Preachy `Steal Big' overreaches
That's what Steal Big, Steal Little does. This overblown, overdone, bloated movie overreaches and tackles too many themes. It's clear that the directors have an agenda. But what are they trying to address? The evils of capitalism? The corruption of the legal system? The plight of Mexican migrant workers? The importance of family ties? The consequences of adultery?
Even if the movie ever settled on one point to address, it would still be annoyingly didactic. Steal Big, Steal Little idealizes socialism. Director/writer Andrew Davis hits the audience over the head with his viewpoints: sharing good, greed bad. Subtlety might have been nice -- then the viewer would leave the theater thinking about social issues. But after well over two hours of this bombastic bombardment, even the pinkest liberals will just be glad to see it end.
Another problem with this movie is that it never decides in what genre it wants to be. Comedy? Love story? Propaganda? Action-Adventure? It borrows from all of the above, adds unnecessary footage of Mexican cultural rituals, dresses a man up as a woman and throws in a gratuitous love scene or two, producing a combination completely lacking in cinematic continuity.
Speaking of discontinuity, the movie's chronology is abysmal. The action shifts time periods with every scene change. It's nearly impossible to figure out what is happening when.
Not that all that much ever happens. Steal Big, Steal Little purports to tell the story of the twin Martinez brothers after their mother dies and bequeaths her 40,000-acre Southern California ranch to one of them.
Rueben Martinez (Andy Garcia), the "Good Twin," receives the estate and wants to preserve it in honor of their mother and their heritage; Americanized power-broker Robby Martin (also Andy Garcia), the "Bad Twin," wants to develop it. Generous Rueben offers to share it 50-50, but this is not enough for greedy Robby, who unscrupulously tries everything to get Rueben evicted and the property foreclosed.
Garcia's acting is good; it's not his fault that neither of his vapid characters has any real substance. "Ruebenhood," as his brother spitefully calls him, proves a veritable Pollyanna. He's an ideal father, loving husband and kind overseer. Gag.
He signs a huge contract without even reading it, hands envelopes of his newfound money to strangers and invites evicted people to live with him. Robby's character embodies every opposing stereotype. He deceives his wife, dabbles in drugs and can't bring himself to hug his brother.
Neither of the Martinez twins nor any of the other characters exists in more than two dimensions. Rueben's wife Laura (Rachel Ticotin), his friend Lou (Alan Arkin), sister-in-law Bonnie, and lawyer Eddie are all overused stock figures.
The dialogue also fails to impress. Lines that aren't insipid are melodramatic. Rueben justifies his defensive tactics and compares his brother's attempt to control the estate to the Spanish Armada's taking land from the Indians (yes, despite the movie's grating political correctness, he refers to Native Americans as "Indians"), saying, "History repeats itself. The big steal big and the little steal little."
As Steal Big, Steal Little goes on, it only becomes more preachy. Robby goes to jail, meets people whom he has evicted, sees the proverbial light and completely changes his ways. Right. Before everyone makes up and they all live happily ever after, the movie's endless final scene somehow manages to reiterate every theme on its long social agenda. The capitalists and corrupt judges and lawyers lose big. Good Twin Rueben shares the estate with Now-Good Twin Robby. All the workers become partners. Rueben spews drivel about family ties: "The blood we shed isn't as important as the blood we share." He even adopts environmentalist rhetoric and announces, "The earth does not belong to us; we belong to it."
Call me cynical, but Steal Big, Steal Little impressed me very little.
This item appeared in the Arts & Entertainment section of the October 6, 1995 issue.
Copyright © 1996 The Rice Thresher. All Rights
Reserved.
This document may be distributed
electronically, provided that it is distributed in its
entirety and includes this notice. However, it cannot be reprinted
without the express written permission of:
The Rice Thresher, Rice University, 6100 Main, Houston, TX 77005-1892, USA.
The Thresher Online Project -- ethresh@listserv.rice.edu