The Big Sweat (1991 Video) User Reviews (4)

Most of the budget must have gone to Robert Z'Dar and gasoline.

[tarbosh22000 · 5/10 · 9 April 2011]

When Marco Donnelly (Molone) gets out of prison after five or six years (depending on who you ask), he goes back to his adopted mother's ranch in rural California. Seemingly bored after a half-hearted attempt to "go straight", he falls in with his old bank robbing gang . The gang thinks it can rob another bank and get away scot-free, but they didn't count on one thing: the wildly awesome FBI agent Troudou (Z'Dar). Troudou has an upbeat personality, a cigar he never lights, a closet full of Hawaiian shirts, and a dream: to bring in Marco, the evil Joe Rinks (Sherayko), and the rest of the gang - on his own terms. However, this may require a bit of driving...

There are a few noteworthy things about The Big Sweat, but the most obvious is the extended, ridiculously long chase scene. Some sources have it at forty five minutes. Think about that. That's insane. The filmmakers were misguided if they thought they could outdo classic chase scenes in movies such as The French Connection (1971) and Bullitt (1968) simply by lengthening theirs. That's misguided - their logic must have been "more running time = better". Unfortunately, this childish logic was not successful. Seeing as most chases only work if you care about the characters in the cars, The Big Sweat should have concentrated on character development instead. As it is, how much patience/caring should we have? It's really asking a lot of the audience to endure, and even die-hard car chase movie fans would be hard-pressed to justify that.

Also noteworthy is the presence of the great Robert Z'Dar as Troudou. He gives one of his most animated, and some may say goofy performances that we've ever seen. His energy is absolutely crucial to enduring this movie. Without Z'Dar, this would have been a slog of the lowest order. From his killer entrance on down, Z'Dar rules the movie. Maybe he felt he had nothing to lose. And once he's teamed up with American Hero Barsky (Rushing), the sparks really fly.

Director Ulli Lommel is pretty well-known, and if you can imagine what an AIP Lommel movie might be like...well..this is it.

Most of the budget must have gone to Robert Z'Dar and gasoline in this brainless outing.

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The Big Sweat got me cold

[matthew-marks · 1/10 · 5 February 2007]

I had no idea what was going on the whole time. Why would anyone care about this guy who steals money from a bank. He isn't cool and he has no personality whatsoever. This movie is just a really boring beginning and then a car cash that really goes no where. I mean are we suppose to be in the 70's but have car phones.

Anyway even with Robert Z'dar this movie does not have any valid point to watch. The ending ends something that never began. I usually like bad movies but this movie takes the cake. LOL its seem like it took them 1 day to film the entire movie. There is no tense moments at all.

I seriously doubt anyone liking this movie but if you want to watch it do it because you are wanting to watch one of the most boring and bizarre plots ever.

I don't know how to describe this movie but if I did I would help you out

Uninteresting action movie

[lor_ · 30 June 2023]

My review was written in July 1991 after watching the film on AIP video cassette.

Car chases eat up most of the running time of "The Big Sweat", a crudely made action pic from transplanted German director Ulli Lommel.

Direct-to-video release tries to e different twitch a nonstop,k 3-minute chase sequence covering the middle reels. Theis footage of hero Steve Molone and his bandrob bing gang on the run from local police and FBI starts off well but becomes repetitious and impersonal. Ding to the generic quality of the footage is reliance upon actin scenes shot by the late car chase specialist H. B. Halicki.

Another switch here is casting of oversize movie villain Rober Z'dar as a most unconventional FBI agent. His characterization is goofy enough to be likeable at first , but by film's end the frivolous depiction of the modern FBI and its methods almost makes one long for the square o' Joe Friday prototypes.

Scripter Max Bolt's standard plt ha ex-con Molone plotting against his gangster nemesis Peter Sherayko. Z'dar wants Molone to testify against Sherayko, but our hero's no fink.

Lommel, a Fassbinder protege whose AMerican work includes the 1980 hit "The Boogey Man", seems content with grinding out style-less action pics these days. In common with several other recent direct-to-video releases, opening credits sequence violates the rules of theatrical films and lists the producer last, after the director.

R.I.P. Robert Z'Dar

[saint_brett · 1/10 · 14 April 2023]

You'll have to forgive me, and I feel silly for saying this, but I only found out just yesterday that Robert Z'Dar was dead.

I was unaware of this occurrence in 2015. (There was no mention of his passing in any of our newspapers.) I'm going to dedicate tonight's review in honor of Robert Z'Dar aka Zdarsky, aka Darcy.

I "borrowed" a fair few of his movies off YouTube and saved them on a USB stick at the library, and it's taken me three days to finally figure out that the poor 360p quality of the analog transfers are giving me major migraines. (Four straight headaches, counting today.) Oh no, not one of these bang 'em up car crash movies from the 1980s like "Dukes of Hazzard." None of this Evil Carnival crap is impressive anymore!

It's all telegraphed and staged on cue.

OH NO! Ulli Lommel-enough said. This is an automatic 1/10 if Ulli Lommel is at the helm.

What looks like Dallas Winston, returned from the dead, is released from college after a five-year stint, and straight away he goes scouting at Lake Berryessa for Zodiac locations.

An entire scene is wasted with Patrick Dempsey sitting around talking about skating rinks with two other dreadful actors. It's "Things" stuff.

Z'Dar's partnered with Vinnie Schtulman, and he's quite jovial for a change. Wait a minute! You're telling me he's not a baddy in this? That's a first.

Hollywood should honor Robert Z'Dar as well and make the next "Predator" movie be about a bunch of opposing aliens coming to Earth in a race to find, and dig up, Maniac Cop's body to claim the treasured skull.

It's rare for Z'Dar to star in a movie, as nine times out of ten he's just a bit player. Can he hold his own as a lead in this? We'll find out. (The star lead nothing!)

Who's this Schwimmer guy?

After 28 minutes, the movie's supposed to star Maniac Cop, not this terrible Marco fella! He's a terrible actor! And he's the star of the movie, not Z'Dar.

Terrible edits. Shaky camera work and horrible, ugly actors with silly looks on their faces. Lame car chase scenes that fail to make your heart race. No storyline. No plot. Economy score. Stupid subplots. Poor dialog.

They pay tribute to an Andy Sidaris model aeroplane setting. (Another horrible movie director.)

Why are these random cars just crashing into each other?

Who thought this would make for enthralling viewing?

This has got to be the longest car chase scene in film history, and not one second of it is slightly intriguing or well filmed.

It's not Robert Z'Dar's fault this movie sucks; that lies directly at the feet of Ulli Lommel. Should I remind you that he's responsible for "Curse of the Zodiac?" That movie's guilty on all counts. It's the one that inflicts a thousand Chinese papercuts into the viewer, then dips you in salt and vinegar. There are still serious repercussions for "Curse of the Zodiac." Don't think I'll forget any time soon.

"The Big Sweat" is so lame that at the 57-minute mark, Ulli Lommel speeds the footage up in an attempt to make it look like the cars are going faster than they actually are, but this just blows the cover of poor filmmaking and reveals and admits that the car chase scene fails to excite and is wooden and not free flowing like they think it is.

I'm going to have to rewind this whole car chase scene and time how long it goes for - this is ridiculous.

It's not even good footage.

"The Big Sweat" is so boring that I'll tell you a fact about me when I was 15 years old. I used to scoop 10 passionfruit's into a big glass and then dump 20 teaspoons of sugar on 'em. True story. I'd eat each individual seed separately while watching karate movies. And I had headaches back then, too. (Gee, I wonder why?)

Is there any logical explanation why this movie won't end?

You can clearly tell that Z'Dar was off set and filming other projects in between "The Big Sweat," which means he wasn't dedicated to Lommel.

He's hardly in this. Lead actor nothing.

How did I know this movie would end on "that" note with the burning photo? There is no resolution, no satisfaction from vengeance, and no end to this!

Ulli Lommel movies should be eradicated from the face of this planet!

It's more fun suffering from chicken pox than watching a Ulli Lommel movie.

The car chase scene starts at the end of the 29-minute mark and goes till the one hour and six-minute mark.

Oh, and Robert Z'Dar proves time and again that he'll be forever remembered as a 1/10 actor.

It's hard to build a defense for him. Even with that big jaw of his.

Jaw to the world and let us sing.

RIP, Maniac Cop. 1950-2015.

You one out of ten actor, you.