Film Review: THE TALL T (1957, Budd Boetticher)

Stars: 5 of 5. Running Time: 78 minutes. Notable Cast or Crew: Randolph Scott (RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY, SEVEN MEN FROM NOW), Richard Boone (HAVE GUN, WILL TRAVEL; THE SHOOTIST), Maureen O' Sullivan (Jane in TARZAN AND HIS MATE), Henry Silva (THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, BULLETPROOF, ALLIGATOR, ESCAPE FROM THE BRONX, GHOST DOG), Arthur Hunnicutt (THE BIG SKY, THE LUSTY MEN, HARRY AND TONTO). Story by Elmore Leonard (52 PICK-UP, LONESOME DOVE, CAT CHASER), screenplay by George Kennedy (SEVEN MEN FROM NOW). Tag-line: "Taut! Torrid! Tremendous! T Is for Terror!" Best one-liner: "Come on, it's going to be a nice day!"

To what does that title refer? "Taut! Torrid! Tremendous! T Is for Terror!," exclaims the tag-line. Well, let's not dwell on it- it was imposed by the studio, and no one involved knew what the hell it meant. But it doesn't matter, because THE TALL T is a masterpiece. Based on an Elmore Leonard story, it begins as a simple, languid tale of pastoral living, gentle slapstick, and formidable landscapes. But when it wants to be, it's lean and mean and absolutely brutal (the film will not hesitate to shoot someone in the face at point-blank range- and this is 1957!). Despite a set-up that involves gunslingers and hostages, the material is never sensationalized: a certain realism emerges, and it becomes something of a 'chamber-piece thriller.' As Pat Brennan, Randolph Scott is our perfect hero- at once weary, cheerful, and rugged, he's somehow the exact median between Jimmy Stewart and John Wayne.
He's a sweet old guy who'll buy a kid stick candy, but he'll put you in a headlock if he needs to, dammit. He's a man who'll admit when he's scared, but, by gum, he'll do something about it.
Randolph Scott helps Maureen O' Sullivan work out some self-esteem issues.

Brennan and some traveling companions (which include Maureen O' Sullivan as a wealthy, recently married, ex-old maid and John Hubbard as her gold-diggin' new husband) become the victims of a trio of brigands (who include a steely Richard Boone and a vicious Henry Silva). [I also have to point out that the gold-diggin' douche is one of the great unsung western stereotypes. You always hear about the "honest rancher," "the old maid," "the hooker with a heart of gold," and "the black hat-wearin' outlaw," but "the gold-diggin', douchey guy" rarely gets his due, despite appearing in more movies and TV episodes than you can shake a stick at.] Anyway, Richard Boone, as "Frank," is fuckin' fantastic. I always enjoyed him (and his high-brow antics) in HAVE GUN, WILL TRAVEL, but I didn't start thinking of him as one of the greats until I saw his performances in THE TALL T and THE SHOOTIST. Frank's actions are villainous, to be sure, but he's not some bloodthirsty, mad-dog killer.


He's rational, intellectual, and incredibly complex- a huge influence on Sergio Leone's antagonists from Lee van Cleef's "Angel Eyes" to Henry Fonda's "Frank" (and this film as a whole clearly inspired great swaths of ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST).
Frank is drawn to Brennan and yet repulsed by him- he's the sort of man he wishes he could be, which leads to an odd combination of self-loathing and hero worship, followed by general misanthropy. Silva's a deliciously vile punk ("I never shot me a woman before- have I, Frank?") who seems to be- unnervingly- borderline mentally disabled.


Silva. Here, he's kind of a blend of young, vigorous Marlon Brando and young, diabolical Clu Gulager.


Silva struggles to construct a coherent thought as Skip Homeier (as 'Billy Jack') looks on.

His semi-coherent, sluggardly ramblings about his background are juxtaposed with his single-minded, serpentine, six-shooter virtuousity, and the result is downright chilling. In all, THE TALL T is one of the great American Westerns, and Budd Boetticher stands tall alongside Ford, Ray, Hawks, and the like. And it's the kind of Western that clearly helped pave the way for subsequent masterpieces by Peckinpah and Leone. Five stars.

Film Review: MR. MAJESTYK (1974, Richard Fleischer)

Stars: 4 of 5.
Running Time: 103 minutes.
Notable Cast or Crew: Charles Bronson, Al Lettieri, Paul Koslo (LOVE AND BULLETS), Lee Purcell (THE GAMBLER, BIG WEDNESDAY), written by Elmore Leonard.
Tag-lines: "He didn't want to be hero... until the day they pushed him too far."
Best one-liner: "You make sounds like you're a mean little ass-kicker... only I ain't convinced. You keep talking and I'm gonna take your head off. " (said by Bronson)

A. Knuckleheads mess with Bronson:


B. Knuckleheads get what they deserve:


Simple, right? Well, not always. MR. MAJESTYK was made in an era when action films weren't afraid to be socially relevant: films like COFFY, PRIME CUT, and CHARLEY VARRICK; films that hit hard and were well made. [And MAJESTYK's influence has reverberated from Soderbergh's THE LIMEY (the one-man assault on a luxury home finale) to QT's DEATH PROOF (Bronson hangs on to the bed of a pick-up truck in a thrilling chase punctuated by 'horror film’ reveals).] The grittiness was inherent, not a CGI filter added in post. The stars' bodies were chiseled by backbreaking work and war injuries, not by elliptical machines and the Master Cleanse diet.

As Vince Majestyk, Bronson strides into this film with a brown cloth flat cap and a jeans jacket caring about one thing, and one thing only: getting his watermelon crop in on time. "Oh-ho-ho snarf snarf he's a MELON FARMER." Well, before you say anything else, you child, have you ever hoisted a SINGLE watermelon into a truck in 100 degree heat, much less 1,000 of them?

Majestyk doesn't give a shit about the status quo.

He pisses off cops, the mob, and rednecks alike (including a swarthily intense Al Lettieri - Sollozzo in THE GODFATHER-

and the simpering Paul Koslo, the over-the-top villain from ROBOT JOX). He gives smartass winks, he headbutts through a windshield to escape a car, and he lies in wait like a real pro.

When offered a bribe, he calmly retorts, "I've been to L.A., and I've been to Mexico. And I've been laid." He stands up for the rights of migrants who are denied use of a bathroom, pays a fair wage to non-whites (angering the good ole boys), and it's a powerful moment when he realizes that the slew of injustices perpetrated against him are just par for the course for his Hispanic friends. And in an age where Chipotle is still senselessly abusing tomato pickers in Florida, a document like MAJESTYK is still a blast to watch, but goddammit, it's important. Four stars.

-Sean Gill

Film Review: 52 PICK-UP (1986, John Frankenheimer)

Stars: 4 of 5.
Running Time: 110 minutes.
Notable Cast or Crew: Roy Scheider, Ann-Margret, John Glover, Vanity, Robert Trebor (TALK RADIO, UNIVERSAL SOLDIER), Clarence Williams III (PURPLE RAIN, I'M GONNA GET YOU SUCKA), and a cameo by Ron Jeremy.
Tag-lines: "Greed. Extortion. Revenge."
Best exchange: John Glover: "I could be walking into something." Roy Scheider: "Buddy, you could be walking into surgery!"

Along with JACKIE BROWN, OUT OF SIGHT, and Ferrara's cut of CAT CHASER, I would place 52 PICK-UP high on the list of Elmore Leonard novel adaptations. John Frankenheimer specializes in thrillers that make you uncomfortable by invading both your public (THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE) and private (SECONDS) spaces, and 52 PICK-UP, as usual, combines both of these unnerving proclivities with a sharp screenplay and an exceptional cast.

Unfortunately, the ending is a tad corny and abrupt (thus robbing the film of its fifth star), but it's still endlessly satisfying in an 80's action way. But on to the performances: Roy Scheider is intense, and the anchor of the film.

He's always great, and here is no exception. Ann-Margret is better than usual, particularly nailing a scene where she's forced to take heroin. Clarence Williams III is terrifying; exuding a menacingly vacant, emotionless stare one rarely sees outside of a real-life psych ward. Vanity isn't even bad, and I thought I'd never say that.

But the real star here is John Glover, a man usually confined to small, charactery roles.

Here he embodies a bubbly sleaziness, a penchant for nicknames ('Sport,' 'Slim,' 'Slick'), and a cheerful, hateful sense of entitlement. He's a villain worthy of the best of David Lynch (say, Dennis Hopper in BLUE VELVET or Willem Dafoe in WILD AT HEART). Every moment he's on screen, the viewer is held rapt, never knowing if outbursts of laughter or eruptions of violence await them. His smarmy narration of the two VHS cassettes played in the film could be a master's class in vocal nuance, inflection, and purpose.

Bravo, Mr. Glover. Four stars. For comparably-toned thrillers with similarly high stakes, see Michael Mann's MANHUNTER, William Friedkin's TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A., and Mann's THIEF.

-Sean Gill