Eric S
God awful, slow, dumb and pointless
Rated 0.5/5 Stars •
Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars
03/24/23
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Audience Member
For me, reviewing "Windy City," would be a bit like reviewing a beloved relative; for reasons beyond craft this film holds a special place in my heart. I can't say whether it's "good" or "bad," I only know it's one of my personal favorites.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/09/23
Full Review
Audience Member
The snooty critics missed this by a mile - notice the 86% audience score. Personally, I think this is one of the best movies ever made - certainly Armyan Bernstein's best sceenplay writing. It's a movie about ALL of life - love, friendship, careers, and dreams. Janet Maslin of the NY Times moans that the romance is "entirely pat" - Wrong - In fact, Bernstein did a great job of NOT following the typical cliches of a romantic movie. I don't want to spoil it for you, but I'll just say there are some great comic moments when you THINK the movie is going a cliche route but then it does just the opposite of what you're expecting.
Josh Mostel, who plays the terminally ill best friend of Danny, the main character, does an outstanding acting job. This is absolutely the ONLY thing I have ever liked John Shea in - which should give you an idea of just how good the movie is, when it can make you love it despite the fact that you can't hardly stand the lead actor.
One of the strengths of the movie is how it manages to seamlessly fold in a number of sub-plots - that involve what's going on in the lives of Danny's other friends. All of them manage to make you care about each person in the movie, not just the principals. James Sutorius is especially good as a commodity trader who, when the market opens Monday morning, is either going to "be a millionaire" or "going to prison".
This is one of those awesome movies that has you rolling on the floor laughing one moment and crying your eyes out the next. It's hard to believe - and a testament to Bernstein's writing - that they managed to fit all that's in this movie into just over an hour and a half - if someone described to you everything that goes on it, you'd think it was sure to be more like TWO and a half hours long.
I can't believe they've never put this on DVD. While it wasn't a box-office hit (I don't know why, but I suspect just lack of marketing, as I'd never even heard of it till I caught it on HBO) - it did become something of a "cult classic" on HBO, which used to rerun it frequently.
Watch it - I guarantee it will become one of your favorite movies - it's filled with great lines.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
01/20/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Just watched an old, made-for-TV movie on youtube. The whole thing was on youtube. Netflix never picked it up. It was made in 1984, and it really affected me. It's dated, somewhat cheezy, and not really slickly produced, but it's bittersweet, has changes of seasons, a dog, great friendships and a love-story in it. Whaddya' want for nuthin', rubber biscuit?
I was so glad to be watching it with my wife, who also liked it. It affected me again like it did thirty years ago. The thing only gets one star on "Rotten Tomatoes." Buncha" snobs. Some people have no soul. But it got 4.9 stars on Amazon. Anyone ever see it? It's "Windy City" with John Shea and Kate Capshaw.
What I love about the movie although most people find the ending a "happy" ending, it leaves a bit to the imagination. I call it a "hopeful" ending, which I'll take over a slimy happy ending any day.
You can watch the whole movie here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMN3oHUZTsw
(
I tried to give this 5 stars, but I think there was a glitch and only one showed. )
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
01/16/23
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