The Train (1964)

A friend, Daniel St. Vincent, recommended checking out The Train (1964), a black-and-white WW2 action drama directed by John Frankenheimer (Seconds, Ronin) and starring Burt Lancaster. For some reason, with that title, I thought the majority of the movie took place on a train like Runaway Train or Unstoppable. Rather, the train is like a […]

The Big Heat (1953)

I don’t know my film history but is The Big Heat (1953) the first movie where a cop is asked to hand in their badge and gun? Before they embark on a personal quest for revenge against an unjust system? It certainly feels like it. All I knew about The Big Heat was the infamous […]

Johnny Handsome (1989)

I’m a fan of Walter Hill and was in the mood for one of his neo-noir action thrillers. I once had an ex-rental VHS copy of Johnny Handsome (1989) that was my first viewing long ago and my memory was that it was a three star movie – good but maybe not essential. I found […]

Sharky’s Machine (1981)

Sharky’s Machine (1981) has a great opening sequence of Burt Reynolds looking gruff, striding through fog on a train track to the sounds of Randy Crawford’s ‘Street Life’ (later used on the soundtrack to Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown). Directed by Reynolds himself, this is adapted from a William Diehl novel and works as a 1980s […]

Fallen Angels (1995)

I hadn’t seen Wong Kar-Wai’s Fallen Angels (1995), I don’t think, since seeing it on SBS as a teenager. I loved it then, but only seemed to remember the opening section with the cool hitman (Leon Lai) wielding two hand guns, like an arty version of a Hong Kong action movie, and his handler (Michelle […]