The League of Gentlemen (1960)

Director: Basil Dearden

Writers: John Boland, Bryan Forbes

Composer: Philip Green

Starring: Jack Hawkins, Nigel Patrick, Roger Livesey, Richard Attenborough, Bryan Forbes, Kieron Moore, Terence Alexander, Norman Bird, Robert Coote, Nigel Green, Oliver Reed

More info: IMDb

Tagline: What is the league ... Who are the gentlemen?

Plot: A disgruntled veteran recruits a group of disgraced colleagues to perform a bank robbery with military precision.

My rating: 7.5/10

Will I watch it again? Yes.

Well this was an interesting picture.  The setup to bring all of these characters together was fun.  Along the way we meet each of them and get a sense of who they are and, for some, their motivation on why they would want in on this scheme.  Once the team is assembled the picture moves onto preparing for the caper and then the aftermath.  This isn't a laugh out loud comedy but there is some good funny.  It's more lighthearted.  Oliver Reed has a brief walk-on bit and he's hilarious.

I about lost my shit at that.  I miss him.  Anyway, I won't spoil anything but the post-heist ending is unconventional.  I'm not sure I liked how things turn out.  I'm not used to this kind of thing coming out of England in this era.  It feels like it belongs more firmly in the mid-70s.  Maybe it'll sit better with me the next time I see it.  It's a good picture but don't expect a laugh out loud comedy caper.

I almost forgot, the second biggest laugh is right here.  Fucking classic!

Now go watch it.

Bank Shot (1974)

Director: Gower Champion

Wrtiers: Wendell Mayes, Donald E. Westlake

Composer: John Morris

Starring: George C. Scott, Joanna Cassidy, Sorrell Booke, G. Wood, Clifton James, Bob Balaban, Bibi Osterwald, Frank McRae, Don Calfa, Harvey Evans, Hank Stohl, Liam Dunn, Jack Riley, Pat Zurica, Harvey J. Goldenberg, Jamie Reidy

More info: IMDb

Tagline: The Biggest "Withdrawal" In Banking History!

Plot: A bank, temporarily housed in a mobile home while a new building is built, looks like an easy target. On the other hand, why not steal the whole bank and rob it in a safer location?

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

How about that trailer, huh?  I love it!  The movie?  Not as much.  It's definitely got it's feet firmly planted in comedy.  I didn't laugh much but when I did it was loud.  The cast does a wonderful job and Joanna Cassidy takes the cake for MVP in this picture.  She's so much fun and she brings an awful lot of energy to the picture.  It's neat hearing music from John Morris that's not from a Mel Brooks picture but it gets really silly.  I'm sure that's exactly what the director, Champion, wanted.  This was Champions last film as director and only his second feature with a few TV credits prior to this one so maybe he wasn't a great choice although he did a good job.  I mean, just check out this amazing shot.

This neat little sequence lasts for less than a minute but I couldn't take my eyes off it.  There's just something missing that keeps this from being a great comedy.  It's short at only 83 minutes which turns out to be a good thing.  And what a coincidence that I watched two movies back to back with the exact same running time (the other was MR. ACE (1946))?  Maybe it just needed more gags.  Anyway, fans of any of these actors will not go wrong by watching this and it's loaded with familiar faces.

Baby Driver (2017)

Director: Edgar Wright

Writer: Edgar Wright

Composer: Steven Price

Starring: Ansel Elgort, Jon Bernthal, CJ Jones, Jon Hamm, Eiza Gonzalez, Micah Howard, Lily James, Kevin Spacey, Flea, Jamie Foxx, Paul Williams, Walter Hill

More info: IMDb

Tagline: All you need is one killer track.

Plot: After being coerced into working for a crime boss, a young getaway driver finds himself taking part in a heist doomed to fail.

My rating: 8/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes!!!

Boy, was this movie fun!  It's a thrill ride that rarely lets up.  I can see how someone might think this is style over substance but the characters are fun, the actors do a fine job, the action is a blast and at times intense, it's got a good story, some great stunts and a soundtrack that kicks all kinds of butt.  Edgar Wright seems to have put as much time into the music and integrating it into the picture than he did on everything else.  Just in the opening credits alone you can see how intricate and clever he gets with the visuals playing along with the music and later he adds another character to interact with the audio and visual with the editing and then it's really fun. The only thing I that bugged me was the big car fight in the parking garage at the end and that it went on too long.  I felt fatigued.  Maybe it was because I'd already sat through an awful lot of movie that's loaded with action or maybe it's because I felt that the movie could've ended just before that character shows up to do battle.  By the time that scene was over I was exhausted...and then there was still more movie to come.  I still really enjoyed all of what followed, though.  And how awesome is it seeing Paul Williams back in action?  Loved it!

Heat (1995)

Director: Michael Mann

Writer: Michael Mann

Composer: Elliot Goldenthal

Starring: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer, Jon Voight, Tom Sizemore, Diane Venora, Amy Brenneman, Ashley Judd, Mykelti Williamson, Wes Studi, Ted Levine, Dennis Haysbert, William Fichtner, Natalie Portman, Tom Noonan, Kevin Gage, Hank Azaria, Susan Traylor, Kim Staunton, Danny Trejo, Henry Rollins, Tone Loc, Jeremy Piven, Xander Berkeley, Bud Cort

More info: IMDb

Tagline:  A Los Angeles Crime Saga

Plot: A group of professional bank robbers start to feel the heat from police when they unknowingly leave a clue at their latest heist.

My rating: 8/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes.

I wasn't a big fan of this when I saw it about twenty years ago but when I caught it again last night, I really dug it.  I now get why this is a big hit with a lot of folks.  It's a very good film.  Pacino goes overboard sometimes like Pacino can do but it's a well-paced, entertaining action crime flick that delivers the goods.  And what a cast!  There's familiar faces showing up all over the place.  The ending was satisfying but I would have also been satisfied if it had gone the other way.  Vincent (Pacino) has a really stressful, bad couple of days and it's a stretch to see so much bad shit happen to him (and I'm talking about the incident that takes him and his wife to the hospital).  One thing that I dug was that the big bank heist is only two thirds into the almost three hour movie so you've got another hour of aftermath to deal with.  It's a great flick.  The DVD I have doesn't have any extras except for the trailer but the Blu-ray is loaded with goodies.  Someday I'll see that one in a cheap dump bin and watch it again.

Big Bad Mama II (1987)

Director: Jim Wynorski

Writers: R.J. Roberston, Jim Wynorski

Composer: Chuck Cirino

Starring: Angie Dickenson, Robert Culp, Danielle Brisebois, Julie McCullough, Jeff Yagher, Bruce Glover, Ebbe Roe Smith, Jacque Lynn Colton, Charles Cyphers

More info: IMDb

Tagline:Mama makes money the old fashioned way...she steals it!

Plot: When their home is repossessed, Wilma McClatchie's husband is killed and she and her two nubile young daughters set out to rob anything belonging to the owner of the bank concerned. With their exploits being chronicled by a newspaperman who has fallen for Wilma, the girls kidnap the banker's son who in turn falls for the younger daughter and joins in the gang's exploits with increasing enthusiasm.

My rating: 4/10

Will I watch it again? No.

I LOVE BIG BAD MAMA (1974).  It's funner'n'hell.  The pacing was fast, the action was good, it's loaded with casting awesomeness (which even included Wiliam Shatner) and it had that 1970s drive-in movie energy that a film like that should have.  It's just a real hoot of a picture.  Cut to 13 years later and this sequel is made and it's a shadow of its predecessor.  The dialogue is pretty bad, the performances are OK with some people and poor with others, there's a little bit of nudity (which is welcome in pictures like this) and the big action chase sequence is a montage completely lifted from the chase scenes from the first picture (!!!).  The music is synthesizer cheesy and there's a lot that's over-the-top.  Oh, and I can't let it go that SPOILER ALER, Mama died in the first one and now she's back.  There's no soul to it.  I can't tell if the film makers were even realized what made the first one so much damn fun.  But then this is 1980s Roger Corman and not 70s.  He's still, first and foremost, looking to make money but it's like that 70s film making spirit is gone from this flick.  The only thing I really liked about it was Robert Culp.  He's fun in every scene he's in but that's really it.  I liked seeing Bruce Glover again (as always) but he's hamming it up almost like a silent film era villain.  Yeah, it's a cheap picture but it's a cheap 80s picture versus a 70s one and that often makes a difference in my book. 

The DVD set from Shout Factory has great looking anamorphic prints for both BBM films.  There's a bunch of extras.  For BBM1 you get a commentary with Corman and Dickenson, another commentary with the director Steve Carver and DP Bruce Logan, Leonard Maltin interviewing Corman (it's only 5 minutes long but there's a lot in it and it's all too short), a 14 minute making of featurette called Mama Knows Best, the theatrical trailer (anamorphic widescreen), a TV trailer and a photo gallery.  For BBM2 you get a commentary from Jim Wynorski, 2 more minutes with Corman and Maltin, a 10 minute interview with Bruce Glover (filmed in 2010) the anamorphic widescreen trailer and an anamorphic widescreen trailers for CRAZY MAMA (1975), SMOKEY BITES THE DUST (1981), JACKSON COUNTY JAIL (1976) and THE LADY IN RED (1979).  Despite BBM2's failure to recapture any of what made the first film so good, this disc is great just for BBM1 and the boatload of extras.

Big Bad Mama (1974)

Director: Steve Carver

Writers: William W. Norton, Frances Doel

Composer: David Grisman

Starring: Angie Dickinson, William Shatner, Tom Skerritt, Susan Sennett, Robbie Lee, Noble Willingham, Dick Miller, Tom Signorelli, Joan Prather, Royal Dano, Sally Kirkland

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Men, Money And Moonshine: When It Comes To Vice, Mama Knows Best.

Plot: Mama and daughters get forced by circumstances into bootlegging and bank robbing, and travel across the country trailed by the law.

My rating:8/10

Will I watch it again? YES!!

This movie is a total gas.   It starts off with a bang and within minutes Mama and her gals are off to a life of crime (or at least for the next 80 minutes).  The cast is fantastic and fun and it's loaded with lots of familiar character actor faces.  There's no escaping that this picture is riding the, albeit late, popularity of BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967) and it's Roger Corman low budget origins, but it's still a fun ride.  The pacing is pretty damn solid.  You don't get to spend too much time in any one place and there's a good deal going on. Dickinson is just plain smokin' hot.  Forget that she gets naked a lot...

OK, don't forget it.  By the way, there's a good deal of naughty fun in this flick.

I'm willing to be that's more of Shatner than you ever expected to see.  This film is no masterpiece but it's a great example of how awesome 1970s drive-ins must have been.  Oh, to be able to go back and experience it first-hand.  Sigh.  The DVD set from Shout Factory has great looking anamorphic prints for both BBM films.  There's a bunch of extras.  For BBM1 you get a commentary with Corman and Dickenson, another commentary with the director Steve Carver and DP Bruce Logan, Leonard Maltin interviewing Corman (it's only 5 minutes long but there's a lot in it and it's all too short), a 14 minute making of featurette called Mama Knows Best, the theatrical trailer (anamorphic widescreen), a TV trailer and a photo gallery.  For BBM2 you get a commentary from Jim Wynorski, 2 more minutes with Corman and Maltin, a 10 minute interview with Bruce Glover (filmed in 2010) the anamorphic widescreen trailer and an anamorphic widescreen trailers for CRAZY MAMA (1975), SMOKEY BITES THE DUST (1981), JACKSON COUNTY JAIL (1976) and THE LADY IN RED (1979).  Despite BBM2's failure to recapture any of what made the first film so good, this disc is great just for BBM1 and the boatload of extras.

The Newton Boys (1998)

Director: Richard Linklater

Writers: Claude Stanush, Richard Linklater, Clark Walker

Composer: Edward D. Barnes

Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Skeet Ulrich, Ethan Hawke, Gail Cronauer, Vincent D'Onofrio, Julianna Margulies, Dwight Yoakam, Chloe Webb, Bo Hopkins, Luke Askew

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Pests of the West

Plot: The story of the Newton gang, the most successful bank robbers in history, owing to their good planning and minimal violence.

My rating: 7.5/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes.

I can't believe I've lived nearly 50 years and I don't recall every hearing about The Newton Boys gang.  I'm sure I came across them at some point but I definitely don't remember it.  It's incredible what they accomplished and how little jail time they ended up getting.  Truly remarkable.  I'm going to have to get Stanush's book.  This picture is fun and McConaughey is great in the leader of the bunch.  He's so charming and likable.  Bo Hopkins is equally fun as the lawman on their trail.  I really dig that guy.  The period music is fun, the cars, clothes, the works.  It's a fascinating story how these kids were able to achieve what they did.  The humor is mischievous and it's mostly found during the many robberies they commit on screen.  I really enjoyed it.  I'll have to keep my eye out for the DVD and hope it's got plenty of extras.  I watched it on Netflix.  Make sure you stay and watch the end credits with some of the real life boys.  It's a hoot.

Inside Man (2006)

Director: Spike Lee

Writer: Russell Gewirtz

Composer: Terence Blanchard

Starring: Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster, Christopher Plummer, Willem Dafoe, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Carlos Andres Gomez, Kim Director, James Ransone, Bernie Rachelle, Peter Gerety

More info: IMDb

Tagline: It looked like the perfect bank robbery. But you can't judge a crime by its cover.

Plot:  A police detective, a bank robber, and a high-power broker enter high-stakes negotiations after the criminal's brilliant heist spirals into a hostage situation.

My rating: 8/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes.

Neat flick with a great cast.  I dig a good heist movie and this is a good 'un.  Solid performances, pacing, editing, and all around great storytelling make this one a really fun ride.  It's weird seeing Dafoe not in a (or almost) leading role but I really dig the guy so I'll take all the Dafoe I can.  I like how calm Dalton (Owen) was and how every detail had been planned.  I also really dug how Frazier (Washington) got incredibly pissed to the point of almost hitting innocent hostages.  That was a welcome touch.  He didn't trust anyone and rightfully so.  The only thing that felt out of place was Frazier back at his apartment after it was over.  It felt tacked on and mostly pointless.  Still, it's a fun ride.  Try not to think too hard and allow yourself to be taken in for a couple of hours. The Universal DVD has a bunch of deleted scenes, a 10 minute making of featurette, 10 minutes with Lee and Washington on their four collaborations and a commentary track with Lee.

Bandolero! (1968)

Director: Andrew V. McLaglen

Writers: James Lee Barrett, Stanley Hough

Composer: Jerry Goldsmith

Starring: James Stewart, Dean Martin, Raquel Welch, George Kennedy, Andrew Prine, Will Geer, Clint Ritchie, Denver Pyle, Tom Heaton, Rudy Diaz, Sean McClory, Harry Carey Jr., Don 'Red' Barry, Guy Raymond, Perry Lopez, Jock Mahoney, Dub Taylor, Big John Hamilton, Robert Adler, John Mitchum, Patrick Cranshaw, Roy Barcroft, Joe Gray, Wade Phillips

More info: IMDb

Tagline: There are "Westerns" and "Westerns". Every now and then comes a NEW kind of Western. This is "BANDOLERO!".

Plot: Mace Bishop masquerades as a hangman in order to save his outlaw brother from the gallows, runs to Mexico chased by the sheriff's posse and fights against Mexican bandits.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again?  Maybe.

Great location shooting, great cast, great score, good movie.   The first half hour is a lot of fun with Mace (Stewart) secretly planning something that you know is going to good, the almost hanging and then the bank robbery.  Then act 2 starts with the Sheriff (Kennedy) and his posse going after the bad guys (it's nice, btw, seeing Stewart and Martin as outlaws for a change) and Mace and Dee (Martin) talk about their relationship in their past and their future.  Meanwhile Maria (Welch) pulls a weird move where she starts to dig on Dee even though he's partly responsible for killing her husband hours/days before.  Hell, I'd probably fall for Dean Martin, too, and my dick don't swing that way.   The location shooting (in Arizona and Utah) is drop dead gorgeous.  The Mexican bandidos subplot feels a little forced as if they only exist to cause chaos at the film's climax to kill off nearly all of the folks we've been following.  It's even more obvious as they all run away as soon as they see their leader is dead despite easily out-numbering the gringos 5 to 1 and winning the fight.  I did like who the film makers chose to keep alive.  I certainly didn't see that coming.  There's a lot to dig in this film but as a whole it feels like a little more attention could have been paid to working in the Mexican bandits as something more than a lazy plot device and a little more attention paid to fleshing out the budding romance.  It's remarkable how a few days in movie life is all it takes to fall for someone.  Maybe it's being in an extraordinary circumstance and forced to deal with death.  Still, it's a fun flick and the cast goes a long way in making it so.  Geez I want to move back out West to live out my days.  Mmmmm.

Set It Off (1996)

Director:  F. Gary Gray

Writers: Takashi Bufford, Kate Lanier

Composer: Christopher Young

Starring: Jada Pinkett Smith, Queen Latifah, Vivica A. Fox, Kimberly Elise, John C. McGinley, Blair Underwood, Vincent Baum, Van Baum, Chaz Lamar Shepherd, Thomas Jefferson Byrd, Charles Robinson, Ella Joyce, Dr. Dre

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Deal with this. The only breaks you get are the ones you take.

Plot: Desperation drives four inner-city women (Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett Smith, Vivica A. Fox, Kimberly Elise) to bank robbery in Los Angeles, then they start mistrusting one another.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

If this were made in 1975 it would have been a lot more fun.  A LOT more fun.  As it stands now, it's still a pretty good movie.  The performances are earnest and the story is good but there's a lot more drama than the trailer lets on and there's less action than there should be to make this more in line with what they were trying to sell us.  There are some fun moments but the best thing about it is the ending...sort of. Even though it's a bit overdone emotionally, the ending is bleak except for the character(s) that gets away.   I would have preferred going all the way with the hand of doom and let them all snuff it but at least they didn't make the finale a happy dance.  That would've been way worse.  The NewLine DVD has a nice anamorphic widescreen print with the only extras being a music video by Ray J and the trailer (in anamorphic widescreen).  It's by no means great film but it deserves better than that considering the talent in front of and behind the camera. Now somebody needs to go back in time and pre-make this film starring Pam Grier, Tamara Dobson, Vonetta McGee, Carol Speed and William Smith as the detective.  Here's my money.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)

Director: Andrew Dominik

Writers: Andrew Dominik, Ron Hansen

Composer: Nick Cave

Starring: Brad Pitt, Mary-Louise Parker, Brooklynn Proulx, Dustin Bollinger, Casey Affleck, Sam Rockwell, Jeremy Renner, Sam Shepard, Garret Dillahunt, Paul Schneider, Alison Elliott, Jesse Frechette, Pat Healy, Michael Parks, Ted Levine, James Carville, Nick Cave, Zooey Deschanel

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Beyond the myth lies America's greatest betrayal.

Plot: Robert Ford, who's idolized Jesse James since childhood, tries hard to join the reforming gang of the Missouri outlaw, but gradually becomes resentful of the bandit leader.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes.

Hmmmm.  This is one I'm going to need (and want) to see twice. I liked it but with reservations.  I'm pretty sure that Brad Pitt was miscast and I've got a hunch that Affleck was, too.  Pitt is being Pitt but he's holding back on the Pitt persona a little.  I would prefer a better actor in the role, one who can become Jesse James instead of acting if that makes any sense.  Affleck is either brilliant in the role or he's awful.  That's a big divide, sure, but I'm not all that comfortable with his somewhat awkward performance.  I sense that he's acting, thinking about it too much.  The cinematography is great (how about that night train robbery?  Nice!) and the performances around these two cats are very good.  It's a nice 'meditation' Western and the near three hours doesn't seem that long.  I'm sorry I didn't catch this one in the theater for the full impact. 

Trapped in Paradise (1994)

Director: George Gallo

Writer: George Gallo

Composer: Robert Folk

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Jon Lovitz, Dana Carvey, Madchen Amick, Florence Stanley, Donald Moffat, Angela Paton, Vic Manni, Frank Pesce, John Ashton, Richard Jenkins

More info:  IMDb

Tagline: The story of a town that gave so much... Even these guys couldn't take anymore.

Plot: Residents of a friendly Pennsylvania town foil three brothers' plan to rob a bank on Christmas Eve.

My rating: 5.5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

I'm a fan of a lot of these actors but gee whiz, what's going on with Dana Carvey in this?  His Mickey Rourke schtick works great for a five minute SNL sketch but not for a feature length movie like this.  He's annoying as fuck and I think this guy's one of the funniest cats on the planet.  Lovitz is great, though, and it's really neat seeing him get really dark as he did a couple of times in this.  Cage is fun but the good doesn't outweigh the mediocre and bad.  Robert Folk's score sounds like he's doing his best John Williams (which is really good, by the way), making it feel like a light-hearted comedy as it should.   But for fuck's sake is Carvey annoying after the first few minutes.  Geez!  The plot is by the numbers and one that you've seen a gazillion times.  You know it's going to end with the money going back and all is well with the brothers and with Cage getting the girl and you know who it is the second she's introduced.  I can't recommend this even to loyal SNL fans for back when the show was good.  The 20th Century Fox DVD is a flipper disc with the fullscreen version on one side and the widescreen version on the other.  The only extra is the anamorphic widescreen theatrical trailer.

Bonnie and Clyde (2013)

Director: Bruce Beresford

Writers: John Rice, Joe Batteer

Composer: John Debney

Staring: Emile Hirsch, HOlliday Grainger, Saray Hyland, Elizabeth Reaser, Lane Garrison, Dale Dickey, Austin Hebert, Holly Hunter, William Hurt, Jack Thompson, Nick Cardona

More info: IMDb

Plot: Based on the true story of Clyde Barrow, a charismatic convicted armed robber who sweeps Bonnie Parker, an impressionable, petite, small-town waitress, off her feet, and the two embark on one one of most infamous bank-robbing sprees in history.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again? No.

I'm going to sound like another broken record by saying this but the truth is far more fascinating than the crap the writers came up with for this THREE HOUR MOVIE.  What a disappointment.  Not only was it wildly inaccurate (if you're remotely interested in the B&C story you must read Go Down Together: The True Untold Story of Bonnie And Clyde by Jeff Guinn - it's fascinating and considered to be THE definitive true story) but it's shockingly dull and silly.  Bonnie was not the brains nor the driving force behind Clyde and his gang (which, by the fucking way, where was the gang? B&C were rarely alone and they almost always had several other members).  Clyde's premonitions was a huge load of crap.  The whole idea of condensing the media down to one reporter (who gets an armed visit from Bonnie insisting she be mentioned in her articles and plays a larger role) is so poorly done.  I mean seriously, she tells her editor that she predicts (after Bonnie was captured, testified in court that she was innocent, and released) that Bonnie will re-join Clyde and there will be lots of car chases and violence ahead and with her pulling the trigger.  Wow.  William Hurt does a good job as Robert Hamer, the man who hunted them down to the last.  They even have a scene early on where Clyde meets Hamer before either had reason to know the other's name.  This is an utter waste of time not only historically but cinematically.  This film is a waste of time and resources.  You're much better off watching the still wildly inaccurate BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967).  At least that one is one helluva great film regardless of truth... and that's OK by me.

For a Few Dollars Less (1966)

Original title: Per Qualche Dollaro in Meno

Director: Mario Mattoli

Writers: Bruno Corbucci, Sergio Corbucci, Mario Guerra, Vittorio Vighi

Composer: Marcello Giombini

Starring: Lando Buzzanca, Elio Pandolfi, Gloria Paul, Lucia Modugno, Angela Luce, Luigi Pavese, Carlo Pisacane, Calisto Calisti, Pietro Tordi, Adalberto Rossetti, Tony Renis, Valeria Ciangottini, Raimondo Vianello, Alberto Giraldi, Alfonso Giganti

More info: IMDb

Plot: A bank clerk and his cousin, a "general", join forces to track down a Mexican outlaw.

My rating: 4/10

Will I watch it again? No.

In what's an obvious comedic play on FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE (1965), it's a far less inspiring film than anything Sergio Leone ever did...but then that applies to most pictures.  The jokes are fast and mostly from the star, Lando Buzzanca as Bill the bank teller.  He plays it like he's aping Eddie Cantor (and largely helped by the English dub) which I can appreciate but it's just not funny.  BUT the opening credits are unique to Spaghetti Westerns in that their done with stop motion animation like the Rankin & Bass Christmas specials of the 60s. 

WAY cool!!!  I was totally digging it but then the rest of the picture started and it goes into uber silly mode where it comfortably stays until the end of the picture.  There are references to Leone's DOLLAR TRILOGY, DJANGO () and a few others I'm sure I'm overlooking but few of the gags went anywhere clever or even funny.  They're mostly just lame references to better films much like the modern SCARY MOVIE franchise.  The music mimics the theatrics on screen with slide whistles and other silly sounds and themes.  For genre completists only.

Gun Duel in Durango (1957)

Director: Sidney Salkow

Writer: Louis Stevens

Composers: Paul Sawtell, Bert Shefter

Starring: George Montgomery, Ann Robinson, Steve Brodie, Bobby Clark, Frank Ferguson, Don 'Red' Barry, Henry Rowland, Denver Pyle, Mary Treen, Al Wyatt Sr., Boyd 'Red' Morgan, Joe Yrigoyen

More info: IMDb

Tagline: No One Man Could Stand Up Against Will Sabre---BUT NOW HE WAS FACING FIVE!

Plot: Dan Tomlinson, aka Will Sabre, head of a gang of outlaws, states his intentions to go straight but is warned by the new gang leader, Dunsten, that he has thirty days to come back to the gang---or else. On his way back to his hometown and girl, Judy, Dan picks up 10-year-old Robbie whose father has been killed. Dan gets a job as a bank teller and suspicion falls on him when a hold-up occurs and he doesn't use his guns. And, Dunsten and his former gang plants evidence to make it appear as if Dan cooperated with them. Dan is accused and now has to find a way to capture Dunsten and his gang, and clear his name.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again? No.

Here's another routine Western Programmer B-picture that's not doing anything new but then that wasn't the point.  As long these were produced on the cheap, everything was A-OK with the studio.  Being Universal, this one, though, has better production values and a stronger cast than most.  George Montgomery makes for a nice lead as the former bank robber turning good.  That was a bit of a stretch (hell, he gets a job as a bank teller...it must have been his charisma that got him the job because the bank manager doesn't think more than a few seconds before giving this stranger a job!) but it ultimately works its way around so that there's the happy ending where the hero gets the girl and the kid (whose pa died at the beginning and he gets 'adopted' so to speak by Dan (Montgomery)).  There's a bit of action from time to time and the bad guys are really bad but there aren't any surprises or anything overly exciting.  It's a backhanded compliment but the best thing it's got going for it (besides Montgomery) is that it's not boring. 

The Girl from Pussycat (1969)

Director: Smythe David

Writer: Roman Hans

Composer: ???

Starring:Inga Daar, Gay Lamour, Bayard King, Genevieve Wilde, Karin Catlin, Fanny Rickles, Uta Bergen, Konrad Blau, Ken Starr, Yani Graco, Anthony John, Noel Richards, Oscar Collins, Wendal Coe

More info: IMDb

Tagline: The hard-loving girl gang goes big time!

Plot: The Girl from Pussycat wants you to join her gang of sex-crazed semi-lesbian sociopath sex-kittens as they pick up guys, make love to gals, and even rob a bank. And what better way to celebrate stealing a cool $250,000 than to throw the money on the floor, invite some friends over, and have an old-fashioned orgy on top of it. But when one of their dumb boyfriends threatens to call the cops, butch boss Bobbi promptly cooks his fingers in a toaster.

My rating: 4/10

Will I watch it again? No.

Man, I really dig these opening credits!!!

Not a bad way to start a picture, either!!!

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

Director: George Roy Hill

Writer: William Goldman

Composer: Burt Bacharach

Starring: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Katherine Ross, Strother Martin, Henry Jones, Jeff Corey, George Furth, Cloris Leachman, Ted Cassidy, Kenneth Mars, Donnelly Rhodes, Sam Elliott

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Just for the fun of it!

Plot: Butch and Sundance are the two leaders of the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang. Butch is all ideas, Sundance is all action and skill. The west is becoming civilized and when Butch and Sundance rob a train once too often, a special posse begins trailing them no matter where they run. Over rock, through towns, across rivers, the group is always just behind them. When they finally escape through sheer luck, Butch has another idea, "Let's go to Bolivia". Based on the exploits of the historical characters.

My rating: 8.5/10

Will I watch it again? Naturally.

Great flick.  I would love to see this in a theater, overwhelmed by the beautiful landscapes.  I love the American West like nothing else.  It's gorgeous out here.  Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, etc.  It's a remarkable chunk of land and it's so diverse.  I'm sure they filmed a lot of this in the Rocky Mountain region.  So many of the scenes in this film look familiar to me from my travels that it takes me back there despite where I happen to be at the time.  It's a fun film filled with wonderful performances.  The leads are so charismatic and work well together.  Strother Martin's brief appearance elevates the film.  He's a gas.  It's also great to see Ted "Lurch from the 60s ADDAMS FAMILY TV show" Cassidy.  He's got an imposing presence that's all too shortly lived.  The only thing that I'm still not comfortable with (although with each viewing it gets easier and easier to accept) is Burt Bacharach's modern pop score.  The songs stand out like a sore thumb and the one used in the South American montage is all kinds of weird.  They're great and catchy songs but they're strange when set to the Western backdrop of the early 1900s.  It's a classic.  There's no denying it.  It's beautifully shot (Conrad HalL), it's a fun and exciting Western and it's definitely one you can say, "They don't make 'em like that anymore".

UPDATE 1/17/16:  Yay!  I got to see it in a theater and it was awesome!  Damn if that Paul Newman wasn't a rock solid charismatic movie star.  The music is growing on me. 

 

A Bullet for Pretty Boy (1970)

Directors: Larry Buchanan, Maury Dexter

Writers: Tony Huston, Larry Buchanan, Henry Rosenbaum

Composer: Harley Hatcher

Starring: Fabian, Jocelyn Lane, Astrid Warner, Adam Roarke, Michael Haynes, Robert Glenn, Annabelle Weenick, Camilla Carr, Jeff Alexander, Desmond Dhooge, Bill Thurman, Hugh Feagin

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Defacing Public Property Is Against The Law... but so is Bank Robbing, Murder and the kind of Women Charlie Floyd loved.

Plot: The movie tells the biography of the gangster Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd who started his career young aged when he saw his father die and seeked out revenge by killing his murderer during a fight.

My rating: 5.5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

 
There's a song that gets used repeatedly throughout the picture with lyrics like, "Got nowhere to go but I'm going.  Got nowhere to stay but I'm stayin'.  Sounds like he's got nothing to sing but he's a-singin' it anyway.  Alright, I'm must being silly but the somewhat catchy folk/country tune gets old and fast.  That's about how you can sum up this picture.  It's OK but it never achieves anything more than average (at best) drive-in fare.  The performances are OK, the low budget shows but it's not horrendous.  I mean, if I had access to a bunch of old cars and Tommy guns I could find a dozen sleepy towns that haven't changed much in 80 years and make my own Depression-era gangster picture.  It probably wouldn't be better than this but it's do-able, especially so in 1970 just a couple three years after the fantastic BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967) which proved so popular that it spawned dozens upon dozens of copycat films trying to cash in on the Depression-era gangster picture fad.  It's pretty tame so you're not going to get much in the way of 'sploitation but you could do far worse.  Say, there's a winning endorsement if I ever saw one!  Put that on a poster!

Un Flic (1972)

Director: Jean-Pierre Melville

Writer: Jean-Pierre Melville

Composer: Michel Colombier

Starring: Alain Delon, Richard Crenna, Catherine Deneuve, Riccardo Cucciolla, Michael Conrad, Paul Crauchet, Simone Valere, Andre Pousse, Jean Desaily, Valerie Wilson

More info: IMDb

Plot: Bank robbery in small town ends with one of the robbers being wounded. The loot from the robbery is just a asset for the even more spectacular heist. Simon, gang leader and Paris night club owner, must also deal with police comissaire Edouard Colemane, who happens to be his good friend.

My rating: 8/10

Will I watch it again? Yes.

I LOVE the New Beverly Theater in L.A..  Quentin Tarantino owns the joint and it's the best revival house in town (sadly it's practically the only one in town).  I really miss the Castro Theater in San Francisco where they offer a double feature of old movies almost every night.  Anyway, I haven't seen this picture in a few years and it's always great to catch things like this on the big screen. I'm a HUGE fan of Melville having seen many of his pictures. He really knows how to construct tense crime films.  Sadly, this was his last, but it's still a good one.

The opening bank robbery during a rain storm on a sleepy coastal part of town is intense.  There's barely a word spoken for several minutes and it's a fantastic way to start the picture off.  The other heist (on a train this time) offers lots of suspense and little dialogue.  That sequence takes up a solid 20-30 minutes and it's great.  All of the actors feel reserved since there's not much need for most of them to even speak.  This works will with the film, really well.  The only thing that's likely to take you out of the picture is the obvious use of models during the train raid.  Sometimes they work but when they don't (particularly in the shots with the helicopter) they're just awful.  It's so bad at times that it's hard not to snicker but if you're really into it like me, then you'll be OK but you'll leave the film wondering if, despite the obvious budget constraints, they could have handled it in a better way.  Regardless, UN FLIC (A COP) is a damn fine film from one of the greatest European crime directors.  I strongly urge you to check out any of this crime output.  They won't disappoint.