Amos & Andrew

Summary

“I would say it’s because I’m black.”

Yesterday I decided to check out the 1993 racially charged comedy Amos & Andrew starring Nicolas Cage and Samuel L. Jackson. I had never seen the movie, but I remember that it occasionally played on Comedy Central when I was a teenager. I am a fan of the two lead actors, so I was game to see how they played off of one another. The movie had gotten a Blu-ray release by the defunct label Olive Films in 2017, but MGM has brought the movie back to the Blu-ray format since that release has fallen out of print.

As the film begins, Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Andrew Sterling (Samuel L. Jackson,) best known for writing the play “Yo Brother, Where Art Thou?”, rides on a ferry with his car to a fairly secluded island somewhere in New England. The island community is almost entirely composed of liberal affluent white folks. While driving, Andrew passes by Phil and Judy Gilman (Michael Lerner and Margaret Colin) on a jog who both take notice of the speed the car is going. They decide to check in on their neighbors, and fail to notice that the house has recently been sold. Peeking through the windows they are aghast to see a black man in the house. Andrew is simply setting up a stereo in his new home, but they beleive he is robbing the place. The Gilmans flee to their house and phone the police station explaining that the family next door may be held hostage during a robbery and that the robber is black. Chief Tolliver (Dabney Coleman) arrives on the scene with a few police vehicles and they surround the home. When Officer Donnie Donaldson (Brad Dourif) accidentally sets off Andrew’s car alarm, Andrew steps outside. Andrew can not hear the officer, who is pointing a gun at him, due to the car alarm. When he raises his arm to turn off the car alarm, the overeager cop almost shoots him. As Andrew crawls back into the house, bullets hit the building fired from the rest of the squad. Officer Donaldson claims that the robber had held up a gun. The police get a phone call into the house. Andrew picks up the phone and explains that someone had tried to kill him when he tried to turn off his car. Realizing the pickle he is in, the Chief, who is up for reelection, has an idea. He goes back to the jail and offers minor criminal Amos (Nicolas Cage,) who was recently arrested while under the impression he had successfully fled to Canada, a deal. If Amos will hold Andrew hostage for a few moments and then turn himself in, Tolliver will set him free. As the media circus descends upon the place – including a psychiatrist (Bob Balaban) and a preacher (Giancarlo Esposito) – Tolliver’s cover-up begins to unravel and Amos and Andrew are eventually forced into a strange alliance.

Amos & Andrew is a case of a film that has a premise that feels relevant due to the subject matter about race relations and inefficient police tactics, but it also feels as if the picture never quite knows how to cross the finish line with what it starts. Screenwriter E. Max Frye only directed this one picture, but he wrote some interesting films (including Something Wild, which I think is pretty great, and Foxcatcher.) This picture is best described as a near-miss. All the elements are there – a strong cast, an interesting premise, and some genuinely good ideas that feel relevant even twenty two years later – but the way these issues are handled feels hamfisted. Punches were pulled and I am not sure why. Was it studio interference or did the script just fail to stick the landing?

It would be hard to say that the film was not prescient about some of the news items we have seen since its release. A black man actually was arrested outside of his own house when he was trying to get back in after locking himself out. That actually happened. Racial politics have been discussed almost constantly on television basically going back to Obama’s inauguration in 2008 through the Trump years, so the film’s ideas have stayed relevant. I also liked that the film aimed to skewer liberals for saying one thing and doing another in terms of racial acceptance. While that could have been accomplished in a more clever way, I liked the attempt.

Unfortunately, the approach of the filmmakers was to treat these issues with kids gloves with a third act that is honestly pretty silly. The writing could have used a little help to make the dialogue either funnier or more serious. The tone is just a little too slapstick to take the picture seriously, but the issues are too serious for the writing to be so light.

These failings are not the fault of the cast. Samuel L. Jackson is perfectly cast as Andrew, and Nicolas Cage is very likable as Amos. All the peripheral players are up to the task, including Brad Dourif, Bob Balaban, and Dabney Coleman, but the screenplay just doesn’t give them enough to work with.

Overall – Amos & Andrew comes close to fulfilling the promise of the first two acts’ better elements, but fizzles out by the end. Dialogue is never as satisfying as it could have been and the film leaves the viewer thinking of what it could have been instead of feeling completely pleased with what it was.

Video

Amos & Andrew has been released by MGM onto Blu-ray in the aspect ratio of 1.85:1 in 1080p. This is essentially a rerelease of Olive Film’s 2017 Blu-ray and utilizes the same transfer from MGM. The transfer is totally adequate. Obviously, with an older transfer detail levels are not as impressive as more modern releases that rely on 2K or 4K scans, but fans of this film will probably be totally fine with how this turned out. There is some specking on the print occasionally, and it can sometimes look a little soft.

Audio

The DTS-HD MA 2.0 track capably handles the original sound design of the film. The picture has some moments of action in it that had a little bounce to them and the score comes through well enough. Clarity of dialogue was never an issue, so I had no real reason to complain about this track.

Supplements:

• None

Overall Scores:

Video: 3.5/5

Audio: 4/5

Supplements: 0/5

Overall – 3/5

Amos & Andrew is almost a good film. It certainly has some good ideas about racial issues and it makes a noble attempt to skewer how liberals sometimes say one thing while doing another in terms of racial acceptance. These ideas have been explored very well by filmmakers such as Spike Lee, but sadly the script by director E. Max Frye is just not quite up to the task. Its a shame because the cast is stacked with excellent performers and the premise is a good one. The film’s half-baked dialogue and silly third act keep it from delivering on the promise of the premise. MGM has given the film a re-release that has the same transfer as Olive Films’ 2017 release. The Blu-ray features totally decent technical specs for a reliable but older transfer. There are no special features. This one should only be purchased by the fans.

The film can be purchased at www.moviezyng.com.