The January Man (1989)

Bernadette Flynn (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) and her friend, Alison Hawkins (Faye Grant), headed home after a New Year's Eve Party.  They shared a cab to Alison's apartment building.  Drunk and happy, Alison stumbled into her apartment and said hello to her fish.  Then, a figure appeared behind her and strangled her to death with a blue ribbon.  This was the 11th murder in the last 11 months with the same M. O.

Mayor Flynn (Rod Steiger) was furious and vented his anger to Police Commissioner Frank Starkey (Harvey Keitel).  Bernadette is his daughter, so this struck alarmingly close to home.  The mayor demanded that Nick Starkey (Kevin Kline), who happened to be the commissioner's brother, get reinstated as a police detective to solve the case.  Frank was less than keen, but obeyed orders.  Nick had been with the fire department since his scandalous departure from the police.  Nick's methods were unorthodox and his choice for an assistant - an artist named Ed (Alan Rickman) - raised eyebrows.  Captain Alcoa (Danny Aiello) was apoplectic that Nick was reinstated and that he was required to provide whatever the crackpot needed.

Despite the setup, the murder mystery is almost secondary as far as the plot is concerned.  A great deal of time focused on Nick's obsession with his brother's wife, Christine (Susan Sarandon).  Indeed, it would seem that they were an item before his exit from the police.  He even accuses her of marrying the wrong brother.  Oddly, Nick's one requirement for returning to the police was that he could have dinner alone with Christine.  Bizarre.

Later, Nick clumsily followed Bernadette, only to be spotted by her.  Okay, so he's not that good at tailing someone.  Then, rather than talk to her about the case, he convinced her to go to a hotel and hop in the sack.  She agreed!  Um, is this a murder mystery or a romance?  Bernadette moved in with Nick and became his Girl Friday for the remainder of the film, with relatively little pushback from her father, the mayor!

The movie has no idea what it wants to be.  None of the relationships are sufficiently developed.  The brothers more or less hate one another and it was Frank who was guilty of the crime that got Nick kicked off the force.  Christine rejected Nick at the dinner but later returned to find Bernadette at his apartment; now she was jealously incarnate and couldn't wait to leave Frank.  Huh?  Ed is an artist and computer whiz with a Maynard Krebs view on life; kind of a wasted use of Alan Rickman.  Rod Steiger is just a blowhard with a bad perm.  So, is this a romantic comedy, a murder mystery, a thriller, a whodunit, or what?  All of the above in a hodge podge fashion.

With such a great cast, this is an astonishingly mediocre film.  Skip.

The Naked Face (1984)

Dr. Judd Stevens (Roger Moore) is a psychoanalyst in Chicago who has recently been widowed.  As such, his life is consumed by his work and meals at home alone.  Then, one of his patients is murdered.  Curiously, the patient was wearing Dr. Stevens' raincoat when he was stabbed to death.  Lt. McGreavy (Rod Steiger) and Detective Angeli (Elliott Gould) arrive to investigate.  McGreavy almost instantly suspects Stevens as the murderer.  Throughout the investigation, he is hostile to Stevens.  When more people in Dr. Stevens orbit die, Judd starts investigating on his own with the help of Private Investigator Morgens (Art Carney).  Judd believes he is the true target.

Filmed before Moore's final outing as James Bond in A View to a Kill (1985), this is an unusual role for him.  He is neither a lady's man nor a man of action.  When danger approaches, he runs away and hides in the backroom.  When fisticuffs are required, he gets beaten to a pulp.  When his brother-in-law, Dr. Peter Hadley (David Hedison), urges him to date, he begs off.  He's practically a shut-in.

Rod Stieger and Elliott Gould run the good cop - bad cop routine, Stieger being bad cop.  McGreavy's previous partner was killed by a psychopath some years earlier and Dr. Stevens' testimony was decisive for a successful insanity defense.  That explains McGreavy's hostility.  The usually wisecracking Gould has no personality here.  He is a bland character who serves as a whipping post for McGreavy's frustration or a sympathetic ear to Stevens' complaints about McGreavy.  The script does Gould no favors; it could have been a much better role.

Though it proved to be a small role, Art Carney is great as the private eye.  Of course, the haggard and world-weary private eye was his go-to role for some time (e.g. Sunburn, The Late Show).  Where Gould is bland and forgettable, Carney shines in his scenes.

Overall, it is just okay.  The cast is far better than the script.  There are not enough patients to make it a mystery as to which one is the source of Dr. Stevens troubles.  Ann Blake (Anne Archer) is a headliner among a bunch of unknown character actors.  Gee, what could this mean?  However, the ending did come as a surprise.

Duck, You Sucker (1971)

In 1913, Juan Miranda (Rod Steiger) is a bandit in Mexico, a country torn by revolution.  He is indifferent to the Revolution but is eager to acquire wealth out of the chaos.  His bandit clan consists of his father, several sons from different mothers, and a few others.  Things are looking up for his happy clan until they mess with John Mallory (James Coburn), an explosives expert.  Initially, Juan tries to extort John into helping him rob the bank of Mesa Verde, but John is recalcitrant.  The contentious relationship continues as the pair clash but finally find themselves in Mesa Verde and dragooned into the Revolution.  Despite having no interest in the Revolution, Juan's actions repeatedly bring him to the fore where he is viewed as a hero of the Revolution!

Alternately titled "Once Upon a Time... The Revolution" or "A Fistful of Dynamite," the movie does not flow well.  A lot of material was left on the cutting room floor, some of it key to the continuity.  The pacing is inconsistent.  Only one of Juan's son's gets any development while the rest are nameless extras.  There were a couple of times where one of his sons is gunned down and he walks on as if he meant nothing.  Oh, I suppose that guy wasn't one of his sons, just one of the nameless bandits.  Perhaps character development of the sons was also cut, but that diminishes the impact of later events.

Sergio Leone had wanted Eli Wallach to play Juan Miranda and, while watching the movie, it was easy to see why.  Wallach brings natural humor and levity that Steiger does not.  The character of Juan is not a likable person, much like Tuco from The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, but Wallach made Tuco a likable character while Steiger didn't do that for Juan.  Juan had that same haplessness that was key to Tuco.  This would have been a much better film had that casting change been made.

John Mallory had to flee Ireland because he killed some British soldiers.  There are more dark aspects to his past that are explored in slow-motion flashbacks that are accompanied by a melancholy and annoying soundtrack.  Coburn plays Mallory with insouciance and a surprisingly good Irish lilt.  According to IMDb, he vacationed in Ireland for 6 weeks to work on his accent.  Where Juan is out for wealth, Mallory's goals are inscrutable.  Once roped into the Revolution, he seems happy to stay the course, often taking high risk assignments.  Is he out to get himself killed?  Do the flashbacks explain his motivations?

Considering that this was the final Western that Leone directed, it is very disappointing.  It proves to be the darkest of his Westerns as it has hundreds upon hundreds killed through the movie, many of them by firing squad.  What a bloodbath!  Mostly one long tragedy, which is what the Mexican Revolution was.  Skip this one.

Love and Bullets (1979)

Detective Charlie Congers (Charles Bronson) of the Phoenix Police Dept. stops at the coroner's office to view the latest overdose death.  No sooner does he leave the building than he sees Officer Durant driving recklessly away, running over a sign and sideswiping another car.  He gives chase and confronts the officer.  Over coffee, Charlie asks what's the deal?  It turns out that the overdose victim was his fiancée.  Durant is furious since everyone knows that Joe Bomposa (Rod Steiger) runs the drug trade.  Durant declares his intent to do something about Bomposa himself since law enforcement has clearly failed.  He storms off, gets into his patrol car, and then the car explodes!  Wow, word traveled fast if Bomposa was able to get a car bomb deployed while Durant was having coffee.

Soon after, the FBI meet with Charlie and talk about Bomposa's girlfriend, Jackie Pruit (Jill Ireland).  Pruit had been called before Congress to testify and sounded like a ditzy blonde who knew nothing.  However, immediately after her testimony, she was spirited out of the country and is now in Switzerland.  The FBI suspects she does know something and would like to get her back into the US.  "Then go get her," Charlie suggests.  Well, the FBI has no overseas jurisdiction and she'll need to be convinced to come back.  Charlie agrees to go.  He manages to snatch her from a mountain chateau in the shadow of the Matterhorn and then the chase is on.  Her departure convinces Bomposa to order her assassination.  Can Charlie keep her safe against wave after wave of mafia hitmen?

While most of the movie takes place in Switzerland, Rod Steiger never leaves Arizona.  He plays Bomposa as a stuttering, lovestruck goof who doesn't appear particularly intimidating.  Henry Silva should have had a bigger part as the assassin pursuing Charlie and Jackie.  Jill Ireland's phony accent is not well done but does add to her bumpkin persona.  She pulls off the clueless ditz quite well, which makes it unbelievable that Charlie is eventually drawn to her.  Most of their interactions see them running from hitmen.  The chase, which often consists of getting onto a train then transferring to another train, is mostly boring.  One of the most irritating things is that Charlie is mostly unarmed.  He'll take out the guy with the shotgun and then leave the shotgun behind.  Take out the guy with a pistol and leave the pistol behind.  Wipe out a band of assassins with makeshift blowgun and, yes, leave all those guns behind.

At the end of the movie, Charlie realizes that Officer Durant had the right idea.  Standard law enforcement is worthless against Bomposa, his crooked lawyer (Strother Martin), and his coterie of mobsters.  Back in Arizona, Bronson switches characters and resurrects The Mechanic (1972).

Weak characters, run-of-the-mill action, and a nonsensical plot.  Disappointing.  Skip it.