Mad Dog Time (1996)

User Rating:

5.2/10   

Director:

Larry Bishop

Writer (WGA):

Larry Bishop (written by)

Release Date:

8 November 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Drama

Tagline:

Bring your brains.

Plot:

With his boss in the madhouse, a mobster is temporary boss of the criminal empire just as vicious rivals threaten the control of the empire.

Plot Keywords:

Mob Boss | Nightclub | Cigar Smoking | Bathrobe | Voice Over

US TV Schedule:

Tue. July 14	8:45 AM	TMC
Sun. July 19	9:10 AM	TMC

Cast

Ellen Barkin	...	Rita Everly
Gabriel Byrne	...	Ben London
Richard Dreyfuss	...	Vic
Jeff Goldblum	...	Mickey Holliday
Diane Lane	...	Grace Everly
Burt Reynolds	...	'Wacky' Jacky Jackson
Larry Bishop	...	Nick
Joey Bishop	...	Mr. Gottlieb
Kyle MacLachlan	...	Jake Parker
Angie Everhart	...	Gabriella
Henry Silva	...	Sleepy Joe Carlisle
Michael J. Pollard	...	Red Mash
Gregory Hines	...	Jules Flamingo
Billy Idol	...	Lee Turner
Billy Drago	...	Wells

Also Known As:

Trigger Happy (UK)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence, language and sexuality.

Runtime:

93 min | Germany:85 min (cut version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | DTS-Stereo

Certification:

South Korea:18 | Australia:M | Germany:18 | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:18 | UK:15 | USA:R | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Bruin Grip Services

Trivia:

Joey Bishop, in his final film, plays a character named 'Mr. Gottlieb'. Bishop's real name is Joseph Abraham Gottlieb.

Quotes:

Ben London: I am Brass-Balls Ben London! And oh, what a pair of balls had I!

Misunderstood yes. Terrible film? Heck no!

Despite the disparaging comments by other reviewers here, and the savaging this film received by mainstream critics, I've got stand by my original assessment of the piece which I made in 1996 on its release. This is a taut, sardonically funny, very well done flick, and I think it's detractor's may be missing the point a bit by pointing out that it plays like a rough draft. Were not many of the so called `Rat Pack' movies nothing more than hastily thrown together vehicles for whatever `Packer' happened to be starring? Of course it's rough around the edges! Of course it never seems to be getting its own joke! Unfortunately the joke ends up being on the film itself because it does its job too well. It looks at the genre from the coatroom, behind a row of smoke-scented overcoats. If it looks and feels like the reels were left on a smoky card table for a few weeks before being run - then it's doing its job. It's that very patina that gives Mad Dog Time it's credentials as a well done and mutli-faceted darkly funny movie that belongs not so much with it's erstwhile Rat Pack brethren as has been suggested so often, but rather with The Player and other movies whose joy, in part, is the fact that the players are so clearly having a ball making the thing. Goldblum and Dreyfuss stand out from an altogether superb cast. Goldblum for his ability to keep the audience guessing as to whether or not he really feels as confident as his character acts throughout and Dreyfuss for proving that nobody in the business can look both smugly amused and supremely confused at the same time as well as he. That's all I have to say. Now I think I'll hop home, pack my bags and leave town.