Puerto Vallarta Squeeze (2004) Reviews

• Great film

  dylan927us2004-07-20

  I saw a private screening of this movie before it was released and was very impressed. Shot at great locations, great acting, overall a very good film. One actor caught my eye, the late Jonathan Brandis, I knew I had seen him somewhere before, I later discovered he starred in many TV shows at a younger age. I was devastated when I found out after the screening that he had taken his own life not long after this film was finished. Jonathan was incredible, so was Scott Glenn as the American hit-man. Harvey Keitel was also a great addition to this film as the lead American government officer assigned to track down Clayton Price (Glenn). If you have a chance to see this film don't pass it up.

• Unremarkable but enjoyable

  dbborroughs2008-10-26

  Scott Glen plays a hit-man for the CIA in Mexico who takes out an extra target when he's spotted during a hit. Unfortunately its a US serviceman and he's forced to go on the run from his handler (Harvey Keitel) who vows to bring him down. Hooking up with a writer (Craig Wasson) and his girlfriend he heads for the border to the US. Good little thriller is the sort of thing you'd put on on a slow Saturday night. Well made its clear the people involved in the film actually cared about what they were doing and the result is film thats perfect for a night on couch with popcorn and soda. To be certain you won't remember it a week or so after the fact, but it will entertain you when reruns of old blockbusters are your only choice on cable.

• Loose-limbed, ambitious thriller.

  rmax3048232006-12-05

  Basically a chase thriller in which an experienced hit man working for an unnamed government agency (Scott Glenn) takes personal revenge on a former friend, irritating his employers and prompting them to send a team of two other hit men (including Harvey Keitel) to rub him out. But the wily Glenn takes two hostages (Craig Wasson and Giovanna Zacarias) and leads the pursuing pair on a merry chase along "the highways and by-ways of this dysentery factory." In the end, the unnamed government agency is satisfied that Glenn is offed and the incident closed. In reality, Glenn and Zacarias have fallen for one another, made a successful escape, and are living a happy life in a mountain cabin. The fact that the government agency is unnamed should give you a hint about what kind of story this is. It's one that won't step on anybody's toes, including the CIA and Mexican law enforcement agents. The story as sketched in above is really rather skeletal, I know, but there's not really that much more to the plot. The performances vary a lot in their quality. Scott Glenn is his taciturn icy self, his face and torso more etched with experience than ever. Giovanna Zacarias is by no means beautiful in any ordinary sense, yet her character is intelligent, empathic, and proud. She has strong features and glistening black eyes and although she may have been a whore ("the woman of desperation") she might just be the kind of puta you would think about taking home to Mamma. Keitel combines being laid back with being as tense as an unsprung jack-in-the-box. Craig Wasson sounds like Albert Brooke and looks a little like him. He does not deliver anything I could detect as a believable line. If you are being kept captive by a CIA hit man and wanted to sneak away, would YOU constantly argue with him and your girl friend? Would you shout at him in a public restaurant? In other words, would you do everything you possibly could to make him keep his eye on you? That's not entirely Wasson's fault. He can only say what the script orders him to, and the script doesn't really give anyone too much to work with. The betrayed hero of Vietnam is already a cliché, with his flashbacks and bitterness leading him into violence. In the course of the film, he is humanized by Zacarias ("Luz", great name). And once she understands the source of his torment she undergoes a kind of Mazatlan Syndrome and bonds with him. There's something else that creeps into the story, or tries to, from time to time. There's religious imagery all over the place. And there's a good deal of talk about God and forgiveness. It simply doesn't hang together though. (The novel might have dealt with these questions a little more effectively.) The last time Glenn prayed was when he was being tortured by the Vietnamese, and he prayed for death. When God didn't answer, he gave up on God and believes God now reciprocates. Well, Luz still believes in forgiveness and she must have been right because that mountain cabin at the end is sure idyllic.

• Do not underestimate this surprisingly entertaining film .............

  merklekranz2012-05-15

  Do not underestimate "Puerta Vallarta Squeeze", because the two aging stars, Scott Glenn, and Harvey Keitel, give excellent performances. Scott Glenn has really perfected playing a rogue hit-man. Here, he takes Craig Wasson and Giovanna Zacarias hostage on a road trip through rural Mexico, trying to escape after an unauthorized hit in Puerto Vallarta. The film is extremely colorful, has lively dialog, and the characters are well developed. Glenn is both terrifying and also somewhat sympathetic, living with the ghosts of past violence. Part adventure, part romance, and part road movie, "Puerto Vallarta Squeeze" is a surprisingly entertaining film. - MERK

• Nice movie - Great song Starting Now.

  Fairbanksfolly2007-12-10

  I am trying to locate a song from the movie titled "Starting Now" by Lee Holdridge. The song was quite moving. The words matched nicely with the action on the screen. It was so moving that it made me cry. I have tried to locate the song, but the only CD that I can locate does not contain "Starting Now". Can anybody help me? I really liked the movie. I have seen it several times. I liked the interaction between the main characters: the hit-man approaching the end of his career and full of flaws; the beautiful young woman with a questionable past; and the aging American hard on his luck. I found myself hoping that they would make it. Thanks.