Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

Brightlyme i know i wasted 90 mins of my life.

Ava-Grace Willis Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

bringoutyourdead My reluctance to see this film in the theater was based solely on my friends' inability to describe what the film was about to my satisfaction."It's about this contest. These people put their hands on this truck, and the last one to remove their hands wins the truck. It's so good. I promise." Yeah, whatever.My friends finally convinced me to go, and I was amazed. And very soon after that, I was the friend in the role of inarticulate defender, dragging anyone who would listen along with me for my second and third viewings.My eloquence has not increased over the last two years, so I will simply say you will not be disappointed in watching Hands on a Hardbody. You may even be reminded how closely related we all are as human beings. You may also remember how dramatic and intriguing even the most seemingly uninteresting premises can be. And I defy you not to laugh out loud and/or get misty-eyed at some of the participants, not because they are presented as comic foils or ignorant east Texans, but because they are as human in their words and actions as you are likely to see in a film, documentary or otherwise.

anisocoria Benny Perkins, the man who won a truck before and comes back to try the contest a second time, is a genuine cowboy genius. His opinions on the contest and his philosophy of life are inspirational. Maybe the reason Benny's thoughts made it into the film is that he gave a sit-down interview. Most of the other interesting action of the film happens off-screen, because Bindler and the other film makers failed to capture it. They miss people cheating in the contest, they miss Benny deciding to drop out, they even miss the most vital moment of the contest, when the first runner-up takes their hand off the truck. Bindler also uses choppy, melodramatic, and extremely repetitious editing techniques. While this is a great subject for a documentary, and there are many fascinating people, especially Perkins, in the contest, Bindler fails to make a film to do th

Joel I I don't want to scare anyone away with the "D" word, so let's just say that this non-fiction gem is one of the year's best movies and worth begging your video store manager to stock. Using a no-frills action-and-interview technique, director S. R. Bindler follows the fate of 23 Texans who enter a bizarre annual promotional contest run by the local Nissan dealer. The contestants are to stand around a blue pickup truck, with one hand touching it at all times, and the last one left standing (70-80 hours later) wins the truck. Yes, I did say this was non-fiction! Fortunately for Bindler (or perhaps through his expert handling of them) the contestants turn out to be a colorful cross section, and you soon find yourself picking favorites and even rooting for them! The film manages as much suspense as any sporting event, with a lot more curiosity. Also, some profound themes start creeping in. This movie is sure to invite comparisons with those of Errol Morris, due to the eccentricity of its subject, and those who like Morris's work will surely like this. But Bindler deserves credit for forging his own less flashy style, and for giving us this one-of-a-kind, unforgettable experience.

yrral-3 Like most documentaries, "Hands on a Hardbody" will never play in most cities. My wife and I saw it in New York, in a nearly full theater, and the movie was an enormous hit with that audience. Too bad it won't get wider distribution. Documentaries also face obstacles to wide video distribution. So when it's about to be released on video, make sure you pressure your local video store to stock it. It's a wildly funny, yet sympathetic look at the 24 contestants in a Texas Nissan dealership's promotion in which the last person to keep a hand on a hardbody truck gets to keep it. The previous winner, who is interviewed for the movie (and is a contestant once more, much to the resentment of others), lasted more than 80 hours. When only a few are left and someone else drops out, he says it is an "exhilarating" feeling, one he can only compare to killing his first deer. He acts as though this simple endurance contest is the Super Bowl, saying, "If you can't play with the big dogs, get up on the porch with the puppies." Obviously, he's the villain of the piece. Everybody else is appealing in his or her own way. There are many memorable characters. Like the toothless guy who helped his toothless wife prepare for the contest by shutting off the air-conditioning in the house. He's got a 20-ton unit, big enough to cool a Kmart, he says. It can cool the house to 12-below-zero! As the credits rolled, my wife said, "That's the funniest movie I've ever seen."