This film seems like a good thriller book. The film is not all that bad but many decisions seems unlikely in the film. The guy comes out as quite the sucker for a lawyer. Some bits appear rather fake and rushed toward the end.

Even though it was a good watch I found that the reason for the title was not disclose.There were many instances where the movie lost me, maybe because I don't understand the American South idioms. I enjoy Gresham's book generally but this was difficult to watch especially as most of it was depicted in the dark hours and it was constantly raining.

This is a good example of a film that had potential...that went wrong. I understand that director Robert Altman blamed the studio for severe post-production editing. Sorry, but the problems this film has are far deeper than post-production editing. In fact, I have an idea the editing helped.However, this is not a bad film. This is a film you want to watch if you like suspense. It has it, and it is the one thing in the film that really works pretty well. Even there, however, there are a couple of flaws. Within the first 15 minutes I concluded that Robert Downey's character -- a private eye -- would end up dead before the film was over; very predictable. Within the first half hour it was pretty clear that Tom Berenger's character had some further use in the film -- perhaps as the bad guy -- when his early scenes gave him almost no screen time...something an actor who was doing pretty good at that time in his career wouldn't accept; so, clearly, his character was being saved for the climax.Another plus here is the setting -- Savannah, Georgia. It's different, even a bit exotic, although I'm not sure we needed to add in a hurricane.In terms of the acting, very uneven. I've always thought Kenneth Branagh was a very good actor; here he gets by. Embeth Davidtz is quite good as the daughter who is knee-deep in conspiracy; probably the best performance in the film. Robert Downey, Jr. was sleepwalking through this film; or perhaps staggering through it, since this was made during that low point in his personal life. I've always liked Downey, but here he's very disappointing, though it could have been a very good role for him. Tom Berenger has too little screen time; more of him would have been preferable, although plot-wise it works. Daryl Hannah...well, suffice it to say that this film highlights her limitations as an actress. If you're a Robert Duvall fan, here's a role (as a nut) he could have really sunk his teeth into...but he also seems to sleepwalk through the part.The suspense factor here makes me give this a "7", but it's very borderline. Not a bad film, but a definite disappointment. Watchable once. John Grishom...what have they done to you?

"The Gingerbread Man is the first thriller I've ever done!" – Robert Altman In 1955, Charles Laughton directed "The Night of the Hunter", a spooky slice of Southern Gothic in which Robert Mitchum plays a spooky serial killer. One of that film's more famous sequences consisted of two kids escaping from Mitchum on a rowboat, the kids frantically paddling whilst Mitchum wades after them like a monster. Seven years later Mitchum played an equally creep killer in "Cape Fear", another film set in the American South. That film featured a local attorney trying to protect his family and likewise ended with Mitchum terrorising folks on a boat. Now we have Robert Altman's "The Gingerbread Man", another slice of small town Southern Gothic. Altman says he consulted "The Night of the Hunter" for inspiration and tackled such a mainstream film purely because he wanted to "spread his wings and try a popcorn picture", but what he also seems to be attempting is a deconstruction of the canonical films of the genre.So instead of a showdown on small boat, we get a showdown on a giant ship. Instead of two kids being kidnapped, we get two kids being safely returned to the police. Instead of money being hidden, we have money being readily given via a last will and testament. Instead of the righteous attorney of the 1961 film (and the deplorable attorney of the 1991 remake), we get a rather three-dimensional lawyer played by Kenneth Branagh. Instead of the monster chasing the family we get the hero chasing the bad guys. Instead of the monster breaking into the family's house boat, we have the hero hunting the monster on board the monster's "house ship". Similarly, instead of a murderous serial killer we get an innocent weirdo played by Robert Duvall. . .etc etc etc.Altman goes on and on, reversing everything just a little, pulling at the edges and doing his own thing. His touch is most apparent during the film's first half-hour, the film existing in an uneasy space between conventional plot-driven storytelling and Altman's fondness for overlapping dialogue, narrative lethargy, prowling camera movement and the way that characters aren't so much introduced as they are simply part of what's going on.Still, despite Altman's best intentions, "The Gingerbread Man" never rises above mediocrity. Altman's too bound to the conventions of the "thriller format" to do much damage, his style is too slack to generate tension and the film is simply not radical enough to counterpoint other canonical films in the genre. "Gingerbread Man" is thus too mainstream to work as a more pure Altman film and too Altman to work as a mainstream thriller.The film's not a complete waste, though. Robert Downey Junior, Kenneth Branagh and the usually intolerable Daryl Hannah all turn in juicy performances. The film also has a nice atmosphere, set against a approaching hurricane, and the final act contains some interesting twists and turns. While it's not the complete hokey disaster that Scorsese's "Cape Fear" was, the film still never amounts to anything memorable.Incidentally, in the late 1990s Altman made 3 successive films set in the American South: "Kansas City", "Gingerbread Man" and "Cookie's Fortune". With its hierarchies of class, politics and crime, and its desire to break radically away from your typical gangster narrative, "Kansas City" is the more important of these three films. That said, "Cookie's Fortune", whilst a much slighter tale, is perhaps the better picture. 7/10 - Altman claims that this is his first thriller, but he directed "Images", an art house thriller, in 1972. Worth one viewing.