MovieChat Forums > Let It Ride (1989) Discussion > A reason I think so many people liked th...

A reason I think so many people liked this one

posted 11 years ago by kolybear70
3 replies | jump to latest

Let's face it, each of us has some facet of our lives where he/she has resigned themselves to being a lifelong loser. Whether it's gambling, dieting, romance, whatever, even those with relatively successful lives have something they stink at.

This one not only embraces that fact, it CELEBRATES it! There's something lovable about every character in this movie, and every single one of them is a bona fide loser. Tom Petty's "Even the Losers (Get Lucky Some Time)" would've been a great theme song for this if the filmmakers weren't working with a budget of roughly eighty-five bucks and a 1972 Chevy Vega.

Too many movies want to make winners and heroes out of their protagonists. This one is just one loser having "a really good day" and pretty much acknowledging that that's all it is. There are no winners, no heroes, just a bunch of doofuses who hang out with all the other doofuses at the track each weekend and who understand, deep down, that none of them is destined for anything better. It reminds me a little of all the regulars at Cheers.

No one lives a perfect life. This movie reminds everyone that we're all screw-ups in one way or another, and that we can always find kindred spirits in that fact of life, and that maybe, every once in a while, we can still have a really good day.

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My personal favorite quote from the movie:

Bartender: "And I'm seeing what looks like a 'D'. Now that could be Dallas. Or Denver."

Random customer: "Or Da Giants!"

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[–] haynese_98 10 years ago

True about the loser theory..I also think that almost every main character is very likeable. You can't help but love Trotter with his funny facial expressions and comments. Looney is totally harmless, Vicki is cute and vulnerable, the Ticket Seller becomes practically iconic!

Also, the director did something that really sticks out from the very first time I saw this movie back in 1989. He gets really, really closeup shots of peoples faces, esp. the average denizens at the track. It's kind of uncomfortable and not a pretty sight but it does give you the feel of being at a horse track.

Sooo, you've got another emotional tie to the movie..you feel you're at the track with real people

A couple becomes a couple when there's a house on the horizon

[–] kolybear70 10 years ago

@haynese 98 - Agree with everything you wrote! It's a great "rainy day" movie (it was a rainy Saturday afternoon the first time I saw it), and it surprises you with how funny and how human this bunch of outcasts come across as being. I wouldn't want to see Joe Pytka directing high drama, but for a movie about sad sacks rallying around one of their own who is, for once, defying the odds, it's an endearing and memorable low-brow comedy with too many terrific throwaway lines to enumerate, and all in all Pytka got it just right.

[–] FightingConch1970 10 years ago

Great observations!