Diggstown
Diggstown
R | 14 August 1992 (USA)
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Gabriel Caine has just been released from prison when he sets up a bet with a business man who owns most of Diggstown, a boxing-mad town. The bet is that Gabe can find a boxer that will knock out 10 Diggstown men, in a boxing ring, within 24 hours. Roy 'Honey' Palmer is that man that, at 48, many say he is too old.

Reviews
LastingAware

The greatest movie ever!

FrogGlace

In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

Portia Hilton

Blistering performances.

Ezmae Chang

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

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classicsoncall

James Woods versus Bruce Dern was a pretty good casting call for this picture. Both effectively convey the type of smarmy characters that one usually finds behind the scenes of boxing fixes in movies dealing with the subject. As far as con jobs go, this isn't in the same league as "The Sting", but it still has it's moments with twists and trip-ups along the way that momentarily derail, but never stop Gabriel Caine (Woods) from pulling off that final win against John Gillon's (Dern) ringer.The one disconnect I had with the story line was when Gillon left ringside to confront the Busby Brothers about their payoff. I went back and checked out the scenes leading up to it and couldn't find anything that would have tipped Gillon off to the double cross. The ruse with Gillon forcing his son Robby to walk out of the fight was a neat twist to rig the count on how many men faced off against Honey Roy Palmer (Louis Gossett Jr.). Caine and Honey Roy had some fun working that black motivation thing, it came in handy against the Tank (Jeff Benson) and offered a neat wind up to the story.There's probably any number of interpretations one can offer for the resolution to the story. I guess the best one can go with would be Caine's ability to operate a few steps ahead of his opponent, figuring that Minoso Torres (Alex Garcia) would wind up heading for Diggstown when he got his prison release. Dern's character gave a sneak preview of how the tables would be turned on him when he gave a thumbs down to his boy Buck (Rocky Pepelli) earlier in the film.

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Duke Nobles

A really nice guy movie. Some language, very few sexual overtones, great boxing sequences. Great guy movie to watch with a younger audience or with a girlfriend. OR just a great movie for a lady into boxing! Louis Gossett Jr. is great. He portrays his character of an aging boxing ringer very well. He was in pretty good shape and whoever was fight choreographer (probably Benny "the jet" Urquidez) did a really nice job of showing some intricacies of old school "dirty boxing".James Wood and Oliver Platt are hilarious as a pair of con men.Bruce Dern is, as always, a villain you love to hate.it has a serious tone, but with the occasional joke to keep this film from becoming tense.i'd recommend it to anyone that likes a good fight movie. its not high theater, but it sure is entertaining.

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Bill Slocum

James Woods went through a period, he later told Cigar Aficionado magazine, where all he did in movies was play "hard guys in suits." "Diggstown" is a classic example, yet a welcome relief, too, in the sense for once Woods wasn't taking himself at all seriously.Woods is Gabriel Caine, a former dealer in phony art who is sprung from prison and hatches a scheme to take in John Gillon, the vicious boss of Diggstown, played by Bruce Dern. After Caine's buddy, Fitz (Oliver Platt), hustles Gillon's son out of his classic Corvette, Fitz and Caine give Gillon a chance to win it back by wagering a fighter named Honey Roy Palmer (Louis Gossett Jr.) can outbox any ten Diggstown men in a day.While a buddy movie of a kind, most of the focus is on Woods' performance, delivered with his usual array of tics, smirky grins, long hooded stares, etc. It's easy to be cool when you know what the next line is in the script, but screenwriter Steven McKay's wit and way of winking at the audience keeps things from getting too stale.Confronted by a warden about a prisoner escape Caine engineered: "The important thing is not to take this as a rejection of you personally."Or how about when a hood puts a noose around Caine's neck and hoists him from a tree limb, saying it will be a pleasure to kill him. Would you be ruffled? Me, too. Not Caine: "I'll bet four dollars against an hour with your mother that it won't happen." After he's punched in the gut, Caine apologizes. "I'm really sorry. That was insulting. Five bucks."Ultimately, "Diggstown" is a con movie where the audience is being conned. Like "The Sting," we are given some information but a few surprises along the way, which are turned with varying degrees of skill. Unlike "The Sting," "Diggstown" suffers from many implausible moments, a painfully weak finale, and out-of-thin-air subplots that go nowhere, especially one involving Heather Graham, who kills you with those eyes so much you almost overlook how bad her performance is. Platt, a terrific actor who never seems to find a worthy project, has a great introduction and then largely fades from view.But what you get is more good than bad, and at times brilliant, especially when Honey Roy has his day in the ring with the Diggstown Ten. It's a memorably directed sequence by Michael Ritchie, alternately harrowing and hilarious, with Gossett a pillar of strength whether his opponent is a guy named Hammerhead or some palooka he needs to carry long enough for Fitz to milk the crowd with side bets."You're the one that kept drilling me that half the money's in the acting," Honey Roy tells Caine.Actually, all the money's in the acting in "Diggstown," but Woods, Gossett, Platt, and Dern are more than enough to compensate for the inanities that sometimes crop up around them. Not a TKO, but a pretty good con you won't mind being taken in by.

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TOMASBBloodhound

At least it has recently appeared on ESPN Classic so it would seem that a cult following may be building for this terrific film. I don't think this one lasted three weeks in the theaters around here, but the first time I saw it on cable, I was hooked. Diggstown is not only a hilarious film, but it's also one of the best "sports" movies I've ever seen.Our story has a small group of con men led by James Woods who are trying to outwit a corrupt small town kingpin. They bet that "Honey" Roy Palmer (Louis Gossett Jr.) can knock out ten of the town's best boxers in a 24 hour period. Palmer is an outstanding, yet aging talent who "never got his shot". His skills, and the help of some local insiders make Woods and Co think they have a real shot at robbing the town blind. The funny thing is how Bruce Dern, who plays the local kingpin, reacts. He is no fool. He knows that Palmer will be tough to beat, and that Woods is trying to con him. But he has too much pride to pass on the wager. He also thinks the boxing talent in town is certainly good enough to beat a forty-eight year old fighter no matter how good he used to be. You'd think the locals would have the upper hand, but Woods and his people have all kinds of tricks up their sleeve both leading up to and during the matches. Once the wager is agreed to, the film never lets you up for air.Diggstown is a very funny movie. James Woods could sit down and read the newspaper aloud and it would be entertaining, but here he has a great script to work with. Plenty of one-liners and intelligent dialog are used by everyone. The fight scenes are a considerable cut above any Rocky film ever made. It really looks like people are getting the crap beat out of each other in the ring. The motley crew of locals that Palmer has to fight are a hoot. One of them is even played by The Passion of the Christ's very own Jim Caviezel. He actually makes the mistake of calling Palmer the N-word in the ring. Yikes! There are numerous twists as the conclusion draws near. It becomes a question not of which side has the most endurance, rather which side has the biggest surprises in place to trip up the other. The final twist in one you will absolutely NOT see coming. For great comedy, spectacular fight scenes, and a surprise ending, check out Diggstown. It's a shame more people don't know about this film! 9 of 10 stars.The Hound.

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