The intriguing true story of Joe Hunt and his band of merry young con artists from the glitzy Harvard Prep school that eventually resort to murder. First presented as a two-part mini-series on NBC in 1987, this excellent TV movie helmed by veteran Marvin Chomsky garnered multi Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. I would call it a TV movie classic. Similar to another '87 movie we recently reviewed, Less Than Zero, it is very dated but in a good way. Judd Neson was perfectly cast as the charismatic leader of the Ponzi scheme and the supporting players are awesome. Even though the ending was contrived (some of the actual suspects still had charges pending) it is a very entertaining three hours, a great one to throw on a Sunday night and curl up with popcorn and pet.
In contrast, 2018's feature, given the James Cox treatment quickly joins the list of remakes that should have never been made and believe me, that list is long, Cox should stay away from true crime as his version of the John Holmes story (Wonderland) was equally shallow and did nothing but glorify the violence within without calling attention to the horrors of drug addiction that caused Holmes to do what he did. Hopefully one day a filmmaker will make a meaningful presentation of what still remains LA's most gruesome unsolved murders.
Billionaire Boys Club (TV 1987) 2.75 stars/2.75
Billionaire Boys Club (2018) 0.5 stars/5
No comments:
Post a Comment