This is How Movies Should Be Made

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

8 Seconds (1994) *** (out of 4)This here was billed as telling the true story of Lane Frost (Luke Perry) who would become the youngest National Champion in bullriding. The story behind the riding was a lot darker as he was married young to a woman named Kellie (Cynthia Geary) and the two suffered many problems.8 SECONDS was a film that was meant to turn Perry into a major movie star but it was released to a lot of lukewarm reviews and it didn't do overly well at the box office. The film pretty much didn't live up to what it was trying to do and it certainly left a mark on Perry's career.I'm really not sure why the film didn't do better. Perhaps it was a bit too dark for a kids movie yet not quite adult enough to cater to older viewers. In my opinion the film was unjustly criticized and it's really too bad because this was a pretty good movie that at least told a good story and featured some nice performances.I think the film probably would have been better had it gone straight out as an adult movie and dealt with the darker issues in a more serious manor. Both Perry and Geary are so good in their roles that you can't help but enjoy them as they take us through the story. The two of them are especially good during the more dramatic moments and they certainly sell the story of the young couple dealing with things they don't quite understand.

This is the kind of movie that would pull tears out of a statue. Luke Perry did a great job all the way. I never heard of Lane Frost until then, but I have studied about him since. I was in Cheyenne at Warren AFB in early 1951 way before Lane was born, and had to leave just before the Cheyenne Frontier Days. This movie was not the kind you forget as soon as it's over, it stays with you and bugs you, and very few do that to me. I'm 75 and have seen a lot. The only other movies that I said would "pull tears out of a statue" would have to be "October Sky" and "I'll See You in My Dreams" (Doris Day). As a youngster, I got hung up on Westerns and that stayed with me most of my life, which is probably the real reason I missed so many good movies. Now I sit around and try to catch up, thanks to my recent interest in a lady I consider the "Worlds Most Versatile and Talented Actress".

I saw '8 Seconds' a little while ago and thought it to be pretty good. It does contain some language and they did change the story line slightly from Lane Frosts real life, but overall it was a interesting video with likable characters. I'm a big rodeo fan so I especially enjoyed the bull riding and barrel riding scenes (Kelly Frost is a barrel rider) and the behind-the-chute action that the normal rodeo goer isn't able to see. I was a bit disappointed that they didn't mention that the real Lane Frost was a strong Christian, that they made his character in the movie have conflicts with his father when in reality they had a wonderful relationship, and that they included a cheating scene which never happened (the real Lane and Kelly Frost did split up for awhile, but there never was any cheating done by either side)I recommend this movie, especially if you have a language filter on your player :P although do be forewarned that there are some 'references' as well.

8 Seconds is probably my favorite film. It's not the best film on Earth, mind you; but it's the one I like watching the most. Luke Perry does a great job of portraying Lane Frost. It's a definite must-see for people who like films about love and friendship. The love story between Lane and Kelly shows all their ups and downs, through all of Lane's successes and failures (which happen in conjunction with the ups and downs in their personal lives). Then there is the friendship between Lane and Tuff Hedeman (Stephen Baldwin), which shows through even when Tuff is being hard on him. The film manages to avoid a lot of sentimentality and cliche film making. Worth your while to check it out.