THE DANMAN CAN

The Guns Of Navarone  (1961) is a rousing high action/adventure epic war film indicative of its time, both in its look and feel, but it also offers enough moral ambiguities to set it apart. It had long been on my watchlist and I'm glad I finally got around to viewing it. TGON  is one of the best specialist/crack team men-on-a-mission (and in this case a couple of women too) movies I've seen, impecably directed by J. Lee Thompson , featuring a strong ensemble cast lead by Gregory Peck , David Niven , and Anthony Quinn —all leading to an exciting and tense finale. Recommended for fans of  The Great Escape   (1963) ( review ), The Bridge On The River Kwai   (1957) ( review ), and  The Dirty Dozen   (1967). J. Lee Thompson Films Ranked

James Bond Feature Films Ranked

After   rewatching   Something Wild   (1986) ( review ), in honor of  Ray Liotta 's passing a few days ago, I was in the mood to watch another one of his best performances (in a film that contains arguably Sly 's best one).  Cop Land   (1997),  James Mangold 's modern western about police corruption, is a classic with true staying power. It's bolstered by a macho dream cast and a memorable score by  Howard Shore . If you love a slow burner with style, look no further—it's like a  Tarantino  film with less humor meets  High Noon   (1952)   and  Rio Bravo   (1959) . James Mangold Feature Films Ranked ♫Then little by little we drifted from each other's hearts♫

Something Wild (1986) is an interesting film—it starts out as a neo- screwball , becomes a road movie, and eventually turns serious when violence ensues. With the sad news of Ray Liotta 's passing a few days ago, I was looking on IMDb to remind myself which movies I've seen that he starred in (outside of obvious ones like 1990's  GoodFellas  ( review ) and 1997's  Cop Land   ( review ) that easily come to mind). I had completely forgotten that he was in Something Wild . I remembered liking the film but not being blown away by it from my first viewing nearly 11 years ago (when The Criterion Collection released the film on Blu-ray ), so it seemed like as good a time as any to revisit it. I definitely enjoyed this viewing more. Tonally I do think  Something Wild  is a bit of an odd duck but the progression of the storyline felt a bit more natural to me this time, in line with Melanie Griffith 's character's personality. She and Jeff Daniels are both delightful a

For A Few Dollars More   (1965) is my favorite of the Dollars Trilogy . I have always loved this film and it just slightly edges out  The Good, The Bad And The Ugly   (1966) ( review ) for me. Everything about FAFDM improved upon what was established in  A Fistful Of Dollars  (1964) ( review )—the score, the shots, the characters, the plot.  Fistful  was almost completely devoid of the famed " Leone  close-up," but that changed with this film—here they take center stage.  FAFDM ratchets up the tension, the stakes, and even the humor. Clint Eastwood  and Gian Marie Volontè  return from Fistful (along with a few other great character actors). Eastwood again flawlessly portrays the laconic  Man With No Name   (actually Manco or Monco in this seco nd outing) and Volontè  adds dimension to what could have been a stock villain—playing the brooding, scheming maniac El Indio to perfection. On top of this,  FAFDM has the added benefit of Lee Van Cleef (as Mortimer, the baddest of

A Fistful Of Dollars  (1964), like  The Magnificent Seven  ( review ) four years earlier, is a western based on an  Akira Kurosawa  film—in this case  Yojimbo  (1961), itself influenced by westerns ( John Ford 's in particular).  Sergio Leone  made a bang with his seco nd film, but would certainly hone and improve his style across his remaining five  films (not including films for which he did not receive a directing credit). This is also the film that propelled  Ennio Morricone  into the spotlight as an in-demand composer of Italian films—particularly the yet to be dubbed " Spaghetti Western ," which this film, for better or worse, helped launch. His score is unique, memorable, and perfectly compliments Leone's style. The first film in the Dollars Trilogy  (I prefer to refer to the films this way, as opposed to the  Man With No Name Trilogy , as  Clint Eastwood 's character  is  called Joe here) is my least favorite, but is a thoroughly enjoyable classic nonethel