Reviews

I saw Suburban Drug Lords at a film festival recently and was most impressed...this is a gritty film that keeps revving up the action until the film concludes with non-stop BATTLING DRAMA with ruthless drug lords going head to head in Northern NJ in a desperate attempt to take over an entire town with violent drug trading...this film has it all and reminded me of The Sopranos...I especially enjoyed the corrupt cop character and all the drug lords and the baby sitter was also excellent. The main character The Man played by Joe Malone showed a true angst and pained emotions that reveal a real depth to his character...his acting is excellent and in many scenes you feel the emotional knife digging into his character's back as The Man deals with non-stop attacks on his drug empire while at the same time attempting to be a doting father to his child and protecting all his loved ones from his evil competitors. The film starts out low key but quickly builds to The Man literally running for his life in actual suburban street battles that appear to have been filmed on location in Northern NJ...give this film a watch and have some fun watching suburban goombas engage in tons of criminal activity...and focus on those twisted Delveccio Brothers...those 2 overlords of evil want to take over the Man's empire and will wipe out the entire town if they have to...The Delveccios look like characters right out of The Godfather movies. Overall this is a fun shoot-em-up action filled drama that I highly recommend...filmed on location in Northern New Jersey in the same area where Sly Stallone filmed Copland...miss the Sopranos? Enjoyed the Godfather films? You need to see SUBURBAN DRUG LORDS...you're gonna love it!!!

For fans of 1970s New York movies Law and Disorder needs to be on your list. Carrol O'Connor plays Willie a NY cab driver who dreams of escape from his blue collar existence and there is plenty of Archie Bunker in his character... lots of fun, fun, fun. Ernest Borgnine plays one of the final great roles of his career as Cy the aging, horny, tough guy who runs a beauty parlor (believe it) in decline mainly due to his lust for Karen Black who plays a sexy tease stylist and almost steals the film. In this New York story, Willie & Cy get fed up with the crime and slime in their community and start their own auxillary police force and quickly start blurring the line between themselves and real cops. The film was shot on location in the gritty streets of 1970s New York City and it all looks great. The film also shows plenty of good character acting lead by Jack Kehoe who later was seen as a bail bonds man in Midnight Run. This could have been a 10 out 10 film as the scene where Ernest Borgnine literally leaps through the air to make love to his wife was so funny I spilled my bag of chips. But the ending takes an unexpected dark turn that is never explained or explored in detail. The ending is the one real flaw of an otherwise fine film. This means we have a light drama with plenty of laughs that ends on a dramatic note that leaves a bitter taste. Carrol O'Connor is good but both Ernest Borgnine and Karen Black are GREAT...you need to see this 1970s NYC Classic....8/10 stars. Reviewed by Tom Wilson 2/8/2014 USA New Jersey

I really wanted to enjoy The Professionals and I gave this film every opportunity to entertain...but in the end I was not satisfied. This picture is 117 minutes but it seems more like 3.5 hours as the scenes move slowly (except for the gun battles) and the dialogue is stilted and stale. There is a scene in the middle of the picture where Mexican bandit Jack Palance attacks a train filled with Mexican soldiers and a ridiculous blood bath occurs. The scene is shot and acted so casually that the picture briefly dips into farce. Palance walks down a line of sitting prisoners and shots each in the back in such a comical fashion that I actually burst out laughing. This film tries hard to depict light hearted gun battles for some unknown reason. The director Richard Brooks wants us to believe that The Professionals are all people of solid morals even though dozens of people are killed. The premise of the film is 4 tough guys go to Mexico to save Cardinale who is supposedly the kidnapped bride of the much older and always excellent Ralph Bellamy, many people end up dieing before the so-called surprise moral ending. The ending of the film is given away half way through the picture so the ending is not really exciting to anyone who has been paying attention. This acting of this film is made up of Burt Lancaster quickly becoming the lead character and doing his usual routine as the smiling bandit with a heart of gold. Lee Marvin is his usual rough edged character riffing one liners and heavy stares throughout the picture but this is not one of his best works-he seems to sleepwalk through much of the film. Robert Ryan plays a good guy in this picture and as always is understated and excellent and Woody Strode also does good work despite his underwritten character. Claudia Cardinale definitely gives it her all as the constantly enraged Mexican beauty (she pulls it off even though she is actually Italian). Claudia is quite good looking and it is fun to watch her chew-the-scenery with her heavy acting. Overall I give this picture a 5 out of 10 due to its weak script and poor editing...it was shot beautifully and had strong actors but it just doesn't come together and has many slow points. I had hoped for a classic but ended up watching an overlong average Western.

This is a film that any fan of James Woods or good tongue-in-cheek prison movies will greatly enjoy. Woods plays Fast-Walking a corrupt pot smoking prison guard who runs a barnyard brothel for crop picking farm hands in his spare time. This film is filled with in-jokes with the late great Tim McIntire as Wasco one of the boss-inmates stealing every scene that he is in...he plays a huge prissy bad-ass who loves calling the shots behind bars. Kay Lenz is corrupt, deadly and absolutely drop dead naked gorgeous in this fun fast-moving picture. She seduces Woods and messes with his plan to help inmates escape from his jail. M. Emmet Walsh does his usual great character acting as Woods' prison guard boss and adds his usual subtle humor to his character. This film has some clever plot twists near the end and some violence but will still leave you smiling when the picture is over. Fast Walking is a wild ride and I highly recommend it, as it was released in 1982 I will confidently state that it is one of the 25 best films of the entire 1980s. Fast Walking can be a difficult film to locate but it is definitely worth the search...find this movie, watch it and enjoy it...asap.

Lolly Madonna XXX was released in 1973 with an all star cast with direction by Richard Sarafin....this juicy film has been a lost movie since that time as it was never released on VHS, laser disk, DVD or pal in the U.K.....I finally watched a treasured print today 1/19/2014 and it certainly was not boring. One thing to remember is that the title actually refers to a signature written at the end of a letter and should be read as: Lolly Madonna Kiss Kiss Kiss. The movie appears to be a metaphor for the futility of war and the waste of precious lives over petty feuds. Though this film is about a hillbilly Hatfield/McCoy type feud it seems to be eluding to the Vietnam War going on at that time. What we have here is a poorly written violent film with an all star cast and riveting action! Rod Steiger is the tough and crazed Daddy of the Feather family and his nemesis is Robert Ryan aka Pap Gutshall of the Gutshall clan. This film has a tragic accident, land dispute, kidnapping...and then moves on to violent attacks, shootouts and murders....WOW! If you like plenty of southern good-ole-boy characters and a chance to see Jeff Bridges, Gary Busey & Randy Quaid very early in their careers then this is the film for you. the film was shoot in the actual mountains of Tennessee and looks fine, it just has choppy editing and a storyline that is not always clear to the viewer. These issues could be overlooked by the fine acting as Steiger verses Ryan is pretty wild to see and the talented supporting cast does good work...if only the film was not so depressing. The film is not upbeat in any way, shape or form and reeks of despair...this is truly the fatal flaw here and the reason I rate it a 5 out of 10 despite all the acting talent on display.

I watched the film this evening 1/18/2014 and everyone should know that this film is known as both Mr. Patman and also as Crossover. This 1980 movie is quite difficult to locate and often can only be found in the VHS format as Crossover by Lightning Video. This film has a storyline that is difficult to follow. The movie is about Coburn working as a male nurse in a mental hospital and the environment is depressing to say the least. Coburn as Mr. Patman is supposed to have a special bond with the patients but basically comes across as an aging flirt. James strangely dyed his eyebrows black for this picture and it is distracting. Coburn spends a decent amount of the film sleeping around with neighbors and co-workers and his character seems to lack direction. He has empathy for the patients he cares for but bad things seem to happen to his friends and lovers throughout this shaky little film. I am a huge James Coburn fan but this is not one of his better roles, poor dialogue and a depressing premise work together to sink this film. Beware the dark ending where Coburn's character has to decide if he is better suited to treat patients or to give up and become one of them himself. Kate Nelligan is in the supporting cast as a mental patient who prefers to walk around her ward in the nude. This is the rare James Coburn film that is unfortunately not worth watching.

I just watched The Honkers this afternoon and was most impressed. James Coburn is great to watch as a hard living rodeo champ who has returned to his hometown and long suffering family for a bull riding competition. Slim Pickins plays Coburn's best friend and guardian angel as a rodeo clown who always has his back. The direction by the late Steve Ihnat is outstanding and the filmography is great. I enjoyed the bull riding scenes which must have been from real competitions. This film depicts a man's decline and disrespect of his own life, yet somehow Coburn's suburb acting causes the viewer to still have sympathy for his character. All the supporting actors also do a fine job. This film shows the price that is paid from daily hard drinking, fighting, breaking promises and sleeping around...and Coburn shows this beautifully. For great scenes of 1970s southern hard living with great James Coburn acting you need to see this picture.

Charley Varrick is a classic 1970s film. Directed by Don Siegel with Matthau in the lead this picture moves quickly and has you on the edge of your seat. A bank robbery! shootings! the cops! the mob! everyone is on the move and the directing is crisp. This a bank robbery gone wrong picture where Matthau robs a small southern bank that just happens to be owned by the mob. Matthau and his gang end up with hundreds of thousands of dollars of mob money - this is tons more cash then was expected in the heist. The big question of this excellent picture is: How can Walter Matthau end up with all the stolen cash while at the same time convincing both the police and the mob that he is dead and the loot is forever lost. This is one clever script folks and the ending is creative. Don Siegel chose his cast well and Joe Don Baker as the mob enforcer and Jacqueline Scott as Nadine Matthau's fearless love interest both do outstanding work. The camera work is sharp and the dialogue is well written and not over-done. This film also has plenty of action and captures life in the 1970s deep south rather well. Overall I give this film my highest recommendation and I truly feel it is even better than The Taking Of Pelham One, Two, Three which is also a Matthau classic.

I have already seen Lone Survivor and it was not to my liking unfortunately. I feel the film is completely absurd with 4 Americans shooting and killing about 100 Taliban who continue to attack in waves and are slaughtered while the Americans spend about half the film rolling down a mountain and slamming into rocks and trees...the film is based on a false premise of killing 3 goat herders or releasing them...the actual answer is you hold on to them until the exact moment you get safely into the rescue copter and then you let them go. If you have to march miles and miles you take the goat herders with you. If you can't march them any further you tie them to a tree. In addition, the 4 Americans hunker down on a mountain top and don't appear to have any clay-more mines with tripwires. These are normally set up around the perimeter of an area where Americans are hunkered down. The Americans also went into a combat mission with crappy phones...since their cellphones suck it makes the rest of their fancy equipment and diagram drawing of targets seem silly and pointless. The dialog in this film is poorly written but the acting in and of itself is decent with the best work done by Ben Foster. Mark Wahlberg plays it straight and does not try and over-act and gives a good performance overall. In this movie, the Taliban are brainless and have no problem with losing dozens of seasoned fighters in order to try and kill 3-4 Americans. This is a film where every single time the Americans fire a bullet there is a Taliban going down in a large blood splatter and it seems like it takes about 300 Taliban bullets to kill a single American. Yeah right. This film is a propaganda recruitment film for the US military which in and of itself is not such a bad thing. To be clear the US military is filled with heroes fighting for America's freedom everyday....but this film is more like a Sgt. Rock comic book....you have been warned...now go see the film and write your own review!

Harry In Your Pocket is one of the 20 best films of the 1970s. Rather than being a superifical film about thieves...this film is an intense character study involving guts, emotions, egos, lust and addictions. I feel this is one of James Coburn's best films...he puts on quite a convincing performance as a veteran pickpocket who is head of a 4 person team of thieves. Trish Van Devere as the love interest created quite a strong character for the screen that really impressed me and Walter Pidgeon as the old pro who has developed shaky hands from having a young person's drug addiction is outstanding in every way. This film can be very hard to hunt down but is well worth it...a time capsule from the 1970s and a guilty pleasure for those of us lucky enough to have seen film multiple times. It is difficult to create sympathetic characters when you have innocent victims constantly having their wallets and purses stolen but Coburn manages to pull it off. This a film about small dreams and not overreaching in life...as Coburn says about the idea of going to New York City....no easy marks in New York (this movie takes place in the mid west). This film is a 1970s classic that you will still be thinking about with a smile on your face for days afterward. Tom Wilson, New Jersey, USA (HardToFindMovies)

Sixteen Candles was written and directed by the late great John Hughes and has withstood the test of time to become a comedy classic. Molly Ringwald is a funny sympathetic character that holds the viewers attention and she is supported by a strong cast. Anthony Michael Hall steals every scene he is in as the freshmen 'king of the dipsh*ts' and he definitely hits his mark with his delivery of very funny dialogue. I saw this film in the theaters when it was first released as a rather low budget comedy and you could actually see the boom mike hanging down from the top of the screen....especially in the scene where a weeping Molly is on the sofa discussing her problems with her dad....the boom mike was somehow edited out of the later prints. To be clear this is a must see 1980s comedy and is one of the top 20 films of the entire 1980s....from the sick partying of 'house parties' to the innocence of high school dances this film is non-stop laughs and moves quickly without any real slow spots. The film has barely begun before the viewer realizes that Molly's all important 16th birthday has been completely forgotten by her entire extended family and her own home has been taken over by crazed relatives here for her sister's wedding. Viewers should keep an eye out for both a young Jon Cusack as one of the nerds who gets locked in a car trunk and also his sister Joan Cusack who dates Long Duk Dong the wild exchange student. You need to seek out this comedy and get some great laughs...you can thank me later. Tom Wilson, New Jersey, USA, (HardToFindMovies)

This is a mighty fine early 1970s film with Rip Torn as a forever touring hard-partying country and western singer....not only does Torn pull it off he does an outstanding job as the lead. Torn also does his own singing and it is not bad at all. The script is strong with good dialogue and the supporting cast shows top notch acting. As this is an early 1970s film viewers should expect some darkness and perhaps a certain fatalistic view on life. During the 1970s many people seemed to want to live fast-die hard-and leave a good looking corpse unfortunately. Still despite some rough edges PAYDAY is one outstanding film and considered a rare gem by many film fans. Anyone who takes the time to hunt down a copy of this timeless film which shows both the struggles of modest fame and touring will be glad they did so....this film is an easy, mostly fun watch and moves quickly...it even has a couple of clever plot twists...all in all one of Rip Torn's best films and one of the top 25 films of the entire 1970s! Tom Wilson (HardToFindMovies)New Jersey

This is a great western to watch on a cold winter's night....a fast moving story about the attempted lynching of an innocent man with a great well known cast including Clint Eastwood, Pat Hingle, Bruce Dern, Dennis Hopper and even the Skipper from Gillian's Island. Clint is on top of his game here and this was his first American Western after working on Italian Westerns with Sergio Leone. The film is nicely filmed in sharp color and has good character development...believe me there are plenty of characters from the old west in this classy flick. Definitely worth watching.

All The Best to IMDb Filmwatchers Tom Wilson, New Jersey, USA (HardToFindMovies)

This slacker comedy has a great half hour mixed into a much longer film. The slacker scenes in the record store (esp. the fantasy sequences)are hilarious and the cameos are excellent. Stepping back into the older "Say Anything/Better Off Dead" mode was a smart move by Cusack who combines comedic pathos with manic energy. However the half hour or so that John spends talking to the camera is way overkill and no one in the packed theater I went to was amused by any of it. The plot is also muddled and teeters out at the end. Jack Black was OK-but unlike professional reviewers us average normal folk know people just like his character in real life and thus are fully aware that his character is not as endearing and humorous as Hollywood seems to believe.