Chattahoochee (1989) from Johnny Web (Uncle Scoopy; Greg Wroblewski)

Gary Oldman plays a Korean War Hero who develops some mental problems after he gets home to Florida. One day he just steps outside and starts discharging his handgun and yelling for his neighbors to call the police. He hoped that the police would shoot him so his wife could collect on an insurance policy. His plan fails. The stand-off with the police eventually results in him being wounded, but not killed, by his own bullet in a confused suicide attempt. These actions eventually land him in a brutal state institution for the criminally insane, where he eventually becomes a crusader for prisoner's rights, better conditions, and various necessary reforms.

The film came and went without attracting much attention. The subject matter has been thoroughly covered by other films, and Chattahoochee really had nothing new to add except perhaps that it was based on a true story, which is kind of a "who cares" for most people. There's just nothing very new or very intriguing. And how big a market is there for a portrait of life in a squalid, abusive, mental institution for men?

There's nothing really wrong with the movie.

It's well acted by the leads, including such respected names as Gary Oldman and Frances McDormand. There is one credibility problem in the casting. How can you relate to a movie which requires the audience to be convinced that Dennis Hopper is NOT insane? Hopper is muttering and fidgeting and rolling his eyes as shiftily as ever, but the script requires us to think that he is being held in a mental institution unfairly.  Ned Beatty is also on hand, playing the requisite evil warden of the institution, which was convenient for him because he always enjoys canoeing in that part of the world, as well as working with toothless rednecks both on and off the set. Ah, the memories!

It's fairly well edited and paced as well.  Chattahoochee was director Mick Jackson's first theatrical effort after more than a decade of TV work, and the film was directed well enough to attract the attention of some significant people in Hollywood. Jackson picked up some major projects in the next two years, L.A. Story and The Bodyguard, which were written by some major players - Steve Martin and Lawrence Kasdan, respectively. Jackson's collaboration with Martin was a winner, but unfortunately he could never again come close to the peak he achieved in L.A. Story, and most of his projects in the past decade have been either for TV or of TV quality.

Or worse, in the case of Volcano.

1. (6.80) - L.A. Story (1991)
2. (5.63) - First $20 Million Is Always the Hardest, The (2002)
3. (5.57) - Chattahoochee (1989)
4. (5.55) - Clean Slate (1994)
5. (5.21) - Bodyguard, The (1992)
6. (5.21) - Volcano (1997)