Secure Immaturity

My grandmother told me that her favorite movie of all time was Diggstown. Since she reads Nora Roberts novels on purpose, I just assumed it was a grandma-thing to like movies called Diggstown even though it was about a cool subject like boxing. So, 16 years later, I watch Diggstown because I have nothing else to do. . .and I wish I had watched it sooner. What a priceless gem of cinema most likely lost amongst the bigger budgeted, bigger starred, glossier films that have appeared since 1992. Diggstown is an example of a movie that didn’t need huge stars, grand gimmicks or even high production value to be worth the price of admission.

Diggstown is about Gabriel Caine (James Woods), a conman/hustler (there is a difference between the two, as the film’s philosophy will tell you) who helps people escape from prison. When he meets a dried-up boxer in prison who lives in a placed dubbed Diggstown (named after a community prized boxer-cum-vegetable named Diggs) he plans a scheme to rob the town of all his money through the town’s central attraction (and money maker): Diggstown Boxing Hall. Naturally (financially backed by a mob enforcer, no less), Caine begins to discover the town’s tycoon, John Gillon (Bruce Dern) is no dumb hick and a hustler himself willing to throw fights and meet any bet. And Caine also begins to grow as heart as he not only meets his old boxer friends’ sister (a smoking hot Heather Graham) but the town’s folk under Gillon’s oppressive/racist thumb. Caine decides to go all the way with the hustle and get old and somewhat mythical boxer Honey Roy Palmer (Louis Gossett Jr). The bet: Palmer can take down any 10 fighters in Diggstown in one day.

What you get with Diggstown is a mixture of many different genres: the 10-man/1-night fight is the sports gimmick. With that uber-challenging (and highly fantastical) sports venture being approached you have a hero to root for. Obviously (it wouldn’t be dramatic or fun otherwise) the opponents get bigger and bigger and the stakes get higher. But in Diggstown you also get a subtle comedy, a subtle romance and some thriller aspects thrown in for good measure. It’s not often you get a film that can go from offering chuckles to showing dead bodies all at the same time. But that is a good film utilizing its R rating to full effect. It’s not often a movie can mix all these genre’s effectively (see Angel Eyes which holds the record for mixing genres by mixing 348 of them) successfully but Diggstown is one of the champions of the art (oddly enough, Jim Caviezel is in both Diggstown and Angel Eyes. Add the religious/torture-porn film The Passion of the Christ and he’s in the trifecta. He’s cornered the market on uber-genre crossovers. Good for him. . .except for being in the Angel Eyes part. . .).

As I mentioned before, Diggstown doesn’t necessarily take pride in trying to wow you with its production value or star power. James Woods is a great actor but not a household name. Louis Gossett Jr. won an Oscar in the 80s but never really hit the major Hollywood mainstream. Heather Graham wasn’t even close to being outed as a star at this point and Bruce Dern is just too creepy to be considered a major attraction. The director was Michael Ritchie whose two most famous films was Fletch and The Golden Child before this. I’d love to sit here and say ‘great cinematography’ or ‘aswesome set design’ but really. . .the film takes you in with its brilliant screenplay, adult-humor/drama and charismatic acting. Best of all. . .it has a great story. And sometimes that is all you need.

I was most impressed with how the movie doesn’t give you a class in HUSTLING 101. The film takes its sweet ass time to develop its characters and reveal the character’s motivations. In an odd move, it makes the anti-hero of the movie seem more of a heartless dick then the villain. The movie gives you amble opportunity to pick your side and the film’s set up makes you, perhaps, choose wrong. By the end of the film it is clear who stands for the audience (Caine) and who stands for evil (Gillon) but the movie has the balls to show three dimensional characters without apology (and the film doesn’t have to sink to the level of showing the bad guy kill a box of kittens or something so you know he’s worse then Caine. . .who we meet in prison, by the way). Caine doesn’t suffer from a heart of gold. . .just a stronger conscience then the villain. It doesn’t make him any better, in real life, but in the movie world that is enough to have you cheering for the film to work in his favor.

So, in the end, I have to find my grandmother and thank her for telling me this was her favorite movie oh so long ago. If she hadn’t, Diggstown would most likely be as forgotten by me as it was the general public sometime in the 1990s. I never would have recorded it on DVR and said ‘grandma really likes that movie’ and I wouldn’t have spent my valuable evening watching it (when I could have been, ya know, playing video games or eating pork rinds instead). I highly, highly recommend Diggstown. If you love sports: watch it. If you like Hustler stories: watch it (and I don’t mean the magazine. Grow up.) If you like a good laugh: watch it. If you like good movies: buy it. Just don’t pass up the recommendation like I did. . .

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