Undercover cop Jason Patric pairs up with inexperienced Jennifer Jason Leigh to bring down the drug trade in a Texas town. Based on an actual scandal from the 1970s, the two become addicts themselves and eventually falsify evidence under pressure from their chief of police. I’ve had this on my radar for a long time and I’m not sure why since I didn’t know anything about it going in. I seem to recall that around the time of its release the performances were highly praised and indeed they are praise worthy, even for the smaller roles like those of Greg Allman and Sam Elliott. I never understand why Jason Patric hasn’t had a more stellar career. When given the chance, he really knocks it out of the park as he did here and is well matched by Leigh. 

Wall Street trader Tom Hanks gets lost driving girlfriend Melanie Griffith home from the airport and a series of events ends with her driving over a Black teenager. On the other side of town, down on his luck journalist Bruce Willis uses the story, which becomes a rallying point for district attorney F. Murray Abraham’s attempts to improve his image in the Black community, to get in good with his editor. I know this film has a bad reputation, but I had no idea how deserved it was. Every single one of the main characters is horrendously miscast in the film that it’s hard to believe anyone thought it would work. I’ve never read the source material, but for such a success, I can’t imagine its plot is as muddied and tone so incredibly uneven as this film turns out to be.

Having rented a theatre to rehearse Richard III for a potential comeback to the stage, Christopher Plummer’s John Barrymore quickly descends into erratic drunken ramblings about his life and career. In a mostly one man show, Plummer gives a powerhouse of a performance. Plummer doesn’t particularly look like John, but it didn’t take long for him to completely disappear into the role. While I’m just getting more familiar with this Barrymore’s work, the monologues go far in detailing the weight and talent associated with the family name. I especially love the parts where Plummer as John imitates his wives and siblings. His Lionel was amazingly spot on.

Diagnosed with a fatal disease, Burt Reynolds decides to take his own life, but not before meeting up one last time with various family and friends. When he finally makes his attempt, it is unsuccessful and he winds up in a mental hospital where he is befriended by fellow patient Dom DeLuise. I think one of the reasons many films of the late 60s and 70s turn me off is I generally find the leading men of that era dislikable. Reynolds is a prime example of this. His brand of steamrollering machismo leaves no room for the women of the film, which is a shame because the film has some winners with Sally Field, Joanne Woodward, Kristy McNichol, and Myrna Loy. Occasionally funny, especially for anyone who enjoys DeLuise’s schtick, it quickly overstays its welcome even with a fairly poignant ending.  

In George Lazenby’s one and only outing as James Bond, he takes some vacation time to pursue Telly Savalas’s Ernst Blofeld, who is posing as a Count and has set up an allergy research clinic in the Swiss Alps. At the same time, Bond has agreed to woo the daughter of the head of a crime syndicate in exchange for help in taking down Blofeld. Since I was having fun with the Connery Bond films, I decided to extend my mini-marathon to include at least one film of each of the other actors. With just a few bumps, Lazenby transitions into the role rather admirably. The film is a bit too long and Bond pursuing an actual relationship is a strange character adjustment, but there’s a lot of entertainment to be had in this outing. With the gorgeous Swiss hideout, the aggressively German number two, many fantastic mountain chases, and the international stereotype team of female assassins, it’s hard not to be won over by the charm. It was during this installment that I realized how generic the title sequences can be with random visuals and the blandest typeface. I suppose it’s easy to just get distracted by the music and silhouettes of naked women. . 

Bullied teenager Keith Gordon hopes his life will turn around when he purchases Christine, a 1958 Plymouth Fury with a questionable history. Soon Gordon is so taken by Christine that he cares about nothing else. Adapted from the classic Stephen King novel, it’s not very scary but it is quite a bit of engrossing fun. Centered around a few dislikable characters, it’s easy to root for the car in the end especially as the fantastic special effects illustrate how powerful she truly is.