MOVIES - PART 44

RECENTLY RE/WATCHED

MINI TWO SENTENCE REVIEWS

Terrific suspenseful crime movie from 1954. Robbery, border towns, singing in bars, messenger boys, cop killing and more starring the sterling Sterling Hayden & the glorious Gloria Grahame.

George Segal is an incredibly convincing charismatic junkie & Karen Black is his charming girlfriend in 1970 NYC pre Mean Streets (1973). I recommend.

A low key yet devastating 1970 cult film with ageing Gregory Peck as a sheriff & Tuesday Weld as the daughter of a bootlegger somewhere down south. A fed arrives in town ensuring things in this small town will go awry. Highly recommended.

Excellent debut feature for Paul Thomas Anderson about shenanigans in the underbelly of Las Vegas with great performances from Philip Baker Hall, John C Reilly, Gwyneth Paltrow & Sammy Jackson. 

A dude with ptsd from WWII gets angry with a dude with ptsd from the Vietnam War at a secluded lake resort plus a rape revenge subplot. Fine entertainment.

A prisoner escapes and is out for revenge in this brilliantly suspenseful late in the cycle film noir. Directed by the legendary Budd Boetticher.

Dude pretends to be another dude. How do you reckon that works out? Very eerie ending. Fantastic 1975 Antonioni film.

Melodramatic colour desert noir somewhat lacking in the good story department starring the wonderful Lizabeth Scott who seems to just drive up and down the street. Also stars the undeniable Burt Lancaster and the ever reliable Wendell Corey. Nobody calls their kid Wendell any more.

Pretty weird 1970 movie where a mother (An ageing but still fabulous Rita Hayworth) believes some strange dude is her long lost son. Peculiar events unfold. Tops.

Phil Karlson doesn't make bad movies. All the right ingredients are here in this 1953 crime flick: Jewel thieves, boxers, murder, framing & escaping the country. 

Too wordy and trying to be too smart for its own good. One of Hitchcock's worst & most dated films despite its two fabulous leads.

Ace opening with the an incredible car chase followed by the great train robbery that becomes a snooze fest, worth a look though if only for the outstanding chase sequence. Robbery is directed by Peter Yates who would direct the far superior Bullitt (1968) the following year.

Casinos, mobsters, robberies, murder and false identities: What more do you need from a 40s crime movie? Joan Bennett you say...well she's here too.

Boring 2008 Aussie horror movie that everybody else seems to like. Gimme The Loved Ones (2009) any day!

Top noir murder mystery where the great Elisha Cook Jr doesn't even get his name on the poster.

Excellent Spaghetti Western with Franco Nero & George Hamilton, directed by Lucio Fulci need I say more?!

Everybody loves this 1946 crime flick that goes on a bit too long. It's alright but overrated in my book. It wouldn't make my top 50 Film Noir list.

Great 70s bleak neo noir starring iconic couple Burt Reynolds as a cop & Cathy Deneuve as a sex worker. 70s films don't get much better than this.

90s thriller masterpiece that verges into horror. A yuppie's wife goes missing after their car breaks down in the desert. 90s movies don't get better than this.

Paranoid 1952 heist flick of the highest order where a criminal crew of strangers are assembled by Mr Big. Sound familiar? You'd have to think Tarantino took plenty of ideas from here for Reservoir Dogs (1992). Directed by the wonderful Phil Karlson.

Don't go to the county fair in Kansas City. Demented 1972 film about a rivalry between two Irish Mobsters, Lee Marvin & Gene Hackman. Sissy Spacek's plays a sex slave in her debut film role. 

In 1949 an ageing boxer must decide between his marriage or boxing. I was thinking "I hate boxing movies. Boxing is a very odd stupid sport. Why did they ever come up with that?" Then halfway through the film you're going "Yeah this is awesome. Plus Raging Bull (1980) & Fat City (1972) are two of my favourite movies!"

Ben Gazzara is at the top of his game in this choice Peter Bogdanovich 1979 character study set in Singapore about an American pimp with a some kind of heart. Don't go in expecting anything too plot driven, it's all about the vibe which is perfectly realised.

MOVIES PART 43

ONE SENTENCE REVIEWS OF RECENTLY RE/WATCHED MOVIES

Despite the poster & title (Well the Italian title makes perfect sense, properly translating as Those Who Sing) this is a primo OTT Italian Mob war between two families.

 

Even though Jane Fonda gets top billing this 1962 Edward Dmytryk film really belongs to the love story between Capucine and Laurence Harvey's characters that's set in a New Orleans Brothel.

 

This crazy 1989 Japanese flick is like David Lynch on crystal Meth!

Girl clowns come under the spell of rapey & torturous Vampires in this 70s Jean Rollin movie.

A demented fangirl of an 80s electro pop band in Germany goes mental in this transgressive horror film.

Academy award winning Jules Dassin directs cop noir shot on location in NYC about the investigation of a model's murder and then some. 

A very entertaining Jail break picture with Burt Lancaster as the the main protagonist that goes gloriously bananas! 

Mixed up teen girls including a young Dianne Lane accidentally become famous in a punk band but then realise they sold out. Also includes a very young Ray Winstone, the even younger Laura Dern, Steve Jones & Paul Cook of The Sex Pistols plus Paul Simonon from The Clash! 1982's cultiest cult film.

Cops, gangsters & murder in this top Fritz Lang noir starring two icons of the genre Glenn Ford and Gloria Grahame.

One of the most most fun delirious giallo flicks with Edwidge Fenech and George Hilton. Classic.

An International bunch of beautiful young female uni students get slain in a small picture-esque town in Italy. Lovely.

Murder, prostitutes, cops, madames, murder in balmy entertaining Giallo with Bogey look-a-likey & sound-a-likey.

More insane giallo shenanigans with a female ex-con in a strange mansion. 

Lazy Legs (Joan Bennett) leads hapless old dude (Edward G Robinson) to wrack and ruin with her seductive charms in Fritz Lang's masterpiece noir.

Dreamy noir favourite where the woman in the window (Joan Bennett) comes to life and Professor Wanley's (Edward G Robinson) dreams come true until things go murderously awry in this Fritz Lang classic.

Dick Powell gets out of prison ends up in a trailer park and starts looking for his share of the loot but he gets set up, shot at and fucked over several times in one of my favourite American crime/noir flicks!

Richard Conte & Victor Mature star as Robert Siodmak directs this richly detailed and beautifully crafted depiction of Italian-American life in the 1948 which contains mirroring, mania, mafia, matriarchs, madonnas, malevolence and murder. 40s crime films don't get better than this!

Glossy but very disturbing 1976 rape revenge drama with two Hemingways.