Cheap Shots

CHEAP SHOTS is anything but.  It's a black comedy somewhat reminiscent of Blood Simple, in which the get-rich schemes of a rural motel manager and  its lone tenant backfire with murderously funny results.  

  As a last-ditch attempt to finance repairs mandated by shady Health Department inspectors, Louie Constantine (Louis Zorich) and Arnold Posner (David Patrick Kelly) hit upon the idea of making sex videotapes, and decide to surreptitiously record the love making of a mysterious couple who've taken up residence on the premises.  What they end up taping isn't just sex - it's murder.  Hitmen appear, blackmail is attempted and a shoot-out occurs, all with eccentric originality and decidedly unexpected results.

  CHEAP SHOTS was produced in upstate New York by the team of Jerry Stoeffhaas, Jeff Ureles and William Coppard, the latter of whom runs the highest-grossing art theatre, per capita, in the U.S.  Not surprisingly, the film reflects a keen awareness of art-house tastes:  it's stylishly European, but driven by a wholly American sense of character, humor and locale.

 - Tony Safford

Directors: Jeff Ureles, Jerry Stoeffhaas

Producer: William Coppard, Jerry Stoeffhaas, Jeff Ureles

Executive Producer: William Coppard

Screenwriters: Jeff Ureles, Jerry Stoeffhaas

Cinematographer: Thom Marini

Principal Cast: Louis Zorich, David Patrick Kelly, Mary Louise Wilson, Clarke Gordon, Michael Twain, Patience Moore