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NOBODY

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In this action comedy Hutch (played by Bob Odenkirk) is on the face of it a real sad sack of a nobody. The state of his marriage to Becca is summed up by the rolled up sheet she has placed as a barrier between them in their bed. His job is a monotonous accounting-type gig with a small business owned by his father-in-law, who doesn’t hold him in high regard. But guess what? It turns out that back in the day Hutch was a formidable assassin working for the US government, until he tired of it and developed a yen for a conventional marriage and suburban lifestyle. When a couple of inept burglars tangle with Hutch the worm finally turns, and not before long he is beating up five young punks on a bus, in an enjoyable fist fight that is well choreographed and makes creative use of the available fixtures and fittings.   Best of all, Hutch doesn’t have it all his own way (after all, it is five against one) and comes out of it with a fair amount of bruising as well as a stab wound. ...
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THE DEADLY COMPANIONS

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The New York Times critic Bosley Crowther criticised this 1961 Western, Sam Peckinpah's directorial debut, for moving "at the pace of a hearse". Which is only as it should be given that the story centres on the transportation of a corpse, that of a young boy, who is shot dead accidentally during a shootout in the middle of town (an occupational hazard in those days, I guess). His mother Kit (played by Maureen O'Hara) arrived in the town a few years earlier, pregnant and without a husband.  Despite her claims that her husband had been killed, she's a single mum of dubious morals as far as the town is concerned, and so she's ostracised and has had to make a living in the music hall. Due to her treatment from the town she rejects the idea of a funeral for the boy there, and instead she's going to take him to be buried with his father.  There's one small problem: it means a journey through Apache country and none of the townsfolk feel like escorting her.  ...
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ARABESQUE

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I have to confess that I struggled to get through this 1966 comedy spy thriller, and my attention was increasingly going AWOL as it went on. It’s directed by Stanley Donen as the follow-up to his successful effort in the same genre in 1963, ‘Charade’.  That film is set in Paris, stars Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn, as well as a strong supporting cast, and has an entertaining plot.  Donen, who is best known as a director of musicals, was able to take these ingredients and make them into a charming soufflé of a film. In the case of Arabesque the ingredients are less promising: Gregory Peck and Sophia Loren, not much of a supporting cast, and a plot which most critics found confusing. The result for me was less a soufflé, more a rubbery omelette. Cary Grant turned the project down which suggests he knows a bad script when he sees it.  He may also have wondered whether he would have made a convincing professor of Egyptology (spoiler alert: he wouldn't).  Although Gregory...
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SEE HOW THEY RUN

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In 2019 ‘Knives Out’ managed to create a murder mystery in the style of Agatha Christie, but updated for the twenty-first century.  It was so successful that it raised the bar for any other film fishing in the same pool, which arguably this 2022 comedy mystery is.  Given that I didn't find it very funny or the murder mystery that interesting, I would say that it fell short by some distance.   That being said, as an aficionado of the classic age of detective fiction I found it passably entertaining. It is set in 1952, when Christie's play 'The Mousetrap' has just completed its first 100 performances.  To give it a modern angle the story is narrated by an unlikeable US film director who is going to direct a film adaptation of the play, who then turns out to be the murder victim.  A neat touch is that there is an early flashback in which he visualises how he wants the film to end, complete with action and gunfire, which is then how this film ends. So there is ...
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THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (1956)

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This is a remake by Hitchcock of a film he made in 1934.   The highlight of the earlier version is an assassination attempt during a concert at the Royal Albert Hall, so it's no surprise that Hitchcock keeps this in the remake.   He also keeps the underlying premise, of a normal couple who accidentally learn of a plan to commit a political assassination, whose child is kidnapped to keep them from going to the authorities. But in all other details the two films are completely different. This one starts in Morocco, where Ben and Jo McKenna, with their son Hank, are on holiday.  Given that this portion of the film is simply there to set things up it goes on for a surprisingly long time (at least 45 minutes).  It's too long in my opinion, but eventually Hank is kidnapped, and Ben and Jo desperately go to London where their only lead is a man (so they think) by the name of Ambrose Chappell. In fact Ambrose Chapel is a church, where they meet again the Draytons, ...
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THE SILENT PARTNER

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This is (to me anyway) a rather obscure thriller set in Canada, from 1978. The story is based on a neat (if improbable) premise.  Miles, a senior bank teller played by Elliott Gould, becomes aware that his bank will be robbed.  Being a clever fellow with not a surfeit of morals he realises that he can safely steal a load of dollars since their loss will be blamed on the bank robber.  Of course, for this subterfuge to work Miles needs to delay setting off the alarm so that the robber (who is dressed as Santa Claus!) can escape, which he does. All well and good, and in a nice touch Miles stores his loot in one of the bank’s safety deposit boxes. The trouble is that the real thief, played by Christopher Plummer, is not best pleased and being a nasty and violent piece of work he starts threatening Miles. What ensues is a battle of wits. Since Miles is a smart alec we know who will win but it’s fun to watch him come up trumps.  At one stage he plays a very neat trick to g...
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PALE RIDER

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After the catastrophic failure of 'Heaven's Gate' in 1980, it was a brave move by Clint Eastwood to produce, direct and star in another Western a few years later.  He was rewarded with a commercial and critical hit, although I'm at a bit of a loss to explain its success.   I agree with the critic quoted in Wikipedia who thought it was derivative, given that it has very strong echoes of both 'Shane' and Eastwood's own 'High Plains Drifter' - the basic story is of a community under threat which is saved by a mysterious outsider, who may well be a ghost. When you are referencing two such strong films you need to bring something distinctive to the table but this is where 'Pale Rider' falls short. Sure there are some variations.   Instead of a young lad who idolises Shane we get a teenage girl, Megan, who would quite like to lose her virginity to the stranger. Instead of farmers, the community at risk consists of a bunch of gold prospectors and th...
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