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Post by mikef6 on Sept 3, 2023 5:14:13 GMT
The Enforcer (1951, Bretaigne Windust, Raoul Walsh) This crime film with noir overtones stars Humphrey Bogart as an assistant district attorney trying to bring down an elusive gangster. The film is well paced with a lot of well crafted scenes. It’s not much of a role for Bogie and could’ve been filled by anyone but it’s a good movie despite no deep characters. 6.5-7/10 A word about a couple of supporting players. Zero Mostel plays an incompetent low-level hood who Ferguson gets to squeal. Mostel was being blacklisted even as filming was proceeding. He didn’t make another movie until “A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum” in 1966. Former western star Bob Steele who had played mob hitman Canino and faced Humphrey Bogart in “The Big Sleep,” plays what might be a close relative of Canino. He goes up against Bogart again with the expected result. King Donovan is a detective and Jack Lambert is a hitman who is often confined to an asylum.
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Post by Captain Spencer on Sept 4, 2023 5:20:57 GMT
Bad Boys (1983)A teenage thug is sentenced to a juvenile facility after participating in a drug deal gone horribly wrong. This an excellent crime drama that is a social commentary on teenage street gangs and prison life. Many topics are examined or at least touched-upon such as the failure of rehabilitation, the failure of the education system, prison rape, the problem of prison overcrowding, to name but a few. Sean Penn gives what is arguably one of his best performances as Mick O'Brien, a troubled youth who is sentenced to a juvenile prison and must use his wits to survive the harsh realities of jailhouse life. But he is matched all the way by the entire supporting cast who all deliver equally powerful and believable performances. There's Rene Santoni as the tough yet compassionate prison social worker, the always reliable Clancy Brown as Lofgren, and Esai Morales as O'Brien's arch nemesis, Paco Moreno. But my favorite is the scene-stealing Eric Gurry as Horowitz, the highly intelligent but complete sociopath who befriends O'Brien. Bad Boys does not sugar-coat anything and pulls no punches. It is extremely violent, brutal, gritty, and very profane. But yet has to be all this to drive its point home and portray a realistic view on troubled street youth, and it is handled in a non-exploitive manner. The insightful screenplay is very well-written by Richard Di Lello and contains many memorable lines. One of my favorite lines is by Jim Moody as one of the jail facilitators lecturing O'Brien and another new inmate, when he tells them, "Your fellow inmates are rapists, murderers, armed robbers, and mental defectives; just like yourselves, they graduated top of the class." Unfortunately, Bad Boys went largely unnoticed at the theaters back in 1983. However, home video and pay television helped keep it alive throughout the years. Anchor Bay Entertainment released the complete 123 minute version on DVD a while back. Avoid the hacked up 104 minute version. 10/10
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Post by wmcclain on Sept 4, 2023 14:12:41 GMT
I used to quote this during sales presentations: "How do you like it so far?"
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