I like Gene Hackman. I like Roy Scheider. I like car chases. There was no specific reason I never saw this movie and I was excited to be able to finally sit down and watch it.
Except that I hated it. Hated it so much I don’t even want to go over what I hated. I was bored. I found Hackman an Scheider and all the actors, really, to be portraying stereotypes. I didn’t care about the plot and I didn’t care about the characters. The famous car chasing the train scene doesn’t begin until one hour and ten minutes into the film. It wasn’t worth watching one hour and ten minutes of this film to see Gene Hackman chase a train.
This movie was nominated for eight and won five Academy Awards including Best Picture (won) and Best Actor (won). I blame the competition it had for the fact that it went away with so man.
I couldn’t hate this movie any more if someone told me it was financed by Fox News.