Movie review - "There was a Crooked Man..." (1970) **

 Joseph Mankiewicz's comedy heist Western with some old stars (Kirk Douglas, Henry Fonda) and new writers (Robert Benton, David Newman). He's not a director particularly associaated with Westerns - the movie was originally written for Don Siegel which makes more sense.

I glimpsed this as a child and always remember Michael Blodgett having sex with the girl on the pool table (female parts not amazing in this). 

It's not much of a movie. Douglas wears glasses which is novel but he's mostly smug. There's a lot of prison tropes - riots, some gays, people hot for Blodgett, cross and double cross.

The characters aren't that compelling. There are introduced in interesting ways but then gets bogged down. Henry Fonda is dogged. Him turning crook at end feels unmotiavted. Douglas is one note.

I think maybe if had been a woman's prison, maybe it would've had more life.  

The cast is special - there's Burgess Meredith, Warren Oates, Lee Grant, etc.

But I didn't like it. The music is awful - those stings. Why did Westerns use these? 

Movie review - "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three" (1974) ****

 Really fun. Smart. Funny. New York-y. The four robbers have different personalities. Walter Matthau and Jerry Stiller are hugely entertaining. Shows how it's done.

Movie review - "Bad Man's River" (1971) *1/2

 In his memoirs, Bernard Gordon said this was the worst Phil Yordan production he worked on - claimed it didn't make sense, Yordan didn't care. He's not wrong - it's not very good.

Lee Van Cleef is in colourful cowboy mode as an outlaw who is conned by Gina Lollobrigida and then tries to steal some money. 

Confusing. Dull. 

Movie review - "The Great Train Robbery" (1978) ***

 Unsurprisingly faithful to the book although there are a few changes - things that were worked out on the page have to be brought into dialogue, there's a bigger part for the mistress of the hero, less reference to sex with twelve year olds and Victorian slang, the final capture is accelerated, there's less analysis of the society.

Because Crichton's characters were so weak his films depended on casting more than others - he was lucky to have Sean Connery here as the arch thief. Lesley Anne Downe is sexy as his girlfriend though her role is pretty much just "sexy". Donald Sutherland does his best as the second lead. 

There is pleasing period detail, decent production value and that's really Connery at the end on the train, ducking his head under. The cleverness of the story worked better on the page - this has some of the life drained (could not Crichton have done more with Connery's minion, Barlow? I wish George Lazenby had played this part)

Still, totally fine. 

Book review - "The Great Train Robbery" by Michael Crichton (1975)

 Crichton having fun. Really loves slang from the era. Maybe too much. Still can't create characters - Pierce is just a part for a movie star, his girlfriend is paper thin, etc. But the detail is wonderful, the research entertaining, the twists clever - sourcing keys, dressing as a dad man to get on the train, etc.

Also while Crichton makes a point that sometimes people just want money it's very clear that a lot of the crime committed by people in this are driven by society. 

Movie review - "The Brinks Job" (1978) **

 William Friedkin recovered from Sorcerer with a light take on the Brinks robbery which based on this wasn't that interesting. They robbed a bank and stole a lot of money and... That was it. The people aren't that interesting either - just a bunch of old character actors doing schtick. Peter Falk, Paul Sorvino, Warren Oates, etc.

The movie lacks life and energy. It throws in gags with big props but Friedkin doesn't have a feel for comedy. It comes alive once or twice - J Edgar Hoover blaming it on commies, the cops interrogating a gang member by beating him up. Apparently heavy scenes of the mob beating them up were cut. That was a mistake. The movie works better when it's heavier.

I think Friedkin was too spooked to make this well. 

Movie review - "Ray Meets Helen" (2019) *1/2

 I'm glad Alan Rudolph got the chance to make a movie and that Keith Carradine and Sondra Locke played lead roles and it's about a romance between older people. Also fun to see Samntha Mathis, Keith Davis and Jennifer Tilly have something to do. Carradine has some raffish charm and I enjoyed him playing the piano.  

But it's not very good. It's slow. Locke is clearly unwell and isn't great.  The fantastic elements - Locke continuously seeing a dead Mathis and so on - don't work. The movie feels cheap.

Movie review - "A Nice Little Bank That Should be Robbed" (1958) **

 Why did they make this? To cover overhead? It's in CinemaScope so black and white. Maybe they needed a vehicle for Tom Ewell. Maybe Buddy Adler was impressed by The Lavendar Hill Mob.

Wacky heist comedies can work if you like the heroes. Tom Ewell, Mickey Rooney and eventually Mickey Shaughnessy try but aren't that. Why should we care? Why not make the bank slimey? Why not have a villain? Why does Dina Merrill (Ewell's girlfriend) look so bored? 

Henry Levin shoots the script as usual.  He makes mistakes like directing the victims of the robberies as scared - if they'd been mean and horrible it would be more fun.

The final heist takes forever. A poor movie. 

Movie review - "Nuns on the Run" (1990) ***

 The last film, I think, from HandMade Films, at least its George Harrison-Denis O'Brien iteration, saw the company go out on a hit - and it was the type of movie the company probably should have made through the late 80s instead of all those quirky American pieces: a solid comedy with a former Monty Python. Eric Idle is the guy here, though the prime creative mover was Jonathan Lynn who wrote and directed it. 

Idle teams well with Robbie Coltrane and the jokes are obvious but funny. There's various plot machinations, a really sweet romance for Idle, Janet Suzman impresses as mother superior (but feels as though she needs a big scene or something the way Maggie Smith got in Sister Act  - that film felt as though it learned from this one). The pacing is occasionally off and some scenes feel re-shot. But it wants to entertain, the music is great, it's unpretentious. 

Movie review - "Bellman and True" (1988) **

 HandMade films had a success taking a film intended for TV and releasing it theatrically with The Long Good Friday. They tried it again with Song of Freedom and this one, neither succeeded.

This isn't a bad story - a computer expert is forced to assist in a crime  after his step son is kidnapped.

But it's just shot like a British TV drama with all that TV drama acting, and musical stings, and TV cutting. Which is fine on TV but not for a movie.

Bernard Hill is a decent actor but he's taciturn, tight - there's no warmth. The lead needed a star. Bob Hoskins would have made all the difference.

The characters of the criminals are interesting because they are more three dimensional than usual. More interesting than the lead. It picks up in the second half when the heist kicks in.

But the core relationship between the lead duo - the guy and the kid - is flat. 

Book review - "The Man with the Getaway Face" by Richard Stark (1963)

 The second Parker has him get plastic surgery, then go off to commit one of his heists but the second half turns into a saga about who killed his plastic surgeon. Interesting concepts of honour. The loyal chauffeur is an interesting character too.

Book review - "The Hunter" by Richard Stark

 The first Parker novel. Comes flying out of the gate, with tough professionalism, cold fury, hate. Bigger female roles here - the wife (quite empathetic), the hooker who helps him. Ending feels padded. Parker gets revenge, then wants money, then gets revenge on the outfit. Like he keeps wanting more.

Easy to read. Entertaining. 

Book review - "The Outfit" by Richard Stark

 Third Parker novel is terrific. The Outfit are out to kill him. He finds out who. Figures out it's the head guy. Makes a deal with the number two guy to knock him off. Gets his mates to hit the Outfit. Would they do so that easily? Well you go for it. It's a series of short stories of various robberies. Then a satisfying ending.

Parker was harder in these early novels - killing guards and stuff. He wouldn't later on. 

Movie review - "Captive" (1986) **1/2

 Doesn't quite work - Paul Mayersberg was perhaps over ambitious using the Patty Heart story as he had to demonstrate real character change, and the inexperienced cast doesn't help. But it takes a swing. Memorable images and moods. The Edge did music. 

Mayersberg did work for Nic Roeg and it's got his horniness - we first meet Irina Brook naked with a lover and she takes her clothes off a lot. 

Book review - "Flashfire" by Richard Stark (2000)

 This gets off to a slow start with Parker being betrayed feeling very rote, and the baddies not really bad more amiable, and Parker raising cash from other jobs too easily. But it picks up when he arrives in town and befriends Leslie. These two have a nice by play and she's enjoyable and it's great that Parker gets really badly injured and can't do what he normally can.

Book review - "Slayground" by Richard Stark (1971)

 So much better than the film it's not funny. Brilliantly tight, gripping account which starts with Parker in a robbery - dodgy driver crashes, Parker seeks refuge in a fun park, is seen by corrupt cops and crooks who figure out he's got money so don't turn him in but go after the money. So it's a siege story.

Why didn't they film this instead of stupid stuff about killing a nine year old girl and being killed off one by one (here he kills a gangster which annoys a crime lord but that's so much better). In the film Parker (called Stone) was a whimp, an idiot, who only shoots one person. Here he's a complete bad ass.

I guess there's a lot of internal action but you could add a character for Parker to talk to. 

Movie review - "Restless Natives" (1985) ***

 Sweet Scottish film about two young men who decide to be highwaymen. Goofy and tries to entertain. Bryan Forbes and Nanette Newman have a funny cameo as does Mel Smith. Ned Beatty pops up randomly in a decent role. Bernard Hill is one of the dads.

I didn't recognise the leads. Lovely scenery.

Movie review - "Slayground" (1983) ** (warning: spoilers)

 I get there's always a market for a thriller but it was odd EMI Films made this. Perhaps they were seduced by the name of Richard Stark/Donald Westlake - but really it needed a bigger name than Peter Coyote, even if he was coming off ET.

It's an odd duck - Coyote is Stone (Parker), a tough professional crim who works with an incompetent getaway driver who causes a crash that kills a nine year old girl. This prompts the girl's father to hire a killer to take out the crooks and the film turns into a kind of slasher with crims being offed one by one, and Coyote fleeing to England.

It was a mistake to have the accident kill a nine year old girl because I was all on the side of the father. The film tries to soften Stone by having him stop and inspect the dead body and express guilt about it but... sorry. If they'd killed a grown wife or something it would have propelled the plot just the same... I think killing off a kid just feels mean.

Stone never gets the chance to do anything tough until the end and even then it's mostly because the killer is being silly announcing himself. The killer acts as if he's in The Shadow and kills everyone who Stone helps - Mel Smith his friend (his death was a downer), a girl, his lawyer. Stone is toxic.

Why did EMI ever think this was commercial? 

Movie review - "Piccadilly Third Stop" (1960) **1/2

 Not bad heist film helped by some excellent actors and the novelty of Yoko Tani as a female lead. Dennis Price great fun as a casino over I wish his part had been bigger, same for Mai Zetterlin. Terence Morgan is fun as a cad. Lot of heist films made around this time.

Movie review - "League of Gentlemen" (1960) ***

 The first effort from Allied Film Makers - it has a splendid central idea, and Jack Hawkins having fun. A bit smug in places as Bryan Forbes scripts could be, but has a heist locomotive. Closest relationship was between Hawkins and Nigel Patrick. Lots of interesting people in it like Richard Attenborough, Keiron Moore. A little more sexy - Nanette Newman in a. bath.