[size=3] Casualties of War.
Michael J Fox plays a soldier who speaks out about the rape and killing of a woman. Powerful film, and forgot how much it is, as not viewed since its cinema release all those years back, and the acting is just spot on especially by the two leads. Back in the day when director Brian De Palma was still making some good films.[/size]
[quote=āchameleon, post:8260, topic:1923ā]Anyways Ellen Burstyn was never my cup of tea.[/quote]Me neither but she had a nice pair or tits when she disrobed ;D
Devil and Angel - Lo Lieh gets double crossed and ends up in prison for four years, when he gets out he goes on a rampage killing those who wronged him. Enjoyable enough revenge film. The German DVD has an English dub on it.
Railroaded! (Mann/47)
āRailroaded!ā (1947), directed by Anthony Mann, is a film noir, often overlooked but well deserving of an appreciative viewing.
It was made in the immediate American post-war period where attitudes towards the depiction of violence were slightly softened after the influx of newsreel footage of the conflict. They showed in detail what films before could only imply.
Thus, this B-movie (only in terms of budget and not in quality) came out in a new, unfamiliar era, where fears of the atom bomb and Communism were starting to become prevalent in the neurosis of America. Hence, more and more film noirs (a term applied retrospectively by French film critics) were started to be made after the relatively lean war years when audience had little hunger for darkness when it was so palpably near.
Out of this atmosphere of fear, tangible or otherwise, Anthony Mann commenced his directorial career making B-movie noirs, before leaving contemporary America behind him in the fifties with his acclaimed and venerated series of Westerns with James Stewart followed by a series of famous historical epics in the early sixties for producer Samuel Bronston.
This, in fact his seventh film in five years, is not only a good example of the kind of work he was making towards the tail-end of the forties, but an excellent summing up of the mood of the era.
It opens with a robbery of a beauticianās that is terrifically shot (by Guy Roe). Barely lit, the figures are only briefly illuminated by the muzzle blasts of the criminalās shotguns; the scene becomes the essence of noir.
If the rest of the film never quite reaches the same heights, then the bland performances from Hugh Beaumont and Sheila Ryan must shoulder some of the blame.
However, John Ireland as the hoodlum with big plans is great fun, really getting his teeth into the role. An underrated actor, he invests menace and a sense that his character could do anything.
The direction by Mann is forthright, fast-paced and aggressive, all necessary components of a noir filmmaker. Combined with the incisive screenplay by John C. Higgins and Gertrude Walker, it creates a tough, speeding film noir worthy of revaluation and reappraisal.
Added to my watchlist. 
He hasnāt been the same since Mission to Mars
LOL While that is a terrible film (I couldnāt even finish it), I actually quite enjoyed The Black Dahlia from 2005, although not many other people appear to have.
Femme Fatale (2002) was pretty good. One of his best. 8/10
None of his films is beyond 8.
Not a fan of Scarface or Carlitoās Way then?
I like most of his films (Apart from Scarface, I like the early thrillers - from Sisters ('73) to Body Double ('83) - best), but I agree that none of his films is beyond 8/10. Iād say Scarface is his best film, Sisters or Obsession his best thriller. Iām currently rewatching his movies, some of them have aged better than others.
Scarface: 10/10
Always have alot of fun with Body Double. Like the way for a long time he tended to use alot of the same actors. My favourite film of his is Casualties of Warā¦which is a clear 9 out of 10.
[quote=āENNIOO, post:8272, topic:1923ā]My favourite film of his is Casualties of Warā¦which is a clear 9 out of 10.[/quote]Iāve never seen that one.
In no particular order the ones I like the most are Scarface, Carlitoās Way, Carrie, Blow-out, Dressed to Kill and The Fury (which unjustly gets cussed)
This
Carlito is 8.
Scarface was always mediocre for me, but after I re-watched it a few years ago it went up to a solid 6. It was the first film with which Pacino began to walk on my nerves, the starting point for the change from an actor I liked very much to one I detest.
Just took my 8 yr old daughter to see Madagasgar 3 in 3D. Iām not sure what it was like or whether she enjoyed it because I was fast asleep. Thankfully she woke me up at the end and did not leave me in the cinema.
Same with me.
Never a big fun of Scarface, not better than any Michael Mann thriller, Carlitoās Way was a good one. I havenāt seen many of the manās work lately, or better saying for a long time, good memories of watching on tv Wise guys with De Vitto and Keitel
i like De Palmaās Phantom of the Paradise - sort of glam rock movie, but not that obviously as Velvet Goldmine
Hindsight - Ok for a watch but not as good as I was expecting it to be, probably because Song Kang-Ho is in it and Iāve liked everything else Iāve seen him in.
The Devilās Sisters - Interesting exploitation film that was long lost about a girl being held captive and forced into prostitution, not graphic but a grubby little film, the girl is tied naked to a bed with barbed wire in one scene. Unfortunately the last 8 minutes are lost so the director explained what happens with storyboards and photos.
