''8 Million Ways to Die'' is a 1986 American

neo-noir Neo-noir is a revival of film noir, a genre that had originally flourished during the post-World War II era in the United Statesroughly from 1940 to 1960. The French term, ''film noir'', translates literally to English as "black film", indicating ...

action thriller film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...

directed by

Hal Ashby William Hal Ashby (September 2, 1929 – December 27, 1988) was an American film director and editor associated with the New Hollywood wave of filmmaking. Before his career as a director Ashby edited films for Norman Jewison, notably ''The R ...

and starring

Jeff Bridges Jeffrey Leon Bridges (born December 4, 1949) is an American actor. He has received various accolades throughout his career spanning over seven decades, including an Academy Award and two Golden Globe Awards. Bridges comes from a prominent ac ...

, Rosanna Arquette, and

Andy Garcia Andy may refer to: People *Andy (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Horace Andy (born 1951), Jamaican roots reggae songwriter and singer born Horace Hinds *Katja Andy (1907–2013), German-American pianist and piano ...

. It was Ashby's final film, and the first attempt to adapt the

Matthew Scudder Matthew (Matt) Scudder is a fictional character who appears in novels by American crime writer Lawrence Block. Fictional biography Scudder debuted in 1976's ''The Sins of the Fathers'' as an alcoholic ex-cop who had recently quit the NYPD and lef ...

detective stories of

Lawrence Block Lawrence Block (born June 24, 1938) is an American crime writer best known for two long-running New York-set series about the recovering alcoholic P.I. Matthew Scudder and the gentleman burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr. Block was named a Grand Mast ...

for the screen. The screenplay was written by

Oliver Stone William Oliver Stone (born September 15, 1946) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Stone won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay as writer of '' Midnight Express'' (1978), and wrote the gangster film remake '' Sc ...

, an uncredited

Robert Towne Robert Towne (born Robert Bertram Schwartz;'' Easy Riders, Raging Bulls'' by Peter Biskind page 30, 1999 Bloomsbury edition November 23, 1934) is an American screenwriter, producer, director and actor. He started with writing films for Roger ...

and David Lee Henry ( R. Lance Hill using a pseudonym).

Plot

An alcoholic Los Angeles Sheriff's Deputy, Matt Scudder (

), takes part in a drug bust that results in his fatal shooting of a small-time dealer in front of the man's wife and kids. Scudder ends up in a drunk ward, suffering from booze and blackouts, ending his career, his marriage, and jeopardizing his relationship with his daughter. After an

Alcoholics Anonymous Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an international mutual aid fellowship of alcoholics dedicated to abstinence-based recovery from alcoholism through its spiritually-inclined Twelve Step program. Following its Twelve Traditions, AA is non-professi ...

meeting, a woman hands Scudder a note, which invites him to a private gambling club on a hill, accessible only by a

funicular A funicular (, , ) is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to opposite ...

, owned by Chance Walker ( Randy Brooks). At the club, Scudder is greeted by a call girl named Sunny (

Alexandra Paul Alexandra Elizabeth Paul (born July 29, 1963) is an American actress, activist, health coach, and former model. Paul began her career modeling in New York before landing her first major role in John Carpenter's horror film ''Christine'' (1983). ...

) who pretends that he is her boyfriend. He also meets Angel Maldonado (

), who places large wagers with Chance and is infatuated with another call girl there, Sarah ( Rosanna Arquette). Bewildered by Sunny's behavior, Scudder ends up back at his place, where after a failed attempt to seduce him, Sunny explains that she is frightened and needs help. After she pays him $5,000, Scudder offers Chance $2,500 to allow Sunny to quit prostitution. An insulted Chance insists that all he does is run the club, paying the girls a flat salary to attend his parties. Any prostitution they do is up to them. Sunny is kidnapped in front of Scudder and, during a chase, is murdered and thrown off a bridge. Scudder goes on a binge and wakes up in a drunk ward several days later. It transpires that he gave statements to detectives before getting drunk that have implicated himself and Chance in the murder. At the club, Maldonado wears a ring with an emerald that matched the missing jewel in a necklace that Sunny owned. Convinced now that Maldonado is her killer, Scudder persuades Sarah to leave the club with him, as a jealous Maldonado looks on. Sarah fails to get Scudder to drink with her, then tries to initiate sex but is too drunk and vomits on his bed. Scudder pieces together that Maldonado is running a drug ring through Chance's legitimate businesses. Setting up a meeting where he pretends to set up a drug buy, Scudder has a confrontation with Maldonado, who forces Sarah to leave with him. Chance is furious that Maldonado has been using him and that he killed Sunny, but Scudder convinces him to go along with the drug deal, in order to trap Maldonado. At Maldonado's house, a unique one designed by

Antoni Gaudí Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (; ; 25 June 1852 – 10 June 1926) was a Catalan architect from Spain known as the greatest exponent of Catalan Modernism. Gaudí's works have a highly individualized, ''sui generis'' style. Most are located in Bar ...

, a suspicious Maldonado puts off any talk of drugs. He taunts Scudder about Sunny's death and carefully implies she was killed to scare off others who would cross him. Maldonado knows that Scudder is or was a cop, so is wary of being trapped in a sting. Scudder notices a package from a supermarket Chance owns. Deducing that the drugs were stashed there, Scudder and Chance go to the grocery store and find the hidden cocaine. Scudder offers to return them in exchange for Sarah. At an empty warehouse, Maldonado arrives with Sarah duct-taped to a shotgun that one of his underlings is holding. Scudder in turn has booby-trapped the drugs and threatens to destroy them if Sarah is harmed. After seeing some of his cocaine burned, Maldonado agrees to cut Sarah loose, but before he can secure his drugs, a shootout erupts between Maldonado's men and undercover drug agents who have accompanied Scudder to the scene. Maldonado manages to escape in the chaos, but Chance is killed. Sarah and Scudder head back to Chance's club, and as they ride the funicular up to the house, they see Maldonado standing at the top, waiting for them. Scudder manages to kill him in a tense gunfight. Scudder is later seen attending an AA meeting, then strolling happily with Sarah on a beach.

Cast

as Los Angeles Sheriff Deputy Matt Scudder * Rosanna Arquette as Sarah *

as Sunny * Randy Brooks as Willie "Chance" Walker *

Andy García Andrés Arturo García Menéndez (born April 12, 1956), known professionally as Andy García, is a Cuban-born American actor, director and musician. He first rose to prominence acting in Brian De Palma's ''The Untouchables'' (1987) alongside ...

as Angel Maldonado *

Tommy Lister Tommy Deebo "Tiny" Lister Jr. (born Thomas Duane Lister Jr.; June 24, 1958 – December 10, 2020) was an American character actor and occasional professional wrestler known for his roles as the neighborhood bully Deebo in the 1995 film ''Friday' ...

as Nose Guard * Lisa Sloan as Linda Scudder * Christa Denton as Laurie Scudder * Vance Valencia as Quintero * Wilfredo Hernández as Hector Lopez (as Wilfredo Hernandez) *

Luisa Leschin Luisa Leschin (born Louisa Josefina Gomez, July 13, 1953) is an American television producer, actress, and voice-over artist. She currently serves as co-executive producer for the Amazon Studios TV series '' Just Add Magic''. In 2019, she won a ...

as Hector's Wife *

Vyto Ruginis Vyto Ruginis (born Vytautas Ruginis; April 17, 1956) is an English-American actor and producer. He is best known for playing vampire Russell Winters in the cult TV series ''Angel'' in its first episode, "City Of", as well as for his appearances i ...

as Durkin * Henry O. Arnold as Homicide Detective (as Chip Arnold) * James Avery as Deputy District Attorney

Production

began writing a film adaptation

's novel ''Eight Million Ways to Die'' after its release in 1982. It was originally intended to be directed by

Walter Hill Walter may refer to: People * Walter (name), both a surname and a given name * Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–1968) * Gunther (wrestler), Austrian professional wrestler and trainer Walter Hahn (born 1 ...

and star

Nick Nolte Nicholas King Nolte (born February 8, 1941) is an American actor. He won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for the 1991 film ''The Prince of Tides''. He received ...

. The film went into turnaround before being revived by Stephen J. Roth and the

Producers Sales Organization Producers Sales Organization (PSO; also known as PSO Productions, Inc.) was an independent motion picture production and sales company founded in 1977. Initiated by Mark Damon, an actor-turned-producer, PSO mostly handled foreign sales of independ ...

in 1985. They cast

and

Jamie Lee Curtis Jamie Lee Curtis (born November 22, 1958) is an American actress, producer, children's author, and activist. She came to prominence with her portrayal of Lt. Barbara Duran on the ABC sitcom '' Operation Petticoat'' (1977–78). In 1978, she m ...

in the primary roles. After Curtis left the film, the producers considered casting Cher before settling on Rosanna Arquette. By this time, Stone was committed to directing ''

Salvador Salvador, meaning " salvation" (or "saviour") in Catalan, Spanish, and Portuguese may refer to: * Salvador (name) Arts, entertainment, and media Music *Salvador (band), a Christian band that plays both English and Spanish music ** ''Salvador'' ( ...

'' (1986) and was unavailable for rewrites, and so

was hired to revise his script. PSO also moved the film's setting from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

in order to cut costs. Production began in July 1985 in

El Segundo, California El Segundo ( , ; ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located on Santa Monica Bay, it was incorporated on January 18, 1917, and is part of the South Bay Cities Council of Governments. The population was 16,731 as of the ...

, but Towne had not finished his script revisions yet. As a result, Bridges, Arquette, and the film's director Hal Ashby were forced to improvise many of the film's scenes until Towne finished his writing in August 1985. After the film was completed, the PSO fired both Ashby and his editor Robert Lawrence, and hired Stuart H. Pappe as the new editor to oversee the film's post-production without Ashby and Lawrence's participation. Pappe's edits drastically changed the film, deleting important scenes with Arquette and dubbing new dialogue with Bridges. Pappe also ordered

James Newton Howard James Newton Howard (born June 9, 1951) is an American film composer, music producer and keyboardist. He has scored over 100 films and is the recipient of a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, and nine nominations for Academy Awards. His film scores ...

to recompose his score for the film to more closely resemble the theme for the popular television series ''

Miami Vice ''Miami Vice'' is an American crime drama television series created by Anthony Yerkovich and produced by Michael Mann (director), Michael Mann for NBC. The series stars Don Johnson as James "Sonny" Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas as Ricardo ...

''. Ashby appealed to the

Directors Guild of America The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of film director, film and television director, television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Dire ...

for arbitration but was rejected.

Reception

''8 Million Ways to Die'' received negative reviews from critics: the review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

sampled seven reviews, and gave the film a "0%" positive rating.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:8 Million Ways To Die 1986 crime thriller films 1986 films 1986 action thriller films American crime thriller films American action thriller films American detective films 1980s English-language films Films scored by James Newton Howard Films directed by Hal Ashby Films based on American novels Films set in Los Angeles Films with screenplays by Robert Towne Films with screenplays by Oliver Stone American neo-noir films TriStar Pictures films 1980s American films English-language action thriller films English-language crime thriller films