063 - Thief

Synopsis: Ace safe-cracker is unwisely tempted to join the Mob for 'one last big job'

Director: Michael Mann

Actors: James Caan. Tuesday Weld, James Belushi, Robert Prosky, Willie Nelson

Date: 1981

How viewed: Lovefilm rental

Rating: 4/5

David Meyer says:

Stylish, moody, trendy in the best possible way, nice explosions, guns galore, ex-cops as character actors, and plenty of Armani...

I say:

This film has such a lot going for it that it ought to be a 5 star, but something somewhere jars. James Caan is Frank, an ace safe-cracker who dreams of a normal life - home, wife, family - but takes a risk by doing a job for the mafia in order to make a pile of money quickly. Of course, once he's in, he can't get out. The 2 robberies are fantastic - a crash course in safe-cracking to a pounding Tangerine Dream soundtrack - it must have been stunning in the cinema! Indeed the one aspect that makes this really worth watching is the style - every scene is beautifully set - the rainy streets of Chicago, the reflections, the wind in the trees, external scenes of bars, houses and factories, and the shot where Frank sits back and has a cigarette after the second safe-cracking is wonderful. I can even put up with the fact that it was made in the 80's - big cars, big hair, big shoulders, big Aviator glasses - and Caan and Tuesday Weld are (nearly) great, but Belushi is a bit jarring, the whole family back-story slows the action, and Willie Nelson is a strange choice! So, I think it's the final scenes that lose this film a star - this was no real violence until the end, which made the shoot-out feel a bit of a cop-out. Anyway, still worth a watch - for Michael Mann's style, the music by Tangerine Dream, AND the Mighty Joe Young Blues Band, and for numerous shots of Chicago's Green Mill Cocktail Lounge - yay!

062 - Deep Cover

Synopsis: Policeman pretending to be drug dealer becomes drug dealer pretending to be a policeman (sort of..)

Director: Bill Duke

Actors: Laurence Fishburne, Jeff Goldblum, Clarence Williams III

Date: 1992

How viewed: Lovefilm rental

Rating: 4/5

David Meyer says:

It's a classic B-movie cop thriller with a twist set in the LA cocaine trade. Cynical? Oh my, yes. Swell shoot-outs, hilarious one-liners. Smart fun.

I say:

This film has everything that the previous film in my list (Mad Dog and Glory) didn't. It convinces. The street slang sounds right, the drug dealers (and their suppliers) look the part, the violence is explicit, and, unlike Robert de Niro in 'Mad Dog', Jeff Goldblum successfully plays against type, evolving into a truly scary psychopath. Fishburne is a cop persuaded to go undercover to nail the top guys in the drug supply pyramid. However he's too successful and starts to enjoy the power and the money, to the point where he resigns. However the last piece of the jigsaw he and Goldblum are planning goes wrong, but he makes amends eventually (well, sort of). As David Meyer says, it's a classic B-movie, and if you can stand the violence it's good fun, though it loses a few Brownie points for the voice over. However, recommended.     

061 - Mad Dog and Glory

Synopsis: Meek detective falls in love with gangster's moll 

Director: John McNaughton

Actors: Robert de Niro, Bill Murray, Uma Thurman

Date: 1993

How viewed: Lovefilm rental

Rating: 2/5

David Meyer says:

A whimsical, violent mixture of love story, crime story and comedy.

I say:

This is a film that fails spectacularly on all levels! It concerns a meek detective (or scene of crimes investigator? or police photographer?) who accidentally saves the life of a local gangster, who in turn tries to befriend him and gifts him a girl for a week as a thank you present. Detective falls in love with girl, gangster wants her back, culminating in stand-off, and eventual happy ending. So, let's see, the title is annoying as you expect a Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle (the detective is ironically called 'Mad Dog' due to his avoidance of all confrontational situations), Robert de Niro doesn't do timid, Bill Murray doesn't do psychotic, though against my better judgement I have to say Uma Thurman is passable! The film could have been pitched much lighter (sort of 'Irma la Douce', but then you'd have needed the equivalent of Billy Wilder and Jack Lemmon), or much heavier (but you'd have needed David Lynch and Dennis Hopper), but is actually just a mess. Even the publicity photo (above), is misleading - who looks like the timid detective, and who the gangster??? 

060 - House of Games

Synopsis: Psychiatrist gets involved with con men

Director: David Mamet

Actors: Lindsay Crouse, Joe Mantegna, Ricky Jay, JT Walsh

Date: 1987

How viewed: Lovefilm rental

Rating: 3/5

David Meyer says:

The tricky plot layers false clues on top of misdirection - as all good cons should - and builds wonderous suspense, especially given the calm, intelligent tone. 

I say:

This comes over like a Hitchcock thriller, but whereas Hitchcock built up the tension and drew you in to the story (and indeed was pioneering such films 30-50 years earlier), this has no excuses and seems to just sleep-walk through the entire process. Lindsay Crouse plays a rich bored stressed-out over-worked psychiatrist who gets drawn into the schemes of a group of con-men, and, without giving away the ending,  experiences both the short-con and the long-con. Crouse tries to be a cool Hitchcockian blonde - Grace Kelly, Ingrid Bergman, or Tippi Hedren - but is terribly unemotional and unconvincing and Mamet's script is repetitive and unrealistic. The strange flat tone of the main characters voices particular contrasts with that of Crouse's psychiatrist mentor (played by Lilia Skala) who comes across as the only real person in the film! All in all, it just didn't convince me at all, and the various reveals, and the ending are pretty predictable.