2023 - May
The Day of the Jackal (1973) 4/4
The Firm (1993) 3.5/4
Heist (2001) 3.5/4
Three Days of the Condor (1975) 3/4
Ronin (1998) 3/4
Tequila Sunrise (1988) 2/4
The Score (2001) 2/4
Eyewitness (1981) 2/4
Scream VI (2023) 1.5/4
The Firm (1993) 3.5/4
Heist (2001) 3.5/4
Three Days of the Condor (1975) 3/4
Ronin (1998) 3/4
Tequila Sunrise (1988) 2/4
The Score (2001) 2/4
Eyewitness (1981) 2/4
Scream VI (2023) 1.5/4
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- DirectorMatt Bettinelli-OlpinTyler GillettStarsCourteney CoxMelissa BarreraJenna OrtegaIn the next installment, the survivors of the Ghostface killings leave Woodsboro behind and start a fresh chapter in New York City.02-05-2023
We're into Roman numerals now, a change about as arbitrary as "Scream VI" itself, yet another limp instalment in the increasingly unoriginal and shockingly self-serious slasher franchise which started with Wes Craven's game-changing "Scream" in 1996 and then continued on a downward spiral ever since. Sure, "Scream 2" was a surprisingly effective sequel but compared to their witty and original progenitor, all five of the subsequent cash-grabs have felt like lesser rehashes of the same basic formula.
The "big innovation" that the sixth film is supposedly bringing to the franchise is its New York setting. "New York. New rules," boasts the film's tagline. "In a city of millions, no one hears you scream," says another one about as original as the film it's advertising. And yet, the location change makes no difference whatsoever.
In fact, the film somehow feels smaller and more claustrophobic than the previous film which took place in the supposedly small town of Haddonfield. That film made good use of its locations. The moody hospital which was the sight of a terrifically exciting set piece springs to mind. The front lawn of the sheriff's house which unexpectedly becomes the sight of one of the most horrific scenes of the franchise is another.
"Scream VI", on the other hand, confines its action to apartments which are obviously badly lit sound stages and a rickety movie theatre which is so overdesigned to be cool and Gothic that it would look out of place in a Tim Burton film. There is, of course, the much-advertised sequence taking place on the NY subway which is actually fairly short and boring consisting mainly of the characters continually being freaked out by other passengers wearing masks on Halloween. How unexpected!
I was surprised to learn that "Scream VI" was also directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett who did such a good job with the previous film. What has happened to their sense of suspense and drama? How come this film feels so much more amateurish and haphazardly slapped together?
The Ghostface killer no longer stalks his victims. He now lunges at them like a kamikaze which robs the kill scenes of any suspense or mystery. Where is he hiding? He's not! He's jumping out at you with a knife.
The editing by Jay Prychidny is at times downright shambolic. During a key scene in which Ghostface is attacking one of the leads, he cuts straight from a shot in which he's straddling them to a shot of him running away.
Meanwhile, Brett Jutkiewicz's cinematography is not much to look at. Bland and overlit, it makes the film feel all the more like a failed TV pilot.
The final nail in the coffin is Sven Faulconer and Brian Tyler's music which underscored the film pretty much wall-to-wall. It's as subtle as a hammer, relentlessly informing us exactly what we are supposed to be feeling with its cheesy strings and corny scare chords.
And I haven't even gotten to the screenplay yet. Written by James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick it goes through exactly the same formula that every "Scream" film has gone through. It's about a bunch of teenagers being stalked by yet another maniac who has, for some reason, donned the old Ghostface uniform. There's the obligatory (and so, so overlong) scene in which someone lists the rules for surviving a horror movie. There's the scene in which the teenagers begin suspecting each other and get into yet another firey argument. And, finally, there's the scene in which Ghostface is unmasked and delivers a very elaborate exposition monologue.
Frankly, the plot of a slasher film hardly matters. More problematic is the fact that the kills in this movie are neither inventive nor scary, the set pieces are not nearly elaborate enough for a sixth instalment in a franchise, and the characters are extremely unlikeable.
For the life of me, I can't figure out why everyone in this film is so horrifically rude to each other. They're always trading insults, shooing each other away, and just generally being mean to one another.
Back for the sequel are the survivors of the previous film none of whom I could recall. Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, Jasmin Savoy Brown, and Mason Gooding are all fine actors but their characters are all unlikeable and extremely generic.
Also trotted out once again is Courteney Cox as the news reporter Gale Weathers. Here, she feels very much like the Ghost of Christmas Past, sort of uselessly wandering in the background until she's ignominiously dispatched from the film. Her character serves no purpose here except to tickle the nostalgia of the franchise's fanbase.
Much has been made of the fact that Neve Campbell refused to appear in the film due to pay disputes but her absence is not at all felt. Sidney has been an utterly useless character since "Scream 2" and this franchise would do better to get rid of its legacy characters sooner rather than later. No use weighing the films down with debris from other people's creations.
Also back is Hayden Panettiere reprising her role as Kirby Reed from "Scream 4", the only likeable character the franchise has had since 1996. I am a big fan of Ms Panettiere but the Kirby we see here is nowhere near as witty and charismatic as the Kirby we all loved. Once again, this film's rotten screenplay gives a terrific and loveable actress nothing of interest to say or do. All of her dialogue is mindless exposition and her character is treated like an inconvenience rather than an asset. Shame since Kirby is still easily the best thing in the film.
"Scream VI" is not just a disappointment, it's an abject failure. It has none of the suspense and flare of its immediate predecessor and none of the good humour of the 1996 original. It's an aggressively boring, dull, stupid movie full of unlikeable, bickering characters and lacking in any memorable kills or set pieces. It feels like a cheap, rushed cash-in, one more kicking of the dead, rotting horse that is the "Scream" franchise.
As bad as some of the previous films were, this is the first time I was bored for the duration of a "Scream" film. Nothing at all happens here that hasn't happened in this series before and in a much more memorable way. I hope against hope that there isn't a "Scream VII" but when it finally does come out it'll take a hell of an advertising campaign to convince me to go and see it.
1.5/4 - DirectorNorman FosterStarsPeter LorreVirginia FieldThomas BeckOn a freighter going from San Francisco to Shanghai Mr. Moto solves mysteries caused by a gang of smugglers.02-05-2023
ALL MR. MOTO REVIEWS HERE:
https://www.imdb.com/list/ls568354031/ - DirectorNorman FosterStarsPeter LorreThomas BeckPauline FrederickSeven maps, when found and put together, reveal the location of the treasures of Genghis Khan.02-05-2023
ALL MR. MOTO REVIEWS HERE:
https://www.imdb.com/list/ls568354031/ - DirectorJames TinlingStarsPeter LorreKeye LukeDick BaldwinWhen the #1 heavyweight contender is mysteriously poisoned during a bout, Moto knows that identifying the gambler who placed large bets against him is the key to solving the murder.03-05-2023
ALL MR. MOTO REVIEWS HERE:
https://www.imdb.com/list/ls568354031/ - DirectorNorman FosterStarsPeter LorreRochelle HudsonRobert KentIn the jungle near Angkor Wat in Cambodia, Mr. Moto poses as an ineffectual archaeologist and a venerable holy man with mystical powers to help foil two insurgencies against the government.03-05-2023
ALL MR. MOTO REVIEWS HERE:
https://www.imdb.com/list/ls568354031/ - DirectorNorman FosterStarsPeter LorreRicardo CortezVirginia FieldMoto thwarts a ruthless band of international agents who try to foment an international incident by mining the entrance to the Suez Canal and blaming the British.04-05-2023
ALL MR. MOTO REVIEWS HERE:
https://www.imdb.com/list/ls568354031/ - DirectorHerbert I. LeedsStarsPeter LorreJean HersholtAmanda DuffThe U.S. government asks Mr. Moto to go to Puerto Rico to investigate diamond smuggling after an earlier investigator is murdered.04-05-2023
ALL MR. MOTO REVIEWS HERE:
https://www.imdb.com/list/ls568354031/ - DirectorNorman FosterStarsPeter LorreJoseph SchildkrautLionel AtwillDisguised as an Austrian archaeologist, Moto helps unearth the priceless crown of the legendary Queen of Sheba and sans disguise defends it from a variety of thugs and criminals.05-05-2023
ALL MR. MOTO REVIEWS HERE:
https://www.imdb.com/list/ls568354031/ - DirectorErnest MorrisStarsHenry SilvaTerence LongdonSuzanne LloydMr. Moto goes undercover to find out who has been blowing up oil wells and trying to gain total control of all the oil leases from a petroleum-rich Middle Eastern country.05-05-2023
ALL MR. MOTO REVIEWS HERE:
https://www.imdb.com/list/ls568354031/ - DirectorWilliam NighStarsBoris KarloffGrant WithersMaxine JenningsIn San Francisco, Simon Dayton, the senior partner in a chemical company, visits famed detective James Lee Wong as Dayton fears for his life stemming from a series of unexplained events in both his personal and professional life. But before Wong can meet Dayton at his office the next morning to follow up, Dayton is found dead in his locked office, the cause eventually discovered to be by poison. Captain Sam Street with the SFPD leads the investigation. The primary suspect is Carl Roemer, the scientist who developed the poison which he accused Dayton of stealing from him as he was never paid for the formula. One of the initial questions is how Dayton was poisoned behind the locked doors of his office. While Street takes the path of least resistance in the investigation in believing Roemer the obvious killer based solely on circumstantial evidence, more thoughtful Wong takes a broader approach in trying not only to discover other suspects, but how whoever the killer was able to administer the poison. Two of those other primary suspects are Dayton's partners, Theodore Meisle and Christian Wilk, who stand to profit substantially from Dayton's death, in addition to Dayton, Meisle and Wilk's many employees and associates. Adding to the investigation is Street's sometime girlfriend, Myra Ross, who nonetheless respects Wong's take on the investigation more than Street's in looking out for the proverbial little guy.06-05-2023
ALL MR WONG REVIEWS HERE:
https://www.imdb.com/list/ls568345164/ - DirectorWilliam NighStarsBoris KarloffGrant WithersDorothy TreeDetective tries to solve the murder of antiques collector who was in possession of a famous jewel known as "The Eye of the Daughter of The Moon."06-05-2023
ALL MR WONG REVIEWS HERE:
https://www.imdb.com/list/ls568345164/ - DirectorWilliam NighStarsBoris KarloffMarjorie ReynoldsGrant WithersA pretty Chinese woman, seeking help from San Francisco detective James Lee Wong, is killed by a poisoned dart in his front hall, having time only to scrawl "Captain J" on a sheet of paper. She proves to be Princess Lin Hwa.06-05-2023
ALL MR WONG REVIEWS HERE:
https://www.imdb.com/list/ls568345164/ - DirectorWilliam NighStarsBoris KarloffMarjorie ReynoldsGrant WithersWhen Captain Street's best friend Dan Grady is murdered, Street receives help from Chinese detective James Lee Wong and local newspaper reporter Bobbie Logan.06-05-2023
ALL MR WONG REVIEWS HERE:
https://www.imdb.com/list/ls568345164/ - DirectorPhil RosenStarsKeye LukeLotus LongGrant WithersDetective James Lee Wong is on the scene as archaeologist Dr. John Benton, recently returned from an expedition in China where a valuable ancient scroll was recovered, is murdered while giving a lecture on the expedition.07-05-2023
ALL MR WONG REVIEWS HERE:
https://www.imdb.com/list/ls568345164/ - DirectorSydney PollackStarsRobert RedfordFaye DunawayCliff RobertsonA bookish CIA researcher in Manhattan finds all his co-workers dead, and must outwit those responsible until he figures out who he can really trust.12-05-2023
When James Grady's spy novel "Six Days of the Condor" was turned into a movie in 1975, someone evidently thought it was too long and the title was changed to "Three Days of the Condor". Perhaps they were right (even though I think the romance subplot would have played out more believably over the longer time period) but this must have been the most brutal act of adaptation until Charlie Kaufman got his hands on "The Orchid Thief".
The film's plot, funnily enough, revolves around a book - a subpar mystery novel - which has interestingly enough been translated into multiple languages despite selling poorly in all of them. The book catches the eye of a CIA analyst codenamed Condor (Robert Redford) whose job it is to "read everything". He writes up a report, sends it to his superiors, and before he knows it a team of assassins is dispatched to kill him and everyone he knows.
By sheer stroke of luck, Condor survives the hit even though his seven colleagues who worked at the same office as him don't. Now on the run, Condor soon realizes he cannot trust anyone even the CIA whom he begins to believe were the ones who ordered the hit.
His only ally becomes Kathy (Faye Dunaway), a photographer he kidnaps at gunpoint on the street and turns into his lover in a somewhat creepy scene which probably wouldn't fly nowadays. This is the subplot I think would have worked much better if the two of them got to know each other over six days rather than six hours.
The plot of "Three Days of the Condor" is nothing to write home about. It's a fairly standard and predictable example of 1970s paranoia thrillers though without the frenzy of "The Parallax View" or the intensity of "Marathon Man".
What makes the film memorable, however, is the expert, meticulous way director Sydney Pollack weaves this familiar tale of fear and deception. He unravels the plot slowly, layer by layer like an onion, observing every detail, every communication, and cloaking the whole process in a tangible atmosphere of menace and suspense. Special credit, of course, must go to director of photography Owen Roizman who photographs New York with the same kind of shadowy mystery with which Gordon Willis photographs wood-panelled offices.
As a devoted John le Carre fan I was particularly fascinated by the procedural aspects of the story. The way that after the massacre Condor contacts a CIA crisis hotline who then contacts the New York bureau chief who then contacts the section chief in Washington. I was intrigued by the prospect of a CIA branch which exclusively reads books looking for foreign strategies and domestic leaks. I was even entertained by the codenaming which Condor can never get straight. Which bird was he again?
The film also has a first-rate cast. I absolutely loved Max von Sydow's chillingly affable performance as a cool-headed hitman. "I don't interest myself in why," he tells Condor, "I think more often in terms of when, sometimes where, always how much".
Also marvellous is Faye Dunaway, possibly the most interesting femme fatale of the 1970s who infuses an underwritten character with sexiness and a sense of humour - an irresistible mix.
I was less enamoured, however, with Robert Redford who is not particularly convincing as a nebbish bookworm. He is too comfortable in action scenes and takes too easily to all of this counterspying and murdering for me to take him seriously as a fish out of water. The film, I think, would have worked much better had the part been played by a more unlikely spy such as, say, Elliott Gould or Dustin Hoffman or even Walter McGinn who plays a small but crucial part in this film.
"Three Days of the Condor" was adapted by Lorenzo Semple Jr. and David Rayfiel and even though the novel's plot is often preposterous and overcomplicated their script is terrific. The dialogue absolutely sizzles in a way that spy thriller speak usually doesn't. Besides the monologue that Max von Sydow delivers which I've already quoted I must single out some terrifically written scenes such as the director of the CIA waxing lyrical about his war service, the scene in which Condor uses his love for comics to solve a murder, and the scene in which Kathy describes her photographs.
Even the opening massacre scene is well-written. There is a terrifically human moment in the middle of the bloodshed in which one of Condor's female colleagues comes face to face with a gun. "I won't scream," she says. "I know," replies the hitman.
Speaking of the massacre scene, however, I felt it was shot in an awfully tame and bloodless manner. People don't seem to die in it rather they fly off-screen. I can only imagine how someone like William Friedkin or Martin Scorsese would have shot such a scene. They would have made it more impactful, forceful, and real.
"Three Days of the Condor" is a mixed bag for me. The performances and the dialogue are absolutely outstanding and director Sydney Pollack shoots and paces this picture in an absolutely textbook manner. And yet, the film often left me curiously cold. The plot was predictable, Redford unconvincing as a nerd, and it never quite whipped up the same amount of unnerving paranoia that its aforementioned competitors did. I also very much didn't like Dave Grusin's funky bonkity-bonk score which feels out-of-place in what should be an oppressive, noirish thriller.
It's a fine, exciting, old-fashioned way to spend two hours but I doubt that "Three Days of the Condor" will stick in my mind for three days... let alone six.
3/4 - DirectorSydney PollackStarsTom CruiseJeanne TripplehornGene HackmanA young lawyer joins a prestigious law firm only to discover that it has a sinister dark side.12-05-2023
It's an old critics' cliche to say that you don't see films like this these days. In the case of "The Firm", however, I don't think thrillers like it were ever the norm. It's exceedingly rare to find a thriller, especially one based on a bestselling potboiler, so rich in character. Over its 154-minute runtime, it gives us scenes which most thrillers don't bother with. It finds the place to flesh out its characters, their situations, and their quirks so once the dominos start to fall we are invested not so much in its silly labyrinthine plot but in the people caught in it.
Based on a John Grisham novel, "The Firm" revolves around Mitch McDeere (Tom Cruise), a lawyer fresh out of school hired to work at what appears to be an ideal Memphis law firm. They offer him a six-figure salary, a house, and a car, and they pay off his student debt!
But this is a thriller, not a fairy tale and soon he finds himself working for the FBI in order to take down the firm which, as it turns out, is even more corrupt than the government.
But it's not Grisham's preposterous, complicated plot that makes this film so engaging.
"The Firm" finds the time to introduce us to Mitch's convict brother Ray (David Strathairn), a decent sort tripped up by his love for boozing in tough bars and talent for boxing. He has been in prison for six years and whatever fortitude he had he's used up to get this far. He has a parole coming up and we get the sense that if he isn't released he won't make it until the next one. Still, he puts on a brave face for his kid brother and explains that he doesn't mind the prison food, the bars, the company... It's the sky he yearns for.
"The Firm" finds the time to introduce us to Ray's former cellmate now a sleazy private eye (Gary Busey) catching cheating spouses for a living and carrying on an affair with his kooky secretary Tammy (Holly Hunter) for fun. She's married (get this!) to a trucker called Elvis who one day decided to move to Memphis and try his darnest to become the real king of rock. Maybe he doesn't have the voice but boy does he have the weight.
"The Firm" finds the time to include a beautiful scene in which Mitch saves a stranger from an abusive assailant with more than mugging in mind. "Is he your boyfriend," he asks her when she says she's unwilling to turn him in. "That was for money," she replies. When he asks her why she is doing what she is doing she tells him that she wants to be rich. Mitch, a kid from a broken-up trailer park family who's finally made it big, understands her all too well.
These aren't all the wonderful little scenes full of character and genuine human insight in "The Firm", just the few that have stuck in my mind. It would be easier to simply reproduce the screenplay in full than to list them all. I'll just go on and mention a few more colourful characters that have grown on me over the course of the film.
There's The Firm's menacing enforcer Devasher played by Wilford Brimley in a performance the kind of which we've never seen from him before. He is genuinely terrifying in the way he quietly and relentlessly pursues The Firm's enemies like a slasher villain.
There's an amiable older partner Avery Tolar (Gene Hackman) who takes Mitch under his wings. The two become fast friends but once the plot starts unfolding we begin asking ourselves just how deep the charming, easy-going Avery is involved.
Among the minor characters, we get terrific turns from Ed Harris as an FBI agent whose methods for closing down The Firm are just as ruthless as The Firm's, there's a very funny pair of hitmen played by the odd couple that is Tobin Bell and Dean Norris, there's an equally funny pair of Chicago mobsters who can terrify everyone except their fierce secretary, and there's a great cameo from producer Jerry Weintraub playing a sleazeball businessman whose tax bill is so huge he now has to live in the Caimans.
It's the characters and the wonderful sometimes witty, sometimes emotional moments they share that make "The Firm" such a terrific and rare breed of thriller. The screenplay by Robert Towne and David Rayfiel is an absolute corker - full of smart, sharp, funny dialogue. It does a great job of making sense of John Grisham's complicated, frequently preposterous plot which is easily the weakest aspect of this otherwise first-rate film.
Sydney Pollack directs with his usual precision and understated stylishness. He really takes his time building up the mysterious, sinister firm until it too becomes a fully fleshed-out character in the film. Everyone, from the partners to the youngest associate's wife refers to it as The Firm, with the kind of reverence reserved only for deities. Its rules must be obeyed, its commands respected, and if you try to leave you will suffer the same fate as the last two lawyers whose conscience got the better of them - they'll be looking for your bodies off the Caimain Islands shores.
With such richness of characters and such meticulous, atmospheric direction, "The Firm's" mammoth runtime absolutely flies by. I was engrossed in this film from beginning to end even though many of its plot twists are predictable. I was not waiting, however, for huge reveals or action scenes, I couldn't wait to see what happens to the characters.
Having now gushed about the script, the actors, and the direction, I must offer one final commendation to composer Dave Grusin. I have not always been a fan of his jazzy, funky scores but his work on "The Firm" is nothing short of revelatory. Played entirely on a single piano by Mr Grusin himself, the music underscoring the action is uplifting and energetic. It reminded me of the incredible score for "The Conversation" which similarly used a lone piano to signify its solitary protagonist's battle against a seemingly unbeatable system.
3.5/4 - DirectorFred ZinnemannStarsEdward FoxTerence AlexanderMichel AuclairIn the aftermath of France allowing Algeria's independence, a group of resentful military veterans hire a professional assassin codenamed "Jackal" to kill President Charles de Gaulle.13-05-2023
It's always entertaining to watch a professional at work. The dexterity of the hands, the meticulous attention to detail, the seeming ease... That's why there are so many montages in the movies of work processes - I've seen detailed portrayals of every kind of endeavour from butter churning to gun production.
Fred Zinneman's adaptation of Frederic Forsyth's bestselling novel "The Day of the Jackal" takes this to another level. It's an entire film made up of watching professionals hard at work, detailing their processes, efforts, and hardships as meticulously as possible.
The first professional we see at work is the titular Jackal (Edward Fox), a cold-blooded assassin hired by a group of right-wing revolutionaries to assassinate Charles De Gaulle. The portrayal of his process is so detailed and accurate that it led to exposed several real-world loopholes in the security of major British institutions.
We watch him as he acquires a false identity, forges his papers, builds a special weapon for the job, and recces the Parisian boulevard where the assassination is to take place. Director Fred Zinneman follows him in a way which is admirably unhurried. He allows for The Jackal's process to take its time focusing on the meticulous and intently concentrated manner in which he goes through it.
Edward Fox is simply marvellous in the part. The brilliance of his performance lies in the fact that he never tries to be intimidating. Outwardly, he's a charming fellow, not terribly physically imposing nor particularly strong. Instead, he allows his character's actions to flesh him out rather than any outward suggestions.
The disturbing thing about The Jackal is his indifference - the matter-of-fact way he goes about his work. He never seems to be enjoying himself or having a thrill. He's a professional doing a job of work in the quickest and most efficient manner he knows. If he has to kill someone he does it quickly and without a second thought. If he has to seduce someone he does it with the ease of James Bond. If he has to sleep with someone he does that too without much regard for the person's sex or his own emotions.
The second professional, well set of professionals, at work in "The Day of the Jackal" are the various international security forces - most prominently the French and the British - who are after the elusive assassin. The French manhunt is led by Commissioner Lebel (Michael Lonsdale), a wonderful character who is the exact opposite of what you'd imagine.
In the 1997 remake, the man after The Jackal was a handsome, former IRA action hero played by Richard Gere. Lebel, on the other hand, is a reluctant hero. He'd rather be at home with his wife feeding his pigeons. He's a reserved, rather shy policeman, brilliant but unremarkable in every other way, who approaches the matter with a professional detachment and some old-fashioned common sense.
Besides The Jackal he has to face off against another very dangerous enemy - the French bureaucracy. Every evening at 10, he has to present his report to a room full of stuffy colonels and pig-headed politicians who offer such incisive comments as "surely, something more can be done" and "maybe we could ask the conspirators who this Jackal is". They repeatedly try to take away the investigation from Lebel only then to have to grovel back to the commissioner after failing to make any progress.
The third set of professionals at work here are the filmmakers. I will especially praise the work of two of them - the film's screenwriter and the film's director. The writer is Kenneth Ross who does a miraculous job of adapting Forsyth's complex, detailed, dense novel into an entertaining, pacy film. Ross displays an incredible amount of skill by managing to cleanly and clearly tell this story which has over 50 speaking roles, takes place in several countries, and has more moving parts than any dozen thrillers you can think of.
The director, Fred Zinnemann, must be given credit for just how engrossing the film is. It's hard to praise "The Day of the Jackal" too much. It's simply put a perfect film. The way it is constructed is akin to a fine mechanism in which every slightest screw and bolt is perfectly tightened and wound. The film then ticks away at a pace so precise and with such an adroitness that I was reminded of the experience of listening to a Beethoven symphony conducted by Leonard Bernstein.
Time is a key factor in "The Day of the Jackal". You'll notice early on a repeated motif of clocks which Zinneman lingers on. Their significance is not immediately apparent but as the film goes on and The Jackal's plan unfolds they become vital. The film's pace noticeably speeds up as the assassination date nears and the web around The Jackal tightens.
What surprised me, however, was just how funny this film is. Like great cooks, Zinnemann and Ross know how perfectly to season a meal with contrasting tastes in order to create a perfect flavour. The scenes with the obstructive French bureaucrats facing off against the carefully sarcastic Commissioner Lebel never failed to make me laugh out loud.
Let's not at the end forget all the superb supporting actors who populate the rich and colourful world of this film. I couldn't possibly list all of them but here are some clever and memorable creations: Alan Badel delivers a perfectly tuned performance as the French Prime Minister, Ronald Pickup is wonderfully slimy as a scheming Italian forger, Cyril Cusack brings a kind of world-weary wisdom as an ageing gunsmith, Vernon Dobtcheff is terrifying in his short but eerily memorable turn as a French torturer, Timothy West also shows up as a cocksure French policeman, while Tony Britton plays his British counterpart.
The best supporting performances, however, are delivered by two women who are sacrificed for The Jackal's cause. Olga Georges-Picot delivers a surprisingly heartfelt turn as one of the radicals who is forced to seduce a rather unlikeable French colonel. Delphine Seyrig, one of the finest French actresses of all time, is equally memorable as a lonely, ageing countess who finds solace and passion with the wrong man - The Jackal himself.
"The Day of the Jackal" absolutely earns its reputation as a classic. It's simply put one of the very, very best thrillers ever made. A remarkably exciting, engrossing, and surprisingly witty procedural that zips us along from Britain to France to Italy to Austria without ever missing a beat or becoming difficult to follow. A rare feat indeed!
The climactic sequence is a superb example of suspense. Of course, we know that De Gaulle was not assassinated that much is not a question. However, Zinnemann like Forsyth before him, builds up the suspense around the question of what can possibly go wrong for The Jackal. After all that careful planning and execution what is the one detail that will trip him up? Like the best episodes of "Columbo", the suspense builds and builds even if the ending is a foregone conclusion.
4/4 - DirectorPeter YatesStarsWilliam HurtSigourney WeaverChristopher PlummerA janitor who claims he's seen a murder becomes romantically involved with the glamorous TV reporter covering the story.14-05-2023
Apparently, "Eyewitness" was cobbled together out of two unproduced screenplays written by the then-recent Academy Award winner Steve Tesich and boy, I've never seen a film where the seams show this much. The two scripts, diametrically opposed in both genre and style, clash throughout constantly to produce an uneven, awkward, and ultimately unsatisfying mishmash.
Let's first look at the first script - a rather interesting and unconventional love triangle between a reporter, a janitor, and the janitor's best friend.
The janitor in question is one Daryll Deever (William Hurt), a former marine, a war hero, and a dreamer at heart. He seems to be satisfied with his lowly job ("no one to push me around, he says) and the dilapidated apartment he shares with his attack dog. Perhaps after his unhappy childhood and the turbulent war years, he can appreciate the simple pleasure of "taking it easy".
He spends his days dreaming of two things. The first is opening a sports shop with his old war buddy Aldo (James Woods). The second is bedding a beautiful TV reporter named Antonia Sokolow (Sigourney Weaver).
The unlikelier of the two, however, manifests itself after Darryll finds a body in his building and Antonia shows up to interview him. He charms her by suggesting that he knows more than he does and before long, the two of them start an awkward but passionate affair. Darryll's friends suggest she's only using him to get to the story. Her controlling parents urge her that he is only using her for sex. Ironically, both are right but Darryll and Antonia don't seem to mind as long as each of them is getting their part of the bargain.
Aldo, however, is not as happy. A former marine who is implied to be suffering from PTSD, he is the kind of person who can't bear to stand in one place for too long lest their thoughts catch up with them. Darryll, however, is the one friend he has in the world and the one person he feels safe with. He hopes that Darryll will marry his sister so that the two men can finally be family - a kind of marriage by proxy if you will. But the intrusion of this fancy TV lady mixes up Aldo's plans and pulls the rug out from his already shaky feet.
Steve Tesich, a screenwriter who spent most of his career writing sensitive, introspective scripts about the complications of friendship, does a marvellous job of portraying this bizarre love triangle. Dexterously, he weaves all kinds of anxieties of the late 70s into their relationship - the aftermath of the Vietnam War, the financial instability, the death of the infectious optimism of the 60s... He writes some marvellous material for these first-rate actors most notably a wonderfully kooky scene in which Darryll and Aldo's sister joyfully reassure themselves that they don't actually love each other. I've never seen a break-up scene played with smiles before!
Unfortunately, the murder case is not merely a plot device to get Darryll and Antonia together. It doesn't fade away into the background. Instead, the film develops a kind of parallel narrative constantly switching between a tender, human love story and a ludicrous thriller plot. The latter ultimately buries the former under thick layers of confusion, improbability, and pure insanity until the film becomes a tonally bizarre concoction made up of completely disparate scenes.
Aldo becomes the prime suspect in the murder whose victim is a Vietnamese businessman who was apparently "working for both sides" during the War. Tesich then proceeds to complicate the story by introducing the victim's vengeful sons who hunt down Antonia for some reason. Also thrown in for good measure are Antonia's imperious boyfriend (Christopher Plummer), a pipe-smoking police detective (Morgan Freeman) and his wise-cracking partner (Steven Hill), rabid dogs, Mossad agents, and a Zionist conspiracy.
Tesich can never make sense of this increasingly more ludicrous thriller plot nor can he ever hope to seamlessly marry it to the smart, heartfelt love story happening parallel to it. The climax, once it comes, features some of the most outlandish reveals in thriller history which, for me, completely undermined all the good work that was put in "Eyewitness".
I have never seen a movie sabotage itself like this in my life. The first 40 or so minutes are so good, so full of life, and so intriguing that I was sure I was watching an unsung masterpiece. Then all of this cloak-and-dagger nonsense rears its ugly head and the movie just sinks. Director Peter Yates is also partly to blame for this as he places way too much focus on the crime story. The film is imbued with a kind of noirish atmosphere which just doesn't gel with the quirky, tender scenes between Hurt and Weaver.
Another problem I had with the film is that in light of all the horrific stalking cases that have happened since 1981, it is hard to view Darryll's obsession with Antonia in quite the same romantic light that the film seems to. Nowadays, he comes across as a rather creepy character and I had rather hoped that the film would address this problem. Sadly, it doesn't and it merely treats his fannish fascination with her as an excuse for a meet-cute.
"Eyewitness" is an uneasy marriage between two screenplays that don't belong in the same drawer let alone the same movie. Steve Tesich gives us some wonderful character work here - great dialogues, and insights into the people and the political views of post-Vietnam America. But he is a terrible thriller writer, the kind who confuses complication for plotting. He throws twist upon twist into this thin thriller yarn until it completely buckles under the weight of its preposterous plot. The finale which involves a shootout with Mossad agents in a horse barn is so ridiculous it would be laughed out of a James Bond movie. It's a sad ending to what began as such a promising, insightful little film.
2/4 - DirectorJohn FrankenheimerStarsRobert De NiroJean RenoNatascha McElhoneA freelancing former U.S. Intelligence Agent tries to track down a mysterious package that is wanted by the Irish and the Russians.15-05-2023
Ronin, the opening titles tell us, are samurai who have lost their liege and were forced to wander the land looking for work as hired swordsmen. John Frankenheimer's "Ronin" updates this Japanese legend to the modern world where former Cold War operatives have turned into mercenaries, renting their finely honed skills to the highest bidder. The updating works surprisingly well accounting, of course, for the fact that these modern ronin have no respect for the moral codes of their honourable ancestors. In one scene, Jean-Pierre (Michael Lonsdale), a mysterious Frenchman with a love for history tells one of the mercenaries how the ronin would always choose honour and myth over wealth. "They chose wrong," replies their modern equivalent.
There's certainly more to be said about the lawless and honourless world of post-Cold War Europe but "Ronin" doesn't really have the time to say it. It's too busy following its anti-heroes across France as they race expensive cars through Paris and Nice, shoot at each other and anyone who happens to be around them at famous landmarks, and exchange quippy dialogue while reloading their fancy guns. In their wake, they leave highways in flames, streets littered with corpses, and utter chaos and yet, somehow, the authorities never take notice and the film moves on to the next location.
The film revolves around a group of mercenaries hired by an Irish woman of few words (Natascha McElhone) to steal a well-guarded briefcase. What's in the briefcase? The mercenaries don't know and their employer isn't telling. Ultimately, of course, it doesn't matter. As with all good McGuffins, all that matters is that everybody wants it.
The mercenaries include a sharp former CIA agent Sam (Robert De Niro), a laidback Frenchman Vincent (Jean Reno), a professorial computer nerd from Germany Gregor (Stellan Skarsgard), an English braggart Spence (Sean Bean), and a flashy American driver Larry (Skipp Sudduth). There are other players in the game including Russian oligarchs and the Irish lass' boss Seamus (Jonathan Pryce) but the film focuses tightly on the exploits of the mercenaries.
As it turns out, getting the briefcase is not the difficult part of the job. After two excellently executed shootouts, they have it in their hands. It's the keeping it there that proves difficult especially once the ronin start turning on each other.
I admire how pared down the script for "Ronin" is. It doesn't bother with complex plot twists or conspiracies. The motive is simple: money. No one in this film seems to have an ideology or even ambitions beyond acquiring more of that rectangular green paper. "Most of my friends just wanted to live to open a bar," says Sam. "They were spared their disillusion," replies Jean-Pierre.
"Ronin" has a first-rate international cast and some great, witty dialogue courtesy of an uncredited David Mamet but at heart, it's a very simple, straightforward action movie. Every relationship is an excuse for a twist. Every twist is an excuse for a shootout. And every shootout is an excuse for a grandiose and perfectly executed set piece.
The real star of the film is its 68-year-old director John Frankenheimer who even at this point in his storied career had the chops to craft an electrifying, intense, moody action film. "Ronin" doesn't have the oppressive, intellectual qualities of his finest work but it is an atmospheric, stylish piece of work that most directors at the proverbial top of their game would kill to have directed.
Standouts in the cast are certainly De Niro and Reno whose easy, charming chemistry gives the film an emotional center. We grow to actually like and care for these guys even though we never really find out who the hell they are. This is one of De Niro's best performances in the post-"Heat" era of his career. We believe completely that he is this careful, observant professional. A calculated mercenary who could do anything for money. I was less inclined to believe his budding romance with McElhone, a needless addition to an otherwise economical movie, but thankfully, the film doesn't linger too much on the two of them. In fact, the bromance between De Niro and Reno is wisely given much more focus.
"Ronin" is expertly executed entertainment in the wham-bam model that later instalments of the "Mission: Impossible" franchise would follow. There are no attempts at philosophy or psychology here - just good old-fashioned explosions. While I do wish there was more substance on display (especially with a cast this good), I enjoyed its action, its direction, and the way its actors create memorable, colourful characters out of very thin material.
3/4 - DirectorRobert TowneStarsMel GibsonMichelle PfeifferKurt RussellA former L.A. drug dealer tries to go straight but his past and his underworld connections bring him into the focus of the DEA, the Mexican feds and the Mexican drug cartels.15-05-2023
"I don't know what it is about going to high school with someone that makes you feel you're automatically friends for life. Who says friendship lasts forever?"
Robert Towne's "Tequila Sunrise" is about one such friendship which has gone well past its logical conclusion. It's about Dale and Nick, childhood friends who try their best to maintain their relationship in adulthood but find themselves turning into bitter enemies during the events of the film. Besides having wildly different personalities and falling in love with the same lady, I think their chosen professions may have played a part in this. That's what happens I suppose when you're the head of narcotics and your best friend is a high-rolling drug dealer.
Roger Ebert called these kinds of films "wunza movies" - you get it one's a cop, the other is a crook. The cop is Nick Frescia (Kurt Russell), the flashy cowboy type. Looking like a "Miami Vice" guest star with his slicked-back hair and well-tailored suits, he drives his superiors crazy but by god, he gets the results. Russell is terrific playing these kinds of tightly-wound guys. He also speaks Towne's sarcastic, sharp dialogue better than anyone since Jack Nicholson.
The crook is Dale McKussic (Mel Gibson), the most charming and laidback drug dealer you're ever likely to meet. Considering he's a single father with a demanding ex-wife and the entire LA Sheriff's Office on his back you'd think he'd be the tightly wound one but Dale seems to have found his peace surfing the waves and eating designer Italian meals which he pays for in cash.
Ironically it's Nick who tries his damnest to save the friendship. He risks his job by getting Dale out of trouble but all he gets in return are wisecracks. He operates according to his own mixed-up morality. He won't betray his buddy but he will manipulate everyone around him so that in the end he still gets the result he wants.
Robert Towne, as always, has written some likeable, interesting characters and placed them in the middle of complex, intriguing relationships. Unfortunately, he never manages to make a coherent movie out of them. I was fully invested in Dale and Nick's friendship from the very first scene but after about 30 minutes, Towne seems to completely abandon this plotline in favour of a love story.
Enter Jo Ann Vallenari (Michelle Pfeiffer), the owner of Dale's favourite restaurant and a woman that both Dale and Nick are wildly in love with. Even though this love triangle seems to be an ideal way for Towne to bring Dale and Nick into a friendship-destroying conflict, he doesn't. Nick and Dale barely ever discuss their feelings for Jo Ann whose plotline feels like a movie unto itself.
First, she is romanced by Nick and these scenes are terrific. Pfeiffer and Russell have great chemistry on screen and their rapport absolutely sizzles with charm and screwball humour. But Towne allows their love affair to peter out almost imperceptibly.
Then, she suddenly decides it's Dale she loves. I didn't really buy this plot twist. Pfeiffer and Gibson don't have much chemistry together and Towne never spares the time to flesh out their characters' relationship. Instead, he suddenly decides the film should be a thriller discarding along the way both the friendship plotline and the love affairs.
Enter Carlos, a mysterious Mexican cartel boss whom Nick would love to catch. The problem is, the only person in America who knows Carlos' real identity is Dale and he ain't telling.
This plotline which comes to dominate the second half of the film is completely limp. Carlos' identity is extremely easy to figure out, the twists are improbable and underdeveloped, and the idea of Dale McKussic as some kind of an international drug runner is absolutely ludicrous.
Therein lies the problem with "Tequila Sunrise". Towne has written terrific characters and then run them through three separate films none of which belong together. The result is a disjointed, occasionally incoherent picture full of wonderfully inciteful and witty scenes which never add up to an entire movie's worth of story. "Tequila Sunrise" truly is less than the sum of its parts.
This is a shame since the actors are terrific as is Conrad L. Hall's photography. This film looks absolutely sensational especially a moody, beautiful, elegiac scene in which Russell and Gibson are seen silhouetted against the most picturesque sunset I've ever seen in a film.
OK, the drug-runner stuff is nonsensical but the story about Dale and Nick's friendship fascinated me and the love affair between Russell and Pfeiffer was electric. If only Towne could have focused on one of those or found a way to seamlessly integrate them into one movie, I'm sure "Tequila Sunrise" could have been one of the defining classics of the late 80s.
As it stands, however, it's an intriguing but utterly disappointing mishmash of great scenes which never amount to a coherent film.
2/4 - DirectorH. Bruce HumberstoneStarsSidney TolerPhyllis BrooksVictor Sen YungWhile Charlie is distracted with the birth of his first grandchild, son Jimmy impersonates his father in order to investigate a murder aboard a freighter in the harbor.16-05-2023
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https://www.imdb.com/list/ls539978222/ - DirectorNorman FosterStarsSidney TolerRicardo CortezPhyllis BrooksMary Whitman, an old friend of Charlie's in Reno for a divorce, finds herself accused of murdering the woman her husband planned to marry after the decree became final.16-05-2023
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https://www.imdb.com/list/ls539978222/ - DirectorH. Bruce HumberstoneStarsWarner OlandKeye LukeHelen WoodWhen a friend of Charlie's is found kicked to death by his own race horse on board a Honolulu-bound liner, the detective discovers foul play and uncovers an international gambling ring.16-05-2023
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https://www.imdb.com/list/ls539978222/ - DirectorNorman FosterStarsSidney TolerCesar RomeroPauline MooreCharlie's investigation of a phony psychic during the 1939 World Exposition on San Francisco's Treasure Island leads him to expose a suicide as murder.19-05-2023
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https://www.imdb.com/list/ls539978222/ - DirectorFrank OzStarsRobert De NiroEdward NortonMarlon BrandoAn aging thief hopes to retire and live off his ill-gotten wealth with his lover when a young kid convinces him into doing one last heist that comes with a large payout.23-05-2023
Nick (Robert De Niro) is a professional thief, the best in the business, who is now planning to retire (because, of course he is!) in order to run his Montreal jazz club and romance his stewardess girlfriend (Angela Bassett). However, his boss Max (Marlon Brando) wants him back for one last job (because, of course he does!). The job entails stealing a priceless sceptre from the Montreal Customs building, a well-guarded fortress of a place that still seems to be super easy to break into. Nick accepts and is paired up with a cocky rookie (because, of course he is!) named Jack (Edward Norton) who has infiltrated the Customs building posing as a mentally-handicapped janitor.
As you can see, "The Score" is a mishmash of familiar scraps of material and its synopsis reads like every generic heist movie made since the silent era. It's the kind of movie that's not so much written as compiled by its four credited screenwriters (nowadays, the job could probably be done by a single computer).
This is a particularly threadbare, unambitious take on this old material doing only as much as is absolutely necessary. We never get to know the characters as anything more than the adjectives we can use to describe them. De Niro is the professional, Norton is the rookie, Brando is the boss, and Bassett is the girlfriend. The latter is particularly poorly used and dreadfully underwritten. Her character serves no real purpose in the film and, tellingly, disappears as soon as the plot kicks in.
With a cast as remarkable as this, you'd expect a more memorable film. Unfortunately, "The Score" is a damp squib. I suppose it could be diverting enough during its 2-hour runtime but the film has no staying power. Even as I type this I can feel it evaporating from my mind.
The thin screenplay, however, could have maybe been interpreted as lean had the heist sequences been any good. Again, the film disappoints. The big job, once it finally comes around after the leads spend 90 minutes talking about it and preparing for it, has none of the excitement or the suspense of its contemporaries such as "Ocean's 11", "Mission Impossible", or even David Mamet's "Heist" which came out mere months later.
The whole film, in fact, is a curiously low-energy effort. A shuffling, listless thriller lacking the sure hand of a more stylish, confident director. "The Score", feels instead more like a movie that the actors did for their own personal amusement. Edward Norton gets to show off his physical transformation skills by pretending to be a handicapped person for no particular reason. Marlon Brando, in a rambling, incoherent performance typical for his later career, does his usual schtick. He seems to be creating his scenes out of whole cloth, improvising nonsensical lines left and right, having fun by being unimaginably difficult. De Niro, meanwhile, is just there for the cheque, much like his character in the film. He isn't terribly convincing as a master thief and he seems to be struggling to muster up any kind of enthusiasm for his underwritten part.
I don't doubt that many interesting and entertaining things happened between the takes of "The Score", but none of them occur on screen. The film is decently pleasant and it whiles away the time in the same way a low-rent cable show or a TV movie of the week might. However, we expect more from this cast and the enticing promise of seeing De Niro, Norton, and Brando in a real high-stakes heist thriller is never made good on.
2/4 - DirectorDavid MametStarsGene HackmanRebecca PidgeonDanny DeVitoA career jewel thief finds himself at tense odds with his longtime partner, a crime boss who sends his nephew to keep watch.23-05-2023
"Everybody needs money. That's why they call it money."
Any review of a David Mamet film or play could easily turn into a catalogue of its best lines. Since I don't have room in this review for such a list, I guess I'm gonna have to try and write something smart myself.
"Heist" is a David Mamet film and you know it's a David Mamet film because it features all the goodies from his usual bag of tricks: sparkling dialogue, dazzling twists, an impressive cast list, and plotting as cute as a Chinese baby. By now, it's familiar stuff but goodies are goodies and "Heist" is a treat.
Truth be told, it's a pretty low-key affair for Mamet. It lacks the metatextuality of his finest films or the sharp political edge. Watching it, I got the impression that this is something of a busman's holiday - a great filmmaker having fun and sharing a laugh with the audience.
The story is a clear homage to those film noirs of old that Mamet loves so much. As a heist thriller it owes more to Kubrick's "The Killing" than "Ocean's Eight". The smart thing Mamet does, however, is that he takes a familiar premise of a master thief executing his last big job, and then makes it compelling by focusing more on the thief than the job.
The guy's name is Joe Moore (Gene Hackman) and he's getting old. Back in the day, he was so cool, we're told, that when he went to bed the sheep would count him. Now, he's in his 70s and he's losing the magic touch. His loyal associates are starting to doubt him, his hot young wife Fran (Rebecca Pidgeon) is finding him less and less attractive, and his sleazy fence Mickey (Danny DeVito) screws him out of a big cut on what was supposed to be his goodbye job.
Mickey instead wants him to do another heist. In return, he will pay him the cut he owes him and give him 50% of what promises to be a lucrative robbery. Joe accepts even though he is uneasy about the odds. We get the sense that he's losing faith in himself and starting to realize that his place is on a boat, spending his twilight years in the sun.
Mickey also insists that his brash, dumb nephew Jimmy (Sam Rockwell) come along for the heist. Joe's crew is not happy about the arrangement except for Fran who recognises in Jimmy the younger version of the man she fell in love with. The cocky rookie is a staple of the genre but Mamet makes the character interesting through his relationship with Fran. While Joe is busy planning the job, the two of them become more than partners in crime. Mamet does a great job of building up their relationship through looks and gestures. They barely speak to each other in the film and yet we always know how they feel. That's good filmmaking.
The only significant innovation Mamet introduces into the genre is that he never actually tells us what the heist is until we see it. He drip-feeds us information as we watch Joe and his crew prepare and execute it. There is a wonderful air of mystery around the mythical "Swiss Job" and once we do find out what it's all about, we're not disappointed.
Mamet's directing is as precise and effective as his dialogue. He crafts some terrifically suspenseful and tense scenes in this film. From an exciting opening sequence to the actual Swiss Job and then finally to one of the best shootouts I've ever seen on film, he keeps the energy and the pace up.
I normally don't tend to like shootouts in movies very much. Gunplay to me is the most boring form of action. There's so little tension and so little personal interaction in the act of pointing a small metal object at someone. It's entirely anticlimactic. And yet, Mamet turns it into a brilliant scene by introducing so much humour and character into it. To say more would be to spoil a masterful climax.
Gene Hackman, an actor who doesn't know how not to be compelling on screen, brings his trademark sardonic world-weariness to the part of Joe Moore, one of the best performances of his later career. He has good support from Delroy Lindo and Ricky Jay who play his heist crew and are completely convincing as a kind of dysfunctional family. Also terrific is Danny DeVito in one of his sleaziest performances. He really should do more dramatic roles.
The two turns that really caught my eye, however, come from the two women in the cast. Rebecca Pidgeon always gets flack for being Mamet's wife but she has proved time and time again that she has a real flair for delivering his dialogue. She's cool and sharp and sexy as the slippery Fran and you're never in doubt as to why Joe and Jimmy are so madly in love with her.
The other woman in the cast is Broadway legend Patti LuPone who absolutely steals the picture in a very small part. She only has two scenes in the movie playing an alcoholic who inadvertently helps Joe with the robbery. However, the scene between Hackman and her which I don't want to spoil was, for me, one of the high points of a delightful film.
"Heist" is a minor Mamet picture, for sure, but it is so clever and cocky and fun that I was along for the ride all the way to the big twist. There's a playfulness to it that's infectious and it's no surprise that the final shot is a character giving a cheeky grin to the camera.
3.5/4 - DirectorHerbert I. LeedsStarsSidney TolerLynn BariRichard ClarkeWhile in Paris for a reunion on the eve of World War II, Charlie finds that the murder of a hated businessman leads him to a conspiracy to smuggle arms to Germany.25-05-2023
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https://www.imdb.com/list/ls539978222/ - DirectorNorman FosterStarsSidney TolerJean RogersLionel AtwillInspector Chan investigates a group of travelers, one of whom is a saboteur.25-05-2023
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https://www.imdb.com/list/ls539978222/ - DirectorEugene FordeStarsSidney TolerMarjorie WeaverLionel AtwillCharlie tries to discover the identity of a strangler who strikes multiple times on a cruise ship bound from Honolulu to California.27-05-2023
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https://www.imdb.com/list/ls539978222/ - DirectorLynn ShoresStarsSidney TolerVictor Sen YungC. Henry GordonAn escaped convicted murderer hides out at a New York wax museum where he hopes to get plastic surgery, which will help him revenge himself on Charlie Chan.27-05-2023
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https://www.imdb.com/list/ls539978222/ - DirectorHarry LachmanStarsSidney TolerMarjorie WeaverRobert LoweryWhen Charlie's old friend from Scotland Yard is murdered when they attend a police convention in New York, Chan picks up the case he was working on.28-05-2023
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https://www.imdb.com/list/ls539978222/ - DirectorHarry LachmanStarsSidney TolerSheila RyanRobert WeldonA treasure map in four pieces, the ghost of a hanged pirate, a talking parrot, and a ship full of red herrings complicate Charlie's search for a murderer on board a docked ship.28-05-2023
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https://www.imdb.com/list/ls539978222/ - DirectorHarry LachmanStarsSidney TolerMary Beth HughesCobina WrightOn the trail of a singer who killed the man she loved in Honolulu, Charlie finds her stabbed to death when he ultimately catches up to her in Rio.28-05-2023
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