AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

Console best movie i've ever seen.

Janis One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Lee Eisenberg "Two Bits" was a noticeable change for Al Pacino, casting him as a man getting his grandson (Jerry Barone) to rectify an age-old matter in 1933 Philadelphia in exchange for a chance to go to the movies. Watching the movie, one gets a sense of the poverty characteristic of the Great Depression, but also how people understood that they had to try and go on no matter what. I realize that some people may consider it bad taste - if not unethical - to use the Great Depression for the setting of a nearly magical story, but I wish to assert that the movie did a very impressive job portraying the setting without getting sappy; then again, how could an Al Pacino movie be sappy? I recommend it. Also starring Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio.

lewwarden This movie was passably interesting but I found the readers' comments even more interesting. Obviously both readers, writer, director, et al. are of today's generation of takers who don't have the least idea about what life was life in those terrible days. The central figure, a 12 year old boy who wants to go to the movies, is repeatedly seen trying to cadge a quarter from his dying grandfather.Out of compassion, a grocer who is overextended giving credit to his impoverished neighbors and forgives their small thefts, gives the kid a nickel for a job the kid never does. A compassionate doctor, who himself is nearly as bad off financially as his patients, gives the kid a dime for a job the kid never does. Finally the kid badgers his mother into giving him her last dime for attending to his grandfather's dying wish. This the kid does, in a really great scene. But he gets to the theater too late for the twenty five cents early admission price. Now the price is fifty cents, a seemingly hopeless sum.This was an absurd price for a movie ticket in those days. I recall ten or fifteen cents for a kid and two bits for adults. But fifty cents then was a good pay for a day's hard work by a man. As Steinbeck wrote of those days regarding a California farmer's view of fair wages: "A red is any son of a bitch who wants five cents an hour when I'm paying four." I got forty cents per month per customer for getting up at 4:00 am delivering newspapers door to door, and had to pay the company for the papers whether the customer paid me or not.Back to the movie -- Then the grandfather dies and, miraculously, the kid finds a quarter in the dirt nearby. And off he goes to the theater, splurging the whole fifty cents. Not a penny's worth of character development here, although the opportunity to do so was palpable. What a message to send the spoiled brats of today who seem to think they have a God-given right to live off of their parents and grandparents until the old folks die. When that happens we're going to have a hell of a depression. Which we need like a hole in the head. Today homeless people are living in parks and riverside camps and in alleyways behind restaurant dumpsters in the same terrible conditions and nearly the numbers we had during the depression era. The only difference is the modern stainless steel shopping carts they commandeer to move their possessions. But nobody seems to bother counting them, much less doing anything about their plight. We just don't want to see them and so, miraculously, they aren't there. This play could have been redeemed if the kid had foregone his utterly selfish obsession to go to the movie, and had paid the doctor and the grocer the unearned 15 cents they had given him, and had given his mother back her dime plus the two bits he "inherited" from his grandfather. Or would that have been a politically incorrect message to send to the children of today? Twelve year is not by any means too young for a child to be aware of the economic burdens parents have today, and certainly wasn't the case back in the thirties. I vividly remember when I was about 12 and spent a summer on my grandfather's ranch -- which he had lost long before to the mortgage holder who let him and grandma live there until he died on the land he and his parents had owned for nearly a century. He taught me how to play poker, so well in fact that by the time my vacation was over, I had a pretty fair stack of pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters which I kept stacked on the kitchen table with the sugar bowl and salt and pepper shakers.I really felt bad about taking the money -- although God knows the old man had lost his ranch in large part because of his gambling and hell-raising youth -- and so when my folks picked me up I "forgot" my small hoard of possibly three-four dollars, which was big money to me too. Later I got a letter from my grandmother noting my gesture, but letting me know that my grandfather was deeply hurt because a 12 year old kid had felt sorry for him.My grandfather taught me to play a pretty good game of poker too, which I put to good use in the Army and later when I had to play "poker" with the insurance companies for much higher stakes. Like the man used to sing, "You've got to know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em."Anyhow, TWO BITS was a big disappointment to me for these reasons. Obviously, I'm not at all happy with the state of affairs in our society these days. If you want more lectures along these lines, see our website (www.networkcentralca.net) based on the 1976 blockbuster movie NETWORK where Paddy Chayefski -- also a Depression era child -- famously satirized and forecast the sorry state of affairs of our news media and economy. Some day a more vital culture, whether Chinese or Mexican or Muslim, is going to eat us alive, and if you are around then and don't know why, remember TWO BITS.Lew Warden

movieman_bg The Great Depression has been discussed in one too many movies and "Two Bits" makes almost no exception of the general rule for such a movie: a poor family(usually immigrants), a small child realizing the poverty around him, an older person to guide the child, a sudden understanding of the really important things in life, a little drama, a touching ending, nothing new, nothing bad, unfortunately nothing too good. The exception in the "nothing too good rule" is the usual amazing performance that Al Pacino gives in almost all of his roles. His character, Gitano Sabatoni, touches the viewer deeply, and might even bring a few twinkles in the eyes at the very end. However, one man does not make a team, and Al Pacino could do little to save this movie from mediocrity.James Foley("Twin Peaks", "Fear") tries to create a deep and touching stroy line, perhaps reaching to the roots of many movie fans. He is not successful, though. The metaphor with the "La Paloma" theater is not that strong and the end could've been made deeper if it had been for a few more words. Anyway, that's not Foley's main problem. The total lack of action in this movie makes it a bit too boring. "Two Bits" is simply too slow to leave a lasting impression. The somewhat strong scenes of grandfather-grandson bonding are immediately followed with aimless roaming around the streets of Philly. Perhaps one of the deepest scenes in the movie(the dancing people on the street) is somewhat lost because the viewer did not expect such a strong message at that time. Simple ideas can be misunderstood when not given in a right time to the viewer. Perhaps the same message "Two Bits" holds(even though much less complicated) is expressed in a brilliant way in "Citizen Kane". In the latter movie however, the viewer is "glued" to the seat at almost every time, whereas in "Two Bits" some people might slip out of their seats. Anyway, "Two Bits" is worth seeing even if only for Al Pacino's impact. The movie might not be that good as a whole, but it touches a soft spot in many dedicated viewers' hearts. James Foley succeeds in showing the "holyness" of a movie theater to a small kid(or even to an adult). The way "La Paloma" is described, it leaves an impression of something majestic, something sacred, something pure and beautiful. It's a shame that Foley went only so far as to evoke this one picture, for as beautiful as it is, it can't support a whole movie.

Jakeroo Not much action here, but a nice little drama in a big day for grandpa and grandson.