Movie Review: The Long Riders (1980)

Genre: Western  

Director: Walter Hill  

Starring: James Keach, Stacy Keach, David Carradine, Keith Carradine, Robert Carradine, Randy Quaid, Dennis Quaid, Pamela Reed  

Running Time: 99 minutes  

Synopsis: After the Civil War, the James-Younger gang is fueled by Confederate resentment and embarks on a crime spree in Missouri, holding up banks and trains. Jesse and Frank James (James and Stacy Keach) lead the gang, with support from Cole, Jim, and Bob Younger (David, Keith, and Robert Carradine). Clell Miller (Randy Quaid) stays with the gang even after his brother Ed (Dennis Quaid) is kicked out. In-between heists the men seek domesticity and the company of women, including Cole seeking comfort with prostitute Belle Starr (Pamela Reed). But as their list of victims grows, Pinkerton detectives descend onto the area to stop the gang's activities by any means.

What Works Well: Based on actual events, this is a stylish, lyrical, and violent chronicle of the famous outlaw gang. Actual Hollywood brothers portray the Jameses, Youngers, Millers, and Fords (Christopher and Nicholas Guest), with Stacy Keach as Frank James and David Carradine as Cole Younger emerging as the most grounded and charismatic characters. In the quieter scenes the script excels at filling-in the men's personalities, allowing human emotions to surface but never resorting to heroic portrayals. With the botched Northfield, Minnesota bank raid a stunning highlight, director Walter Hill and cinematographer Ric Waite deliver exceptionally gripping action scenes infused with stuntwork, slow motion, and no shortage of blood. 

What Does Not Work As Well: The production quality deserved a longer running time to more fully define the era and round-out more characters.

Key Quote:

Cole Younger: When this is all over, I'm goin' to write a book; make myself more famous than I already am.

Frank James: I trust you'll give me a copy.

Cole Younger: Nope. You gotta pay, Frank; you gotta pay.

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Movie Review: Tempted (2001)

Genre: Neo-Noir  

Director: Bill Bennett  

Starring: Burt Reynolds, Saffron Burrows, Peter Facinelli  
Running Time: 95 minutes  

Synopsis: In New Orleans, construction magnate Charlie LeBlanc (Burt Reynolds) wants to test the loyalty of his much younger wife Lilly (Saffron Burrows). He hires carpenter and aspiring law student Jimmy Mulate (Peter Facinelli) to seduce her in exchange for $50,000. Charlie also retains a private investigator to spy on Lilly and Jimmy. The loyalty test spirals into murderous intentions, resulting in violence.

What Works Well: Saffron Burrows does her best to try and create a mysterious, alluring, and scheming femme fatale, while the sex scenes between Lilly and Jimmy carry some heat.

What Does Not Work As Well: The attempt to create a modern noir in a steamy New Orleans milieu is appreciated, but almost nothing here works. The problems start early with cheap-looking production values and barely coherent motivations for Charlie, suffering from a vague ailment and wanting to "test" his wife, and quickly disintegrate into inexplicable desires for murder. Director and writer Bill Bennett skips key context scenes and character-building essentials, and throws in a dumbfoundingly unrelated high profile and barely investigated murder subplot, complete with throw-the-body-in-the-river-and-hope-for-the-best improvisation.

Key Quote:

Charlie (to Jimmy): Now what I'd like you to do...is I'd like you to take a run at my wife.

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Movie Review: Bounce (2000)

Genre: Romance  

Director: Don Roos  

Starring: Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Affleck, Tony Goldwyn  
Running Time: 106 minutes  

Synopsis: During a weather delay at Chicago Airport, advertising executive Buddy Amaral (Ben Affleck) meets fellow traveler Greg Janello (Tony Goldwyn). Buddy gives up his seat on the LA-bound flight to Greg, but the plane crashes, killing all on board. After a guilt-fueled descent into alcoholism followed by a stint in a rehab centre, Buddy seeks out Greg's widow Abby (Gwyneth Paltrow), a fledgling real estate agent now raising two kids on her own. A romance ensues, although Buddy does not reveal to Abby his fateful encounter with Greg.

What Works Well: In bold and confident strokes, the opening sequence at the airport packs an impressive amount of character building and narrative seeding. The premise carries emotional weight, allowing two characters to carry coherent burdens of guilt and grief. Gwyneth Paltrow provides Abby with an impressive range of complexity as a woman still searching for a new normal, and the script (by director Don Roos) adds an edge by empowering Abby to pursue the romance with Buddy after he seeks to pull away.

What Does Not Work As Well: While both primary characters are understandably vulnerable, they also resort to lies and omissions as fundamental script requirements to underpin the easily predictable drama. Ben Affleck's limited emotional range is exposed opposite Paltrow, and the secondary characters are weak. The second half starts to drag and occasionally dips into melodrama, not helped by a running time that could have used a trim.

Key Quote:

Abby: Bouncing. It's like crashing, except you get to do it over and over again.

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Movie Review: Sliver (1993)

Genre: Erotic Thriller  

Director: Phillip Noyce  

Starring: Sharon Stone, William Baldwin, Tom Berenger, Martin Landau  
Running Time: 107 minutes  

Synopsis: In New York City, book editor Carly Norris (Sharon Stone) is recovering from a failed marriage. She moves into an apartment in the "Sliver" building, and learns that the previous occupant died after falling from the balcony. Carly meets other tenants including fitness fan Zeke (William Baldwin), famous author Jack (Tom Berenger), model Vida (Polly Walker), and a kindly older man. With all the apartments under secret surveillance, both Zeke and Jack pursue a relationship with Carly, leading to jealousy and murder.

What Works Well: Following up on her breakout success in Basic Instinct, Sharon Stone projects both vulnerability and strength as a building newcomer uncovering sordid secrets and willing to reignite her seductive tendencies. The voyeuristic obsession with snooping on ordinary people's lives turns the Rear Window premise inwards as prescient commentary on a forthcoming privacy-free society. 

What Does Not Work As Well: With only two viable suspects, director Phillip Noyce fails to generate any suspense, the mood further undermined by one-dimensional performances from William Baldwin and Tom Berenger. Zeke is immediately creepy and Jack is proudly boorish, crippling any investment in the outcome and raising serious questions about Carly's judgement. The shallow character motivations are matched by incompetent police work, and the dull Joe Eszterhas script is incapable of exploiting the surveillance theme implications.

Key Quote:

Zeke (to Carly): Real life, Carly. It's better than any book. Better than any movie. It's a soap opera. It's real life. It's a tragedy, it's funny, it's sad, it's unpredictable.

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Movie Review: Separate Tables (1958)

Genre: Drama  

Director: Delbert Mann  

Starring: Burt Lancaster, Deborah Kerr, Rita Hayworth, David Niven, Wendy Hiller, Rod Taylor, Gladys Cooper, Cathleen Nesbitt  
Running Time: 100 minutes  

Synopsis: The setting is the The Beauregard Hotel in Bournemouth, England. The residents include the gossipy Mrs. Railton-Bell (Gladys Cooper) and her obedient and dowdy daughter Sibyl (Deborah Kerr), who has a crush on the talkative Major Pollock (David Niven). The divorced John Malcolm (Burt Lancaster) drowns his sorrows at the local pub but promises to marry the hotel manager Pat Cooper (Wendy Hiller). Medical student Charles (Rod Taylor) is prevented from concentrating by feisty girlfriend Jean (Audrey Dalton). The guests' established rhythms are first disrupted by the arrival of John's ex-wife Anne (Rita Hayworth), a glamorous model, and then by a shocking scandal.

What Works Well: The adaptation of two stage plays by Terence Rattigan (who co-wrote the screenplay) deploys sharp writing to create a rich texture of turmoil churning beneath staid surroundings. Director Delbert Mann teases out a Britain in post-war transition, the older generation holding on to conservative ideals while the younger members frolic and test new boundaries. David Niven (as Pollock encounters the limits of deceit) and Deborah Kerr (as Sybil finally cracks her shell) shine brightest in a stellar cast that allows mannerisms, etiquette, and social norms to collide with secrets, scandals, emotional releases, and new beginnings.

What Does Not Work As Well: The production is strictly stage-bound, and unsurprisingly a few scenes slip into theatrical melodrama. While the emotional untidyness is welcome, a few character decisions in the final act demonstrate genuinely suspect judgement.

Key Quote:

John Malcolm: You know something, Ann? No one I know of lies with such sincerity.

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Movie Review: Good Guys Wear Black (1978)

Genre: Action  

Director: Ted Post  

Starring: Chuck Norris, Anne Archer, Dana Andrews, James Franciscus  

Running Time: 96 minutes  

Synopsis: In 1973, Senator Conrad Morgan (James Franciscus) is leading negotiations to end the Vietnam War. A CIA special forces unit known as the Black Tigers, led by Major John T. Booker (Chuck Norris), is ambushed while on a covert mission to rescue American prisoners in the Vietnam jungle. Five years later in Los Angeles, Booker is approached by the mysterious Margaret (Anne Archer), who is asking questions about the botched mission. Booker learns that other Tiger veterans are being murdered, and uncovers a conspiracy.

What Works Well: This lower-budget effort provides Chuck Norris with a career boost away from pure martial arts movies (although he does chop his way through a few action scenes). The plot has decent ambitions to combine mistrust of government agendas with regular bursts of action, and director Ted Post occasionally threatens to breach not-bad levels. Dan Andrews enlivens a couple of scenes with seen-it-all cynicism.

What Does Not Work As Well: The sequence in the Vietnam jungle is too dark to discern what is going on. All the characters lack depth, and despite a decent cast, the acting is strictly monotonal. Norris displays a remarkable inability to display any emotion, and so making love to Margaret or reacting to the death of colleagues all come and go with the same cold detachment. Loose ends and logic gaps prevail, and in the jumbled rush to find an ending, plenty of conspiracy specifics go missing in action.

Key Quote:

John Booker (realizing the mission is compromised): Everything went wrong by the numbers. And that takes planning.

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Movie Review: Lawman (1971)

Genre: Western  

Director: Michael Winner  

Starring: Burt Lancaster, Lee J. Cobb, Robert Ryan, Robert Duvall, Sheree North  

Running Time: 99 minutes  

Synopsis: Land baron Vincent Bronson (Lee J. Cobb) and five of his cattlemen go on a drunken spree in the town of Bannock, inadvertently killing an old man. Months later, Bannock marshal Jered Maddox (Burt Lancaster) arrives in the town of Sabbath, which is essentially owned by Bronson, intent on arresting the six men. Bronson offers to negotiate with help from Sabbath marshal Cotton Ryan (Robert Ryan), but Maddox is adamant that the law must be served, leading to escalating cycles of violence.

What Works Well: This revisionist western upturns traditional taming-the-frontier themes with brazenly unsettling audacity. Here the protagonist Maddox is singularly determined to apply the letter of the law, the supposed villain is open to compromise, and the resultant spiral of violence is a condemnation of rules applied in the absence of contextual judgment. The Gerald Wilson script is eminently quotable, and excels in revealing complex trade-offs by providing well-rounded views of multiple characters. Robert Ryan shines in the caught-in-between role, while Lee J. Cobb and Burt Lancaster represent opposing perspectives with rich textures, leading to a jarringly unconventional climax.

What Does Not Work As Well: Director Michael Winner's sense of visual style incorporates awkward over-deployment of zooms and bullet hole blood spurts.

Key Quote:

Vincent Bronson: It took guns to get the land, guns to keep it, guns to make things grow. The guns that pride called out... and each time we buried the cost.

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Movie Review: Throw Momma From The Train (1987)

Genre: Comedy  

Director: Danny DeVito  

Starring: Billy Crystal, Danny DeVito, Anne Ramsey, Kim Greist  
Running Time: 88 minutes  

Synopsis: Aspiring writer and college teacher Larry (Billy Crystal) is suffering from severe writer's block, and is openly outraged that his ex-wife Margaret stole his book idea and produced a best seller. Owen (Danny DeVito) is one of Larry's students and living under the thumb of his domineering and verbally abusive Momma (Anne Ramsey). Inspired by Hitchcock's Strangers On A Train, Owen plots the murder of Margaret, presuming that in return Larry will murder Momma.

What Works Well: Danny DeVito and Billy Crystal establish good comic rapport, and Anne Ramsey is memorably monstrous as Momma. The production values are high, and DeVito adds interesting (if sometimes obtrusive) directorial touches.

What Does Not Work As Well: None of the characters are likeable, and the script unfortunately surrenders to a single derivative idea torpedoed by weak execution. Even with the short running time, the lack of wit surfaces through tired repetition (Larry stuck on the opening line of his book; and repeatedly losing all control at the mere mention of his ex-wife); and scenes that just add padding (Owen intruding on Margaret's amorous activities in Hawaii). The tone is often awkwardly caught between evil intent, satire, shouty slapstick, dark comedy, and cutesiness.

Key Quote:

Owen: Larry! I can't breathe!

Larry: Yes! That's because I'm choking you!

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Movie Review: The Secret Invasion (1964)

Genre: World War 2 Action  

Director: Roger Corman  

Starring: Stewart Granger, Raf Vallone, Mickey Rooney, Henry Silva  

Running Time: 95 minutes  

Synopsis: In 1943, British Major Richard Mace (Stewart Ganger) assembles a group of imprisoned convicts for a secret mission to open a new front in the Balkans, as a distraction from the upcoming Allied invasion of Sicily. The recruits include the cerebral Rocca (Raf Vallone), cold-blooded killer Durrell (Henry Silva), explosives expert Scanlon (Mickey Rooney), and forger Fell (Edd Byrnes). They secretly land near Dubrovnik, connect with local Partisans, and attempt to free a key target from Nazi captivity.

What Works Well: This war-mission-on-a-budget borrows ideas from The Guns Of Navarone and The Great Escape, and seeds the inspiration for The Dirty Dozen. Director Roger Corman ensures a base level of competence despite limited resources, and the cast contains enough quality (if not necessarily stellar talent) to maintain interest.

What Does Not Work As Well: The plot gets needlessly complicated, including a prolonged stint within a prison that features endless momentum-defeating skulking. The narrative choices range from bizarre (Rocca's finger clicking) to misguided (handing the stone-faced Henry Silva a half-hearted attempt at romance, complete with a cruel mishap involving a baby). Corman confuses noisy, over-long, poorly-staged, and clumsily-edited battle scenes for excitement, a mess made worse by the inexplicable appearance (and sometimes subsequent disappearance) of hundreds of soldiers, first from one side (the Germans), then the other (the Partisans), and then yet another (the Italians).

Key Quote:

Major Mace: Abandoned?! This mission will be abandoned only when all six of us are dead!

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Movie Review: Hornets' Nest (1970)

Genre: World War 2 Action  

Director: Phil Karlson  

Starring: Rock Hudson, Sylva Koscina  

Running Time: 110 minutes  

Synopsis: In Italy of 1944, the badly wounded Captain Turner (Rock Hudson) is the only survivor from a group of paratroopers on a mission to blow up a strategic dam. He is captured by a ragtag partisan militia of children led by teenager Aldo (Mark Colleano), who lost his family when the Nazi SS massacred local villagers. Aldo pressures a German doctor (Sylva Koscina) to heal Turner's wounds, then creates an uneasy alliance with the American: the children militia will help with the dam mission in return for Turner's help to avenge the village massacre.

What Works Well: This Italian-American production raises pointed questions about bloodlust and the impact of war on children. Aldo's sole motive is to avenge his parents, and he descends into soulless killing, desensitized to the pain he is causing. Rock Hudson, despite an unfortunate moustache, is the jaded professional soldier using every available means to complete his mission. The German Captain von Hecht (Sergio Fantoni) represents the more human side of the German occupiers.

What Does Not Work As Well: This is an underfinanced effort cluelessly leapfrogging large plot holes, including Turner's miraculous recovery from seemingly serious injuries, and jarring inattention to a sense of time and place, with the locations of the dam and Aldo's village either days or minutes apart. A group of untrained children cause large casualties among German troops, and the central mission to blow up the dam becomes an afterthought, including no indications of downstream damage caused. Indeed, Turner and the boys appear to "escape" straight into the flood zone. Ennio Morricone's music score is among his less memorable efforts.

Key Quote:

Aldo (angrily): You ever seen the Nazis put your father in front of a machine gun? You ever lie there and watch them take your mother? Your sister? Nobody's going to tell me what we are!

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