White Boy Rick Film

[canuck]

Okay, so, I guess I Mona be the first to mention this movie coming out and wait til someone sees it to read up on your impressions.

I don't have it in me to crisscross the old threads on the subject but I am genuinely interested on finding out what Detroiters think about it when it comes out.

[Pat001]

I'm interested in seeing the White Boy Rick film mainly because Matthew McConaughey is in it. Rex Reed, however, gives the film zero out of four stars.

Link to Rex Reed review: https://observer.com/2018/09/nothing...w-mcconaughey/

The Detroit News review gives the film a C+ rating: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/en...ed/1258996002/

According to the reviews, the film was shot in Cleveland. Seeing as how this is such a uniquely "Detroit" story, anyone know why Detroit wasn't chosen as the location? Why Cleveland?

[401don]

The answer to most questions ever asked is the same - money. i.e. film credits

[Cincinnati_Kid]

The answer to most questions ever asked is the same - money. i.e. film credits

That, and I read where Detroit's neighborhoods were a factor in the decision, because of all the blight and abandoned and burned out houses, [[ it's worse now than in the 80's) and the director said Cleveland had similarities with Detroit, [[go figure). Not that it would have mattered anyway, but Snyder's jettisoning of film credits certainly didn't help.

[313WX]

The neighborhood that White Boy Rick roamed [[lower east side) has since been completely wiped out. The vast majority of it is now an utban prairie or a tree forest.

[professorscott]

I'm interested in seeing the White Boy Rick film mainly because Matthew McConaughey is in it. Rex Reed, however, gives the film zero out of four stars.

I'd be interested if Rick Wershe was a more interesting character. The only singular thing about him is the age at which he started ratting out his friends; after that, following the typical pattern, he just went back to thuggery until, being not all that clever, he got caught.

I assume the film will be about 1% fact and 99% artistic license and I have no interest in it. You read on this thread where his old neighborhood is completely trashed now? It's the fault of him and people like him. Eff him.

[Honky Tonk]

I'd be interested if Rick Wershe was a more interesting character. The only singular thing about him is the age at which he started ratting out his friends; after that, following the typical pattern, he just went back to thuggery until, being not all that clever, he got caught.

I assume the film will be about 1% fact and 99% artistic license and I have no interest in it. You read on this thread where his old neighborhood is completely trashed now? It's the fault of him and people like him. Eff him.

+5 .......

[mallory]

It has its moments but for the most part, I thought it sucked. I was hoping to see lots more Detroit images but other than a few seconds at the beginning, there's nothing. Oh sure, the WLLZ bumper sticker and the Stroh's sticker were nice touches, there was nothing remotely Detroit about it. That was the biggest disappointment. There were a few glimpses of good acting [[the girl who played WBR's sister was pretty good), for the most part I found it dull. Far below what I'd expect for a Matthew McConaughey film. $1 Redbox is good enough.

[bust]

Far below what I'd expect for a Matthew McConaughey film.

Enjoy:

Tiptoes Trailer:


Surfer, Dude trailer:

[black gold man]

Because the neighborhood is still in good shape in Cleveland.

[kathy2trips]

Where was the neighborhood exactly?

[bust]

I'd be interested if Rick Wershe was a more interesting character. The only singular thing about him is the age at which he started ratting out his friends; after that, following the typical pattern, he just went back to thuggery until, being not all that clever, he got caught.

I assume the film will be about 1% fact and 99% artistic license and I have no interest in it. You read on this thread where his old neighborhood is completely trashed now? It's the fault of him and people like him. Eff him.

This film had an opportunity to thoughtfully explore crucial social issues that continue to haunt Detroit, but the accounts I've seen so far say it failed to do so. Does anyone disagree with that assessment?

I had higher hopes for Bigelow's "Detroit", but was disappointed.

[313WX]

Where was the neighborhood exactly?

His residence was around Hampshire and Dickerson [[just off Harper), but he roamed the entirely of thr lower east side, specifically Fox Creek neighborhood which was known as Detroit's crack alley.

He had strong connections with other gangs such as the Chambers Brothers.

[Hypestyles]

I'd be interested if Rick Wershe was a more interesting character. The only singular thing about him is the age at which he started ratting out his friends; after that, following the typical pattern, he just went back to thuggery until, being not all that clever, he got caught.

I assume the film will be about 1% fact and 99% artistic license and I have no interest in it. You read on this thread where his old neighborhood is completely trashed now? It's the fault of him and people like him. Eff him.

... and hostile public policy, and big business, and...

[EastsideAl]

You read on this thread where his old neighborhood is completely trashed now? It's the fault of him and people like him. Eff him.

Isn't that the truth. The crack boom literally destroyed whole neighborhoods on the east side. My uncle and aunt who lived through the '80s in the house my great-grandparents built on Eastlawn were literally in a war zone, with nightly gun battles and pitiful cracked-out zombies stealing everything that could be taken [[many of them the children of their neighbors, tearing families apart). Relatives and friends on Marlborough, Lakewood, and Ashland had similar experiences, all in WB Rick's purported stomping grounds. That neighborhood went from occupied to prairie in just a few years, with houses burning every night.

Over where I lived, we literally had a machine gun battle behind our house one night, and 2 bullets came through our back windows at different times. Several people I grew up with, including the son of our next door neighbor, had their lives consumed by this stuff, and educations, careers, marriages, families, futures, etc. destroyed. Many ended up in prison, some ended up dead, and some ended up as walking zombies for the rest of their shortened lives. This was one of the main reasons I left the city in 1987 [[after making sure my parents were safe) for many years to come, and I was hardly alone. Many left never to return.

If there was a movie about the damage wrought to families and neighborhoods during that period, and the official connivance, profiteering, acquiescence, and apathy involved, I would be very interested. But another movie about one of the punks who caused it, and one who is interesting only for being a rat and the color of his skin, not so much. Particularly since this picture sounds like a real stinker too.

[EastsideAl]

New York Times' reviewer didn't like it much either:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/11/m...ype=collection

[MrMichigan]

Interesting but sad story Al. Thanks for sharing.

[Pat001]

One thing that is annoying is the sympathetic coverage Wershe's case has gotten by the local media since the film was announced. He's being portrayed as some kind of hero because he was an FBI informant and the victim of an unfair judicial system.

I can't speak to the length of his term in Michigan but he'd be free now if he hadn't gotten involved with a stolen car smuggling operation while he was in prison in Florida. So who's fault is it that even while locked up in prison, Wershe couldn't stay out of trouble?

[mallory]

This film had an opportunity to thoughtfully explore crucial social issues that continue to haunt Detroit, but the accounts I've seen so far say it failed to do so. Does anyone disagree with that assessment?

It flirts with the issues of the times but doesn't really come out and talk about them. You hear Coleman's name dropped as well as Gil Hill's but that's about it, a name drop. Probably to lend some Detroit cred [[like the WLLZ sticker) to a film that shows about 10 seconds of Detroit.

[canuck]

It flirts with the issues of the times but doesn't really come out and talk about them. You hear Coleman's name dropped as well as Gil Hill's but that's about it, a name drop. Probably to lend some Detroit cred [[like the WLLZ sticker) to a film that shows about 10 seconds of Detroit.

Yes, Jeezuz, that's fewer seconds than that 1 minute Chrysler commercial with Eminem of a coupla years ago.

[thomprod]

One line of dialog turned me off right away: "Do you want a soda or something?" Any resident of Detroit would have used the word "pop" instead. Did the writer[[s) even run the script by an actual resident?

[313WX]

One line of dialog turned me off right away: "Do you want a soda or something?" Any resident of Detroit would have used the word "pop" instead. Did the writer[[s) even run the script by an actual resident?

HA! Just awful...

[Zacha341]

Hah! Pop indeed. I'll watch it when it gets the streaming level.