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List Price: $14.98 | | Label: MGM (Video & DVD)
Salesrank: 25716
Released: October 26, 2004 |
| Our Price: $2.59 |
| Used Price: $0.47 |
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Johnny Knoxville (Jackass: The Movie, Walking Tall) shows off star power in his firstleading role as the hard-drinking, motorcycle-riding rock 'n' roll manager Phil Kaufman. When legendary singer Gram Parsons dies, Kaufman steals the body to keep his promise to make Joshua Tree Gram's final resting place. Chased by the cops, Gram's father and Gram's psycho ex-girlfriend, Betty (Christina Applegate), Kaufman embarks on a darkly comic adventure deep into the desert. Based on a truestory, this reckless road movie exceeds all limits.
Grand Theft Parsons Reviews:
GRAND THEFT PARSONS 
2008-02-13 - THIS MOVIE WAS AN OK COMEDY; NOT REALLY BUYING THIS DVD FOR YOUR COLLECTION. THE STORY LINE IS WEAK AND SOME PARTS I FOUND MYSELF LOST.
Hot Flying Flop #1
2008-01-06 - The truth at the center of this story is far more compelling than the shallow retelling here. Artistic license should yield a more substantial script at the very least. The male leads rise above the writing, but they can only take it so far. Why ignore the complex relationship between GP and his stepdad and Phil's reaction to that? Isn't that where the story is? The following documentary does a better job at sifting through the true story and setting the right tone.
Gram Parsons - Fallen Angel
Grand Theft Parsons 
2007-09-12 - This movie surprisingly had great cinematography, screenplay and was well carried-through by all cast members. While it succeeds in being subtly humorous, the main plot of a corpse being transported by stolen hearse from LA to Joshua Tree, CA is perhaps too morbid to begin with, especially since it's based on the actual death of the `70's `Alternate Country Western' singer Gram Parsons, September 1973. But overall, I believe these offbeat, low-budget, independent film-makers often present interesting stories, otherwise not available. Unfortunately, without the budget for studio voice-overs, the audio fades in some crucial dialog points. However, this film includes actor summaries and is well acted by the primary 3 players, Johnny Knoxville (Phil Kaufman), Christina Applegate (Barbara) and Marley Shelton (Susie). And it soon delivers as a true, picturesque, hippie `road-trip' style flick, which I automatically enjoy.
Harsh judgement against Applegate's Character 
2007-06-30 - I saw this movie on Cable in a motel room in Chicago and I really felt for Applegate's Character. I thought back to the time I visited Joshua Tree and about my personal relationship with a man with a serious substance abuse problem. I did stay in the Gram Parson's death room at the Joshua Tree Inn about 10 years ago, and I feel a certain connection to him in a way. When I saw this film, I just thought how terrible the woman Applegate's character is based upon must feel if she were ever to see this film. Gram Parsons basically killed himself. If you haven't lived with and loved an alcoholic or drug addict, you have no idea how this woman felt or would have reacted to his death. Of course she's going to be angry, what kind of person dies like that? He drove out to the middle of the desert and overdosed. He was alone in a hotel room, and he killed himself with substances. Sure, he was a great song writer, but come on, I'm sure he wasn't perfect, he wasn't a saint. You people don't know what it's like to fight for someone with an addiction. You people don't know what it's like to fight every day to make this person whom you love stop using drugs, stop drinking and want to live. To BLAME Applegate's character in the end, was just a low blow. Who are you to make that kind of assumption? That Parsons killed himself to get away from her? Maybe he had his own demons that Applegate's character didn't have any control over. Who are you to accuse her and that she had any influence in his death? You write this screenplay and make her responsible for his death, in the end. He killed himself. Maybe he was beating her, there are several different types of abuse, mental, physical, emotional, sexual... did you ever think of that? Maybe Applegate's character had been abused beyond her limit of tolerance. Maybe he was too insane to live... and his death was the final blow. Death was so easy for him and he left behind a cross for her to bear. Maybe she was just trying to save him, and after his death she had a normal reaction of anger and frustration. Even in the synopsis of this film they call her "Betty (Applegate) the psycho exgirlfriend"...living with a drug addict makes you psycho...that's not fair. What misogynist wrote that discription? To the screenwriter... were you there? Did you witness private moments between the two of them? How dare you say she would be responsible for his suicide. Do you have any idea what it's like to pick up the pieces after something like that happens? His death was a selfish, careless, loveless act. It was his choice, in the end. To include that line at the end, about how he did what he did to get away from Applegate's character did a disservice to all women involved with men with substance abuse problems. That line adds insult to injury. Maybe she was in for the long haul and he was a black hole and maybe she was just trying to pull herself out of the pit he dragged her into. Unless you lived her life, you have NO RIGHT to make that accusation against her. It doesn't help that he was famous and people sing his praises and basically forget that he had a substance problem. He killed himself, she had nothing to do with it... no one is defending her and the screenwriter should feel ashamed.
Original story lost in lousy movie
2006-07-17 - Recently I purchased Gram Parsons' Complete Reprise Session, which is great, and then heard that a movie had been made about his terrible death. What I ended up with is this junk. I give it two stars because of its attempt, albeit feeble, to tell the Parsons' corpse theft story. I don't give it any more stars because it is a bad movie -- lousy acting, stupid script. I haven't felt this sick since watching Forrest Gump.
