Night Moves (1975)

Night Moves (1975) is an underrated example of the neo-noir genre of the era. Alongside Chinatown and The Long Goodbye, these films paid tribute to 1940s noir while investing everything with a post-Watergate feeling of disappointment; in Night Moves, for example, there’s a scene where characters talk about where they were when JFK was killed. […]

The Outfit (1973)

While I’ve not read any of the Richard Stark (alias for Donald E. Westlake) novels about Parker, the anti-hero criminal thief with his own code, the character has served several film adaptations, the most acclaimed being Lee Marvin in Point Blank (less so, the recent and boring Statham/J-Lo caper movie, Parker). Another treatment of the […]

Mr. Majestyk (1974)

I re-read the Elmore Leonard novel Mr. Majestyk (1974) for the umpteenth time recently – classic crime pot-boiler with trademark Leonard characters and dialogue. I knew there was a Charles Bronson movie of it, but hadn’t realised that Leonard had written it as a screenplay first then adapted it as a novel. Bronson is the […]

Payday (1972)

When Rip Torn passed away, several film critics and publications would talk about his performance in the forgotten film, Payday (1972). Once you see it (and so far, the full thing is available to watch on YouTube), you won’t forget Torn’s performance as country singer Maury Dann, an unrelenting prick. Opening with him and his […]

Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974)

A post-Exorcist vehicle for star Ellen Burstyn, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974) was the first Hollywood studio production Martin Scorsese directed who was hand-picked by Burstyn after seeing Mean Streets (on Francis Ford Coppola’s suggestion). Burstyn plays Alice, a housewife with dreams of becoming a singer who hits the road with her young son, […]