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Blood Red (1989) More at IMDbPro »

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2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
give it some credit..., 13 May 2002
6/10
Author: sore_throat from denver

So many people seem to hate this film! Yes, it's flawed (script is generic and predictable) but I still liked it, as it entertained me and had interesting subject matter. And an interesting cast too... At least check it out to hear Hopper's Irish accent.

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3 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Very good movie, 22 March 2009
9/10
Author: fudges72399 from United States

This is a very good movie. It is well done in all respects. It is a good script with good casting. It is a delight to see the two Roberts together even though Julia has a very small role. IF you like good old fashioned tales about good and evil, good guys and bad guys, crooks and decent people, you will love this movie. Dennis hopper does what he does best, play a mean and nasty person - in this case, the railroad baron. Eric Roberts takes on the role of hero and fills that role very well. He is forced into his heroic stance by circumstance not by choice, making it all the more entertaining. This movie has it all, a villain, crooked politicians, good politicians, betrayal, a love story, little guys against giants, people fighting for their land and homes, – what more could you want. Fix yourself some popcorn, turn out the lights, sit back and allow yourself to be entertained in classic fashion. This movie does what all movies should do – no political agenda, no great moral – it is just good, old fashioned entertainment.

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This land is my land... It's not your land., 20 June 2009
6/10
Author: sol1218 from brooklyn NY

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

(Some Spoilers) Taking place in California's wine rich Naper Valley circa 1895 the movie "Blood Red" has to do with a group of recently arrived Italian immigrants who've finally achieved the American dream of owning their own land. That's until a number of greedy and unscrupulous railroad and cattle barons decided to take it away from them! And with deadly force if necessary.

Using all the underhanded tactics available to him railroad bigwig Bradford Barrigan, Dennis Hooper, gets some of the wine growers-through treats and intimidation- to give up their land so he can bulldoze his railroad, the Barrigan Pacific, through it. It's when defiant Sabastian Collogero, Giancarlo Gianne, puts his foot down and cause a wine growers revolt that Barrigan calls in reinforcements, or paid head crackers, to put the wine growers in their proper place. Off their land and on the welfare rolls.

Not really interested in the family business young handsome and fun loving, especially towards the young ladies, Marco, Eric Roberts, is having a lot of trouble with his dad Don Sabastian is having an affair with his bitter rival, in the wine growing business, Don Antonio's, Al Ruscio, pretty daughter Angelica, Lara Harris. These differences between the two families, Marcco's and Angelica's, are soon forgotten when Barrigan through his top thug Andrews, Burt Young, starts making trouble for them.

With Sabastian refusing to give into Barrigan's unreasonable demands, give me your land or else, he ends up being brutally beaten and strung up by Andrews' goons who also attempted to burn down his home with his family in it. With negotiations, between the local wine growers and Barrigan conducted by the well meaning but very naive state Senator Endicott (Gary Swanson) falling apart, due to Barrigan's stonewalling, Carlo together with his two friends American Indian Samuel Joseph, Joseph Running Fox, and the not at all Italian looking fellow Italian Enzio, Michael Madsen, take matters-as well as their sturdy Italian shotguns-into their own hands.

Fine period piece reflecting on the bitter struggle of the common man against the big cooperations when the United States was coming into its own as a world power in the beginning of the 20th Century.

Feeling his native Italy Sabastian expected to realize his dream in finding a land of freedom justice and opportunities, not with its streets paved with gold, that would allow him to provide and care for his family. Having thugs like Barrigan and Andrews trying to take all he worked for, his land, away from him almost destroyed, as it did him, that dream. That's until his son Marco woke up and finally smelled the coffee-or cappuccino-and stopped chasing girls and got down to business by kicking a** in kicking Barrigan Andrews and all his goons out of Napa Valley.

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Low budget film made in the California gold country, 19 August 2002
4/10
Author: sixteenthb (sixteenthb@aol.com) from Modesto, California

This was obviously a low budget film. It shows in every scene. What is nice to see is where it was made. A lot of the film was shot in Columbia, CA, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains near Sonora, CA. Some of the film was also shot in Jamestown, CA, very near Columbia. There is a railroad museum in Jamestown and they used some of the old trains in the picture. "High Noon" was also shot in Jamestown, as was "Back to the Future III".

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1 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Bland script, bland direction....., 15 September 2003
3/10
Author: rosscinema (rosscinema@cox.net) from Oceanside, Ca.

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This film was actually shot and made in 1987 but it didn't hit the theaters until 1990. As I watched this film I could see the good intentions that it had but I'm afraid there wasn't much talent or experience behind the camera to make it work. Story takes place in California in the 1890's and some Italian immigrants who own vineyards are told they have to leave their land so a railroad can come through. Dennis Hopper plays William Berrigan who has offered money for the land but has been turned down. Giancarlo Giannini is Sebastian Collogero and he is to proud to leave and asks the other farmers to stand up and fight to keep their land. Berrigan grows impatient and hires a bunch of thugs to force everyone to vacate. These thugs are headed by a man named Andrews (Burt Young) and he doesn't hesitate to kill anyone who gives him problems. Andrews and his men kill Collogero one night and his son Marco (Eric Roberts) vows to seek revenge and get the land back for everyone. Marco blows up the bridge that the railroad was going to need and they also destroy a tunnel and this sets back the project for several months and Berrigan now starts to get heat from other investors. This film was directed by Peter Masterson and besides "The Trip To Bountiful" he has at best a spotty career in directing. He's a fine actor but here he seems to be in over his head. This was a film that desperately needed more attention to detail and its easy to see that it didn't occur. Roberts hairstyle is perfect for the 1980's but this is suppose to be 1890! The cinematographer is Toyomichi Kurita who ended up being a good cameraman but this was only his fourth film and he certainly had not learned everything at that time. Its not a sharp looking film at all and I noticed in several shots during the day that the sun would be glaring off of something and the scenes just don't have the crispness that would have helped the overall look. The script is just a revenge story and no surprises take place during the course of the film. We know Giannini is going to get it and it seemed just a matter of time. The cast is top notch and they do their best but the whole film comes across as uninspired. This was promoted as Julia Roberts film debut but I'm not sure that is correct. She might have appeared in a film called "Firehouse" before this.

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2 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Straight out of a '40s Saturday Matinee, 21 October 2001
Author: nixxnutz from Dublin, California

If this movie hadn't been shot in color, I might have mistaken it for a '40s B Western. Tell the truth: the plot was lifted from The Mark of Zorro and the names were changed, right? At least those '40s actors didn't appear to forget their lines. Or maybe no lines were written for those embarrassing scenes in Blood Red where there are painful, inexplicable gaps in both dialogue and action. This film is noteworthy only as the single film to date in which both Julia and Eric Roberts have appeared together. That's the only reason I watched it as long as I did. And what brilliant, inspired casting! They played brother and sister. My Video Movie Guide is right: this is a turkey.

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