2001 – Kurt Russell, Kevin Costner, Courtney Cox, Christian Slater, Kevin Pollack, David Arquette, Jon Lovitz, Howie Long, Thomas Haden Church, David Kaye
Link to 3000 Miles to Graceland on IMDB.com
Normally I do not watch anything this violent. Normally I avoid any movie with Kevin Costner in it. The first because I just do not care to see violence. I once got talked into going to the drive-in to see The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I spent the whole evening with the sun visor down on the passenger side of the car, trying the best I could to not listen. The second because normally with Kevin Costner it is just Kevin Costner walking through a role. I never seem to accept him as whatever character he is playing.
We were flipping through the channels on cable one night and came across this movie about half way through. I got hooked into watching it. Having not seen the beginning I went back another night to catch that part. I ended up watching the whole movie.
Basic story plot is about a band of Elvis impersonators that rob a casino. They then end up double crossing each other. That was just about a given.
Cybil Waingrow (Courtney Cox) is a very dysfunctional mom with a son, Jesse Waingrow (David Kaye) who is fast on his way to becoming a criminal. One scene has Cybil making gymnastic love to Michael Zane (Kurt Russel). Jesse sneaks into the bedroom during the lovemaking and steals Michael’s wallet.
The master mind of the heist is Murphy played by Kevin Costner. It was a very different role than I am used to seeing Kevin in. Murphy has almost no redeeming qualities. He kills just about everybody he encounters. What got me is that for the most part I forgot it was Kevin Costner.
If there is a good guy in the movie it is Michael Zane played by Kurt Russell. Kurt Russell has a tendency to play these characters with about one or two emotional responses, generally a depressive individual with a flat affect. He does so here.
The movie moves fast. It is very violent in the beginning and very violent in the end. While most of the plot twists and turns were predictable they kept me involved.
Quigley is played by Thomas Haden Church of Wings fame. I just never really bought him as the Federal Marshall chasing these crooks.
The soundtrack was really good, and there were more than a few Elvis tunes scattered through out the film. I’m not a huge Elvis fan, but hey he is The King.
There were some pieces at the end that I did not put together the first time I watched the film. Thinking about the movie after the second viewing gave it a little different flavor. Nuff said, do not want to give that away.
I am still trying to put my finger on why I cannot stop thinking about this movie. It was well done. It was entertaining. Maybe it was all the dysfunctional characters. Maybe it was the soundtrack. But for some reason it sticks. I’m not going to watch it again tomorrow, but I could see me doing so a few months from now.