Street People (1976)

Salvatore Francesco is a mafia boss in San Francisco.  He is tired of being a boss and had tried to retire from the life several years earlier.  His nephew, Ulysses (Roger Moore), takes care of all the legal and financial aspects of Sal's businesses.  Sal paid for Ulysses to go to college and served as a father figure when he was growing up.  To demonstrate that he isn't all bad, Salvatore anonymously paid to have a Sicilian crucifix imported to the United States for his church.  However, someone used his gesture of goodwill to smuggle millions of dollars' worth of heroin inside the crucifix.  Furious, Father Francis, the local priest, confronted Salvatore and excommunicated him!

Sal put his nephew on the case to find out who was responsible.  Ulysses called in his racecar driver friend, Charlie (Stacy Keach), and the pair commenced the investigation.  While Ulysses flew to Sicily to find the link on that end, Charlie went hunting for rumors of the heroin in San Francisco.  With Ulysses' list of names from Sicily and Charlie's gumshoe work, the pair are soon on the track of the three goons.  But who do they work for?

The movie has a few flashbacks to 1930s Sicily where we see a young Salvatore thrilled to be an uncle and how he brags to Francis (the same Francis who would later excommunicate him) about that.  There are also scenes of Ulysses as a toddler and Ulysses' English father.

Stacy Keach steals most scenes that he is in.  His demolition derby of a test drive with the chief goon's car is great fun.  He's a happy-go-lucky thrillseeker and lots of fun.  By contrast, Moore is charming but uninspired.  The role is not well-written and his kinship to Salvatore not well-established.  The audience is told they are close but it does not seem that way in their interactions.

The plot is a mess.  There is a good story to be had here, but the execution is poor.  Though the truck chase was entertaining, there was no explanation for it.  How did the sniper know to be on the roof?  How was it that two trucks were ready to intervene if the sniper was followed during his escape?  There are a lot of people taking part in this cover-up.  Gee, who did those truck drivers work for?  Maybe we could follow that lead?  Yes, it isn't meant to make lot of sense, but it was exciting as it progressed.

Mediocre.

The Long Riders (1980)

While robbing a bank, Ed Miller (Dennis Quaid) becomes anxious and shoots the bank teller.  In the gunfire that follows, Jesse James (James Keach) is wounded.  After the gang makes good their escape, Jesse ejects Ed from the gang.  Ed's brother, Clell (Randy Quaid), agrees with Jesse and rides away with the rest of the gang.  The James-Younger gang consists of Frank (Stacy Keach) & Jesse James, Cole (David Carradine), Jim (Keith Carradine), & Bob Younger (Robert Carradine), and Clell Miller.  After returning to their Missouri home, the Ford brothers, Charlie (Christopher Guest) and Robert (Nicholas Guest) try unsuccessfully to join the gang.  Despite their rough profession, the gang pursues a fairly ordinary life when not robbing banks, trains, and stagecoaches.  While Jesse woos Zee (Savannah Smith Boucher), Cole has a long-standing arrangement with Belle Starr (Pamela Reed), whom he gladly calls a whore, which is why he likes her.  The Pinkertons' pursuit of the gang figures heavily and the fact that many Missourians preferred the James-Younger gang to the law explains how they often lived normal lives.

The movie pieces together some of the tales of the gang in an entertaining fashion.  The climactic battle in Northfield, Minnesota, is well done.  The famous gang met its match in a bunch of armed civilians.  Though the Northfield Robbery was in 1876, the story jumps to 1882 when Jesse has the Ford brothers over to discuss 'business.'  Of course, Bob Ford was more interested in the price on Jesse's head.

The big selling point of this version is that four sets of siblings were cast to portray these criminal families.  Though that is cool, it is beside the point.  In fact, it may have detracted from the film.  This is a good story and mostly well-acted.  The weakest parts are James Keach, who is surprisingly wooden, and David Carradine, who lacks range.  This is a problem because these are the two leading characters.

Good popcorn fun and recommended.