Quickshots- Blake Edwards' Sunset

What happens when you mix James Garner playing Wyatt Earp and Bruce Willis as Tom Mix in a film directed by Pink Panther legend Blake Edwards set in 1920’s Hollywood?  You’d think genius entertainment, but really it’s a limply paced, blandly acted, wreck of a movie.  Sunset is taken from a short story by the same name about Wyatt Earp’s time in Hollywood as a technical adviser.  This being movie land, Earp ends up getting into mystery, murder, and adventure, with silent film actor Tom Mix at his side.  All the pieces are there, and you get a sense of how the plot should have worked, but somehow Sunset is significantly less than the sum of it's parts.  This 1988 film has a pretty famous cast, including Malcolm McDowell, Mariel Hemingway, and Dertmot Mulroney.  They are, alas, wasted.  The film was a box office disaster, was nominated for three Razzies, one of which Blake Edwards "won" for worst director.  Still, it is oddly engaging, and despite all of its faults you’ll still get wrapped up in it when you catch it late at night on Encore Westerns.

Here's a much more eloquent review that you may enjoy as well. 

This shirt may be the best part of the film.