Inside Moves

"Inside Moves" does an excellent job of audience manipulation, with a group of misfit losers from Max's Bar, who eventually pull together for a real stretch of a cause. There is never a doubt that you are being led down a path of depressing characters on parade, in search of a happy ending. Unfortunately there is very little entertainment value offered. If you want to see an excellent movie that revolves around a bar, seek out "Last Night at the Alamo". It has characters that are believable, at least a bunch of humor, and won't drag you down to the mat like "Inside Moves". I wanted to like this, but found it terminally boring and totally unrealistic. I realize others on this board loved it, and that is fine by me, I just wanted to present my case for avoiding "Inside Moves". - MERK

This has always remained one of my favorite movies. It's hard to believe it's 25 years old. Nevertheless, the story and what it offers is timeless. The story starts, depressingly, around a young man, Roary (John Savage) who jumps from a 10 story building in a failed suicide attempt. After months in the hospital, he is left disabled. In his new place he discovers Max's bar where the regular "cast" of characters includes Jerry (David Morse) a young man who aspires to be a basketball player, but has something wrong with his leg/knee. Anne (Amy Wright) his prostitute girlfriend with a habit. Also there are Blue Lewis (Bill Henderson) who is in a wheelchair, Stinky (Bert Remsen) who is blind and Wings (Oscar winner for "The Best Years of Our Lives" Harrold Russell) who lost both hands in the war. And Louise (Oscar Nominee Diana Scarwid) a waitress at the bar who falls in love with Roary. The movie is about Jerry's dream to play basketball, but it's about so much more than that. It's about the emotional, aka: Inside Moves that people make. In this story, Roary makes the move from suicidal to survivor and more. Jerry makes the move from parasite to friend. And the supporting cast enables them to have a place to come where they feel like it's okay to be "disabled." But as the movie title implies, the focus of this movie isn't the external or physical disabilities, it's the inside disabilities that are the focus of this movie. Which is another reason for its universal appeal, because we are all of us broken internally in one way or another. This movie has gotten so many great comments because the dialog, the performances and the script and music are all so wonderfully done. A must see for anyone that likes a movie with a story, with a heart. John Savage is totally believable in every way. An example is the scene with him and Diana Scarwid where her character admits that she loves him, that she wants to be his lover, but is afraid. Afraid of what it would be like with a cripple. Afraid that if it did't work, that she couldn't forgive herself, because she did not want to hurt him that way. The movie is full of sincere & honest moments such as that one. It truly is a gem. Hopefully, it will come out someday on DVD!!!!!

I happened upon this movie at the video store and had to rent it because it'd been years since I first saw this movie in the early 80's. This was the movie that introduced me to my now all time favorite actor, John Savage. I truly loved him in this movie as Roary, a man who attempts suicide and ends up a cripple. His handicap leads him to meet some amazing people he might never have had if he wasn't. Through them, he learns about true friendship, love and acceptance for who you are. The ending also tugs at you when Roary explains why he tried to kill himself. A person could really relate to his reasoning why and you can feel the emptiness he must have felt. If you are a John Savage fan and haven't seen this one yet, I highly suggest it, if you can still find it in the video stores.

Sweet little movie which could've easily been titled "Max's Bar". It stars John Saxon as a badly damaged man, Roary, whose suicide attempt left his body crippled in that his back is twisted(Saxon's ability to convince us wholeheartedly of this is a major accomplishment he desires mucho accolades)affecting the way he walks. He enters into a bar, meeting a bartender named Jerry(David Morse) with a bum knee, linked to a junk * named Anne(Amy Wright). With 10 grand, Roary sees fit to use his cash to help pay of the debt owed on Max's Bar, and with his assistance, the business takes off. Jerry, his mouth getting the best of him, challenges a star basketball player for the Golden State Warriors, Alvin Martin(Harold Sylvester), to a round of ball and almost beats him, setting off a sequence of events he couldn't have dreamed of..thanks to Roary, who becomes Jerry's loyal and honorable pal. Jerry's Achilles' heel is Anne who returns to him after a stint with a vicious pimp, Lucius(Tony Burton). Lucius and his goons batter Jerry, with Anne returning to him. So Jerry gives up on life and it's to Roary's credit that he is snapped out of his depression and given a new lease..a talk with Alvin, and Roary might help Jerry follow a dream. Richard Donner's Inside Moves is about dreams, and not forgetting those who helped you along the way. With such a wonderful cast, including a superb supporting group, bar loungers who share a common cordial friendship with each other, such as Bill Henderson(..as wheel-chair bound Blue Lewis), Stinky(Bert Remsen, as the blind joker, always tickling the funny bones of his gang), and Wings(Harold Russel, the vocal leader of the boys, with no hands..many will remember him from The Best Years of Our Lives), I couldn't help but embrace them. Steve Kahan is Donner regular, Burt, a bartender/waiter(who later was the boss of Danny Glover and Mel Gibson in the Lethal Weapon movies)and Jack O'Leary is bar owner Max, who wouldn't increase taxes on his customers which caused his financial troubles. This is the kind of movie which tugs on the heartstrings, it's a gentle, caring film without a bad bone in it's body. Tony Burton's pimp creates the only real violence in the movie, and he's drawn into this story's little setting by good-for-nothing Anne, who leeches on naive Jerry for drug money. The camaraderie among the cast is genuine and pleasant. The budding romance between Roary and a waitress, Louise(..portrayed by Diana Scarwid) only injects more sparks into an already luminous film. Good use of street locations, one of Richard Donner's most off-beat and smaller scaled pictures..very invested in the characters. While I've always responded in kind to Donner's explosive actioners, it's nice to know he could make such an endearing film. Any other time and John Saxon's character would've been exploited as an object of ridicule or comedy. I can't believe I have never even heard of this movie before..go figure. Saxon is the heart and soul of the movie and his work with Scarwid and Morse simply works wonders.

I have been hoping to see Inside Moves released on DVD, since it is a far better movie than many that are already on DVD. A true "sleeper", if you like the kind of movies that just take a slice across life to tell a story. That said, it is worth viewing if you can find a copy on VHS. I think one of the film's primary messages is that the disabilities of people are often more about how they think than what physical challenges they face. That includes all of us. A strong cast of characters that really have chemistry make this a fun and poignant movie. It's all about friends brought together by circumstance and how they cope with life together, with side stories and humor woven in nicely.

Inside Moves is a nice film that sort of combines the best of 70s-styled minimal cinema with the heart you would expect from a Richard Donner film. The most interesting thing about the making of this film is that it's the movie Richard Donner did after he was fired from Superman II. Donner had been a highly successful television director for nearly 20 years when he got his big break on 'The Omen' in 1976. On that hit, he was offered 'Superman' and directed a large scale classic. We'll see most of his vision for 'Superman II' later this year when 'The Donner Cut' comes out on DVD. However, 'Inside Moves' is a small scale film that tells a simple human story and shows that Donner can win with both big and small films. The opening prelude is quite stunning. John Savage plays Roary, a man who walks up to a building, goes in, and jumps out the window of the 10th floor to commit suicide. He fails and after recovery, he ends up disabled and with nothing. He walks into a bar and finds himself among other disabled people, including Jerry (David Morse in an early lead role) whose bad knee prevents him from following his dream of playing basketball. Roary finds that these people openly kid about their disabilities and at the same time care about each other. Roary begins to open up and find hope and cling to his new friend, Jerry. When Roary helps Jerry get money to have an operation that will fix his knee, Jerry forgets his roots and leaves the bar, disappointing his friends. It's up to Roary to deal with his own emotions and feelings for a fellow waitress (nicely played by Diana Scarwig in an Oscar-nominated performance), and calling Jerry out to return to his friends at the bar. There are a few schmaltzy moments, but this film has focus and heart. Donner always succeeds in that. More than that, this film has some wonderful issues that are touching and make you think. Remembering your roots, friendship, love for someone with a disability, and how one person's success can mean so much to his friends are just many of the slices of life that this film depicts. It's all done with taste and intimate style that makes you feel like you know these people. I found myself laughing at jokes that i didn't even think were funny because I simply liked and cared for the people. There are lots of veteran actors you'll recognize including Steve Kahan (Donner's cousin, who is in nearly every Donner film), Bill Henderson (a wonderful actor who is one of the most friendly people you wish you'd meet) and after a 34 year absence since his Oscar-winning performance in 'The Best Years of Our Lives' - Harold Russell - whose disability of having metal hands is not exploited. This film doesn't treat people with disabilities in such a way. You don't look at the blind man's lack of eyes, or the man with the metal hands, you look at people. The whole cast is wonderful. A lot of the actors get to etch characters that they don't get to do in every role they take. Richard Donner deserves a cheer for this small film with a big heart.

So friend of mine told me when she returned from her trip to DC, 'You gotta see 'Inside Moves'!' I remember asking her what it was about. She said to me, 'I don't know how to explain it, but I know you are going to love this one!' But it did not come to our hick town, forsaken by God, when it was released in 1980. Then, while practicing with a new surfboard of the day, in 1981 or 2, I crashed on HBO when I see a…something smash the top of a car! Director Richard Donner had my full attention. When it's revealed during the opening credits, this is a failed suicide attempt, I noticed a very promising actor, John Savage. However, I was wrestling with my then 'Catholic/Christian Compassion' I wasn't sure I wanted to see a flick about guy, Roary, who wants to send himself straight to the fiery pits of hell for eternal damnation! But, when we are immediately introduced to the other colorful characters that live in his building and pass the time of day in Max's Bar, "Inside Moves" had full-undivided attention of my body, mind and spirit! "Inside Moves" is a human drama about getting to know these real people whom we almost never talk to, while observing the humanity in the physically challenged and emptiness of emotional cripples. The entire cast of, then, unknown actors under the skillful fly on the wall direction of Richard Donner makes "Inside Moves" a film well worth watching...at Thanksgiving too..with the whole family!

This is one of my favorites. Read the other comments because they accurately reflect what is great about this movie. With the jarring beginning and all the ugly snapshots of inner city life, this movie makes me want to go back to this believable place that has been created. It makes you believe there is really a place called Max's... a place with diversity and all the complexities of humankind... and that there is hope for mankind! Some of my favorite lines that I repeat constantly (probably wrong): "He'll come back. He just wants to spend some time with his dream." "You've got it backwards. First you get crippled, then you try to commit suicide". Of course... "I'm big, BIG, bigger than you...but that's not hard to be Jerry ... that's not hard to be!" (BTW, does anyone know what Roary (that's how Rory spells it) says after that?... it sounds like "Oh, my hiney" Let me know. My wife and I have played it back 100 times. John Savage has many great lines throughout this. I could never figure out why he didn't win an award. Finally,I think the often-called hokey/corny ending is necessary to bring us back from a hard smack on a Buick. "Hey Roary!"

I recall seeing this quirky sleeper gem in 1980 on HBO when I was about 13 and was enthralled with the unique story about a man named Roary (John Savage, best known for his superb similar work in THE DEER HUNTER, and a highly underrated actor)whose failure at suicide in a freefall off a 10 story building in LA leads to a painful recovery and his gradual acceptance of a second chance at life. He discovers it at Max's Bar, a dive that houses many handicapped denizens, misfits and colorful types including a trio of elderly men (veteran character actors Bill Henderson, Bert Remsen and Academy Award winner Harold Russell, who won a special Oscar for THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES, a WWII vet who lost both his hands with hooks for substitutes); an affable bartender named Jerry (David Morse in one of his earliest and memorable turns) who has a lame leg as well; and a beautiful waitress named Louise (Diana Scarwid, who would gain an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress). It is here that Roary eventually comes out of his shell, finds a best friend in Jerry and a possible soulmate in Louise, and more importantly a new outlook on life itself. Directed with aplomb, reassurance and tender care by veteran helmsman Richard Donner (LETHAL WEAPON, THE OMEN, SUPERMAN, etc.) the film unspools very gradually and certain likelihoods are just accustomed for the way the story unfolds (i.e. characters pop up out of nowhere with no backgrounds on them but just like life, accepted as part of the fabric of society). Based on a novel by Tony Walton and adapted superbly with finesse, wit and humanity by scribe team Valerie Curtin and Barry Levinson (who would go on to his own acclaim as an Oscar winning filmmaker for RAIN MAN), the movie is a minor miracle in acting, directing and screen writing. Bare bones for all the world to see but a precious heart at its center with flawless performances by its three leads and some truly heart-wrenching yet not maudlin moments (Savage's climactic confrontation with both Morse and Scarwid are for the film vault and should be viewed by students of acting to see what true acting really is!) It made my heart warm to hear this incredible film was finally coming out on DVD and I can truly say it was my pleasure to re-experience this true original film that has echoes of Hal Ashby and any other 1970's 'golden age' film of its waning era on the cusp of a new decade that would more or less push nuance aside. *** One last personal note: when I first saw this with my good friend and neighbor Joe Hetro, we would always greet each other with the "Hey – Jer-REE!" fist pump ; a fine memory of my childhood.

When I see the ratings this movie gets and after reading all those extremely positive reviews I start wondering if I'm not from another planet or so. I can't believe so many people give this movie a ten star rating. Really? This was one of the best movies you ever watched? Because that's what ten star ratings mean to me. I can probably think about a couple thousands of better movies than this one, just out of my head. Maybe those reviewers just watched only a dozen movies in their lifetime, only then it would make sense. That said I found Inside Moves quite boring, a poorly written plot, with some average acting, certainly nothing special, and definitely not deserving Oscar nominations like Diana Scarwid did. Come on, be real, was this the best you got in 1980? The romantic scenes look like adults acting like teenagers, the drama scenes are lousy, the humor between the cripples is the only thing that wasn't boring me to death (but they certainly were not hilarious). Once again I've been fooled by the high ratings and positive reviews. Inside Moves is below average, even for a 1980 movie where we were used of poor quality of imaging. Maybe it was better when it came out, when you had not much to choose from but it for sure didn't age well.