Diggstown

There are very few movies, including most of my all-time favourites, that I can watch more than once a year without getting bored. In fact, "Diggstown" is the only one I can think of. As other IMDb reviewers have pointed out, not a scene or a line is wasted; the movie pulls you forward. It's as much fun as any good "con" movie, but has a lot more to say than "The Sting" (a film that I love) or any other such that I can think of. If the reason for its relative obscurity is the usual one---the studio held focus groups and decided not to put much advertising money behind the film---then I'm baffled. Do they give Oscars for casting? "Diggstown" deserves one. Gossett and Platt are extraordinary. (Gossett, in my opinion, gives the best performance of his career---high praise indeed.) Woods and Dern, two actors whose work I haven't always been crazy about, are perfect here. It's fast, hilarious (with Gossett getting most of the best lines) and, as The New York Times wrote, "improbable (and) vastly entertaining." Oliver Platt's fleecing of the locals in the bar early on is one of the funniest scenes I know of. I love introducing friends to "Diggstown." Without exception, their reactions are, "Holy crap! How come I've never heard of this movie??!!" Then they ask to borrow it.

There are three Con movies I really love. "The Sting", "Paper Moon" and "Midnight Sting (or Diggstown)". I don't bother to compare these three, because each has its own quality. Diggstown's strength lies in the great and obvious chemistry between all the main actors and even the supporting ones. True that Woods steals every scene he is in, but he feels so at home in the skin of Gabriel Caine, that we forgive him just to watch him do his cool one liners and gestures, like opening a bottle of Wild Turkey with his thumb. Oliver Platt gives his performance a full go in all the scenes he is alone. Together with Woods, he steps down a bit. Louis Gosset jr. was never better than in this movie, that is my honest opinion. You really buy his aged but still able boxer, and he trained the choreography well. Dern is juast as a smooth villain we like him to be. Though his role is quite one dimensional, he manages that we feel for him and understand his goals, though we truly loathe him. The story is quite plain but the execution superb. The production design is good. You really believe this to be some backwater city in the equally backwater Olivair County. The only criticism I have to make is the very constructed and thankfully not executed love interest (Heather Graham). Though she looks cute she never got into character. You could cut her role right out of the movie without missing her. Even her only service to the con men, getting the financial info, could easily be done by everyone else. So all in all, this is a great film to watch, beer in hand and popcorn in a bowl beside you. 8/10 stars

'Diggstown' is An Entertaining Film, that earns itself a viewing, by sheer merit. Also, It's lead-star, the ever-dependable James Woods, delivers an exceptional performance from start to end. 'Diggstown' Synopsis: A charming con man teams up with a boxer fallen on hard times in hopes of making some quick money. 'Diggstown' gets it right, because the humor works & so do the characters. The Boxing Match in the finale, is superb & stands out. Steven McKay's Screenplay is entertaining & well-done. Michael Ritchie's Direction, is good. Cinematography, Editing & Art Design, are passable. Performance-Wise: Woods is exceptional, as expected. An Actor who NEVER Disappoints! Louis Gossett, Jr. is very impressive. Bruce Dern is decent. Oliver Platt scores. Heather Graham is her usual self. Others lend support. On the whole, 'Diggstown' is an entertaining flick, that definitely deserves a watch.

Although its genre is "comedy", you will be hard pressed to find many laughs in "Diggstown" (1992). The fights scenes won't make you forget "Raging Bull" but they are nicely staged and relatively entertaining. The film is really just a long episode of "The Rockford Files", without James Garner. Rockford regulars James Woods and Louis Gossett Jr. have the two biggest parts as they run a Rockford- style con on Bruce Dern-who plays a slim version of Boss Hogg. Woods bets Dern that his aging fighter (Gossett) can defeat ten opponents in 24 hours. Heather Graham fans should not expect much, she looks great but her part is very small and seems tacked onto the story as an excuse to get her name associated with the film. Oliver Platt ("Ready to Rumble") and Gossett give the strongest performances. Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Diggstown (1992) *** 1/2 (out of 4) If you're wanting an art-house picture then this here won't be for you but if you want non-stop entertainment then DIGGSTOWN really delivers the goods. Con man Gabriel Caine (James Woods) gets released from prison and is looking for the next big score and finds it in a hick town ran by John Gillon (Bruce Dern). Caine makes a bet that his boxer (Louis Gossett, Jr.) can take ten men in a 24-hour period. DIGGSTOWN pretty much went unattended in theaters when it was first released due to a really bad campaign and that's a real shame because there's so much to enjoy here. Not only do you have some great performances, a wonderful setting and some terrific fight scenes but you've also got a pretty good little drama mixed in. The movie is a prime example of something that isn't dumbed down for mainstream audiences yet at the same time it doesn't try to be some high class art film. What it is is a straight-forward, tough, mean and downright fun little gem that manages to be entertaining from start to finish. The film is certainly very manipulative because there are some moments that go over-the-top but you still can't help but be entertained. Woods is masterful playing the fast-talking con man and you really can't think of an actor who could have done a better job. The way that smirk just shows how conning he is is just perfect for the part. Gossett is an easy figure to cheer for and he really makes you care about the character. It's easy to say that this was the actors best part since AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN and he certainly delivers the goods. Oliver Platt is fun as one of the assistant con men and we get Heather Graham in a nice supporting role. Randall 'Tex' Cobb has a fun stint in the film as does character actor Marshall Bell. Dern also does a wonderful job in the role of the bad guy and just when you think you can't hate him any more the screenplay and actor make you reach a boiling point. Every film like this needs a great villain and Dern certainly delivers the goods. The ten boxing scenes are all extremely well-filmed and I'd argue that they're some of the most entertaining ever put on film. There's certainly not RAGING BULL quality but they didn't need to be. The film has enough twists and turns to keep a smile on your face and in the end DIGGSTOWN is just a flat out charmer.

Don't watch this film for quality. It's quite generic, most of the acting is second-rate, and the cinematography is pretty much non-existent. That out of the way, this is still a really good film. It's an enjoyable plot, constructed Western-style, to manipulate the viewer into a specific reactionary mode. There's the good guys, the bad guys, and a really great showdown. Sub-plots?? Who needs 'em! Sex? Bah! Violence? Enough to please the average blood-thirsty film-goer, but not enough to push away everyone else. I think what really pushes this film above it's seemingly highest limits it's a very strong main cast. The secondary cast is average, nothing really special about them, but the main three characters have personality, a strong sense of the characters they play. James Woods is the strongest of then. Woods has this habit of signing on with generic, hopeless films and making them worth watching (The Hard Way comes straight to mind), and he usually surrounds himself with a strong, expressive supporting cast. This film is no exception; he adds character to Gabriel that I'm sure wouldn't be apparent in the script. He becomes the character and the character moulds to his own perspective. Louis Gossett Jr. backs up Woods nicely. He pretty much plays himself (which is always an amusing role). he also has a habit of signing on with awful films, though he's not nearly as successful as Woods in improving them (one word: Firewalker). But here, his chemistry with Woods shows. They play off of each other very nicely, and most of the film's strongest lines, even scenes, involve the two of them (especially in the showdown boxing scenes, where their dialogue is at it's absolute best). Oliver Platt and Bruce Dern also help to raise the level of the film. I've always been a fan of Platt's, and this is no exception. Like Gossett Jr, his chemistry with Woods is strong and some of the film's best lines are when they're together. Dern is as strong as he can be with a fairly one-dimensional character; he's a very expressive actor, and so his facial expressions and body language help to strengthen an unfortunately weak character. In other words, he did the best with what he had to work with. Heather Graham...adorable and a strong actress. But not in this film. In fact, I have no idea why she was even in this film, her character was a transparent plot device, and was all but useless. In some films, using a character to further the plot or explain important details can work out fabulously (like the janitor in The Fisher King) but here it falls flat. Her dialogue is stilted, and her character is only there for very obvious purposes. And the frail attempt at sparking up a sort of love-interest between her and Woods fizzles miserably through lack of chemistry and the dissipates altogether after a few appraising glances and a flat flirtatious word or two. The biggest problem with this film is the ending. Obvious and overly cheezy, it also falls very flat. Anti-climactic beyond belief, I felt robbed. I wanted more. The boxing matches were well-constructed and when they finished the film probably should have just ended there. But it was dragged out with a few very poor and generic scenes that wasted the sense of fun which had been predominant throughout the film. Overall, definitely worth watching at least once, especially for fans of Woods, Platt and/or Gossett Jr. A film likely to be forgotten soon after watching, but fun to watch just the same. 7/10.

One night, years ago now, I stumbled across this movie on Sky (known as Midnight Sting in the UK) With a fine cast including James Woods, Bruce Dern, Heather Graham and Oliver Platt, I had stumbled onto a really good movie. James Woods is a con man who with the help of his partner (Oliver Platt) sets up a fight between his age old friend Honey Roy Palmer, an ageing but very accomplished boxer and any 10 Diggstown men (a small out of the way boxing loving town, controlled by Bruce Dern) The con is on, Woods and Dern set the wheels in motion on this exhibition of boxing, and as the stakes get higher you will find yourself engaged by the tension of the event. Who is hustling who? And why? I am amazed at how few people seem to have seen this movie. So if you fancy a film, with a some good laughs, a clever story, a fine cast and a cracking ending. Then give it a try, yes there are better films, but there are far more that are worse. 8/10 Go and rent yourself a copy

this is a superb movie that really should have been seen by many many more people than it clearly has been. The best James Woods performance I have seen , superb support from Oliver Platt, Bruce Dern and - well, everyone in it. The script is tight, sharp, incredibly clever and very very funny. I'm not a fan of boxing movies, don't let it put you off. yes, the sting ultimately revolves around a fight, well, ten fights, to be precise, against just one man - but really it's a hugely satisfying con movie that ultimately becomes about vengeance, paying for your actions and finding the morality amongst the money. It's brilliant. Buy it/get it from a video shop that has old movies, steal it, whatever it takes.

Diggstown is one of the few movies that has ever made me actually cheer out loud. If you've seen it, you know the moment at the end that I'm talking about. I've seen it a few times now, and even though I know how it ends, I still love seeing the ending over and over. It's pretty much a formula movie, but is well-done and has some very clever moments and one-liners thrown in to keep you interested. Take for example when Woods and Dern are discussing the rules for the fight. Woods opens a bottled drink in one motion only with his thumb (twisting, not prying), right before answering one of the questions posed to him. It's a great effect and lets the audience know just how smooth Gabriel Cain is. Louis Gossett does a great job and is believable as a boxer. The fights are obviously over-choreographed, but they're still better than any of the horribly unrealistic Rocky sequences. Oliver Platt is excellent as Cain's sidekick, Fitz. Look for Heather Graham before she became a celebrity....some things never change, though....yowsa! I definitely recommend Diggstown...it's not an award-winning or thought-provoking type of movie, but it's a lot of fun.

source: Diggstown