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Crimewave (1985)
Starring Reed Birney, Paul L. Smith, Brion James, and Bruce Campbell. Cinematography by Robert Primes. Edited by Michael Kelly and Kathie Weaver. Produced by Robert G. Tapert. Written by Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, and Sam Raimi. Directed by Sam Raimi.
Vic (played by Reed Birney) is on his way to the electric chair for a murder he did not commit. Via a series of flashback sequences, he tells his story to the guards as they prepare him for his execution. Before being taken into custody he was just your friendly neighborhood video surveillance system technician.
The catalyst for the film’s chaos was the decision to turn the security company that Vic worked into a girlie show. One of the owners of the security company (played by Edward R. Pressman) apparently did not agree with this arrangement, so he decided to have his partner (played by Hamid Dana) “exterminated”. But the hired assassins (played by Brion James and Paul L. Smith) kill the wrong people and carelessly leave a witness. Vic, who is spending the evening trying to seduce the beautiful Nancy (played by Sheree J. Wilson) away from the smarmy Renaldo (played by Bruce Campbell), ends up being in the wrong place at the wrong time and suddenly finds himself the lead suspect for the crimes. We are then taken back to the beginning with Vic in prison and pleading for his life with only the missing Nancy to clear his name.
Sam Raimi and The Coen brothers have had a strong bond over the years. Joel worked as an assistant editor on Raimi’s first film, The Evil Dead. The Coen brother’s method of raising funds for their first project was inspired by the way Raimi raised funds for his. The Coens even lived in Raimi’s apartment while they were searching for someone to distribute Blood Simple.
It was during that time that they co-wrote what was originally titled The XYZ Murders; a screenplay that Raimi had been developing and looked to the Coens for help. Based on the strength of The Evil Dead, financing for Raimi’s first Hollywood picture was not difficult to find. Embassy Pictures quickly offered him a budget of almost three million dollars. But when production started the film quickly went over schedule and budget and the studio panicked.
They fired the production manager and denied Raimi any equipment they felt was superfluous. When the difficult shoot finally wrapped Raimi began to edit his film in his Michigan office, but just as soon as he got started the studio quickly relocated the post-production work to Los Angeles, forcing Raimi and his partners Bruce Campbell and Rob Tapert to temporarily move across country. Raimi was then asked to reshoot and reedit the picture to a point where he claims to barely recognize it.
For all of the similarities to the films in both Sam Raimi’s and the Coen brother’s collective careers, there is one glaring difference in Crimewave: the movie sucks. It is silly to a point that it doesn’t make any sense. The characters serve no other purpose than to move from one contrived gag to the next, and even the gags struggle. It’s just not a well put together film.
But in defense of the filmmakers, Sam Raimi never had his own cut of the picture. Who knows how much better or worse the movie could have been if the studio would have allowed Raimi to make his film the way he saw fit. Crimewave is now out of print and unlikely to resurface any time soon. The Coen brothers appreciate that it has become “lost” and Raimi refers to the time spent working on the film as “the worst time of my life”.
Budget: $3,000,000
Total US Gross: $5,101
Genre: Comedy
Runtime: 83 Minutes
US Release Date: 4/25/86
Aspect Ratio: ???
Awards: none
Tagline: Extermination Is Not Just A Business, It’s A Way Of Life.
Quote: “I haven’t seen you here before. I like that in a woman.”
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