Earlier today, I saw that the writer Martin Cruz Smith has died. He was 82 years old and was best known for a series of detective novels about Arkady Renko, a Russian police detective. Starting with 1981’s GorkyPark, Smith’s novels not only dealt with Renko’s adventures but also provided a look at contemporary Russia, as it went from being controlled by the communists to being controlled by Putin. Renko was a cynical observer whose cases often exposed the corruption of the Russian elite, regardless of who was in charge.
The first of Smith’s Renko novels was turned into a movie in 1983. GorkyPark stars William Hurt as Renko. Renko investigates the discovery of three dead bodies at a ice skating rink in Moscow. One of the victims in an American whose brother (Brian Dennehy) is a tough New York cop who has come to Russia to investigate his disappearance. Renko’s investigation leads him to an American businessman (Lee Marvin) who is smuggling sables out of Russia and who is also a KGB asset. Joanna Pacula plays a woman whose hope to escape from Russia leads to her getting caught up in the murders and the subsequent investigation.
Gorky Park‘s mystery is easily solved. Just by casting Lee Marvin in the role, it is automatically clear who is responsible for the murders and it doesn’t take long for Renko to figure it out either. Instead, the movie is about how Renko’s investigation exposes the corruption of the Russian state, with the KGB first protecting Lee Marvin’s businessman when he’s considered to be an asset and then expecting Renko to assassinate him once it becomes obvious that his activities are becoming a liability. The subdued William Hurt and the brash Brian Dennehy make for an compelling investigative team while the underappreciated Joanna Pacula gives an outstanding performance as a woman who is so desperate to escape the oppression of the Soviet Union that she’ll risk everything. (Even though the murderer is an American businessman, the Soviet Union still banned Gorky Park as both a book and a film.) GorkyPark’s snowy cinematography and Michael Apted’s measured direction captures the chilly paranoia of Smith’s story and the bleak depiction of a society where national pride mixes with healthy a dose of fear.
Upon release, GorkyPark was a box office disappointment, which meant that there would be no further adventures of William Hurt’s Renko on the big screen. Martin Cruz Smith continued to write, ultimately publishing ten novels about his unconventional hero.
Harrison Ford stars as Rusty Sabich, a smart and ambitious prosecutor who is accused of murdering his former mistress, Carolyn Polhemus (Greta Scacchi).
A lot of people were taken by surprise when PresumedInnocent first came out in 1990. After a career of always being the hero and the type of person who took his fate into his own hands, PresumedInnocent featured a passive Harrison Ford whose fate was in the hands of his lawyer, Sandy Stern (Raul Julia) and in the prosecutors who are trying to send him to prison. For most of the movie, the audience doesn’t know if Rusty is innocent and a lot of what Rusty does makes him seem to be guilty. Just the fact that Harrison Ford was playing someone who would cheat on his wife (played by Bonnie Bedelia, who everyone had last seen sticking up for Bruce Willis in DieHard) was considered to be shocking at the time. It says a lot about Ford’s appeal as an actor that he remains sympathetic even though he’s playing a character who does a lot of bad things. He remains compelling, even though Rusty is forced to spend a good deal of the movie as a passive spectator. To anyone who underrates Harrison Ford an actor, this is the film to show them.
PresumedInnocent is a murder mystery but it’s also a sad-eyed look at a corrupt judicial system. Rusty is accused of murder largely due to the whims of fate. If Raymond Horgan (Brian Dennehy), Rusty’s former patron, had been reelected as district attorney, Rusty would never have been charged. When the trial moves to the courtroom, the Judge (Paul Winfield) himself is revealed to have been compromised by his own relationship with Carolyn, something that Sandy is willing to use to the defense’s advantage. John Spencer plays a detective who is willing to hide evidence to protect Rusty. Joe Grifasi plays a former detective who is motivated less by the evidence in the case and more by a personal grudge against Rusty. The idea of getting justice for Carolyn is pushed to the side by everyone’s personal drama. The ending challenges all of our preconceived notions about Rusty and the meaning of guilt and innocence.
Intelligently directed by Alan J. Pakula and featuring an excellent cast, PresumedInnocent is a top-notch legal thriller and also one of Harrison Ford’s best films.
I noticed that today is Harrison Ford’s 83rd birthday. Like most people born in the early 1970’s, I’m a big fan of Harrison Ford. My formative years included the Star Wars movies, the Indiana Jones movies, and many other great films like BLADE RUNNER (1982) and WITNESS (1984). He would go on to make more classics like THE FUGITIVE (1993) and AIR FORCE ONE (1997) as I got older and moved into adulthood, but one of my personal favorite films starring Harrison Ford is REGARDING HENRY (1991).
In REGARDING HENRY, Harrison Ford stars as Henry Turner, a ruthless bastard, who also happens to be a hugely successful and cutthroat attorney in New York City. This horrific approach to being a human being does seem to provide plenty of money for his wife Sarah (Annette Bening) and his daughter Rachel (Mikki Allen), but you don’t get the feeling there’s that much actual love being shared between the three. Then one night, after another successful day of sticking it to the masses, Henry’s world is turned upside down when he’s shot in the head at the corner convenience store by a guy sticking up the place (John Leguizamo). The bullet to the brain doesn’t kill Henry, but it does leave him with severe brain damage and extremely impaired motor skills. This turns out to be a nice turn of events for Henry, and his family, for several reasons. First, he meets Bradley (Bill Nunn), his physical therapist and all around nice guy, who really helps him get headed back in the right direction in health, and in life, again. Second, he begins to reconnect with his wife who likes this more thoughtful, caring and affectionate version of Henry that seems to be emerging. Finally, he starts to show his daughter some much needed love and attention, rather than just wanting to ship her off to boarding school as quickly as possible. Wouldn’t you know it though, just when things are going so perfect, the sweet, innocent Henry stumbles up some very uncomfortable truths about his former life. Will these revelations upend his new life, or will he be able to move forward with a fresh start and a household filled with love?!!
There are two main reasons that I love REGARDING HENRY. The first reason is undoubtedly the feel-good story at the heart of the film. This is J.J. Abrams second writing credit and his screenplay takes Henry from being an arrogant, selfish jerk who is only interested in his own glorification, to a sweet-natured man of integrity who elevates his wife and his daughter to the prominent positions they rightfully deserve. Is this transformation grounded in reality… no, but I love movies because I want to escape reality and live vicariously through the heroes on the screen. Henry may not be a hero in the same way as Superman, Charles Bronson, or Chow Yun-Fat, but he is someone that I can relate to. I want to be a better dad. I want to be a better husband. I want to be a man of principle and integrity in the workplace. I may not always be perfect, but watching Henry navigate his life and correct past wrongs is very satisfying and uplifting to see. I love the look in the eyes of his wife and daughter as they are so proud of him. I want my family to look at me in that same way. This movie just makes me feel good. When I want realism, I’ll go visit a shrink and watch documentaries about men and women dealing with traumatic brain injuries.
The second reason I love REGARDING HENRY stems from the performances of several of the cast members. Harrison Ford is so good in the title role. His transformation from a cold hearted lawyer to a simple-minded family man is one of those things that could be really bad with the wrong actor, but I’ll gladly follow Ford through the process. He’s believable on both sides, and he has to be for the movie to work. Annette Bening is also great as his wife, Sarah. Her transformation isn’t a physical transformation, but an emotional transformation, and she’s just as convincing. The love she conveys toward Henry as he embraces his new life, followed by the way she plays the scenes when Henry uncovers some of the painful truths of their former life, are actually some of the strongest moments in the film. Finally, I want to give an extra shoutout to Bill Nunn as Bradley, possibly the greatest physical therapist on earth. If dictionaries had pictures, the word “likable” should have a picture of Bill Nunn from REGARDING HENRY. Nunn was a fine character actor, with many credits to his name, but I will never see him in a role that doesn’t take me back to his performance in this film.
Overall, I highly recommend REGARDING HENRY to any person who enjoys a well-made and well-acted feel good story. It’s not the most realistic film in the world, but it’s one that I truly love.
Tom Hanks celebrated his birthday this week. Here’s a few of his films that you can find online.
Directed by Clint Eastwood, Sully (2016) features Tom Hanks in the role airline pilot Chesley Sullenberger. The film not only recreates Sullenberger’s famous landing in the Hudson but also the subsequent attempts by the government to scapegoat Sully for the incident. This film features one of Hanks’s best performances, bringing humanity to a man who, on cultural level, was viewed as being almost a mythological hero. Hanks is likable and, this being an Eastwood film, the government is portrayed as being both corrupt and incompetent. What’s not to like? Sully is on HBOMAX.
When it comes to Tom Hanks, it’s hard to pick his best performance. I would probably go with Captain Phillips (2013), featuring Hanks as the captain of a boat that is taken prisoner by modern-day pirates. Like Sully, this film is based on a true story and, as he did in Sully, Hanks brings to life a character based on a real-life person. The final scene is devastating and features some of the best acting that I’ve ever seen from anyone. Somehow, Hanks was not nominated for Best Actor for his performance here. Captain Phillips can be viewed on Netflix.
Punchline (1988) is a bit of an oddity. Sally Field is miscast as a housewife trying to make it as a stand-up. That said, Tom Hanks gives a strong and dramatic performance as a self-centered and self-destructive comic. Punchline can be viewed on Tubi.
It’s Summer!
It’s summer! I just got back from my vacation. (I took it a month early because I needed to be back here to start my summer job of covering Big Brother for the Big Brother Blog.) If you can’t get to the beach this summer, you can at least watch both Beach Party (1963) and Bikni Beach (1964) on Tubi and discover how people used to celebrate the summer months. Yes, both of these films are undeniably dated and a bit corny but who cares? Sometimes, it’s fun to watch something from a more innocent era. Beach Party and Bikini Beachare both on Tubi.
If you want a slightly racier beach party, The Beach Girls (1982) is a Crown International production that features all of the nudity (male and female), raunchy humor, and drug jokes that you could hope for. That said, it also features a very likable and energetic cast. It can be viewed over at the Internet Archive.
If you’re looking for a slightly more sinister vacation, Last Summer (1969) features Richard Thomas, Bruce Davison, and Barbara Hershey as three rich kids and Catherine Burns as the insecure girl who tries to hang out with them. Hershey and Burns both give outstanding performances and the end result is a creepy and disturbing coming-of-age story. It can be viewed at the Internet Archive.
Odds and Ends
Enter The Ninja (1981) features my man, the one and only Franco Nero, as a ninja! This is a film that represents everything that made Cannon great. Plus, how can you resist Franco, literally winking at the camera? Enter The Ninja is on Prime.
Finally, if you want to see just how strange fame can be, check out Ringmaster (1998), a film that “celebrates” Jerry Springer. (Jerry appears as a version of himself.) Bizarrely enough, this film does feature two truly good performances, from Jaime Pressly and Molly Hagan as a trailer park mother and daughter who appears on Jerry’s show. Ringmaster is on Prime.
(Bottom to Top) Francis Ng, Roy Cheung, Lam Suet, and Anthony Wong!
THE MISSION is the 1999 film that helped me fall back in love with Hong Kong cinema after many of its great actors and directors had left for Hollywood in the mid 90’s. With Chow Yun-Fat, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and John Woo no longer working in Hong Kong, there was a huge void, and Director Johnnie To stepped in and helped fill it with some of the best Hong Kong crime films ever made. Through his Milkyway Image production company, To directed THE LONGEST NITE (1998), EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED (1998), A HERO NEVER DIES (1998), RUNNING OUT OF TIME (1999), ELECTION (2005), and MAD DETECTIVE (2007), to name a few, all of which are crime film masterpieces in my opinion, and feature some of the best actors still working in Hong Kong at that time. I put Johnnie To’s body of work up against the best directors working anywhere in the world in the last 40 years. The quality and volume of his movies are outstanding, and they’re prime to be discovered for the uninitiated!
THE MISSION has a relatively simple plot…five bodyguards are assembled to protect Hong Kong triad boss, Lung (Eddy Ko), after assassins try to take him out while he’s having dinner at the Super Bowl restaurant. Lung’s brother, Frank (Simon Yam), puts together quite the badass group: Curtis (Anthony Wong), a completely trusted former associate who’s now working as a hairdresser; James (Lam Suet), a firearms expert and nonstop eater of pistachios; Roy (Francis Ng), a super busy guy who seems to be rising in the ranks as a local criminal leader; Shin (Jackie Lui), Roy’s underling and the inexperienced, weak link of the team; and Mike (Roy Cheung), a guy who’s awesome with a gun and currently stuck in the pimp game. We follow this group as they protect their boss from repeated attempts on his life, and also try to help figure out who’s ordered the hits. Needless to say, their mission takes a few detours along the way, and the men will ultimately have to decide where their true loyalty lies!
THE MISSION is a crime film masterpiece, and I give Johnnie To most of the credit. Clocking in at just 84 minutes, the film is so simple, and yet it creates such a distinctive vibe that you can’t take your eyes off of the screen. To seems most interested in building the relationships between his main characters during the boring downtimes of their mission. We see them go from not talking to each other, to begrudgingly acknowledging each other, to finally playing soccer with a paper ball as they wait for their boss to leave his office. Just as we’re really getting to know and like our characters, the film will spring an intense action sequence out of nowhere. The director’s signature restraint is on full display in these limited action scenes, which are built around our characters’ professional expertise and a rising spacial tension with the would-be assassins. The action is incredible without relying on the over the top action sequences expected of the genre. As a matter of fact, I rank the “mall shootout” from THE MISSION as one of the best action scenes that Hong Kong cinema has to offer.
The cool poster for THE MISSION (1999)
The writing is also top notch in THE MISSION, which is not a real surprise because Nai-Hoi Yau has written almost all of Johnnie To’s best films. Yau and To have quite the working relationship as the screenplay, like the movie, hints at way more than it says. The audience isn’t spoon fed everything that happens, but it’s easy to look back upon repeat viewings and see that the clues are there based on what we know of the characters. There are also some interesting surprises sprinkled throughout the film. For example, a character shown as a coward in the opening scene re-emerges later in the film and redeems himself in a completely unexpected way. These moments are fun and exciting even for a film that is often relatively still and quiet. One other technical credit I want to mention is the film’s musical score by Chi Wing Chung. I’m not the kind of reviewer to spend too much time on a score, but I haven’t been able to get THE MISSION’s theme out of my head from the first time I saw it. Like the rest of the film, it’s simple, but it is the perfect synthy, background music for men walking and looking cool. I absolutely love it.
Last, but not least, I have to highlight the cast that Johnnie To assembled for THE MISSION. It’s full of Hong Kong film award winners, beginning with five time winner Anthony Wong, and then Francis Ng and Simon Yam, also single winners of the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actor. Each of these guys are outstanding here, with Anthony Wong and Francis Ng as the standouts of the movie. Anthony Wong, known for so many over the top characterizations in the classic Hong Kong films of the 90’s, delivers a perfectly understated and subtle performance here, which makes him that much more powerful when he needs to be. Francis Ng has a lot more dialogue, but his underlying sense of frustration and boiling-over intensity is the perfect counterpoint to Wong’s patience and calm. Roy Cheung, Lam Suet, Eddy Ko, and Tian-Lin Wang (Wong Jing’s dad) are all perfectly cast and bring excellent characterizations to the table. My only complaint about the cast is the fact that Lau Ching-Wan isn’t in the film. He’s been the star of so many of To’s best films, that I wish there would have been a part for him here.
Overall, THE MISSION is an incredible crime drama with a simple plot that primarily focuses on loyalty and betrayal within the triad underworld, punctuated by intense and precise action sequences, and performed by many of the very best actors in the Hong Kong film industry. It gets my highest recommendation and is well worth searching out.
I’ve included a trailer for THE MISSION below. I honestly don’t think it’s a great representation for the movie itself, but it appears to be the best we’ve got!
Though the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences claim that the Oscars honor the best of the year, we all know that there are always worthy films and performances that end up getting overlooked. Sometimes, it’s because the competition too fierce. Sometimes, it’s because the film itself was too controversial. Often, it’s just a case of a film’s quality not being fully recognized until years after its initial released. This series of reviews takes a look at the films and performances that should have been nominated but were, for whatever reason, overlooked. These are the Unnominated.
The 1971 road film, Two-Lane Blacktop, is a movie about four people whose real names are never revealed. Indeed, their names are never as important as what they’re driving.
Named after his car, GTO (Warren Oates) is a talkative man who likes to brag on himself and who picks up hitchhikers so he can talk to them. We don’t learn much about GTO’s background. For someone who talks as much as he does, GTO doesn’t reveal much about who he is when he’s not driving. It’s easy to imagine him as a salesman, traveling across the country and desperately trying to make his quota before the sun goes down. With the way that he picks up hitchhikers and his need to convince everyone of his own skill and prowess behind the wheel, it’s easy to imagine that he’s probably recently divorced and still dealing with suddenly being on his own. He seems to have something to prove, not only to everyone around him but especially to himself. One gets the feeling that the life he had suddenly collapsed and he took to the road to escape it all but he still hasn’t reached the point where he can handle truly being alone. For all of his talk, it doesn’t take long to notice that GTO isn’t quite as worldly as he claims he is.
A chance meeting leads to GTO getting into a cross-country race with The Driver (James Taylor) and the Mechanic (Dennis Wilson), two young men who are driving a 1955 Chevy and who make their money by engaging in street races. (They’re also quick to steal a license plate when no one’s looking.) The Driver and the Mechanic don’t talk a lot and, when they do, it’s in terse and somewhat awkward sentences. (Both Taylor and Wilson were musicians who made their acting debut with this film. Their natural stiffness and lack of emotion works well for their characters.) The Driver and the Mechanic seem to communicate solely through driving. They pick up The Girl (Laurie Bird) and both the Driver and the Mechanic seem to have feelings for her but it’s pretty obvious that their true love will always be for their car.
Two-Lane Blacktop is a road movie, a movie that really doesn’t have much of a plot (the cross-country race soon ceases to be a real race) but which does have some beautiful footage of America in 1971 and an outstanding performance from the great character actor, Warren Oates. EasyRider was advertised as being a film about a man who looked for America and couldn’t find it. That’s actually a better description of Two-Lane Blacktop, a film about three uniquely American men who have embraced the car culture that is at the center of life in America but who are still, more or less, lost in their home country. Oates, always talking and refusing to give up or even acknowledge the fact that he doesn’t really know much about how cars work, represents the so-called silent majority. Wilson and Taylor are the next generation, their long-hair branding them as outsiders while their skill with a car and their desire win represents what we’re told is the best of the American competitive spirit. What makes the film unsettling is the feeling that all three of them are using their cars as a way to avoid dealing with the reality of their lives.
Two-Lane Blacktop may sound a bit pretentious and it is. The metaphors get a bit heavy-handed. That said, as directed by Monte Hellman, it’s both a gorgeous travelogue and a valuable time capsule, a document of life in the late 60s and early 70s. Hellman directed the film on the road. When we see the Mechanic stealing a license plate so no one down south will know that he and the Driver are actually from California, it’s a powerful scene because it was actually filmed on location, in the South. This isn’t a film that was shot on a backlot. This is a film that was shot across America and it captures the country at a time when, much like today, no one was really sure what the future held for its politics or its culture. It may be a film about three men who are obsessed with cars but it’s also a portrait of a country in an almost directionless state of turmoil.
Two-Lane Blacktop was promoted as being the next Easy Rider but it turned out to be a notorious box office failure. James Taylor and Dennis Wilson never did another movie. Warren Oates continued as a busy character actor while Laurie Bird died of an intentional drug overdose in 1979. Director Monte Hellman’s directorial career continued but his days of being courted by the major studios were over. However, as the years passed, audiences started to discover Two-Lane Blacktop and now, it’s considered to be a cult classic.
Given its failure at the box office, Two-Lane Blacktop was ignored by the Academy. The Oscar for Best Picture went to another film that featured a memorable car chase, The French Connection. While Two-Lane Blacktop may not have deserved to win Best Picture (not over nominees like The French Connection, The Last Picture Show, Fiddler on the Roof, and A Clockwork Orange), it certainly is far more memorable movie than the fifth film nominated that year, Nicholas and Alexandra. If nothing else, Warren Oates deserved a nomination for his supporting performance. The Academy may not have embraced Two-Lane Blacktop but, fortunately, film lovers eventually would.
Former Green Beret Justin Wise (Johnathon Schaech) is the new sheriff of the small mountain town of Blue Ridge. Sheriff Wise is so good at his job that he can just step inside of a gas station and figure out that it’s been robbed just by observing that the millennial behind the counter isn’t look at his phone. The sheriff has a phone-obsessed millennial daughter (Taegen Burns) and a supportive ex-wife (Sarah Lancaster), who works as a waitress.
He also has a big mystery on his hands when the daughter of Cliff McGrath (Graham Greene) is found murdered. The McGraths thinks that the Wade family is responsible. The Wades have a long-standing grievance against the McGraths. Sheriff Wise and Deputies Dobson (Lara Silva) and Thompson (Ben Esler) have to solve the mystery before a full-out war breaks out in town.
I was not surprised to discover that this was a pilot for television series. The movie has the homey feel of the type of mystery show that your parents or grandparents would watch every Friday night. Sherriff Wise may not be as old as my parents but he definitely shares their feelings about phones and trying to understand what’s wrong with the kids today.
It’s an old-fashioned movie but it’s mildly diverting and it does hold your attention. Johnathon Schaech gives a strong performance as the sheriff who can beat up three people at once but who still gets nervous before asking a woman out on a date. Graham Greene and Tom Proctor both give good performances as the rival family patriarchs and the mystery takes some interesting turns. BlueRidge did a good job of brining its small town setting to life. BlueRidge is good enough to be a pleasant afternoon diversion.
Also known as NinjaWarLord, 1973’s RageofWind takes place during the Japanese occupation of China during the Second World War.
A Chinese fishing village is controlled by the ruthless Taka (Yasuaki Kurata), who terrorizes the town with his Hawaiian-shirt wearing henchmen and who deals with dissent by hanging people in the town square and then refusing to allow their loved ones to take down the bodies. When boxer Chan Kwong (Chan Sing) returns to the village after pursuing a successful fighting career in the United States, the village rejoices. Finally, there is someone who can stand up to Taka! And the villages needs help because Taka has just instituted a new fishing tax!
Oh, Taka, you fool! Don’t you realize that raising taxes never solves anything? I realize that this film is taking place at a time when Milton Friedman was still working for the government and also long before the Laffer Curve was drawn on that napkin but still, raising taxes is always the last refuge of the unimaginative. When the people in the village express their displeasure at having to pay more in taxes, Taka decides to seize their boats. Hey, Taka, you dumbass commie — how are they going to make the money to pay your taxes if they don’t have their boats!? Fortunately, Chan Kwong isn’t going to let the taxman get away with this.
(It’s interesting that this film features a Chinese hero fighting on the side of free enterprise.)
Here’s a few things that I liked about RageofWind.
First of all, it didn’t waste anytime getting to the good stuff. The film’s first fight broke out within the first five minutes of its running time and, from that moment on, people were either fighting or preparing to fight. This film didn’t feature any slow spots. The fights were exciting to watch and, even more importantly, they distracted the viewer from asking too many questions about the plot. At times, it felt like everyone in the film would have been well-served to just stop fighting and negotiate but that wouldn’t have been as much fun to watch.
Second, Taka wore a cape. His henchmen may have dressed like tourists in Hawaii but Take wore a red cape! And what’s even more impressive is that Taka totally pulled off the look. Seriously, if someone can wear a cape and not look like an idiot, that’s when you know that person is a total badass.
Third, both the bad guys and the good guys got their own annoying sidekick. The bad sidekick was constantly popping up and laughing. The good sidekick had no teeth. Both sidekicks died, which is an example of this film giving the viewers what they want.
Fourth, the musical score was made up of stolen riffs from Pink Floyd and the Theme From Shaft. (I didn’t recognize the Pink Floyd riffs but everyone that I was watching the film with was like, “How did they get Pink Floyd!?”) Apparently, the film “borrowed” the music without paying. I love the shamelessness of old school Hong Kong cinema.
Fifth, the final fight between Taka and Chan Kwong is absolutely brutal! Seriously, when you’re watching a film about people who are incapable of settling their conflicts through talking, this is exactly the type of fight you want to see.
Finally, once again, all of the conflict could have been avoided if they hadn’t tried to tax everyone to death! I love films that are anti-taxation. Watching a double feature of RageofWind and Harry’s Warmight become my new Tax Day tradition!
When mob boss Angelo (Anthony Quinn) is assassinated on the orders of the son of a former rival, bodyguard Frankie Delano (Sylvester Stallone) takes it upon himself to protect Angelo’s daughter, Jennifer (Madeleine Stowe). The problem is that Jennifer, who was adopted by a normal couple, doesn’t know that she is the daughter of a mobster. Her life and her marriage are already falling apart even before Frankie reveals the truth to her. All she wants to do is disappear into the pages of a romance novel written by her favorite writer, Marcello (Raoul Bova) but Marello is not quite what he seems.
Sylvester Stallone has had a long career, full of high points (Rocky, First Blood, The Expendables, Creed) and low points (too many to list). AvengingAngelo, made at a time when it was assumed that the aging Stallone would never again play Rocky Balboa or John Rambo, is a moderate low point. It’s no Rocky but it’s still better than Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot! Overall, it’s not very good and a lot of the humor falls flat but Stallone and Madeleine Stowe are both likable and they have a few moments that display what seems like genuine chemistry. It’s still a slow movie that awkwardly mixes comedy and action but it was not the disaster that I was expecting it to be when I first found it on Tubi. It’s more forgettable than bad. If there is anything to really regret when it comes to AvengingAngelo, it’s that Anthony Quinn did not get a more memorable swan song.
AvengingAngelo was Stallone’s second movie to go straight to video. It’s easy to forget not but the conventional wisdom in 2002 really was that Stallone was washed up. There were jokes about whether or not he would follow Schwarzenegger’s lead and go into politics. Stallone, however, proved all the naysayers wrong, proving that he could still throw punches as Rocky Balboa and John Rambo while The Expendables revealed a Stallone who could finally laugh at himself. Avenging Angelo turned out to be not the end of Stallone’s career but instead just a detour. Say what you will about the man and his movies, Sylvester Stallone is an American institution.
Tom Hanks plays David Basner (Tom Hanks), an advertising executive whose immature lifestyle gives him insight into what sells but has also left him totally unprepared to deal with the fallout when his mother (Eva Marie Saint) leaves his father, Max (Jackie Gleason). David, who is struggling to come up with the perfect commercial for a demanding client (Hector Elizondo), has to come to terms with both his father’s bad health and his history of infidelity.
This isn’t my favorite Tom Hanks movie. It comes from that awkward period when Hanks was trying to make the transition from comedy to drama and its attempt to mix the two genres is not always successful. The scenes of Hanks at the ad agency are often so cartoonish that they don’t seem like they belong in a movie where Jackie Gleason loses a foot to diabetes and realizes that he spent his entire marriage emotionally abusing his wife. The movie, though, is worth watching for the teaming of Hanks and Gleason, two comedic actors who eventually proved themselves to equally as skilled at playing it serious. Gleason, especially, gives a strong performance. This was his final film and Garry Marshall convinced him to take it by asking, “Do you really want to go out on Smokey and the Bandit 3?” Gleason would die a little over a year after the release of NothingInCommon and this film, even if it wasn’t perfect, gave the world a chance to see what a good actor he really was.
This film is often cited as the the movie that started Hanks on the way to becoming a dramatic actor. Like Punchline, NothingInCommon played a role in Hanks becoming more than just a comedian but I think Big was ultimately the better showcase for Hanks’s ability to mix pathos with laughs. NothingInCommon was directed by Garry Marshall and, as was usually the case with Marshall, he often doesn’t trust the audience to figure things out for themselves. He goes overboard trying to force an emotional response instead of just trusting the material. Tom Hanks still does a good enough job in NothingInCommon. Hanks is as likable as always and you can see the dramatic actor emerging in Hanks’s performance even if Hanks still wasn’t totally comfortable with it.
NothingInCommon is flawed but it was definitely a better swan song for Jackie Gleason than Smokey and the Bandit 3.
Earlier today, I saw that the writer Martin Cruz Smith has died. He was 82 years old and was best known for a series of detective novels about Arkady Renko, a Russian police detective. Starting with 1981’s Gorky Park, Smith’s novels not only dealt with Renko’s adventures but also provided a look at contemporary Russia, as it went from being controlled by the communists to being controlled by Putin. Renko was a cynical observer whose cases often exposed the corruption of the Russian elite, regardless of who was in charge.
Through the Shattered Lens 