Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

Ogosmith Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Orla Zuniga It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

krocheav When this film first screened at Warner's 7Arts in Syd, several thought it so cheap and ugly as simply not worth releasing. This was in the days when Australia still had a policy of returning works considered morally (and/or financially) bankrupt - back to their country of origin.The Australian Censor of the day wisely did that for them, so it was packed up with a note:- not wanted in Australia - this decision proved to be of little loss. The film typified a new low grade in movie making that rapidly became the norm in the 60's and 70's, brimming with poorly written, deliberately ugly characters. Ryan O'Neill simply continued his bland character from TV's Peyton Place and was quoted as having said; 'TV is Hamburger, Cinema is Steak' - well, this shoddy offering doesn't even rate as thinly sliced bacon (burn't at that). He's featured staring with his then wife Leigh Taylor-Young, they may have been a hot couple in the social columns but proved Luke warm on screen. Young performed Playboy type nude scenes and indulged in an endless variety of super nasty actions - playing a social vandal come thief/murderess. Her character at one stage is seen kicking the body of the person she had earlier shot multiple times. Nice stuff!Produced, directed and written by a trio of veteran TV makers, who like many others trying to graduate from the small screen seemed to think: if you make a movie in CinemaScope and Technicolor, then add heaps of heavy violence and sexual promiscuity, audiences will begin to take you seriously. How wrong they were... but sadly this trend continued to it's present state. It's not that Cinema 'grew up' (as some try to 'sell' us) it just became more sensationalistic. This movie also features one of the final performances for the great Van Hefflin (he must have needed cash badly) and wastes the talents of the capable Lee Grant in a sad and demeaning role. The best performance, and scene, involved child star Cindy Elibacher (not her sister Lisa, as one reviewer wrongly wrote) playing Grant's daughter. It all serves to prove how difficult it was/is to successfully transfer the writings of Elmore Leonard to the screen ~ some of the better ones were: 3.10 to Yuma in '57 ~ the off-beat 'Valdez is Coming' '71 and to a lesser degree, also in '57 the interesting Randolph Scott film: 'The Tall T'. This film also features one of the most miss-matched music scores ever. Interesting composer/producer Mike Curb gave this a 'beach' movie type sound track with songs better suited to a TV travel commercial. His main-title song "When Somebody Cares for you" is played over a violent opening shot - it's actually a 'nice' song that seemed to have been written for a good Disney family film and is totally wasted in this show.So from being banned in several countries, to now running on TCM with an 'M' rating and no proper warnings of the heavily 'suss' content, this ends up as a barometer - demonstrating how far we've slipped as a non-discerning society. Junk fans may last the distance - others may run for cover....

tomsview "The Big Bounce" scrambles to fit in all its elements, but holds your attention and has interesting stars: two starting their movie careers and one finishing his.Jack Ryan (Ryan O'Neal), a Vietnam veteran and petty criminal attempting to go straight, has little direction in his life. After losing his job as a cucumber picker in California he meets two people: one, Sam Mirakian (Van Heflin), a worldly-wise magistrate, tries to help him, while the other, unpredictable party girl Nancy Barker (Leigh Taylor-Young), invites him to join her in a walk on the wild side.Feeling a little like a TV movie, "The Big Bounce" is not helped by a rather detached score by Mike Curb – definitely of the elevator music variety. The film used to appear regularly on Australian television in the 70's and 80's, but the only place it pops up now is on TCM. At one stage they used to chop out all the nude scenes - which would have left a fair amount of footage on the cutting room floor - however of late, they seem to have reinstated them.Ryan O'Neal in his first film is a little brittle in places although the camera loves the guy – you can appreciate his screen presence more now that he is no longer so high profile.I have always enjoyed Van Heflin's work and here he gives a variation on that sage character he made his trademark – integrity personified. He was 57 when he made this but looked much older; it suits his character perfectly.Leigh Taylor-Young, holds the spotlight with an uninhibited performance, surprisingly so as she was Ryan O'Neal's wife at the time.If the film reminds me of any other it would be "Pretty Poison", especially the relationship between the guy, who thinks he's in charge, and the girl who is far more dangerous and scheming. Both films came out around the same time, but "Pretty Poison" has a lighter touch and genuine wit. In fact the major weakness of "The Big Bounce" is that it is rather humourless.Of course that was the element Owen Wilson injected into the remake in 2004 and it worked to a point, but the film meandered; the 1969 version is actually a tighter movie.It's not a classic, but "The Big Bounce" is still quite watchable, and the stars make it worth a look even after 40 years.

sol- Unsure of where to go after wounding a vengeful local in baseball match and told to flee town, a Vietnam War veteran takes up with the mysterious young mistress of a produce farm owner in this little seen drama starring Ryan O'Neal in his first screen role. It is not the greatest debut for the Oscar nominated actor, but in what was only her second screen performance, Leigh Taylor-Young is excellent as the tantalising mistress. A femme fatale of the post-Production Code era, she plays a seductress like few others before her, revealing lots of skin and boldly parading around in the buff. She is just as effective with her clothes on too as there is an ambiguity as to whether or not she genuinely likes O'Neal or is just using him for a scheme revealed in the film's final third. That said, the scheme comes too late to provide much vigour, and easy as Taylor-Young is on the eyes, there is little else propelling the first hour. Van Heflin has a nice, understated turn as a justice of the peace, and Cindy Eilbacher is adorable, playing a surrogate daughter to O'Neal, but it is not enough to carry the film. The opportunities for more are all too apparent. Why not explore O'Neal's criminal background in further depth or how serving in Vietnam has affected him? Why not establish his desire for a daughter further? By all accounts though, the film was promoted as a vehicle for its two stars (married in real life at the time) and therefore it is easy to see why the filmmakers took a less exciting route. The film is not worthless as some of its dissenters might say, but it sure could have been a lot more.

bkoganbing Taking advantage of the enormous publicity from the small screen when cast members Ryan O'Neal and Leigh Taylor-Young became a small screen Dick and Liz, they were cast in The Big Bounce. Both were cast in roles suitable to each other, but Leigh made far more of it than Ryan.O'Neal is a rather quick tempered drifter who is a Vietnam veteran and doing farm labor work for lack of something better. It also fits the unsettled character of his nature. As the film opens he's in trouble having stabbed one of the migrants, a fellow known for a nasty temper and the fact he was reputed to carry a knife.Knowing all that the local town judge Van Heflin persuades the prosecutor to drop the whole thing and Heflin offers room, board, and a job at his motel. But O'Neal finds something Heflin can't compete with in the intriguing and sexy mantrap Leigh Taylor-Young.Maybe Carroll Baker in Baby Doll made a sexier big screen debut, but she's the only one I can think of. Taylor-Young is a child of the Sixties. She's the kept mistress of Robert Webber manager of the pickle works and the biggest employer in the area. She's also one spoiled rotten and dangerously psychotic woman. What Taylor-Young is is all about kicks, getting them wherever she can.The question is will O'Neal who isn't the strongest of characters be able to resist this woman and the dangerous things she does just to get what she calls The Big Bounce.The Big Bounce is an inauspicious debut for O'Neal who would really hit it big shortly with Love Story. But it did guarantee him a lengthy career. But Mrs. O'Neal really runs away with this picture as the kind of woman that ought to come with a warning label.