Buster (1988)

I saw that this movie got an average rating of 5.4 from 1700 users. Good grief. The cast alone (Julie Walters +) warrant this before we start. If people miss out because of such a low ranking then its a mistake. I enjoyed it. And watched it again this evening which is how I come to be here. Good cast, true story, good sound track, character, humour and period setting (1963) what more would you want ? It stands the test of time too, not dated - except in the modern computer graphics / explosions genre. And Phil Collins an inspired piece of casting. OK its not as good as the Long Good Friday but that was a cracking film. But Buster is not that far off the mark. A 5.4 average rating is ridiculously low.

the main body of this movie is Julie Walters moaning to leave Mexico and wanting to go home to England.The rest seems to be about what a wonderful chap Buster (Phil Collins) was and glosses over the facts of the robbery (and assault).That really is all there is to this piece of garbage.The soundtrack is the only redeeming feature and then only if you were a Phil Collins fan.This film is probably why his acting career didn't do much after this.If you can get this free on the front of a newspaper then by all means watch it but otherwise avoid.

Just tracked Buster on DVD (for £4 - bargain, or so I thought, more of that later) and gave it a watch today, to be delighted all over again from the last time I saw it, which must have been a few years ago!The film manages to capture the essence of the 60s, and delivers it over to the audience, in a style which I thought was very convincing. Don't listen to your friends when they kick up a fuss about seeing this film because it's got Phil Collins in, ignore it, he can act and does very well in the movie. A mention should also be given to the ever dependable Julie Walters, who yet again gives a solid performance.While on the subject of Julie Walters, I really like the opening scenes in Acapulco (with nice music from Four Tops behind the flying shots over Mexico) as it shows you in an instant that the character of Julie Walters is never going to fit into her environment, as she can be seen wearing dreary colours, a head scalf, thick coat etc and has nothing to match the elegance of the country and it's people. Although Julie Walters can be seen to fit into her forced situation as the scenes in Mexico progress (shown nicely in her choice of clothing I think) you can see she is never really comfortable with it, and her departure back to England was always going to happen.The film also seems to be accurate to the story of the 63 Great Train Robbery, except for two point, the driver of the train (Jack Mills?) wasn't shown to be as serious hurt as he was by the gang, and Buster also slaps his wife in the Mexico market scene, something the real life Buster has been quoted as saying he would never do, or never did such a thing.Still don't let this (or the funny (not haha) ending) overshadow your opinion on the movie, truly is a goodun.Oh and there is a DVD release doing the rounds at the moment, that really is not worth it, as it presents the film in a badly transferred 14:9 image within a 4:3 frame which just looks dull and awful. Go for the proper DVD release in it's glorious 1.85:1 aspect ratio.

This movie is simply beautiful. The performance by Phil Collins, the music - everything here is excellent. The end is unbelievable (it's a true story) - only a man with a very big heart could do that (if you want to know what, go and rent a movie - you will not regret it). I highly recommend it 10/10.P.S.: I can't believe that only less than 300 people voted for this movie (did noone see it?)