really liked. Golden Eagle has the same obsession with darker than dark, hell-on-earth textures as Dark Backward. I'm not sure how Rifkin does it, but I've seen few other filmmakers who really capture that sense that you are truly looking into the bowels of hell. Even David Lynch doesn't quite go this far down.

Basic plot involves two old-time cons, one having just been released from prison. The other has been living a straight life at the titular fleabag motel, home to prostitutes, geriatric Hollywood hoofers, and other assorted weirdos and drug addicts. The two old cons have a plan to head to Vegas in the morning and start fresh lives as blackjack dealers, but when a hooker ends up dead in their room, things get complicated. There's also a subplot involving a very young prostitute being shown the tricks of the trade by a motherly older prostitute (played by Ann Magnuson).

The film is actually a pretty big downer. Some definite shades of Bukowski and Hubert Selby Jr. Comic relief comes in the form of a b.s.-spouting, television obsessional (played wonderfully by old-time soul great Sam Moore) and a much put-upon desk clerk ("EVERYONE needs something! I'm out of milk, fer Christ's sake!").

More than anything this makes me wish Rifkin would stick to the darker, textural stuff he has such an undeniable gift for creating.

This movie looks great if you like stereotypical flop house sets. Every character every set, every bit of body language is a cliché. From the dancing hooker to the stilted poorly delivered dialog. The movie feels as if there were no rehearsals and the actors were either reading their lines off of cue cards or checking their scripts between takes. I found it impossible to suspend disbelief long enough to embrace the story. The rushed line delivery alone dooms this film.

The film stock looks good and some of the shots are great, but while the girls tears from the closet start to seem like good film making, the sex scene she watches is too abstract and blurry to be disturbing enough to draw a reaction from the viewer. The murder that the film hinges on is cut away from after a few short seconds. And the attempts to violate our sensibilities with a corpse are straight out of weekend at Bernies. It is clear that the director wanted to disturb the audience, but did not have the guts to take it to a level that could possibly inspire an emotional response.

Save your valuable time and watch something better. If you are looking for gritty and disturbing, take it as far as you can go and check out Irreversible (The most difficult to watch film I know of). If you are looking for a well acted character piece, try American Buffalo. If you want realistic hard edged urban drama, see Fresh. Any of these films will be a far better use of your time.

"Night at the Golden Eagle" is the kind of work that grabs your package and squeezes for 90 minutes. It's like careening around your own subconscious during night terrors. The film smacks of the depths of loneliness, despair and the threads of pure survival, filtered through a sublimely artistic prism of the characters' self-delusional hopes and desperate dreams. The direction is crisp, the cinematography excruciatingly magnificent, the acting expertly banal, and the characters out of some finely honed noir nightmare. A cheap indie full of unknown players exquisitely cast, with the awesome kick of an "L.A. Confidential" or "Seven". I couldn't look away, as much as I wanted to. A coarse gem for anyone who believes that movies can actually be art. Watch it very late at night, and then take an Ambien...otherwise you won't sleep.

This movie is slow, boring, pretentious and very unexciting. The cameo by James Caan is just a smile and everybody else looks bored. The razor- thin plot consists of a couple of Italian gangsters who are looking to escape a hotel after a murder. Why they can't escape the hotel is not explained. The very similar "Million Dollar Hotel" is better because it has Mel Gibson and Tim Roth. And that movie is really boring and talky as well.

The movie has no virtually no action. I don't mind a talky movie once in a while if its good, but "Mindwalk" this is not.

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That is how I felt after watching this spectacle of humanity. Completely down. Like I was damaged and left for refuse on the side of the curb. Rifkin did a wonderful job of giving us a side of humanity that we usually see but not at its gritty and gnarly best. This film is right up there with Aronofsky's "Requiem for a Dream" only it feels slightly more polished. The locale for one lent a perfectly hopeless air to the mise en scene. Rifkin played with the color saturation in such a way that it also added an extra layer of desperation to the visuals. Perfection, and this movie is right up there with other modern despair epics like Atlantic City and Requiem for a Dream.

Another movie that starts out with potential but delivers a weak ending. Firstly why is James Caan credited on this movie on the DVD box package? He was in it for all of a few minutes. Cheater! The movie is just average, though Vinnie is above average. Needed a spark on the hour mark. OK to rent.

Geez, what a dark picture! I mean, this film tries to be as ugly as humanly possible. We are either seeing sweaty old men trying to dispose of dead hookers or we are seeing a 15 year old girl sell herself to hideous looking bums. The seedy dump where it all takes place looks and feels like a septic tank. Just watching what transpires here makes you want to take a long hot shower. I suppose I was semi-interested in the movie and that is sad. Because there was nothing redeeming in it. Just a base tale for people with morbid curiosities. I am not sure if that is art or just pathetic. Moreover, I do have some problems with some of the technical aspects. I mean you have these two guys screaming at each other on how to get rid of this dead body in this dive. They are worried that people will find them out, yet they are screaming in a dive with obvious paper thin walls. I also have a problem with our young white hooker, who seems to be soiling herself, not just because she is selling her body, but because she loses her virginity to a very dark black man and then a hispanic. It seems somewhat racist in that regard. As if selling herself to an attractive, young white man would not have been as bad? No, this film just wants to be ugly. There are no promises or hope for redemption. There is no brighter future, just an abyss.

This is a film that never found it's place in the market and that's too bad because it is a powerful and solid piece of film-making.

Everything from the film's stark look, to the excellent acting works on a number of levels, and hopefully the studios will take notice and start handing Rifkin dramas to direct. The screenwriting is also superb and compelling.

If you like films about hard subjects and harder people don't miss this rental.

Hookers and ex-cons hooking up can't be all bad until it gets all bad, which it does.

You may see a lot of comments out there about this film simply being gratuitous doom and gloom, racist, etc. But don't buy it. This film is legit and is meaningful. If you have ever remotely experienced, witnessed or have known anyone associated with the scenarios outlined in this gritty film, then you will understand. It's characters are believable including the brief cameo by pornography actress Kitten Natividad, who probably knows more about that life style than anyone else on the set. If you are a bleeding heart looking for life's answers through political correctness or stereotypical "substantitive" films, do not watch this one. You will be disappointed.

This film is a gritty little piece that is both repulsive and intriguing, a work that offers a glimpse into the sleazy world of the skid row types as they interact within the confines of a seedy flophouse. The acting is sometimes a bit stiff and wooden, but the overall effect of the film is unforgettable and unsettling. The characterizations are generally archetypical, but the film is well directed and the camera work adds to the gloomy, depressing mood that the film captures in the characters' personas and daily lives. The film's flashback sequences add to the overall sense of decline while evoking a sympathetic reaction to the characters' spiritual and psychological dissipation. In some ways, this film brings a compassionate sensibility to the plight of the characters, while exploiting those same human frailties for shock effect and cinematic punch. The young, nubile hooker wannabe is an especially sad and depressing character who embodies the sense of a complete waste of a human life and potential, a point even more pronounced through her completely senseless death near the film's conclusion. Overall, I think this film is a very fascinating piece of indie film-making. Well worth seeing!

Director Adam Rifkin captures the dark "sweaty" world of Downtown L.A. in this remarkable effort. With a miniscule budget and limited resources, he manages to pull off a film that reminds me of the stuff that made movies like Midnight Cowboy great. As a professional in the film industry, I totally appreciate the way he develops and breathes life into the slowly dying characters and the dispassionate surroundings. This is a movie that couild have only been done WITHOUT the help of the damn studios and their team of girls and girly-boys who wouldn't know character development or good dialogue from a rats ass -- this is due to the fact that they live and breathe the idiot box and watch crap like Friends and Ally MacSqueal and Sex in the City. Attention studio executives and underpaid development folk! Watch this film and understand there is a need for movies with REAL characters.

PS Vinny Argiro and Donny Shacks are ass-kicking!!!! A performance that will knock you on your azzz.

ANTIMAX (CJG)

The stench of neon lights in a sinful city street are always interesting to me, and these are the elements this film promised. On that front it absolutely delivered, but what else? The movie takes place, as the name suggests, on one night in a decrepit hotel. One positive I can say is that the hotness of the summer night is absolutely palpable in this piece.

The story is about an old crook who gets out of the prison. His best friend, our main protagonist, has a plan to move to Las Vegas and start a new, legit life with the money he has managed to save. But the old jailbird's blood flow's too hot and he kills a prostitute in anger. Now the duo must get rid of the body before the buss leaves and before this messes their shiny new future before it even begins.

That's a nice premise and all, but few things stuck up like a sore thumb. First of all, the recently released character is a complete jerk, and thus as a watcher it was rather difficult to accept our main character's necessity to keep this parasite out of responsibility just because, we are told, they used to be mates. The main dude himself was fine, but a more three dimensional sidekick would have made a more balanced double act so that a viewer would not want anything bad to happen to either of them.

Secondly, neither of these old crooks really develop as characters throughout the thing. The movie just ends and doesn't really resolve anything - as if they would have started to free ball the script without any idea where they were heading.

Actually much more interesting than the main story is a B-plot about a young, empty headed girl whom a slippery tongued pimp (Vinnie Jones) half cons to become a prostitute. The girl is completely at lost inside her tough interior, but luckily meets an older harlot who takes her under her wing. This particular hooker is the best and most positive character in the film. Their plot line actually goes somewhere, which is welcome.

Other good stuff: the world of the film is made nicely pathetic and slimy. This is good. The drunken idiot who works the hotel's reception is a fun character. The almost "Weekend at Bernie's" -style corpse charade by the main duo at the end part of the film goes into a total farce. This, and other humour is good to balance out the darkly lit nihilism.

Unfortunately, in the end the result is still somewhat forgettable. The drama never ascends the smallness of it's characters which became rather numbing after a while. Also we had slowness and nothing really happening at times. It isn't, by no means, a horrible film and one can still do much worse.

i caught this movie on 1/5th of the way through, and i thought every second was good. i thought some shots brought forth more of a horror/drama, but some parts were more comedic and meant to lighten you up before the next scene. i think the director also did a good job twisting almost every part, leaving the watcher baffled, but itching for more. i recommend anybody who likes movies to watch this at least once. the only issue with this movie is the storyline, which goes flat about 4/5th's in, and eventually it looked like the writer was getting lazy and needed to end the movie fast. the casting was amazing, as well. everybody on the set really seemed to act as who they were, and portray it amazingly.

I am a fan of European movies because the film makers there seem to be able to create human inspired dramas which explore the realistic side of life at a microscopical level. Their films dive deep into the human condition - hopes, shattered dreams, past memories, sex, hopes, love, and despair.

This movie does exactly that! Well done to all the cast, the crew, the story teller, and everyone involved to create a telling story against all the prevailing forces which consider entertainment as a business only enterprise.

This is a brilliantly executed classic of the best of American film making. I am stunned that everyone involved managed to achieve such excellence in their art against the enormous pressure at the time it was made to produce bucks-only cinema.

If you are a fan of serious story-telling and you appreciate the fine art which the cinema medium allows when Great story-tellers are involved, then you are going to discover an absolute classic of brilliance here.

See it. Talk about it. Think about it. Many people have yet to enjoy this extraordinary excursion into the heart of human darkness, and to learn where real life is lived by the masses.

mol

Night at the Golden Eagle is a gritty film, yet gritty isn't half the word to describe it. Even though films such as Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, The Usual Suspects and even the mediocre Way of the Gun have all been praised for their gritty atmosphere, Night at the Golden Eagle blows them all away with a gritty atmosphere that perfectly replicates the locations depicted in great novels from pulp legends such as Mickey Spillane and Dashiell Hammett. Night at the Golden Eagle is pure pulp, with an emphasis of illustrating the means streets and back alleys themselves rather than the story of the two old ex-convicts and the other people in between. The result is a fantastic movie, that utterly shows what life in a slum is like and the lives it creates for the poor people that cross upon its path.

However, viewers seeing this movie should not look for story, because it is non-existent or weak at best. The story of the two-old ex-cons is never really developed and leaves the audience somewhat confused since the director wants to be "Tarantino-like" and ambitious and switches between three sets of characters. While the story of the whores, both old and young, is a nice interlude, the emphasis on the two old black men is rather pointless. It is nice the director decided to show the laziness of some people, yet a good chunk of the movie is just dedicated to the old man watching TV, which deprives the audience of further understanding the more important characters such as the whores and ex-cons.

Yet despite this strange blunder by the director/writer with the story, the acting is great. The two men do a great job at their parts, giving great and quite believable performances as the two ex-cons, with both giving great mixtures of cynicism and paranoia in their dialog. Their acting is truly enjoyable, and makes the audience only yearn for more. The young girl does an admirable job as the young whore, for she constantly is the only reminder of innocence throughout all the chaos and sleaziness of the hotel. Hence, her performance sticks out greatly and is a sleeper performance that deserves some recognition, but probably won't because of the serious holes in the plot.

It's a shame this movie isn't more recognized because it is a fantastic film with a fantastic atmosphere that literally puts the settings in Tarantino and Guy Ritchie flicks to shame. While movies these days tend to be more glamorous and over the top, this movie is the epitome of an indie film, breaking the rules in all sorts of ways in order to depict an environment that only great pulp authors dream about. The story is disappointing, yet after watching the film, the audience really doesn't care about the film. The only thing stuck in their minds is the maniacal characters, the sleazy hotel and its dirty surroundings. This is truly a masterpiece "pulp indie" film that should be seen by any kind of "crime fiction" lover, and shows audiences there is more to "pulp" than a few guns, broads and some "Tarantino-esque" dialog. Not to say that I don't love the man, but a little variety is necessary, and this film fits the bill perfectly.

My analysis: If you consider yourself a fan of the "Pulp" genre, see this or you're truly a "pulp" poser.

The danger of real life is that if you invent something, there is someone waiting in the sidelines for the opportunity of the invention. Adam Rifkin was waiting for movies to be invented so he could unleash "Night at the Golden Eagle". Naw, that's wrong. The whole idea of movies probably kicked him in gear and this film was born afterward.

None of that matters, of course, but it is so interesting to wonder where the "spark of art" comes from.

This film is art. It's not an art film though I'm certain it will be shown in such theaters. This is a raw film, wipe away the gloss and sheen, there isn't much, bring on the stench of being a trapped loser, hopelessness in multiple layers, high enthusiasm for a future that does not exist but so much pumping blood and hope we try to rally.

What kind of film is this? It is grim.

That's the best word I know.

Grim.

Grim done so well you can smell the seemy rooms, you want everyone to take a shower, the bed sheets have stains of people that aren't in the cast, a pretty girl smiles to reveal a mouth full of braces and a future of hopes that aren't going to happen.

Tears run down cheeks and leak into lips so you taste the salt.

There is an incredible nasty scene filmed as reflection on a pupil.

Where did that idea come from? Who is that insane?

Kudos to Mr. Rifkin for building life's underbelly with jarring reality but the genius of this film is in Francesco "Checco" Verese's cinematographry. Almost sepia monochromatic, every scene, every still that could be pulled from the movie is like a "Life" magazine shot. Filmography students could study any shot, any, for shadow and foreground and depth.

If you invent movies, someone is going to come along and grab us all by the short hairs and do this.

I don't want to watch but I can't look away.

Genius that won't reach everyone.

Rent, watch, take a shower.