“There weren’t many good guys in Minnich’s high school back home in suburban Los Angeles, but there were plenty of bad guys. Now Minnich returns with the camera to settle old scores. Those ‘good guys’ will hang themselves on strips of celluloid, in their own words…. It’s a fine debut film for Rick Minnich, who by the way, seems like an authentic good guy.”
– Gordon Hitchens, “The 48th Annual Berlin International Film Festival” in International Documentary, Los Angeles, June 1998
“Despite a marked aversion to certain statements, Minnich always takes his interview partners seriously, never condemning them even on a subliminal level…. Minnich’s presence is a continual provocation, which elicits some uncontrolled statements from those being interviewed, who try with all their might to maintain their composure.”
– Frank Jast, “Reagan’s Long Shadow – Current Film Discussion about ‘Good Guys & Bad Guys’,”Potsdamer Neuesten Nachrichten, 2 October 1998
“In an incredibly open manner, Minnich’s interview partners offer up their conservative, nationalistic world view, which lacked a place for a ‘communist sympathizer’ like Rick: ‘Good Guys & Bad Guys,’ just like the title suggests.”
– Sylvia Dominguez, “A Concert Pitch of the Cold War – Richard Minnich Casts a Private Glance Back at the Reagan Era,” Märkische Allgemeine Zeitung , Potsdam, 23 February 1998
“The film provides deep insight into the daily life of the American middle class between football games and barbecues. The filmmaker succeeds at coming close to his interview partners … in this way, the film never seems denunciatory, he never makes fools of his classmates, even though some of their expressions leave you shaking your head.”
– Gerd Dehnel, “Nothing New in the New World – `Good Guys & Bad Guys:
From Potsdam to Santa Clarita – Documentary about a Memorable Class Reunion,” Märkische
Allgemeine Zeitung , Potsdam, 29 September 1998