Geofferson

Tonight is the premier of 44 Minutes on FX.

44 Minutes is the riveting saga behind the longest gun battle in modern urban law enforcement, when two men calmly prepared for all out war and held the LAPD, SWAT and other city services at bay for 44 minutes.

Because of TV-viewing conflicts, I'm taping it and plan on watching it sometime this week.

mikehunt

taping it since I worked until 9
will watch it for accuracy among other things

TaTTooD

wow...i though it was damn good. do these made for tv movies come out on dvd ever? i would definitely purchase this if it was made available.


its playing twice in a row if anyone missed the first one.

mikehunt

possibly, Uprising came out on dvd not too long after it was on (NBC I think)
Tuskegee Airmen came out (HBO made so slightly different than regular tv)
I'd say it has a decent chance of coming to dvd since it's a new tv movie, versus one made years ago

Blake

I'm sure it'll be on DVD soon and it's one I'll be buying - very well done. Kind of odd watching a recreation of an event I watched live on LA TV.

I wonder if they really interviewed the officers involved for the interviews they did in the film...

Just one thing - at the start, they displayed it was rated TV-14. But this was a pretty graphic film with a lot of cursing (sh**) and one of the gunman gave the finger to the cops (which we usually see blurred out). Just odd that they can get away with that amount of violence, that amount of gore, and that kind of language on a TV-14 rating, yet South Park, because it's a cartoon is TV-MA. Not complaining at all - it was a really good movie, just wondering what the exact standards are...

Groucho

Interesting that they glossed over the controversy regarding the second suspect, who may or may not have been allowed to bleed to death.

Troy Stiffler

I thought it was an interesting, unpretentious look at the events that occured; in the spirit of Black Hawk Down.

Normally, I don't watch T.V movies, but I tuned into this one because or Rob Livingston. I'm glad I did.

Deftones

This wasn't very accurate, though. A&E had a fantastic special on this that they air every so often, using the real clips.

There were alot of little inaccuracies that I didn't like. The most glaring was at the end when the last suspect tried to steal that guys truck. In real life the guy took off with the keys, not hit a kill switch. That's why the suspect couldn't drive the truck. Liberties like that piss me off.

Groucho

What an odd change. It would seem that the whole key thing would be easier to convey on-screen anyway. Wonder why they altered it?

retihsuhnt

I thought it was rather well done, but during the live coverage of the events the SWAT team did not immediately go in and arrest the second suspect. I really liked the ending with the "real life" video package.

The thing that bugs me the most about the whole N Hollywood robbery is that the family of the second suspect had the balls to sue the city for negligence. Lets see your kid just decided to do his best Rambo impression and you think that saving his ass would be high on the list of "things to do" for LAs finest? Maybe you (the family) raised you kid wrong and the city should sue you for gross negligence in raising that garbage.

On a liter note, I am not too sure about FX's new show Nips and Tucks. I am a huge fan of The Shiled and Lucky but this new show looks like Presido Med meets Goodfellas. But Im willing to give it a try.

AXP 103

Is that a Miller Liter note?

LaxBandit

The movie re-airs on the following days and times.

Thursday at 8:00 pm ET
Thursday night/Friday morning: 12:00 am ET
Saturday at 10:30 pm ET
Sunday at 6:00 pm ET

Thank goodness for replays! Since my VCR messed up last night, I'll be taping one of the Thursday showings.

LB...

retihsuhnt

All I can say is that I didnt major in English or Communications in school. Hell its kind of funny when you think of it, but I was never a Miller guy. Jose Cuervo for me.

Josh Z

Don't forget, FX is the network that airs The Shield. Anyone recall what that show's rating is offhand?

Groucho

I don't think it's ever gotten anything less than a "TV-MA." I'm quite surprised myself by the rating of 44 Minutes. There were quite a few slow-mo closeups of people getting shot, bleeding woulds, that sort of thing. I'm thinking this would get an "R" in theaters.

weargle

Ummmm, yeah.

Iron_Giant

I was amazed how many bullets were fired at the "Bad Guys" and none hit them in the legs of head until the end.

Didn't LA have any sharp shooters at all? You think everyone could have fired at the same time at only one of the "Bad Guys", one of the bullets should have been able to hit them.

That all being said, those cops were very brave, but their bosses sure could have given them some more training/weapons to deal with such situations. LAPD bosses do not seam like the sharpest around.

chanster

I watched it last night, wasn't really that impressed. The special using the real-life footage is much better.

The first 30 minutes were slow, especially with the young juvenile guy that had nothing to do with the story.

Deftones

Well, the problem was this. The guys were wearing kevlar suits. Not just vest, they had created their own kevlar pants, in essence. That's why when you'd see them get shot in the leg w/ a handgun, nothing would happen. A 9mm round can not penetrate the layers of a kevlar vest.

As for sharp shooters, the SWAT team was like 30 minutes away. They couldn't get there in time to neutralize the threat. Had they been there quicker, it would've ended much quicker. They have the weapons that can penetrate kevlar.

Also, hitting a moving target with a handgun is damn near impossible at the range these officers had to fire. They had to have enough distance for cover and safety. Even the the most accurate shooters in the world would have difficulty hitting these guys in the feet and head, where they were most vulnerable.

I didn't watch the whole thing, but did they talk about the drugs these guys had taken? They were on barbituates which was allowing them to take all the shots to the kevlar and keep going. Normally a shot to a vest is like getting hit with a baseball bat. It will normally knock the wind out of you.

JNielsen

They showed both guys take 3 pills from a bottle before they entered the bank. I don't think the type of drugs were ever mentioned unless it was written on the bottle (there was a quick closeup).

mikehunt

especially when it looked like the one cop at the beginning was loading his mags with hollowpoints
if they had gotten the ARs faster those would have gone through the kevlar unless they also had decent trauma plates.

djbrown

Got a title for that special?

ipkevin

Eh. Better than most TV movies, and all the elements were in place production-wise, but they overused the slow-mo. It was neither dramatic nor cool. For the few bits where they played it real time, it was damn intense.

I wonder why the 2nd guy didn't get into the car? And why did the driver need to switch vehicles at all? I guess it's lucky that they didn't just drive off fast though. They could have caused mayhem for hours. How would they deploy appropriately armed officers if these guys were running loose all over the place?

DGibFen

I was in Best Buy today and another Fox TV Movie on the Jon Benet Ramsey story was on DVD, so it could happen.

Oh yeah, the DVD was the "Director's Cut" with 18 minutes of extra footage...

Jackskeleton

I enjoyed it a great deal. seeing it live and seeing this tv movie, I would buy it if it was to come out on dvd