Search - The Last Days of Frankie the Fly on DVD

Not bad, not great

LGwriter | Astoria, N.Y. United States | 11/06/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"So whaddya get when you put Dennis Hopper, Darryl Hannah, Michael Madsen, and Kiefer Sutherland in a mob comedy-drama? The Last Days of Frankie the Fly. The title character, played by Hopper, is a kind of zhlub (Yiddish for semi-putz. Oops, that's also Yiddish. Well, you know, a sort of nebbish. Is that Yiddish also? OK. Sorry. A meek guy who doesn't do much. How's that?) who's the gofer for local small time mob boss Sal, played by Michael Madsen in another of his smarmy nasty roles.

Madsen's type casting does him proud, but it's interesting to see Hopper cast somewhat against type as a meek guy. Now add in the mix Darryl Hannah as a porn actress (OK, she's not the greatest actress in the world, but she's actually OK here) and Kiefer Sutherland as a porn movie "director" (an NYU Film School graduate, no less), and there's your recipe for...well, not disaster really, but a relatively enjoyable little crime drama that confines its action to romance, murder, torture, and humiliation, rather than tackle the big issues like corruption and desperation.

So it's not exactly noir per se, but on the other hand it's decent. Hopper falls in love with Hannah, who's a lot more intelligent than the typical porn actress, constantly berated by Sutherland, who's a gambling addict, in hock to Sal (Madsen) to the tune of more than 100 G's. Hopper agrees to place some bets for Sutherland at the track provided that Hopper can write and direct a film for Hannah.

Sal complicates things by being brutal and nasty, ably abetted by his henchman Vic, played by Damon Callie, who also wrote the script. OK, sure, this is not a cinematic masterpiece. But there are a lot worse ways to spend an hour and a half of your time. The most fun is watching the four leads do their thing; especially in the early part of the film, Sutherland is hilarious with his rapid fire sarcastic jabs. And Hopper is fine in his part as well.

As mentioned, not a great film, but worth seeing."

The idea was good, but it could have been better.

08/19/2003

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I initially rented this movie because Kiefer Sutherland is in it, and I am a big Kiefer Sutherland fan. I was pleasantly surprised by the appearances of Michael Madsen and Dennis Hopper.While, the acting, I thought, was good, it was the screenplay/storyline that wasn't. I can feel this build up, but the movie never climaxed for me. It just built me up and then didn't really go anywhere with it.I don't blame the actors for this, as I think everyone really was good, it was just wasn't done as well as it could have been."