Reviews (33)

WHERE IN THE WORLD IS KIM RICHARDS?
I must have seen this movie over fifty times since I was a kid. From the first time I watched Tuff Turf it was my favorite movie. I used to think that Kim Richards was the hottest woman I ever seen, but then again I was only a kid right? Wrong!!! I really haven't watched this movie in a while, mostly because my vhs copy was badly worn out, but since I got the dvd I have watched it a couple times. Kim is still as beautiful to me as she was when I was 15 years younger. She is definatly the perfect woman, I just wish I could see what she looks like now-a-days. I know, I'm rambling. I really don't have much to say about the movie or how great it is because the other reviewers all ready did that. Just a quick priase to James Spader and Robert Downey, they both were excellent in the film along with the rest of the cast. If anybody has seen Kim Richards in anything lately, please write a little note in a review here, and bee-bop, keep your eyes open for that rain from heaven.

At last this movie gets the recognition it deserves.
I almost made a hole in the roof when I saw that this movie is coming out on DVD format. It is my favorite movie of the eighties decade, and quite possibly of all time, heck I even have a webpage dedicated to it. This is truly an obscure and wrongfully forgotten gem. Amidst all those 80's 'Brat Pack' movies, out came this unique and very different movie, which, unfortunately, got lost in the shuffle and was quickly forgoten by many. It deals with 'rebel-without-applause' Morgan (James Spader) who has to get used to a new way of life, new neighborhood, and new 'friends', so to speak. Not only does he anger the local thugs, but he falls hard for the leader's girlfriend Frankie (Kim Richards). Nick (Paul Mones)has the taste of blood in his mouth and he won't give Morgan the tinsiest break. Meanwhile, Morgan befriends the class clown, Jimmy (Robert Downey jr) and Jimmy invites his new pal to see him play that night. A very special appeareance by punk rocker/poet/writer/performing artist Jim Carroll as the 'leader' of the band Jimmy plays with. (Carroll, sans weird make-up...a friend of his told me that's the only performance of his in a movie he enjoys, he even asked for the VHS copy as a birthday gift, I helped my friend get it for him, yay)Things keep getting worse for poor Morgan, leading up to a tense climax and ending in a bitter, bloody finale, where they will truly show who's the toughest of the turf. This movie is for all Spader/Downey/Richards/Carroll fans and for those who have gone through the whole standard list of 'teenie' 80's movies and want something different, I highly recommend it.

Hindsight is 20/20, People!
I used to love this movie back in the 80's when I was younger and easier to please. Ooh, James Spader was so cu-ute, so I overlooked the obvious until time made me all too aware of my transgressions. Now, I'm not Catholic, but I think you get put into purgatory for liking movies like this no matter what your background is.

I'm being as honest in all my reviews as I possibly can, so let me tell you what changed my mind. Here's my list of 8 simple reasons for avoiding this movie:

1. Most of us are 20 years older now. Go watch the Joy Luck Club.
2. Why is it that Nick listens to Frankie when she tells him to lay off, or else, when he tries to start something with her, yet later he's beating her to a pulp?
3. Awful love scene between James Spader and Kim Richards. Yes, she has pretty long hair. Too bad she has no lips and no chest. She looks like she did when she played Prudence in Nanny and the Professor, only taller!
4. Everybody in my high school danced like a cast member of Fame too. Yeah, right.
5. Bad music soundtrack. Jim Carroll and Jack Mack and the Heart Attack?
6. Jim Carroll, the actor.
7. The unbelievable plot.
8. The most unforgivable and insulting point: stupid dialogue! "I'm not tolerating any of your rooftop rock concerts" is uttered to James Spader's character by the high school principal. What is a "rooftop rock concert?" Oh, yeah, something cool sounding to say that's really not.
In another part of the movie, Spader's character asks Robert Downey Jr.'s character why he didn't join a gang like his older brother. Out of Downey's mouth comes, "My mom wouldn't let me." Even when I liked this movie it always made me laugh. Since when do you ask your mommy for permission to join a gang?

I must admit, if it was on TV at some point, I'm not so sure I wouldn't watch it. Everyone loves a train wreck and this movie chugs nonstop toward its impending doom with amazing velocity. Jack Mack and the Heart Attack singing "T-U-F-F, You're So Tuff" after Frankie just had the crap beaten out of her by Nick is pretty sad. Oh, well, the film's not a total loss. It reminds you of how stupid we all used to look so you avoid repeating the same offense and...well, Kim Richards could dance. One thing is definitely for sure; there's a reason James Spader never became a "singer."

Tuff Turf - VHS
This is an excellent movie and I recommended it because it is the only know time you're going to see Kim Richards' breasts. I personally have a friend who was part of the production company and the "breast" scene was shot both by Kim and a body double. She made the decision at the very end not to use the double, so those are her breasts you're are looking at. Keep in mind that it's the only revealing scene she has - and is very brief. The dance sequence she does is excellent and was included as part of an MTV video. Tuff Turf aired on cable many many years ago and is a must own for any Kim Richards fan.

"Great Film"
You'll love this movie, Kim Richards & James Spader dazzle the screen. I loved the 80's and this movie definitely defines a era. There's action,drama,romance and the good guy gets the girl. James Spader is gorgeous and the beautiful Kim Richards is at her best. I sure hope she goes back to making movies. Own this film for your collection it's waaaay cool!!! ... Read more

Reviews (54)

"You okay?" "I'm gonna be..."
That's the exchange that always stands out every time I see this movie. "Sleeping with the Enemy" is an excellent thriller about a woman, Julia Roberts, who fakes her own death to escape her obsessive and abusive husband, Patrick Bergin. Befriended by a neighbor, charmingly played by Kevin Anderson, she starts to rebuild her life slowly letting go of the fear. To go on would reveal too much, but I can say that not everything that haunts you is a ghost. Even though it creeps me out, every time this movie plays I am compelled to watch it. The characters quickly gain your sympathy (or in the case of Bergin your hatred) and draw you in to this subtle triumph of spirit.

Scissor-Cut Look at Abuse
With the beginning scene in "Sleeping With the Enemy" of a nice, handsome husband and a beautiful, smiling wife living in a lovely, rich house, this movie soon breaks the stereotype perception of an abusive relationship by showing that everything that glitters is not necessarily gold.

Julia Roberts, with a combination of a sense of planning and cleverness, fear and hope, and a desperate will to survive, does the only thing she can - she leaves while faking her own death. (Any abused man or woman will probably be mesmerized by some of the scenes and the feelings evoked in this intense movie.)

The new lifestyle she slowly, but surely creates for herself, against the backdrop of her husband piecing together her escape and his savage determination to find her creates a savvy suspense thriller that could be a classic in anyone's home movie library.

One major blooper...
Unless she knew that her husband was going to force her to go on a boat or that she set up something with the guy who owned the boat why would she be taking swimming lessons?

I liked the movie, glad I rented it - but wouldn't own it.

Husband From Hell!
Julia Roberts plays a battered wife who is reaching her breaking point with her obsessive, controlling , and abusive husband. So she fakes her death during a storm on a sail boat and runs away. She changes her identity and settles down in a small, peaceful town. Trying to forget about her husband and her past, she starts dating her neighbor and begins enjoying her new life of freedom! But little does she know that her psychotic husband is hot on her trail. And is ready to get serious revenge on her. But little does he know that things can always backfire. And a person can only be pushed so far before they give you a taste of your own medacine. Full of action- packed thrills and super suspense! A classic along the lines of "Enough", "Dolores Claiborne" and "Fatal Attraction"!

Good Old Berlioz!
Julia Roberts quickly established herself as one of the most luminescent stars in Hollywood. She has a face which, much like
Garbo's, the camera just never tires of viewing. She can use that face to express pensive worry, both spirited and icy determination, and, of course, her smile can melt glaciers. She also has a talent for rising above middling to mediocre material, so you never blame her the artistic shortcomings of the films she's in. Unfortunately, Hollywood quickly caught wise to her amazing "star power" and just as quickly developed
the "Julia Roberts vehicle."
There's something about "Julia Roberts vehicles" which I find annoying. Ulike the "women's pictures" of the 30's and 40's,
starring the likes of Katherine Hepburn, Bette Davis and Joan
Crawford, which featured strong women confronting and overcoming a lot of conflict, "Julia Roberts vehicles" fall generally into two groups: There's the romantic comedy, which is usually a shameless retelling of the Cinderella myth, like "Pretty Woman,"
or there's the shameless feminist propaganda vehicle, like this one. In the latter vehicle, all men are beasts, and even the good ones are not redeemed until they finally learn to submit to Julia's will.
In this movie, Julia plays the spunky beleagured wife of the husband-from-hell, played by Patrick Bergin. Bergin's character is such a control-freak, he's almost as manipulative as this movie is. One day, Julia fakes her own death in a swimming accident, and runs away, back to her childhood home in the Midwest
to start a new life. It's a bit amazing in the way the filmmakers
expect you to believe that husband-from-hell is bright enough to figure out there's something wrong with his wife's "death," but takes 2/3 of the movie to figure out where she's gone. No matter, that gives our heroine time to start a relationship with a somewhat nerdy, non-threatening, "liberated" male played by Kevin Anderson.
The real surprise of this movie (and perhaps the only one) is the way it engages your interest in spite of how obviously manipulative it is. Julia has a lot to do with this, always conveying just the right combination of spirited spunk with disarming vulnerablity. Best part of the picture? The use of
the "Witches' Sabbath" movement from Berlioz' "Symphonie Fantastique" to set up the final confrontation between the forces
of good and evil. It makes Patrick Bergin more menacing than if he wore a Darth Vader suit!
You could do worse. ... Read more