The Big Fix

Dad took us to see it when I was in 4th grade. All I could remember about this movie for 40 years was that it scared me. I couldn't remember who the actors were or the title of the movie. Just bits and pieces that scared me as a kid. When I saw it on streaming, the bits and pieces I remembered scaring me were in this movie, that's when I was overwhelmed with the realization that THIS IS THAT MOVIE!!!

Saw this in the theatre back when it was first released. In a nutshell, my problem with this film is that the entire plot is revealed in the first five minutes with nothing else to show for it. Of course, this was not understood as the film unfolds, so the rest of the hour and a half you're anticipating that something significant, or even interesting, is about to happen, and it never does. Only when the credits start rolling does it become clear that you just wasted an hour and a half of your life. I'm quite certain that I've invested more emotional capital in this film writing this review than anyone involved in making it. Just a crappy film.

It starts off with good writing that is witty and relevant. Halfway through I was still not sure what the movie was really about. By the time I turned it off, I would say it was a political movie that dabbled in mystery but could not have been less intriguing. No leads, in my opinion, were really followed. The main character just goes from one thing to the next accomplishing nothing and leaving me confused.

In 1983, after I saw the disappointing 'The Big Chill', I thought back to 1978 when I saw 'The Big Fix', and thought how much better the latter expressed the feeling of lost idealism from the late 60s --10 years later. Dreyfuss plays a private investigator named Moses Wine---a great name. The mystery isn't all that great, but when Moses views old footage of the radical 60s, tears well up --- and I realized that the more successful and overly praised 'The Big Chill' didn't come close to the feeling of lost hope among people who lived the 60s. So see The Big Fix instead---if you can find it.

I saw this film when I was 18, and at 51 I realize what a dope I was. This is sloppy 70's film-making at its WORST. Dreyfus is (like the entire film) using cutesy shorthand in lieu of acting. One need only look at the constant continuity errors to realize that everybody must have been either high, or thought making a quality film was too bourgeois. I "got" the 60's. I was a teen in the 70's, and "The Big Fix" is typical of the hipster coding that allowed the excesses that typified Richard Dreyfus "the drug years". What was well written wisenheimer dialog in "Jaws" and "The Good-Bye Girl" is here reduced to winging it, and the wires of laziness clearly show the puppet to be merely in motion; mimicking performance. What a silly, and disingenuous waste of time this film still is!

This is not your usual detective story. It also is not your typical conspiracy political thriller either. So I understand if people have their issues with how the movie was made and with the pace it has. But if you like the craziness and down to earth performance by the cast (especially Richard Dreyfuss, Richard being a name that can has a nickname that might remind one of a slang word for detective - just as a side note) ... well you are on to a good start. Talking of starts, the movie does start with our main character on a stakeout. And he acts a bit childish one might say ... not a wrong observation. While there adult themes and there is a real story to his broken wrist/hand, many things are utilized for the story or the characters purposes. Not a masterpiece I reckon - but still a very well made movie to say the least. And tension filled from start to finish ... even if it feels a bit uneven.

I am a fan of the 1970s semi-genre of throw-back style detective movies. My favorites are Robert Benton's "The Late Show" and Robert Altman's "The Long Goodbye". "The Big Fix" doesn't come close to those films. It's watchable but only barely. Richard Dreyfuss does a nice job but the story is weak and uninteresting. Dreyfuss' character is strong but he's surrounded by a bunch of bland or unnecessary supporting characters. "The Big Fix" does have a few nice moments but not enough to make it worth while. Dishonorable mention: the annoying Aunt.