Tag: Peter Boyle

HAMMETT (1982)

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Directed By: Wim Wenders

Written By: Ross Thomas, Dennis O’Flaherty and Thomas Pope 

Cinematography: Joseph Biroc

Editor: Janice Hampton, Marc Laub, Robert Q. Lovett and Randy Roberts 

Cast: Frederic Forrest, Peter Boyle, Marilu Henner,  Richard Bradford, Roy Kinnear, Elisha Cook, Lydia Lei, Michael Chow, R.G. Armstrong, Sylvia Sidney, Jack Nance, Samuel Fuller, David Patrick Kelly 

Fictional account of real-life mystery writer Dashiell Hammett, and his involvement in the investigation of a beautiful Chinese cabaret actress’ mysterious disappearance in San Francisco.

This is a strange film that unfortunately commit the worst crime of all it feels a bit bland and basic by the end 

It feels like the film is trying for a recreation as it takes place on sites that you can tell are sets.  which only adds to the artificiality of it all, which is deliberate but also as we are being placed in a story, and the main character is a writer of such stories living them out we can never quite tell what is true and what is being made up. A world of stylization and an homage to studio bound detective thrillers. As well as being in a world of imagination. 

This is a production that could’ve been filled with more imagination and inspiration as it just seems to go along. Another touch might have been if it had been filmed in black and white to make it feel more of the period that it takes place in and timeless.

Though Wenders is listed as the official director of the film, the film doesn’t seem to fit his style as his films are filmed the more creatively the film is rumored to have been shot by Francis Ford Coppola who produced the film under his American zoetrope studio afterward to be more conventional. 

So that the behind the scene story itself or rumors about this film are more fascinating than the final project unfortunately

The film isn’t a biopic of famed writer, Dash Hammett but the story of a writer caught up in one of his own detective story plots as he works as a private eye on the side and seems to get inspiration from his cases.

The film is enjoyable, offering Frederick Forest, the rare leading role and he does well with it as well as Marilu Henner as his name she should’ve gotten more films as she had the looks in the talent to go further in her career as she is one of the other bright spots in this well-stocked movie 

The film ultimately is a success as long as you’re not looking for more than your typical detective starring murder mystery that stays more small scale but includes all the cliché so much so that it just feels like a typical 1940s detective story only made in the early 80s, supporting cast so many classic All-Star character actors

Grade: C 

THE BRINK’S JOB (1978)

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Directed By: William Friedkin

Written By: Walon Green

Based on “BIG STICKUP AT BRINK’S” By: Noel Behn

Cinematography: Norman Leigh 

Editor: Bud Smith and Robert K. Lambert

Cast: Peter Falk, Peter Boyle, Allen Garfield, Gena Rowlands, Warren Oates, Paul Sorvino, Sheldon Leonard 

A fictional retelling of the infamous Boston Brink’s Company robbery on January 17th, 1950, of $2.7M, cost the American taxpayers $29M to apprehend the culprits with only $58,000 recovered.

The film feels fact-based and amazingly recreated, Sticking to the facts.  though it also feels like the film has no personality. Which is evident as neither do the characters. 

Just as the characters never come off as interesting just there to do a job or complete a mission no real character to them. As it’s supposed to be a comedy though the jokes are far away and many calamities happen in the caper. 

We never get to know any of the characters or their quirks to see how they might be funny or add to the proceedings. Even when given more of a comedic scenario. It feels so basic with no excitement that it just comes across as flat. 

Technically there is nothing wrong with it, But it comes and goes very easily without too much to remember. The cast is good, the production design is beautiful and the movie-making is good. It just feels like a project that was exactly where everyone did what was needed but nothing more or nothing less.

The film looks great from a production design stand pony and it feels like you are in that time. 

This was a film that was originally set up under director John Frankenheimer who left after problems with the studio. William Friedkin took over the project but threw out the original script and ordered a new one. So it wasn’t exactly a for-hire job. 

The film just seems to lack any spontaneity or any humor that many of the characters and situations the characters find themselves in and that the actors are clearly capable of but seem reigned in a bit. 

Grade: C

JOE (1970)

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JOE

Cinematography & Directed By: John G. Avildsen 
Written By: Norman Wexler 
Editor: George T. Norris 

Cast: Peter Boyle, Dennis Patrick, Susan Sarandon, 

 Bill, a wealthy businessman, confronts his junkie daughter’s drug-dealing boyfriend; in the ensuing argument, Bill kills him. Panic-stricken, he wanders the streets and eventually stops at a bar. There he runs into a drunken factory worker named Joe, who hates hippies, blacks, and anyone who is “different”, and would like to kill one himself. The two start talking, and Bill reveals his secret to Joe. Complications ensue. 

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