RRP £12.99 Lowest New Price £1.38

Suitable for 15 years and over Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Release date: Monday 15th of August 2005 Starring: Bruce Dern, Jack Nicholson, Ellen Burstyn, Director(s): Format: PAL, Region code: 2 Running time: 99 minutes Language: English (Original Language)

RRP: £12.99
Atmospheric, haunting but little else.
Review date: 2004-07-27 Rating: 6 out of 10

Having watched and loved Five Easy Pieces directed by Bob Rafelson and starring Jack Nicholson I had heard somewhere afterwards about their reteaming for this effort two years later (1972). TKOMG is not a well known film and you can see why on first viewing, it tries very hard to live up to its predecessor Five Easy Pieces in terms of creating a highly atmospheric and character driven drama piece, but its lack of clarity, clear cut plot and really 'point' is not there.

It is the tale of a shy late night radio talkshow host, unusually played by Nicholson, who is called to Atlantic City by his petty criminal brother (Bruce Dern) and his two ladyfriends (one of which is Ellen Burstyn in an early role) who has dreamed up a get rich scheme involving the purchase of an island near Hawaii. Like 5EP the tale is based around alienated characters with drifter qualities. The location, Atlantic City, is a perfect reflection of their faded characters and their hopeless dreams. Photographer Lazlo Kovacs is really the films star with his searing and melancholy depictions of the faded, lonely city.

The film is masterful in its ability to capture desperation and lonliness and the human need to dream- rather like a Tennesse Williams play, through its photography and a few particularly captivating scenes- the opening scene is fabulously original and in my opinion one of Nicholson's all time great scenes, hidden behind glasses and a serious, thoughtful face, and a scene where brothers Dern and Nicholson are riding in a faded skytower on a fairground in what appears to be a slight tribute to 'The Third Man'. However, away from the originality, the haunting ambience and quiet dignity of Nicholson's character the film is a mere ghost of what it could be, far too uneventful and sometimes uneccessarily mournful to appeal to mainstream audiences.

Watch for some fantastic and beautiful capturings of Atlantic city, an unusual and interesting alternative to Jack Nicholson's usual performances, but besides that this is a ghost in early seventies cinema, a failed follow up to Five easy Pieces- surely one of America's greatest films. We need, however, a release of this for Region 2 audiences.

Really only for die hard Jack Nicholson fans (like me) or arthouse types who can watch a film despite lack of events.