Sometimes love is the most dangerous game of all.
Once past the pulse-pounding car-chase opening sequence of Against All Odds, sharp-eyed viewers will be able to figure out that this 1984 suspenser is a remake of the 1947 noir classic Out of the Past. Forced off the field due to a shoulder injury, football player Terry Brogan (Jeff Bridges) takes a job with crooked nightclub owner Jake Wise (James Woods).
Brogan isn’t fond of his new boss, but he isn’t much better himself, having previously shaved points during a game at Wise’s behest. When Wise’s girlfriend Jessie Wyler (Rachel Ward) skips town with a great deal of money, Brogan is sent to fetch her back. Once in Mexico, Brogan and Wyler fall in love, weakening his resolve to go through with his job. When Brogan fails to carry out his orders, another of Wise’s hired hands (Alex Karras) is sent out to retrieve both Brogan and Wyler.
During a struggle, the thug is killed by Wyler, who for the first time in the film demonstrates that she isn’t the victim of circumstance she pretends to be. Upon his return to the U.S. — minus Wyler, who’s taken another run-out powder — Brogan becomes enmeshed in a shady Chinatown-like business deal involving Wise and a real-estate fat cat (Richard Widmark) — who happens to be married to Wyler’s mother. Like Past, Against All Odds is based on the Daniel Mainwaring novel Build My Gallows High, and Jane Greer, who played the Rachel Ward character in the earlier film, is here cast as Ward’s mother. Phil Collins wrote and sang the Oscar-winning theme song.
Against All Odds is a 1984 American romantic neo-noir thriller film directed by Taylor Hackford and starring Rachel Ward, Jeff Bridges and James Woods alongside Jane Greer, Alex Karras, Richard Widmark and Dorian Harewood. A remake of Out of the Past (1947), the film’s plot is about an aging American football star who is hired by a mobster to find his girlfriend.
The film’s soundtrack, nominated for a Grammy Award, featured songs from Big Country, Kid Creole & the Coconuts, Stevie Nicks and Genesis breakout stars Mike Rutherford, Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins; the latter performed the title song, which was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Original Song and for a Golden Globe Award as Best Original Song, being one of the top-selling singles of 1984.
About the Story
Professional football player Terry Brogan (Jeff Bridges) is released by his team. Aging, injured and in need of money, he is contacted by an old acquaintance, the shady gambler and nightclub owner Jake Wise (James Woods), who wants Terry to find Jake’s girlfriend Jessie Wyler (Rachel Ward), daughter of the Outlaws’ owner. Jake claims that Jessie assaulted him, stole money and fled. Terry is reluctant to take on the job, but needs the money and knows Wise is capable of blackmailing him.
Terry gets in touch with Jessie’s mother (Jane Greer), ostensibly to find out where Jessie can be found, but mainly to convince Mrs. Wyler and her business partner Ben Caxton (Richard Widmark) to reinstate him on the team. Mrs. Wyler makes clear that she has no interest in his football career. She’s willing to pay him more than Jake would if he will find Jessie for her. Beyond that, she has no use for him. Hank Sully (Alex Karras), the team’s trainer, strongly advises Terry to stay away from Jake and offers to help Terry get a coaching job. Terry is convinced his days as a player are not over and instead decides to work for Jake to tide him over until the next season, when he can try to continue his playing career.
Terry finds Jessie living in Cozumel, Mexico. He makes multiple attempts to approach Jessie, but she rebuffs him, aware that he must have been sent by either Jake or her mother. Terry tires of pursuing a spoiled brat and packs to leave, but Jessie appreciates that he hasn’t revealed her whereabouts and invites him to see where she is staying. They become lovers. Terry confides the leverage Jake has over him is the knowledge that Terry once shaved points in an important football game after he had fallen into debt.
Terry and Jessie remain happily together for a few weeks, with Terry continuing to tell Jake he’s been unsuccessful in locating her. Sully is sent by Jake to investigate. He catches the lovers alone at the ruins of Chichen Itza. Wielding a gun, Sully demands that Terry turn over the girl and warns him she’s “no good.” He, too, has been involved in corruption with Jake’s sports syndicate. A struggle between the men ensues and Jessie fatally shoots Sully. She wants to flee, as the two will be unable to offer an explanation that will allow them to avoid jail. But when Terry refuses, insisting that the two cannot just run away from the matter, Jessie abandons him.
After disposing of Sully’s body, Terry returns to Los Angeles and finds to his astonishment that Jessie has returned to Jake. He is bitter toward her, but Jake maintains a hold over him with the point-shaving incident, as well as Sully’s sudden disappearance. Terry is sent to break into the office of Kirsch (Saul Rubinek), the team’s corrupt lawyer, who is also involved in Jake’s gambling operation. Terry’s mission is to retrieve Kirsch’s files, which implicate everyone involved.
Terry breaks into the office only to find Kirsch dead. A security guard has been hired to kill Terry and make it look like Terry committed the murder. Terry fights off the security guard, then hides Kirsch’s body. He finds a local bar frequented by Kirsch’s secretary, Edie (Swoosie Kurtz), where he tells her what has happened and that she too is in danger. Edie tells him about a secret box that contains the information to bring down the entire syndicate and local politicians. They return to the office to retrieve the box, where a fight occurs with another two guards, but again Terry escapes, this time with Edie and the files.
Jessie remains at Jake’s side but claims to be still in love with Terry. She knows that Jake is behind Kirsch’s murder and informs Caxton, telling him that Jake has been handling bets on his old football team using information he’s been given by Sully and Kirsch. What she doesn’t know is that Caxton is actually Jake’s boss at the syndicate.
Against All Odds (1984)
Directed by: Taylor Hackford
Starring: Rachel Ward, Jeff Bridges, James Woods, Alex Karras, Jane Greer, Richard Widmark, Dorian Harewood, Swoosie Kurtz, Saul Rubinek, Sam Scarber, Tamara Stafford, Jon St. Elwood
Screenplay by: Eric Hughes
Production Design by: Richard Lawrence
Cinematography by: Donald E. Thorin
Film Editing by: Fredric Steinkamp, William Steinkamp
Costume Design by: Michael Kaplan
Set Decoration by: Garrett Lewis
Music by: Michel Colombier, Larry Carlton
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Columbia Pictures
Release Date: March 2, 1984
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