aldo-49527 Reviews

Rage in Heaven (1941)

Rage Over The Direction

[5/10 · 4 December 2021]

The first half of this film is a fascinating portrayal of a Paranoid Psychopath. The second half deteriorates into an in-earnest attempt to deliver a thoughtful look at someone suffering from this form of mental illness.

Ingrid Bergman, in her third Hollywood feature, is the subject of a dangerous obsession from her husband, a wealthy heir, who lacks self-esteem and lives in a constant state of jealously and prone to being easily agitated. Robert Montgomery plays the ticking bomb.

Parenthetically, Montgomery was reportedly unhappy the studio demanded he play the role because he wanted time off and therefore delivered his lines quickly and without much effort. I found this to be, ironically, effective for the character.

The great George Sanders plays the man in most danger of the lead character's pathological illness. Unfortunately, his character is given little to work with in the third act of the film.

There's a scene where a trial is held and the apathy displayed by Sanders (with the exception of one shot) is astonishing.

In the 1940s Hollywood began its fascination with stories focused on psychology. This is one of the first films in that era and unfortunately it was put in the hands of director W. S. Van Dyke, who had the reputation of working quickly and was nicknamed "One-Take Van Dyke." You can see characters trip over lines and a lack of care over the story's plot line.

Oscar Homolka seriously overplays the mental health doctor in the picture. Clearly the rage over the film's miscues should be directed at Van Dyke.

Johnny O'Clock (1947)

Johnny O'Clock

[8/10 · 26 November 2021]

One of the times I've seen this film I chose to listen to the track only. It sounded like a perfectly produced radio-play. No surprise. Dick Powell was a radio actor, director Robert Rossen keeps the melodrama thick as his, and Milton Holmes' script, calls for.

But, I'm not recommending you do that because you'd be devoid of Burnett Guffey's crisp, noir photography.

The story is a bit muddled and misses opportunities to amplify the love interests. But, there's plenty of old Hollywood charm for genre lovers.

Rio Bravo (1959)

Rio Bravo Is Real Boring

[4/10 · 21 November 2021]

I'm just going to list some of the reasons why I feel this movie is overrated:

• The main villain, Claude Akins, has very little presence.

• The other key villain in the film, John Russell, has even less presence

• The romance between John Wayne and Angie Dickinson has no fireworks. In fact, Wayne was reportedly nervous about love scenes with a woman 25 years younger than him and it shows! The scenes are awkward despite the efforts of two good actors.

• In a movie that should build tension towards it's climax it pauses for a scene with two musical numbers.

• Rickey Nelson

• It's too long. Especially for a slowly-paced film with nothing of any gravity to share.

• It's derivative story. Told too many times by the director, Howard Hawks, and Wayne. (AND, told better by the two AFTER Rio Bravo).

• A ludicrous, implausible final shoot-out scene that offers no emotional payoff

It's not all bad, of course. There's too much talent in the cast and behind the camera for that to possibly happen.

But, overall I found Rio Bravo real boring.

Attica (2021)

Attica Grades An A

[9/10 · 21 November 2021]

Documentaries, like any form of journalism, can not be completely objective. But of any one of the forms of journalism, documentaries have the toughest challenge; for wherever the documentarian points his camera a subjective choice is being made. In fact, every one of the elements of filmmaking used express a subjective viewpoint no matter how devoted the intent to objectivity is.

Attica is one of the better journalistically sound docs I've seen in the last ten years. It's about the 1971 uprising at the Attica Prison in New York State that shined a spotlight on the brutal conditions inmates endured, but ultimately resulted in a massacre.

The recollections from former inmates, government officials, family members of guards, and journalists do most of the groundwork here. But, there's a massive amount of arrival footage including horrific images of the aftermath that leave indelible conclusions about what happened.

In the end, what happened is that there's a lot of blame to go around for what went wrong.

And, without directly commenting on it, documentarian Stanley Nelson Jr.'s film also points out that 50 years later much work at improving race relations needs to be done.

That Way with Women (1947)

That Way With Greenstreet

[4/10 · 20 November 2021]

One of the problems with this film is that the lead characters played by Dane Clark and Martha Vickers are so disagreeable that they are uttering unlikable. Generally, this trope can be used to great effect, but Clark, Vickers and the script all fail us.

What makes the film watchable is the great Sydney Greenstreet. His presence in any movie is worthy of your time and that's the case here even with a lightweight script.

The Long Night (1947)

The Long Night Is A Short Ride Through A Cinematic Masterpiece

[10/10 · 11 November 2021]

Perhaps this film isn't as appreciated by some because its a remake of Le uour se lève, considered by Sight and Sound magazine as one of the greatest films ever made.

I've not seen that film. But, I've seen this one and love it.

Sure, it's littered with Hollywood 1940s melodrama, but that's part of the art form.

Marvel at the performance of Henry Fonda as a lovelorn, working man drive to jealous rage.

Admire the screen debut of Barbara Bel Geddes as an innocent woman guilty of only being seduced by a lying cad.

Take in Vincent Price as the scheming Lothario.

And applaud the direction of Anatole Litvak and cinematography Sol Polito which perfectly captures the mood of the tragic story.

I'm going to now read the negative reviews of this film to better understand why it's not as beloved. But I will not waver. The Long Night is a short ride through a cinematic masterpiece.

Walk Softly, Stranger (1950)

Alida Valli Should Be No Stranger To Movie Lovers

[7/10 · 6 November 2021]

This under-recognized noir stars Joseph Cotten and Alida Valli. Cotten plays Chris Hale a man trying to erase his criminal past through duplicitous actions. Alida Valli is Elaine Corelli, a despondent wheelchair-bound heiress who becomes attracted to Chris' suave and mysterious ways.

I was mesmerized by the acting of Valli. It should come as no surprise. Known as the "most beautiful woman in the world," a title bestowed on her by Italian president Benito Mussolini, Valli brought her beauty and acting talents to America from Italy and immediately worked with some of the industry's best including Alfred Hitchcock in The Paradine Case.

In Walk Softly, Stranger she's filmed in luminous close-ups by Harry J. Wild a prolific film noir cinematographer.

In one scene, Chris has taken Eliane to a dance club. Chris, who has ditched a blind date to instead take Elaine, is confronted by the jealous jilted woman, played nicely by the always reliable Jeff Donnell. Elaine is amused. She advises Chris to apologize to the woman and dares him to ask her for a dance. Chris accepts the challenge. Within a minute, the charmer is on the dance floor. Elaine looks at the two gliding, cheek-to-cheek, and slowly begins to descend into depression. In Elaine's past her confinement has put up a wall between her and happiness and in this scene you see that wall rising again.

Valli plays the scene so well. She has the ability to project expressions that provide a crystal clear window to her thoughts.

Part of my problem with the film is Cotten. He is in his mid-40s at the time of filming, and almost 20 years older than Valli. Robert Mitchum or William Holden would have fared better. The temperature between Cotten and Valli never reaches a boiling point.

Director Robert Stevenson had a long and distinguished career with his workmanlike style. He's hampered here with a small budget, but there's some impressive location work done at an airport and a chase scene.

I like the way Stevenson works with Valli. But, overall this material might have fared better in the hands of a Jacques Tourneur.

Recommended for noir lovers.

Curtiz (2018)

Here's Hoping This Is The Start Of A Beautiful Relationship

[9/10 · 30 October 2021]

For decades, I've been drawn to the pictures of Michael Curtiz and have always wondered why he wasn't mentioned along the likes of Frank Capra, Howard Hawks and other long-time successful studio directors.

I had learned he was a tyrant on the set, but never looked further into the man.

Now, after screening director Tamás Yvan Topolánszky's movie, Curtiz, I'm about to order bio books on the complex and controversial filmmaker.

While the film takes several liberties in telling how Curtiz battled personal and professional battles in the making of Casablanca - one of cinema's most revered films - it is still an honest look at a man's demonic compulsions and his inability to control the devil within.

Curtiz, is an exceptionally well made film. Topolánszky's camera soaks up the smoke, shadows and spotlights in every frame and actors Ferenc Lengyel, as the title character, and Evelin Dobos, as his estranged daughter, are sensational.

I love the look of noir-like black and white cinematography and Topolánszky's uses it here not for ostentatious reasons, but to illuminate the main character's motives.

There's even a clever use of the color red to symbolize Curtiz's only love - moviemaking.

At the end of Topolánszky's film, one other color is revealed when a projector's light flashes the completed Casablanca. The color is blue which typically symbolizes high-quality.

That's what Curtiz, the filmmaker always delivered and, now, Curtiz, the movie, does, too.

For lovers of cinema, this is a must-see. And for Topolánszky... I hope this is the start of a beautiful relationship with him and big-time movie-making.

Roadblock (1951)

Casting Is Everything

[6/10 · 16 October 2021]

Interesting twist on the femme fatale trope. Joan Dixon's Diane resists the advances of Charles McGraw's Joe, an insurance investigator, because he doesn't meet her high standards of wealth.

Eventually, she defaults on her ambitions to marry into wealth and puts in a claim to her average Joe. But, fearing he may lose Diane, Joe wants his own insurance so he participates in a robbery . Ever try to cancel an insurance policy? It ain't easy.

McGraw's Joe doesn't quite have the romantic appeal to convince me Diana would drop her fixation for financial gain, but Joan Dixon sells it well. Louis Jean Heydt leads the supporting cast as Joe's insurance investigating partner. Unfortunately, his character, important to the plot, is dull.

The movie's climax is said to be one of the first filmed in the Los Angeles' River's culvert. Unfortunately, it's not the most memorable scene utilizing this location - but, the final shot is.

Born to Be Bad (1950)

The Lovely Joan Fontaine Plays An Ugly Schemer

[8/10 · 16 October 2021]

Joan Fontaine's portrayal of Christabel should serve as the Hollywood archetype for the scheming, money hungry, and obsessed with social status figure.

It doesn't though because there's a subtlety to her performance that some have mistaken for boring. I found it revelatory and suggest actors study Fontaine's low-key man eater performance.

Fontaine's' Christabel disrupts the marriage plans of super-wealthy Curtis, despite her heart belonging to an upstart novelist named Nick.

The cast is super. Curtis is played by the reliably suave Zachary Scott and Robert Ryan's physical presence is ideal to help convey the idea that Christabel's feelings toward him are more of a strong sexual nature than true love.

While the picture mostly takes place in locations fit for the 1%, the directing of Nicholas Ray and cinematography of Nicholas Musuraca gives us a Noir-ish feel.

There are two endings available. The version I first saw had his ending, the version I liked best is Howard Hughes' extending close that offers an exclamation point to Christabel's scheming ways.

Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933)

No Mystery... This Is A Classic

[10/10 · 1 October 2021]

Cinema lovers should appreciate this visual feast from director Michael Curtiz. The two-strip Technicolor process prevented Curtiz from using a full palette of colors and that actually worked to his advantage.

Additionally, the performance of Glenda Farrell as a persistent reporter is super.

The story is just okay... but everything else is worthy of your time.

Trapped (1949)

Trapped Only By A Flawed Third Act

[7/10 · 9 August 2021]

If it is true that producer Brian Foy chose to re-write the ending of the film because he did not want to wait until Lloyd Bridges recovered from an undisclosed illness then he's the culprit behind the flawed third act to this otherwise well-done crime film.

Of course, there are the first few minutes where the film fawns over the U. S. government's efforts to produce quality currency and efforts to foils counterfeiters - all of which is unnecessary, as that's what the film sets out to prove.

Nonetheless, Trapped's open and close do not nullify an excellent job by director Richard Fleischer.

For lovers of the genre, this is a must watch.

The Petrified Forest (1936)

Come For Bogart's First Breakthrough Performance & Leave In Awe of the Writing

[9/10 · 25 July 2021]

There's much to admire about this movie - the fine acting, thoughtful direction and cinematography, to name a few - but it's the original writing of Robert Sherwood and script adaptation by Delmer Daves and Charles Kenyon that I admire most.

Sherwood wrote the original play and while the film feels a bit theatrical at times that doesn't matter. The themes of fate and sacrifice and the thoughtful dialogue impacted me.

Sherwood had a fascinating career as a playwright, speech writer for president Franklin Delano Roosevelt, held a post running the Office of War Information Department and after WWII wrote "The Best Years of Our Lives."

Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw (1976)

Bobbie Jo

[3/10 · 22 July 2021]

More than ten years after Arthur Penn directed the classic Bonnie and Clyde, B-movie director Mark L. Lester took a stab at a variation of the story with buxom Lynda Carter being the main attraction.

Penn's film was a marvel of character depth and almost lyrical violence. Lester's offers none of that. It tries, but fails.

There are plenty of robberies and shoot-outs with a bumbling group of law enforcement agents in Bobbie Jo. And, there's an attempt to add some backstory to Carter's title character.

But, it's all superficial. Carter's character in fact feels underdeveloped and her co-star, Marjoe Gortner, is given nothing to work with other than sex scenes and shootouts.

The Harder They Fall (1956)

Bogie Exits Like He Entered

[9/10 · 7 July 2021]

In 1937, Humphrey Bogart got his first shot at a leading role. Black Legion was a smart, penetrating look at extremist politically-driven, vigilante groups. The Harder They All, Bogart's last picture, is an equally smart and penetrating look at the corrupt world of professional boxing.

But, it's also much more than that. The Harder They Fall packs a flurry of punches. It's a morality play. It's Rod Steiger's blood pressure rising with every scene. It's Humphrey Bogart delivering one of his best performances when he was clearly ill and nearing the closing bell of an incredible life.

Bogart plays Eddie Willis an acclaimed sportswriter who finds himself out of a job, in need of money and working with seedy fight game promoters. Willis is hired to promote a South American behemoth, but bumbling, boxer.

Willis knows there's nothing legit about the operation run by Steiger's Nick Benko and the accountant played by Nehemiah Persoff. But, the temptation of money and power KOs Willis' ethics.

The film is directed by Mark Robson who succeeds at presenting a scathing look at the underbelly of the fight game.

Body Double (1984)

Movie Double - De Palma Sits In For Hitchcock

[9/10 · 7 July 2021]

Watching Body Double makes me think that we should often not be concerned with whether we like a movie (or for that matter any piece of art) and instead focus on trying to understand the intent of the artist(s) behind the work.

Why does it have to be about us all the time?

In the case of this mid-1980s film, I think De Palma was thinking ... what would the master do?

Body Double isn't a Brian De Palma movie. It's a Brian De Palma and Alfred Hitchcock movie.

In the mid-1950s, maybe no major Hollywood filmmaker dared to cinematically probe his id like Hitchcock did. In the 1980s De Palma used Hitchcockian film techniques to explore his own id. In fact, Hitchcock himself may have influenced De Palma's interest in voyeurism.

Body Double is a fascinating look into the minds of De Palma/Hitchcock.

Guilty Bystander (1950)

Guilty Pleasure

[7/10 · 4 July 2021]

This is a film about alcoholism. And, Zachary Taylor, playing an alcoholic, ex-cop, who has abandoned his family, plays the role very well.

Taylor's Max Thursday is told by his ex-wife that their son and her brother are missing. Thursday wants no help from the cops who he feels will take an apathetic approach to a case of a missing child and its uncle.

Along the way, Thursday, formerly a top cop, battles the bottle more than the untrustworthy, criminally-inclined, underworld figures he meets. One such figure is fellow alcoholic Angel, played brilliantly by Kay Medford. Angel almost steals the film, but is unfortunately quickly tossed aside (literally and figuratively) by the filmmakers.

Faye Emerson came out of retirement to act alongside Taylor. The two made the fabulous noir Danger Signal together five years earlier. She's excellent as the woman trying to find her son (and brother), and forced to rely on her disease-ridden ex-husband, who, by the way, she still loves. (She never declares it, but Emerson's acting, while nuanced, delivers the message.)

Mary Boland deserves mention here, too. The flop house proprietor has given Thursday room and board to be her "house dick."

Too bad, the film doesn't give much for the great Sam Levene to do. He played the police captain who's is noticeably absent after the first act. In fact, there's a couple of scenes where you expect his presence, but he's not there. I suspect the nickels and pennies budget created blemishes like this.

TCM is screening a pristine restored version of the film. Cinematographer Russell Harlan, ASC (Gerald Hirschfeld is also credited) does a super job of lighting gritty, real locations including interiors of abandoned tenements and New York's subway system.

Director Joseph Lerner botches the third act with help from screenwriter Don Ettlinger. But, I commend them for their success at guerrilla filmmaking as TCM's Eddie Muller points out the production could not afford any permits to shoot in the city's streets so the filmmakers did it without.

Overall, the film's fails to meet expectations, but is a gem for genre fans.

No Sudden Move (2021)

Lots Of Sudden Surprises

[10/10 · 2 July 2021]

Trust. Without it there's pollution. There's gentrification. There's murder.

Steven Soderbergh's latest heist movie might be his best yet. (I really like Out Of Sight and Ocean's 11 of the ones I've seen.) The reason I connect with No Sudden Move most is Soderbergh's multi-rich storyline. Also, I'm a fan of Film Noir and this film is homage to Noir, 1950s heist and home invasion films.

Soderbergh has a great cast with Benicio del Toro and Don Cheadle in lead roles. Take a look at the list of of actors and they're all excellent. Even the names you may not recognize, like Amy Seimetz, are impeccable. There are even casting surprises that are fun.

I normally give the highest ratings to film's that are perfect in every way. But, occasionally I make exceptions. Soderbergh chose to film extensively use fish-eye lenses. It's a lens that I love. But, at times, in this movie, the distortions created by the lens distracted. In a film rich with sub-text this film should offer distractions.

Nonetheless, I really like this film. We'll see if it holds up after a second screening.

In This Our Life (1942)

Bette Davis Ires

[10/10 · 1 July 2021]

My recent inspection of Bette Davis revealed this absolutely fabulous performance. This is not a film noir, but Davis is certainly the epitome of a Femme Fatale as she seduces her sister's husband, drives him to suicide because of her erratic behavior and commits crimes to get her way.

In this picture, Davis owns this role and the Femme Fatale archetype.

But, In This Our Life isn't all about Davis' sensational performance. It's also offers a daring (for its time!) social commentary on how black people were treated. Ernest Anderson plays an ambitious black man, studying to be a lawyer, who Davis frames for a crime she commits.

Leave it to John Huston to handle the material impeccably. (Howard Koch scripted based on Ellen Glasgow's debut novel.) This was Huston's second directorial effort, the first was The Maltese Falcon. What a great start to a great career.

Another reason to watch is Olivia de Havilland. It's well reported that she immediately fell in love with the married Huston. Watching how Huston, and his distinguished cinematographer, Ernest Haller, photographed de Havilland is fascinating. The entire picture is superbly shot, but there's something extra special about de Havilland's shots.

This is a great film that is rarely talked about and deserves any lover of cinema's attention.

The Last Seduction (1994)

Linda "Should Have Won An Oscar" Fiorentino

[8/10 · 29 June 2021]

It's too bad the Academy of Arts and Sciences' rules made The Last Seduction ineligible for Oscars, because Lina Fiorentino's performance is outstanding. At the time, a film must have had a theatrical run before television. The Last Seduction premiered on HBO.

Nonetheless, Fiorentino's delivers one of the greatest femme fatale performances in Hollywood movie history.

The film is capably directed by John Dahl, but I couldn't help wonder how the movie might have had more impact if someone like Martin Scorsese or David Fincher had helmed the picture.

Excellent film. But, could have been a masterpiece.

Wild Seed (1965)

Parks Steals Wild Seed With A Wild One-Type Performance

[7/10 · 26 June 2021]

Michael Parks is one of those performers that could of been a contender... for one of cinema's top actors

Unfortunately, Wild Seed is a picture that's overlooked by so many. Parks is simply outstanding. And, it doesn't hurt that ace cinematographer Conrad Hall lights him brilliantly.

Parks career is well documented. He never landed a movie or TV series that catapulted him to stardom. That may be partly his fault as he confessed he was difficult to work with on movie sets.

As for Wild Seed, unfortunately, his co-lead in the picture, Celia Kaye, can't bring the same power-filled performance to the movie.

The Girl with All the Gifts (2016)

Sennia Nanua Has All The Gifts For Stardom

[6/10 · 26 June 2021]

Uneven zombie picture with a super debut performance from pre-teen Sennia Nanua. She plays Melanie one of a handful of children born to zombie parents, and has all the characteristics of a human except for a maniacal appetite for human flesh.

Melanie, though, is the subject of a potential cure to the virus that's created a dystopian work with raving zombies.

The plot moves along nicely until the third act where things get predictable and clunky from a filmmaking standpoint.

The Blue Gardenia (1953)

I Liked Gardenia More Than The Film's Director Did

[7/10 · 20 June 2021]

The Blue Gardenia is the first of Fritz Lang's so-called "newspaper trilogy" (While The City Sleeps, and Beyond A Reasonable Doubt are the other two).

This one is my favorite of the three. It's ironic because Lang himself didn't care for the picture saying, "The story itself wasn't original and the acting wasn't engaging enough to elevate it past being a mild thriller."

I disagree with the master. Lang was coming off some personally turbulent years and was fed up with Hollywood. Perhaps he was not happy with the performance of Richard Conti, the newspaper reporter. Lang wanted Dana Andrews, who would go on to work on the next two pictures of the newspaper trilogy.

But, I think Anne Baxter is great as a jilted woman who impetuously goes out on a date with a wolf, played to perfection by Raymond Burr, and finds herself literally fighting off his sexual attack while in an inebriated state. She blacks out, awakens in her bed unaware of how she got there. Later, she learns Burr's character has been murdered and now finds herself on a journey to discover if she's a killer or not.

Lang's frustration with Hollywood's limitations were starting to show up with his lackluster camera movement (as compared to previous pictures). But, a movie made by a disillusioned Fritz Lang is still a must-watch.

Crime in the Streets (1956)

Genre Lovers Would Be Delinquent If They Passed This Film Up

[8/10 · 19 June 2021]

Between 1950 and 1955 teenage crime increased a dramatic amount and the nation was taking note with government and communities addressing the problem in multiple ways.

Hollywood addressed the issue with a flood of films on the topic. Two of the most critically acclaimed films were released in 1955: Blackboard Jungle and Rebel Without A Cause.

A year later, low-budget studio Allied Artists released Crime In The Streets. While the film didn't have the benefit of a robust budget, just like Jungle and Rebel, Crime In The Streets was loaded with talent in front of and behind the camera. The script was written by Reginald Rose from an adaptation of a teleplay he had produced for ABC-TV less than a year earlier. (Rose would later write 12 Angry Men.)

Don Siegel was coming off directing the classic sci-fi film, Invasion of the Body Snatchers. He took Rose's teleplay, extended some scenes, and got to work with the stellar cast of young actors: John Cassavetes, Sal Mineo, and Mark Rydell. Franz Waxman would later add a jazz score that, according to his son, was among the prolific composer's personal favorites.

The opening credit scene gets to the point quickly as two rival gangs go at each other with bottles, wrenches, and two-by-fours with protruding nails. Gang leader Cassavetes and his crew take a hostage who they torture and threaten with a gun as a revenge act for a prior beating. A neighborhood resident sees the gun and alerts a beat cop. That sets in motion the major plot line, Cassavetes' plan to avenge his buddy's arrest by killing the citizen who "ratted."

James Whitmore plays a neighborhood social worker and the film's moral authority; Virginia Gregg is the mother who can't reach the Cassavetes character; and, Peter J. Votrian is the young, innocent boy whose love for his brother just might save him. All are very effective. Credit should probably go to dialogue coach Sam Peckinpah. Yes, that Peckinpah.

The film blames squalid conditions, parents working back-breaking jobs, and adults preferring corporal punishment to empathy and patience for the juvenile delinquency problem.

Cassavetes and Whitmore have two excellent scenes together. In one, the gang banger tells the social worker his troubles, "I got a hole in my shirt, my brother is wearing my underwear and my mother is sticking her thumb in some slob's soup." He goes on to reveal that it's the fear he and his fellow gang members inflict over adults that empowers them. He accuses anyone who tries to help them as doing so for their own self-interest; to alleviate their anxieties when they walk the streets.

Outside of the opening rumble scene the entire movie takes place in the impoverished neighborhood (actually an old studio set). This might give some viewers the sense that the film is too theatrical in feel, but I thought it was fine. One exception was after careful plotting of the murder, Cassavetes chooses the neighborhood alley for the location. It's right below his apartment and across the street from his conspirator's home. That was unrealistic and was probably due to the film's budget.

Director Siegel could have done a better job with his portrayal of women in his social commentary movie. There's one teenage girl in the movie and she has a couple of meaningless scenes.

From an entertainment standpoint, this is a worthwhile film to screen and a must-see if you're interested in the works of the filmmakers and actors behind it.

Hell Drivers (1957)

Hellaciously Good Drive!

[9/10 · 15 June 2021]

I wonder if director George Miller was inspired by Hell Drivers before filming Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior.

Cy Endfield's action sequences offer a similar kinetic energy that I felt when watching Miller's Road Warrior.

Beyond that, Endfield creates a working class world of tough men in an even tougher job, trucking. What makes the job so tough is the corrupt conditions these workers must endure.

This is a spectacular film featuring a rock-solid performance by Stanley Baker as the lead, Patrick McGoohan as one of the key villains, Peggy Cummins and Herbert Lom also shine in supportive roles. Sean Connery and Jill Ireland have small roles.