Con Games
Last updated| Con Games | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Jefferson Edward Donald |
| Written by | Jefferson Edward Donald Tommy Lee Thomas |
| Produced by | Ross Nolan Tommy Lee Thomas |
| Starring | Eric Roberts Tommy Lee Thomas Matthew Ansara Amy Fadhli Moe Irvin Martin Kove |
| Cinematography | John Lazear |
| Edited by | Chris Conlee |
| Music by | Veigar Margeirsson |
Production company | Soaring Eagle Productions |
| Distributed by | Artist View Entertainment |
Release date |
|
Running time | 90 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Con Games is a 2001 American direct to video action drama film written and directed by Jefferson Edward Donald, starring Tommy Lee Thomas, Eric Roberts, Martin Kove, Amy Fadhli, and Matthew Ansara. [1] [2] [3]
Contents
Plot
A senator's grandson is murdered while incarcerated at California's notorious "Doscher State Prison", nicknamed "Dachau" by convicts for the number of unsolved murders of inmates that have taken place therein. Hired by the senator, Gulf War veteran John Woodrow (Tommy Lee Thomas) infiltrates the prison to find the murderer, and learns that the grandson was killed by corrupt head guard Lt. Hopkins (Eric Roberts). When Hopkins discovers Woodrow's true identity, he has him tortured by inmates and guards. After an arduous shooting chase through the desert, Woodrow escapes.
Cast
- Eric Roberts as Officer Hopkins
- Tommy Lee Thomas as John Woodrow
- Matthew Ansara as Saul
- Amy Fadhli as Ashley Stephenson
- Moe Irvin as Eddie Long
- Martin Kove as Redick
- Katherine Parks as Admin Assistant
- Michael Durack as Frank Nelson
- Dave Casper as Detective
- Sheila Campbell as Jeanette
- Patricia Bosse as Melanie Richards
- Tiffany Brouwer as Britney Woodrow
- Marc Chenail as Robinson
- Bill Fishback as Goetz
- Tony Harras as Warden Alvarez
- John Adam Kraemer as Sid
- Ross Nolan as McCain
Background
Principal filming began in May 2001. [2] To prepare himself for the film, actor and co-screenwriter Tommy Lee Thomas trained for seven months prior to shooting in order to get in shape, and his sessions included training by Lou Ferrigno. Thomas acknowledges having studied "muscle magazines" and appearances in them, as well as competing in bodybuilding competitions. [4] Thomas realized the advantage of getting a recognizable name for his film and was able to secure Eric Roberts. While Roberts did not have the "star power" he held in his earlier career, he still had enough so that Thomas was able to facilitate the film's release in the U.S. and overseas. [5] Keaton Simonds was to sing the song for the film's end credits, but Eric Roberts sang the song instead after Simonds changed his mind. [4]
Reception
Film Threat praised both the film and its star, writing that the film was "a very entertaining B-level action film that was released in 2002 to barely any acknowledgement." They made note of the film's low production values and budget, and that the scenes depicting the prison itself reflected this in the small number of inmates and even fewer number of prison guards. They noted Tommy Lee Thomas as having co-written the screenplay, and wrote that he was "the fuel to this vehicle", that "clearly he studied a lot of Clint Eastwood films and he mastered the legendary star’s steely-eyed squint and sparse line deliveries," and that he "clearly possesses a sense of eccentric humor." They concluded "As low-budget action flicks go, this one is very diverting and highly watchable." [1]
Rovi panned the film, making note that the "men in prison" B-movie genre is represented by the film as its "too-literal acting is right out of 1960s drive-in cinema". Referring to the film as a "train wreck of a feature", they noted it as an attempt by Tommy Lee Thomas to establish credentials as an actor. They noted the script being poorly developed by writing it is "unimaginably filled with hilarious lines", and the cinematography as poor when writing "the camera seems not to know where it wants to be in most scenes". Rovi also addresses the acting of Eric Roberts, writing that he "devours the scenery as if it were steak." They summarize by writing "The movie is a bomb. But, there's an endearing earnestness that overcomes the shoddy amateurism." They concluded that "Only the most undemanding of action fans are going to appreciate this one". [6]
Release
The film had subsequent DVD releases. A re-release was made by Third Millennium on May 27, 2002, [7] and a version with Spanish subtitles was released by MTI Home Video on July 23, 2002. [8]
Related Research Articles
Runaway Train is a 1985 American action thriller film directed by Andrei Konchalovsky and starring Jon Voight, Eric Roberts, Rebecca De Mornay and John P. Ryan. The screenplay by Djordje Milicevic, Paul Zindel and Edward Bunker was based on an original 1960s screenplay by Akira Kurosawa, with uncredited contributions by frequent Kurosawa collaborators Hideo Oguni and Ryūzō Kikushima. The film was also the feature debut of both Danny Trejo and Tommy "Tiny" Lister, who both proceeded to successful careers as "tough guy" character actors.
Bamboozled is a 2000 American satirical black comedy-drama film written and directed by Spike Lee about a modern televised minstrel show featuring black actors donning blackface makeup and the resulting violent fallout from the show's success. It features an ensemble cast including Damon Wayans, Jada Pinkett Smith, Savion Glover, Tommy Davidson, and Michael Rapaport.
Tommy Lee Jones is an American actor. He has received various accolades including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Primetime Emmy Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.
San Quentin Rehabilitation Center (SQ), formerly known as San Quentin State Prison, is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men, located north of San Francisco in the unincorporated place of San Quentin in Marin County.
Eric R. Roth is an American screenwriter. He has been nominated six times for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay — for Forrest Gump (1994), The Insider (1999), Munich (2005), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), A Star Is Born (2018), and Dune (2021) — winning for Forrest Gump; he also earned a Best Picture nomination for producing Mank (2020). He also worked on the screenplays for the Oscar-nominated films Ali (2001) and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011), as well as Martin Scorsese's epic Western crime drama Killers of the Flower Moon (2023).
The Federal Correctional Institution, Lewisburg is a medium-security United States federal prison in Kelly Township, Pennsylvania, for male inmates. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice. An adjacent satellite prison camp houses minimum-security male offenders.
The Weak and the Wicked is a 1954 British drama film directed by J. Lee Thompson based on the autobiographical novel Who Lie in Gaol by his wife, Joan Henry, starring Glynis Johns and Diana Dors.
Birdman of Alcatraz is a 1962 American biographical drama film directed by John Frankenheimer and starring Burt Lancaster. It is a largely fictionalized version of the life of Robert Stroud, who was sentenced to solitary confinement after having killed a prison guard. A federal prison inmate, he became known as the "Birdman of Alcatraz" because of his studies of birds, which had taken place when he was incarcerated at Leavenworth Prison where he was allowed to keep birds in jail. When moved to Alcatraz, Stroud was never allowed to keep any birds.
Allan B. Polunsky Unit is a prison in West Livingston, unincorporated Polk County, Texas, United States, located approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) southwest of Livingston along Farm to Market Road 350. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) operates the facility. The unit houses the State of Texas death row for men, and it has a maximum capacity of 2,900. Livingston Municipal Airport is located on the other side of FM 350. The unit, along the Big Thicket, is 60 miles (97 km) east of Huntsville.
O. B. Ellis Unit is a Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison located in unincorporated Walker County, Texas, 12 miles (19 km) north of Huntsville. The unit, with about 11,427 acres (4,624 ha) of space, now houses up to 2,400 male prisoners. Ellis is situated in a wooded area shared with the Estelle Unit, which is located 3 miles (4.8 km) away from Ellis. From 1965 to 1999 it was the location of the State of Texas men's death row.
The United States Penitentiary, Lee is a high-security United States federal prison for male inmates in Virginia. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice. The facility also has an adjacent satellite prison camp which houses minimum-security male offenders.
The Marin County Civic Center attacks were two related attacks in 1970 at the Marin County Civic Center courtroom in San Rafael, California, United States, tied to escalating racial tensions in the state's criminal justice system.
Proximity is a 2001 American action thriller film starring Rob Lowe and James Coburn, produced by Overseas Entertainment for Warner Bros. Pictures handling theatrical and TV distribution and Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment for DVD distribution. It is written by Ben Queen and Seamus Ruane and directed by Scott Ziehl. The film is about an escaped prison convict (Lowe) and the head/founder (Coburn) of a support group called "Justice For The Victim's Families" who has his own tragic past and a dark secret.
Alcatraz is an American television series created by Elizabeth Sarnoff, Steven Lilien and Bryan Wynbrandt, and produced by J. J. Abrams and Bad Robot. The series premiered on Fox on January 16, 2012, as a mid-season replacement. Switching between eras, the series focuses on the Alcatraz prison, which was shut down in 1963 due to unsafe conditions for its prisoners and guards. The show's premise is that both the prisoners and the guards disappeared in 1963 and have abruptly reappeared in modern-day San Francisco, where they are being tracked down by a government agency, to prevent them from committing further crimes while also determining the reasons for their return. The series starred Sarah Jones, Jorge Garcia, Sam Neill, and Parminder Nagra.
The Human Centipede 3 (Final Sequence) is a 2015 black comedy body horror film written and directed by Tom Six and starring Dieter Laser and Laurence R. Harvey, the leading actors from the first two films in new roles, Robert LaSardo, Tommy "Tiny" Lister, Jay Tavare, Eric Roberts, Bree Olson, Clayton Rohner, and Bill Hutchens as well as a cameo by Six. The film tells the story of a psychopathic prison warden and his accountant who create their own "human centipede" from the inmates. It is the conclusion to Six's The Human Centipede trilogy. The Human Centipede 3 was released both theatrically and on video on demand on 22 May 2015. The film was poorly reviewed from critics due to its overwhelming gore and repetitive plot to its predecessors.
Dark Knight is a 2000 TV series, based on Sir Walter Scott's novel Ivanhoe. This joint New Zealand/England production attempted to capitalize on the same sword and sorcery market successfully mined by Xena: Warrior Princess.
Perfect Exchange, also known as The Sting II, is a 1993 Hong Kong action comedy film written and directed by Wong Jing and starring Andy Lau and Tony Leung. The film was rated Category III by the Hong Kong motion picture rating system.
William G. McConnell Unit (ML) is a Texas state prison located in unincorporated Bee County, Texas, along Texas State Highway 181, 1 mile (1.6 km) east of the city limits of Beeville. It is a part of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ).
Within These Walls is a 1945 American drama film directed by H. Bruce Humberstone and written by Eugene Ling and Coles Trapnell. The film stars Thomas Mitchell, Mary Anderson, Edward Ryan, Mark Stevens, B.S. Pully and Roy Roberts. The film was released on July 13, 1945, by 20th Century Fox.
Robert Scott Garrison was an American actor known for his role as Tommy in the 1984 film The Karate Kid and the second season of its spinoff Cobra Kai.
References
- 1 2 Phil Hall (January 5, 2005). "review: Con Games". Film Threat . Retrieved May 10, 2011.
- 1 2 "Con Games (2001)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on May 29, 2009. Retrieved May 10, 2011.
- ↑ Buzz McClain (2007). "Con Games (2001)". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times . Archived from the original on December 6, 2007. Retrieved May 10, 2011.
- 1 2 Phil Hall (November 3, 2004). "Tommy Lee Thomas: A New Texas Tornado". Film Threat . Retrieved May 10, 2011.
- ↑ Hall, Phil (2006). Independent Film Distribution: How to Make a Successful End Run Around the Big Guys. Michael Wiese Productions. p. 48. ISBN 1-932907-16-5 . Retrieved May 10, 2011.
- ↑ Buzz McClain. "review: Con Games (2001)". Rovi . Archived from the original on January 16, 2013. Retrieved May 10, 2011.
- ↑ "Third Millennium Con Games (2002)". Rovi. Archived from the original on January 16, 2013. Retrieved May 10, 2011.
- ↑ "MTI Home Video Con Games (2002)". Rovi. Archived from the original on January 17, 2013. Retrieved May 10, 2011.
External links
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.