Best Seller Details

1987

Rated:
60
from 352 members

Starring	Brian Dennehy, James Woods, Victoria Tennant, Jenny Gago
Director	John Flynn
Genres	Drama

Best Seller

Dennis Meechum (Brian Dennehy) is a cop who has supplemented his meager policeman's salary by writing a succession of lurid crime novels, including one based on an episode from his own life. But his imagination fails him after his wife's tragic, premature death from cancer. Lonely, burned-out, and unable to write, Meechum is shaken from his doldrums by his "chance" meeting with a former hit man named Cleve (James Woods). Cleve drags the writer around the country presenting him with details and evidence of an outlandish national murder spree orchestrated by a wealthy man considered to be a pillar of Los Angeles society. It is Meechum's job to put it all down in a book and make his informer the hero of the expose, but he soon realizes that he and the mysterious Cleve share a past--and, worse yet, that the hit man has by no means given up his murderous ways. A crackling suspense thriller with a plot like a Pachinko machine.

Starring	Brian Dennehy, James Woods, Victoria Tennant, Jenny Gago
Director	John Flynn
Studio	MGM ENTERTAINMENT
Run time	DVD: 1 hr 31 mins
Certificate
Genres	Drama
Language	DVD: English
Dubbed	French, German, Italian, Spanish
Hearing-impaired	English, German
Subtitles	DVD: Dutch, French, Greek, Italian, Polish, Spanish
Released	DVD: 16 Sep 2002 Production year: 1987
Format	DVD

Critics' reviews (3) of Best Seller
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In between his own quirky horror films, Larry Cohen turned his writing attention to the crime genre and the result was this ingenious, electric thriller. Brian Dennehy is the policeman-turned-writer who forms an uneasy alliance with hitman James Woods, who has promised to put him back on the bestseller lists. Cohen delivers a typically witty script and director John Flynn is a dab hand at the action set pieces. However, it's the performances that really count: Dennehy is as dependable as ever, while Woods mesmerises as the strangely likeable professional killer.
- Radio Times
- Posted 29 Jan 2006
This Larry Cohen-scripted thriller reworks the old idea of the symbiotic relationship between cop and killer, adding a... read more on Time Out
- Time Out
- Posted 04 Nov 2008
Most helpful member's review of Best Seller
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4 out of 4 people found this review helpful

Good acting lifts thriller

In many ways this is a 'run of the mill' thriller with a plot that wouldn't have seemed out of place in Columbo. But the acting of the two leads makes it worth a look.

James Wood and Brian Dennehy are always reliable actors, and in every scene they're in together they seem to have wandered in from a much better film. Any suprises in this film come from the moments of real tension that they generate.
- - Nicola from Winchester, England
  - Posted 21 Jul 2004 18:53
Most recent members' review of Best Seller
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1 out of 1 person found this review helpful

Could have been so much better

This is one of those films that has the seeds of greatness but doesn't quite fulfil its potential. The fundamental problem is an absurd plot which poses more questions than it answers, and strains the viewer's credulity to the limit. A lesser problem, is the James Wood character who is an improbable mixture of good and bad, and cynicism and naivete. The ending of the film is weak. It's glib, corny and rushed. Despite the negatives, the film is very watchable and thoroughly enjoyable so long as you're prepared to sit back and focus of the superb acting and slick directing. This is one of those rare films which would actually benefit from having been longer. If only the script writer had given a little more thought to the plot and characters this could have been such a great movie. Alas, a wasted opportunity.
- - Butler from Colchester, England
  - Posted 08 Oct 2005 12:19
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