Steelyard Blues

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Audience Member A young Donald Sutherland and Jane Fonda They play a bunch of social misfits Jesse and Iris To find their own freedoms they decide to take parts from a WWII plane and build their own PBY boat Of course they end up facing a few obstacles such as prison sentences Plus Jesse's brother is running for mayor and can't afford to have him screw things up even more It's clear they both want out of their chained lives A simple premise with a tight cast They feel like they're more outlaws not criminals willing to risk breaking away from society's judgements and rules The film is short, brisk, and had a tuneful soundtrack Nothing too complicated Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Audience Member The ex-con Jesse Veldini (Donald Sutherland) has a passion for demolition derbies. He has wrecked almost every possible car, but violates his parole when confronted by a 1950 Studebaker. This embarrasses his brother, Frank Veldini (Howard Hesseman) a politically ambitious district attorney who wants Jesse to clean up his act. Trying to get away from Frank's good intentions and find a happier life against the norms of society, Veldini ends up out of town with his other brother Kid (John Savage), the crazy Eagle Thornberry (Peter Boyle), and his hooker girlfriend Iris Caine (Jane Fonda), trying to restore an old Consolidated PBY Catalina to an airworthy state, whatever it takes... "Steelyard Blues" is to be frank an incoherent unfunny mess that just makes no sense. With this ensemble what could go wrong? The writer, David Ward, wrote "The Sting" two years later, Jane Fonda had just won an Academy Award for Klute, Donald Sutherland had done excellent work in films like "Klute," "M*A*S*H" and "Kelly's Heroes" while Peter Boyle and John Savage had not yet done their best work. It´s supposed to be a caper but at the same time the movie wants to be a hip satire, presenting a series of comedy sketches that just feels incoherent as said and not funny at all. The result is that the caper plot makes the comedy parts awkward and forced. So we get a really disconnected comedy in our hands. The only plus in "Steelyard Blues" is a great soundtrack. Trivia: Because Fonda, Sutherland and Boyle were active in anti-war activities when this movie was made, it seems that "Steelyard Blues" was not given a wide release or much publicity. Nevertheless, it is memorable for its portrayal of oddball characters, and found a warm reception among college students and non-conformists. With its anti-establishment message and hip soundtrack by musicians Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield, Nick Gravenites, Maria Muldaur and others. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/21/23 Full Review Audience Member A group of counter culture merry pranksters occupy a junkyard and get a harebrained scheme to fix up an airplane that's laying broken in the yard. The merry pranksters include Donald Sutherland, Howard Hesseman, Peter Boyle, John Savage, and Jane Fonda sporting a big afro. The film was written by David S. Ward, who'd go on to win an Academy Award for his next film "The Sting," but I have to say that this film is less like that film in quality and more along the lines of some of his later films like "King Ralph" or "Major League," which weren't bad, but fairly average of comedies. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Audience Member this film reunites Fonda & Sutherland (Klute) and also includes some of the best character actors like john savage & peter boyle whom r the fuel that makes this zany caper pic go. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member The trailer opens with the somewhat prophetic admonition: "The world may not be ready for Steelyard Blues!". Yeah. Nope, it wasn't. But for a small minority of film freaks it instantly made the short list of favorite caper flics. Can't tell you how many times I've caught myself singing "They're Lettin' Me Drive Again" in the shower. Great soundtrack (Butterfield, Gravenites, Bloomfield and more), amazing cast. Just a goofy good time. Hard to believe the project ever found a green light. But it was a time when the suits had no IDEA what was happening, but sure hoped to cash in on it with another Easy Rider. Sorry, man. I'll go to my grave loving this little hijacking. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/17/23 Full Review Audience Member Someone criticising this film opined that it was reminiscent of Smokey and the bandit. This film came out 4 years before S&B! SYB is actually a pretty good film, yes a little dated but so many of the films which people compare it owe a great deal to the sheer reckless inventiveness and charismatic acting. Another criticism I note was that some fine actors were wasted; again, you have to remember that this was the first major screen opportunity for some of these guys, and only Jane Fonda and DS can be said to have achieved much before. For my own part, I have to confess, I fell about laughing. I took another look at it today and was surprised to see that there was a great deal of inventiveness in it, albeit, those of you who struggle with farce will struggle with this. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/08/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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