morrison-dylan-fan When renting out DVD's from my local library during the Christmas period, (due to them letting you keep them for 3 weeks,instead of the normal 1 week) I have always intensionally kept away from renting Mad Dog & Glory,due to the movie sounding extremely dry.Taking a look recently at IMDb's list of movies that came out in 1993,due to deciding that I would take part in a poll being held on IMDb's Classic Film board for the best films of 1993,I was surprised to discover,that along with Groundhog Day being brought out in 1993,that Mad Dog and Glory had also been released in the same year.Pushing my doubts over the title being "dry",I decided to finally have a look at the movie,to discover how mad Mad Dog really is.The plot:Investigating a recent gang-land shooting with his close friend,and fellow Police Officer Mike,Officer Wayne "Mad Dog" Dobie decides to take a short break from the crime scene, (so that he can make sense of how he suspects the shooting took place) and go to a near by local shop to pick up a snack.Entering the shop,Dobie discovers an armed robber,who after shooting the store's owner,is now holding a customer hostage.Nagoiating with the robber,Wayne allows for the thief to run free,as he drags the still alive costumer to safety.Expecting to get thanked for saving his life,Mad dog is instead left in a daze,when the customer kindly tells him that he is a disgrace to the police force.The next day:Reluctantly accepting an offer from his fellow officers to go to a Comedy club,Dobie is surprised to discover that the ungrateful customer who he saved,is actually a stand up comedian called Frank Milo,whose jokes cause Wayne's fellow officer's to row in the aisles.Meeting up with Milo after his performance,Frank tells Mad Dog that he is sorry for how nasty he had talked to him,mere minutes after his life had been saved,and that to make it up to Dobie,he is going to become his best friend,and give him a night on the town that he will never forget.Enjoying every moment of Frank's generosity (which includes being introduced to a dizzy,but very cute girl called Glory")Mad Dog begins to fear that his new "best friend" may be up to something more darker than just delivering his Black Comedy punchlines,when the robber who held Milo hostage at the convenience store is finally located,dead in a dustbin.View on the film:Setting the movie literally alight in the first scene,by using the flicking of a cigarette lighter to take the movie from a black and white Film Noir appearance,to being a darkly-neon lit, Neo-Noir world.Director John McNaughton and cinematography Robby Muller prominently use a dusty yellow filter for a number of scenes,which helps to create a deeply murky atmosphere of Milo's back street ally gangster life blending in,and corrupting Dobie's straight-lace police force.Along with the terrific use of the yellow filter,McNaughton also shows a superb eye for complex camera moves,which McNaughton expertly uses to show the change in Glory's and "Mad Dog's" relationship,which goes from nervous and stilted to flamboyant and complex.Taking on a different role to the one that the studio originally wanted him to take (Milo),Robert De Niro gives a strong,off-beat performance as Wayne "Mad Dog" Dobie,with De Niro always making sure that the situation that Wayne finds himself in is never joked upon,but instead allowing for the Black Comedy element to really enter the movie,by showing that no matter how "Mad" he tries to make himself look,Wayne is not able to get rid of the goofy smile that goes across his face,as he finds himself failing upwards in Dobie's attempt to not back down from the powerful Milo.Contrasting De Niro's performance perfectly,Bill Murray unveils a wonderful sternness as Frank Milo,which along with giving his very good one-liners extra spikes,also makes Milo a surprisingly ruthless character,with Murray showing Frank to take people either as his "best friends",or as his enemies.Placed right in the middle of Milo and Dobie,the beautiful Uma Thurman (who also appears topless in the film) compliments Murray's seriousness and De Nero's goofiness by showing Glory's nerves to be torn up by the Neo-Noir world that she has been living in with Frank,with Thurman showing that Glory's main dream is to leave the darkness behind,and enter Frank's kooky and goofy world.Being sadly changed by the studio, that led to the release of the movie being delayed for a year,the dark screenplay by Richard Price mixes a dark and vicious Neo-Noir with sharp and brittle Black Comedy one liners,that are disappointingly not allowed to show there full set of teeth due to the replacement ending being uncomfortably cheerful,and also due to Frank Milo weirdly disappearing for half the movie,which leads to this being a Neo-Noir whose bite is not worse than its bark.

bfko Mad Dog and glory is a very interesting film in regards to the actors who take on the lead roles. De Niro leads as a calm, quiet, forensics photographer who accidentally saves the life of mob Boss Bill Murray. This is interesting as Murray is taking on the role of the Mobster, a role that De Niro has helped define over the last 35 years. Also, this film is a comedy to a certain extent so De Niro is taking on a film that Murray would be suited to and expected to appear in.The plot basically consists of Frank Milo (Bill Murray) wanting to thank Mad Dog (De Niro) for saving his life by 'giving' him Glory (Uma Thurman) to be his maid for a week.There are some great comedic moments in the film but they do mainly belong to Murray who steals the show and walks away with the movie. The cast is peculiar in itself not only for the role reversals of De Niro and Murray but because of the casting of David Caruso as De Niro's cop partner who physically can't handle sharing the screen with such a great.The storyline starts off quite well but does tend to get a little silly at times and there are several sex scenes that were not really necessary and could have just been implied (it was as if the crew needed to fill up time in the movie).Overall, definitely watchable and enjoyable for Bil Murray's role, which one wished it would have been larger as he gets not nearly enough screen time. 6/10.

btm1 Comcast cable lists this movie as a comedy. IMDb lists it as comedy/drama. I found no comic moments in it. Yes, the Bill Murray character attempts some stand-up comedy. But his jokes are flat and his delivery too.It also fails as a drama because we really get no explanation for the behavior of the characters. How did the police crime scene photographer (De Niro) earn the nickname "mad dog"? Is it normal for crime scene photographers to carry weapons and to interact socially with detectives? Why does the mob boss (Bill Murray) attempt to do night club comedy? Why does the mob boss' henchman take his scotch with milk? What's with the mob boss taking advice from a psychotherapist? There are a couple of slug fest scenes between cops and the mob, with kicks to the ribs when someone is down, heads bumped into walls, etc. Yet injuries are only superficial, no broken bones or concussions, just a few cuts.

Doug Galecawitz having already seen bill Murray in the likes of groundhogs day and caddyshack makes it almost impossible to see him as a gangster in this film. the casting director to a bold choice to switch up deniro and Murray from the parts that might have suited them, but unfortunately it doesn't seem to work quite right. deniro's weakness makes him unlikable, and Murray's mannerisms make him unbelievable. the only character that makes it out OK is David Caruso...... somehow? I wanted to like this film but found myself quite bored by it early on. And the end seemed rushed and hackneyed, thus undermining the entire plot of the movie. i say skip it.5 out of 10