MALONE TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A.
OK, before I write up a quick couple reviews for these two gems (and a couple others), I want to start with where I left off last time: what films I've already seen. Turns out it's almost impossible to list those movies without (A) boring you, (B) boring me, (C) taking up a ton of space. So I will instead describe generally the types of movies I have historically seen.
Action movies - I was a rabid viewer of these as a kid, from The Terminator to Commando to Firewalker (!) to Romancing the Stone, you name it. I've seen almost all of them.
Horror movies - from teen slashers (Friday the 13th) to alien flicks (Deepstar Six) to cheap special effects showcases (Ghoulies) to atmospheric masterpieces (The Thing, Poltergeist), I devoured these as well.
Highbrow Academy bait - I've seen all the major fare by Woody Allen, Ingmar Bergman (non-American, I know), John Carpenter, Ridley Scott (when he was at his peak), Paul Verhoeven, Martin Scorsese, etc etc etc
You know what, even this attempt at quicklisting what I've seen is spiraling out of control. I will instead make a list somewhere and link to it from the blog, and any interested parties can read through it at their leisure. So, onward...
Malone (1987) - I liked this movie a LOT more that I thought I would. I went in thinking "another mid-80s Burt Reynolds vehicle along the lines of Stick, Heat, Rent A Cop, Physical Evidence, etc." But no - I would argue this is one of the better action movies of the 80s. Reynolds is Malone, ex-CIA agent fed up with the moral gray zones required by the job. He goes out on a cleansing drive in his beloved '69 Mustang when it breaks down outside a small town. I think the town is supposed to be in rural Maryland, and looks just like Thurmont, MD, but the filming was actually done in British Columbia.
It's revealed through a series of ominous events that the small town is under assault by a politically-charged madman who hopes to overthrow the government and install his own extremist, bigoted fascist society. He begins to take out the citizens who resist his attempts to buy out the whole valley, including the kind gas station owner and his daughter, who help shelter Malone while his Mustang gets repaired. Malone doesn't react well to the increasingly aggressive maneuvers the various henchmen try, enlisting his years and years of elite skills.
The movie is notable for several reasons. One, good dialog. The local corrupt sheriff asks him "So who're you?" "Malone," Reynolds answers. "You got a first name?" "Yeah," he answers. Classic 80s one-liner. When the dialog isn't hitting all the 80s bases, it's surprisingly realistic. The gas station owner (Herschel from The Walking Dead!) talks exactly like a gas station owner. The villain talks exactly like fascist dictator wannabe. His head assassin, Madrid (who is extremely damned creepy with his flat affect and stoney face) talks just like a creepy stoney-faced assassin would ... I assume.
Another reason: great gun gore. When people get shot, they blow the hell up. Giant holes appear in them, and blood mists everywhere. Nice touch: even Malone gets shot, and everyone treats it as the serious event it would be in real life. He may have elite soldier skills, but he's not invincible. NOTE TO MOVIE DIRECTORS: If a character is spraying a freaking Uzi at another character from 50 feet away, chances are one or two of the dozens of bullets will hit. Kudos to this movie for getting it right.
Final reason: Great pacing. The movie starts slowly and steadily ratchets up the tension piece by piece until the ending is really spellbinding. I could write all night about Malone, but it would be better to just watch it, rather than have me rehash the whole thing.
To Live and Die in L.A. (1985) - Directed by William Friedkin, this movie really feels like a neon 80s-fied version of The French Connection, which he also directed. Featuring a very young William Peterson, a young Willem Dafoe, and a young John Turturro, among other good actors, this movie also surprised me for the better.
The story of two Secret Service agents (Peterson and a very good Michael Greene) on the track of a murderous, brilliant counterfeiter (Dafoe). They quickly discover that being effective agents and catching their quarry means crossing the line and going rogue. And then things spiral out of control pretty quickly...
This movie is fast and exciting from start to finish. It's reminiscent of Miami Vice in places, a lot of tight suits and crazy hair, and has one of the best car chases since ... The French Connection, I guess. And there are a lot of twists. Not the giant "HE WAS A GHOST ALL ALONG" type twist, but more realistic twists that elicit an "oh wow, THAT'S who he was??" and make you reconsider some important assumptions.
Good gunplay, amoral villain with great lead henchmen, good snappy dialog, and electric pacing keep this one transfixing from start to finish. A lot of times I will put on another 80s movie on TV and that start doing something on the computer and leave it on in the background. Not this movie - kept me involved from start to finish. Interesting factoid: the entire soundtrack is by Wang Chung (!). And it's good.
Two movies which I saw and didn't make the cut to full review here: My Beautiful Laundrette (1985), notable as one of two movies released on the same day in '85 to feature an astonishing Daniel Day Lewis (the other was A Room With A View). Here he plays a gay ex-skinhead who gets involved with an unlikely party (no spoilers here). He's excellent, as always, although perhaps not at the height of his powers yet ("I drink YOUR milkshake," or "I am the president of the United States, clothed in immense power! You will procure those votes!").
The other film was Absolute Beginners (1986), the story of the volatile post-War pre-Beatles England, full of rock and roll, increasing racial tension, and a love story. It wasn't bad, but I could never shake the feeling that the titular song, by David Bowie, was the best thing about it. Very interesting sets, though, and a couple very nice musical numbers, which tend to spring up suddenly and surprisingly.
What's next on my 80s plate? Don't know, but I'll be posting soon either way! If I run out of new fare, I'll go back and review a classic like Blue Velvet or Purple Rose of Cairo or Poltergeist or whatever the hell crosses my mind.
Until then...
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