The Big Sweat

I had no idea what was going on the whole time. Why would anyone care about this guy who steals money from a bank. He isn't cool and he has no personality whatsoever. This movie is just a really boring beginning and then a car cash that really goes no where. I mean are we suppose to be in the 70's but have car phones. Anyway even with Robert Z'dar this movie does not have any valid point to watch. The ending ends something that never began. I usually like bad movies but this movie takes the cake. LOL its seem like it took them 1 day to film the entire movie. There is no tense moments at all. I seriously doubt anyone liking this movie but if you want to watch it do it because you are wanting to watch one of the most boring and bizarre plots ever. I don't know how to describe this movie but if I did I would help you out

When Marco Donnelly (Molone) gets out of prison after five or six years (depending on who you ask), he goes back to his adopted mother's ranch in rural California. Seemingly bored after a half-hearted attempt to "go straight", he falls in with his old bank robbing gang . The gang thinks it can rob another bank and get away scot-free, but they didn't count on one thing: the wildly awesome FBI agent Troudou (Z'Dar). Troudou has an upbeat personality, a cigar he never lights, a closet full of Hawaiian shirts, and a dream: to bring in Marco, the evil Joe Rinks (Sherayko), and the rest of the gang - on his own terms. However, this may require a bit of driving... There are a few noteworthy things about The Big Sweat, but the most obvious is the extended, ridiculously long chase scene. Some sources have it at forty five minutes. Think about that. That's insane. The filmmakers were misguided if they thought they could outdo classic chase scenes in movies such as The French Connection (1971) and Bullitt (1968) simply by lengthening theirs. That's misguided - their logic must have been "more running time = better". Unfortunately, this childish logic was not successful. Seeing as most chases only work if you care about the characters in the cars, The Big Sweat should have concentrated on character development instead. As it is, how much patience/caring should we have? It's really asking a lot of the audience to endure, and even die-hard car chase movie fans would be hard-pressed to justify that. Also noteworthy is the presence of the great Robert Z'Dar as Troudou. He gives one of his most animated, and some may say goofy performances that we've ever seen. His energy is absolutely crucial to enduring this movie. Without Z'Dar, this would have been a slog of the lowest order. From his killer entrance on down, Z'Dar rules the movie. Maybe he felt he had nothing to lose. And once he's teamed up with American Hero Barsky (Rushing), the sparks really fly. Director Ulli Lommel is pretty well-known, and if you can imagine what an AIP Lommel movie might be like...well..this is it. Most of the budget must have gone to Robert Z'Dar and gasoline in this brainless outing. for more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com

My review was written in July 1991 after watching the film on AIP video cassette. Car chases eat up most of the running time of "The Big Sweat", a crudely made action pic from transplanted German director Ulli Lommel. Direct-to-video release tries to e different twitch a nonstop,k 3-minute chase sequence covering the middle reels. Theis footage of hero Steve Molone and his bandrob bing gang on the run from local police and FBI starts off well but becomes repetitious and impersonal. Ding to the generic quality of the footage is reliance upon actin scenes shot by the late car chase specialist H. B. Halicki. Another switch here is casting of oversize movie villain Rober Z'dar as a most unconventional FBI agent. His characterization is goofy enough to be likeable at first , but by film's end the frivolous depiction of the modern FBI and its methods almost makes one long for the square o' Joe Friday prototypes. Scripter Max Bolt's standard plt ha ex-con Molone plotting against his gangster nemesis Peter Sherayko. Z'dar wants Molone to testify against Sherayko, but our hero's no fink. Lommel, a Fassbinder protege whose AMerican work includes the 1980 hit "The Boogey Man", seems content with grinding out style-less action pics these days. In common with several other recent direct-to-video releases, opening credits sequence violates the rules of theatrical films and lists the producer last, after the director.