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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Movie Review: The Long Night (1947)

Genre: Crime Drama  

Director: Anatole Litvak  

Starring: Henry Fonda, Barbara Del Geddes, Vincent Price, Ann Dvorak, Elisha Cook, Jr.  

Running Time: 101 minutes  

Synopsis: A man is shot dead on the top landing of an apartment building. The suspect Joe Adams (Henry Fonda) barricades himself inside his apartment, resisting police attempts to flush him out as a crowd gathers on the street. Flashbacks reveal that factory worker Joe met and fell in love with greenhouse employee Jo Ann (Barbara Bel Geddes), but was crushed to discover that she is already in another complex relationship with smarmy magician Maximilian (Vincent Price). Joe seeks emotional refuge with the brassy Charlene (Ann Dvorak), but cannot shake his feelings towards Jo Ann.

What Works Well: A remake of Marcel Carné's Le Jour Se Lève (1939), this is a story about the descent from optimism to cynicism. A well-meaning and initially cheerful steel mill factory worker, Joe represents every man victimized by layers of lies and overlooked by women of similar class seeking upward mobility with slimy exploitive sophisticates. And when confronted by authority, Joe does not even expect due process. His tiny apartment is riddled with police bullets before he is even charged, and Joe's detached reaction confirms his lack of surprise. Henry Fonda brings thoughtful rage into the showdown with bleakness. 

 

What Does Not Work As Well: While Barbara Bel Geddes is fine in her screen debut, the script saddles Jo Ann with inconsistent emotions, including a frantic and shouty climactic outburst that misses the mark. Maximilian's character is cartoonish rather than real, his goading unbecoming of a celebrity who already has the girl. Finally, the light piercing the darkness is supposed to be solidarity with Joe from the crowd gathered in the street, but this element is weak due to underinvestment in neighbourhood characters.

Key Quote:

Maximilian (to Joe): You know, I always find it rather amusing, these conceptions you simple men have concerning women. But the lovely creatures, they're so much more complicated, thank heaven.

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Movie Review: The Mirror Crack'd (1980)

Genre: Crime Mystery  

Director: Guy Hamilton  

Starring: Angela Lansbury, Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, Kim Novak, Tony Curtis, Edward Fox, Geraldine Chaplin  
Running Time: 105 minutes  

Synopsis: It's 1953 in rural England. American film director Jason Rudd (Rock Hudson) is in town to prepare for his next movie, featuring a big comeback role for his troubled wife Marina (Elizabeth Taylor). Marty Fenn (Tony Curtis) is the producer, and his wife Lola (Kim Novak) is Marina's nemesis. When a local woman is murdered by poison at the estate where Jason and Marina are residing, local woman Jane Marple (Angela Lansbury) and her nephew Inspector Craddock (Edward Fox) investigate.

What Works Well: In her few scenes, Angela Lansbury is a dotty delight, and Rock Hudson brings a welcome sturdiness to the otherwise over-animated cast. The quaint English village setting is idyllic, while Elizabeth Taylor and Kim Novak exchange sharp barbs as lifelong rival actresses not afraid to wish each other the worst.

What Does Not Work As Well: The murder victim is an annoying nobody, and Miss Marple is sidelined in her own movie, the bland Craddock leading most of the detective work. Taylor, Novak, and Tony Curtis, all near their career twilights, lean towards exaggerated theatricality. Director Guy Hamilton errs on the side of too many red herrings and not enough real clues, but regardless, the murderer is not hard to guess. This is a weaker Agatha Christie story (despite being based on an actual tragedy that befell actress Gene Tierney), and translates to a limp cinematic effort.

Key Quote:

Lola (to Marina): And I'm so glad to see that you've not only kept your GORGEOUS figure, but you've added SO MUCH to it!

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Movie Review: Dead Of Winter (2025)

Genre: Thriller  

Director: Brian Kirk  

Starring: Emma Thompson, Judy Greer  
Running Time: 98 minutes  

Synopsis: In northern Minnesota, Barb (Emma Thompson) drives into the wilderness towards a secluded lake, where many decades ago she enjoyed an idyllic first date with her late husband Karl. She stumbles upon the isolated cabin of unhinged couple Purple Lady and Camo Jacket (Judy Greer and Marc Menchaca), and finds kidnapped teenager Leah (Laurel Marsden) tied up in their basement. Barb is a resourceful wilderness survival expert and refuses to abandon Leah, despite Purple Lady's grim determination to kill them both.

What Works Well: The frigid expanse of snow-covered forest terrain (filmed in Finland) is a perfect backdrop for a sinister conspiracy, and director Brian Kirk exploits the inhospitable landscape to good effect. Emma Thompson (calm and cerebral) and Judy Greer (dangerously frantic) create a good rivalry, encompassing both physical face-offs and thinking-ahead plotting. The flashbacks to Barb's life with husband Karl add poignancy.

What Does Not Work As Well: Once revealed, Purple Lady's plans for Leah are just too far-fetched, undermining the premise. Barb overcomes some serious injuries Rambo-style, Purple Lady's sniper skills are wayward when most needed, and some side-characters who should know better exhibit foolish behaviour in service of the script.

Key Quote:

Barb (to Leah): Heck, all's I'm sayin' is... . we don't know what's comin'. We never really do, but it don't matter. We don't quit.

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Movie Review: The Burning Bed (1984)

Genre: Drama  

Director: Robert Greenwald  

Starring: Farrah Fawcett, Paul Le Mat, Richard Masur  

Running Time: 95 minutes  

Synopsis: In Michigan of 1977, Francine Hughes (Farrah Fawcett) kills her ex-husband Mickey (Paul Le Mat) by igniting a bedroom fire. In prison awaiting trial, Francine recounts her story to her lawyer (Richard Masur). She met Mickey in 1963 as a 16-year-old, they got married and eventually had three children. Mickey always had trouble holding a job, and resorted to a cycle of drinking and physically abusing Francine, followed by apologies and promises to never hurt her again. She frequently escaped and sought refuge, but her mother Hazel, her in-laws, the police, and social services provided little help. After a divorce and a serious car accident, the abuse escalated.

What Works Well: Based on a true story and the Faith McNulty book, this is a rare example of a made-for-TV production that rises above its origins. Farrah Fawcett deglamorizes her image to highlight the plight of battered women, and captures the harrowing agony of a wife trapped between abuse, poverty, and motherhood responsibilities. Paul Le Mat rises to monstrous as needed, instigating in-your-face and difficult to view assault scenes, often filmed with inescapable close-ups. Director Robert Greenwald still hides more than he shows, cleverly deploying sounds-from-the-next-room and imagination's ability to amplify horror. 

What Does Not Work As Well: Any and all cinematic and visual flourishes are notably absent, and Fawcett understandably struggles to convince as a 16-year-old in the early scenes of Francine's flashback. More character background for Mickey's parents and Francine's mother Hazel would have added context to their aloof behaviour.

Key Quote:

Hazel (to her daughter Francine) He loves you. It's not really so bad. Is it?

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Movie Review: Antitrust (2001)

Genre: Techno Thriller  

Director: Peter Howitt  

Starring: Ryan Phillippe, Tim Robbins, Rachael Leigh Cook, Richard Roundtree  

Running Time: 109 minutes  

Synopsis: Gary Winston (Tim Robbins) is the celebrity CEO of dominant tech company Nurv. He recruits talented computer programmer Milo (Ryan Phillippe) to work on a critical project, although Milo's altruistic best friend Teddy refuses to join Nurv, preferring instead to develop open source code. Milo settles down in Portland with his girlfriend Alice (Claire Forlani), and at work he befriends fellow Nurv programmer Lisa (Rachael Leigh Cook). When a murder occurs, Milo is forced to confront the reality of his new employer.

What Works Well: This is a surprisingly effective and prescient condemnation of technology monopolies. Howard Franklin's script takes hard shots at dominant companies subsuming the competition, and director Peter Howitt maximizes the impact of computer screens filled with code, remaining true to programming's general look and feel. Character revelations, multiple plot twists, and brisk pacing add gloss to the techno thrills, and the best moment is Hitchcockian in its simple adherence to old fashioned suspense: sitting down to a meal that may just be deadly.

What Does Not Work As Well: Of course the plot holes are plentiful and visible, including Milo's ability to outsmart a comprehensive campus security system; and to access a critical home office computer system then explain his way out of trouble when caught.

Key Quote:

Gary Winston: This business is binary. You are a one or a zero. Alive or dead. There is no second place.

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Movie Review: The Grifters (1990)

Genre: Neo Noir Crime Drama  

Director: Stephen Frears  

Starring: John Cusack, Anjelica Huston, Annette Bening, J.T. Walsh, Pat Hingle, Charles Napier  

Running Time: 110 minutes  

Synopsis: In Los Angeles, Roy (John Cusack) is a small-time con artist who makes a living in dingy bars. His mother Lilly (Anjelica Huston), only 14 years older than her son, is a career swindler who fixes horserace odds for mobster Bobo (Pat Hingle). Lilly reunites with Roy after a long absence, and immediately disapproves of his girlfriend Myra (Annette Bening). Lilly wants Roy to quit grifting, while Myra wants him to graduate to more lucrative "long cons", leading to a triangular conflict.

What Works Well: The adaptation Jim Thompson's novel builds tense relationships between three desperate con artists, and allows intentional drift to determine their fate. The people are the focus, rather than any grand con, and Anjelica Huston embraces Lilly as a tragic yet still proud career crook content to waste her life serving the mob as long as she can pilfer a few dollars on the side. Annette Bening as Myra is her younger counterpoint, purring with sexuality and pursuing the dream of audacious cons in pursuit of big bucks.

What Does Not Work As Well: Roy, Lilly, and Myra are all distinctly unlikeable, robbing the drama of any heart, a vacuum made worse by a miscast John Cusack who never gets to grips with Roy and fails to match the intensity of his co-stars. In contrast the mobster Bobo and Myra's ex-partner Cole (J.T. Walsh) emerge as smarter and more complex, but they are afterthoughts in this story. Transposing 1940s film noir sensibilities into modern-day Los Angeles is only partially successful, and many scenes of dialogue come across as cringey and simply fake. The script is also careless when needed, including Lilly exposing her trunk-full-of-cash to any passerby.

Key Quote:

Myra: I'm Roy's friend.

Lilly: Yes. I imagine you're lots of people's friend.

Myra (taking a good look at Lilly): Oh, of course, now that I see you in the light, you're plenty old enough to be Roy's mother.

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