#1 - THE KILLER
Director - John Woo
Memorable Quote - ' I believe in justice, but no one believes in me.'
Review - John Woo's gangster epic (which one? I hear you say) is a lot more philosophical than you might at first give it credit for. Following the exploits of an assassin taking on one last job out of compassion, he needs to take the money in order to pay for a cornea operation to prevent a singer he accidentally injured from going blind. Pursued by a cop whose morals seem somehow to be quite similar to his own, he must also battle the triads who are out to kill him. Imbued with gentle tones and shots that contrast the two very similar men, a large amount of the film is beautiful in its close ups and high-powered gunslinging action. At the climax we can but cheer on the protagonists as they attempt to battle their way out of a half demolished church. The final scene, as the killer and the singer crawl past each other in the darkness, is a stark reflection of the perils of the new gangster lifestyle that both protagonists bemoan. Although there seem to be syncing problems early on and the music is distinctly 80s, don't let it put you off: it's worth getting through this one. 4/5.
#2 - TRUE GRIT (1969)
Stars - John Wayne, Glen Campbell, Kim Darby, Robert Duvall, Jeff Corey
Director - Henry Hathaway
Memorable Quote - 'I call that bold talk for a one-eyed fat man.'
Review - I reviewed the new 'True Grit' a while back, mentioning there that I had never seen the original. Well, now I have, and it's really made me appreciate what a fantastic piece of work the newest one is. This original is a lot softer - everyone gets along for most of the way, Mattie recovers just fine from her fall, and there seems to be a lot less danger in general. It's a shocking moment when Quincy chops off Moon's fingers nonetheless, and indeed I found his death more poignant in this version. Wayne is wooden as ever, Campbell is only somewhat useful, and the goofs are numerous (rubber guns and nylon tights being the most anachronistic). While all the potential was there, one suspects it was held back by something - a theory that holds water when considering the greatness of the newest version. Still, a classic's a classic, and it does pretty well in its field. 4/5
#3 - THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER
Stars - John Wayne, Dean Martin, Michael Anderson Jr, Earl Holliman, Jeremy Slate, James Gregory
Director - Henry Hathaway
Memorable Quote - 'Here's a present for you!'
Review - Well, here's one unintentionally hilarious Western for you. Dean Martin turns out to be the most convincing cowboy of the lot, John Wayne plays John Wayne, and the main character isn't even in the film. With a round of awful slapstick acting in the form of the youngest son, and an actually kind of funny fight scene, the film descends into your average Western fare: the Elders are double-crossed and their names blackened, a shootout ensues in which one of them (the boring one) dies, and finally John Wayne is the last of his family left standing. He seeks out justice by blowing up a man and an entire store of guns, somehow without killing anybody else, and the newly-appointed sheriff shrugs his shoulders. Them's the breaks when you're in a Western, kid. Not the best, not the worst - 3.5/5
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2 comments:
I feel obliged commenting (and clicking on an ad as well) since I stumbled on here when checking that I remembered the abovementioned quotation from The Killer correctly.
In regards to the movie I find it somewhat amusing that while John Woo is a practicing christian and peppers us with religious imagery and symbolism it still ends on a decidedly non-christian note. Still, I absolutely adore it. I would lie if I'd say that there was no emotional tug at the final scene.
Also, if you like Wu-Tang it's hard to not be fond of it (for obvious reasons).
Cheers, Mitch! Definitely a great quote to be remembered.
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