Dollar for the Dead

In the mid to late 1990s, TNT aired a slew of made-for-TV historical movies that resonated well with audiences. A trio starred Tom Selleck, a few featured famous Indian chiefs, and a couple were surprisingly violent entries into the western genre. As a tribute to the spaghetti western genre, here we go with 1998's Dollar for the Dead.

It's in the American Southwest along the Rio Grande in the years following the Civil War, and a one-legged former Confederate soldier, Dooley (William Forsythe), is on a mission. He meets a mysterious, quiet gunman (Emilio Estevez) in a saloon and enlists his help in his dangerous mission. What is it exactly? Late in the Civil War, a Confederate payroll disappeared somewhere in Mexico, and one officer knew the location. A map was drawn across four different gun holsters, each of those given to a different man. Dooley has one, and he knows where to find the others. Somewhere in Mexico $500,000 in gold awaits whoever finds it. There's a problem though; Dooley and the gunman aren't alone. A man named Reager (NFL star Howie Long) and a small army of gunmen are riding with him to get their hands on the gunman. That's just the start though because many more are involved, especially with so much gold on the line.

Does that basic story sound familiar? Any fan of westerns/spaghetti westerns out there should hear alarm bells. This TNT western from director Gene Quintano borrows quite liberally from Sergio Leone's classic The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Running 94 minutes, 'Dollar' is a homage, a tribute to the entire spaghetti western genre. The music from George S. Clinton sounds exactly like an Ennio Morricone soundtrack (listen to a sample HERE), and the movie was even shot on location in Almeria where hundreds of spaghetti westerns were filmed in the 1960s/1970s. Certain scenes are lifted almost entirely from classic spaghettis, paying tribute to everything from GBU to Companeros, Once Upon a Time in the West to For a Few Dollars More and countless others. It does it not to duplicate the success and popularity, but to genuinely pay tribute. If it seems too goofy, so be it, it's fun from beginning to end.

Playing a tweaked version of the Man with No Name, Estevez does a solid job as the main character, listed in the credits simply as 'Cowboy.' He wears a wide, flat-brimmed hat, a knee-length duster jacket and favors two pistols in his belt. Cowboy is a man of few words, his steely-eyed gaze intimidating anyone across from him in a gun duel. Like most spaghetti western antiheroes, Estevez is given a checkered, tortured past. Unlike most antiheroes, his backstory is also surprisingly sympathetic if somewhat predictable. I liked the dynamic between Cowboy and Dooley, unlikely partners in a do-or-die deal. At certain points, they reminded me of Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef in For a Few Dollars More, young and old working together for the huge payday. Regardless, I liked Estevez a lot.

Beyond the mysterious cowboy though, there's a lot going on in general. Howie Long is similarly mysterious as Reager, the gunman built like a bear with revenge on his mind. Not quite a good guy, not quite a bad guy. Jordi Molla plays a Mexican Federale captain with a garrison nearby the hidden gold. He knows it's somewhere close but doesn't quite know where it is. Jonathan Banks is Colonel Skinner, a blood-seeking Union officer with a company of Union cavalry at his side. Ed Lauter plays Colby, a former comrade of Dooley's and fellow owner of a holster, now wasting away in a Mexican jail. Joaquim de Almeida plays a familiar part as Friar Ramon, the town priest looking out for his villagers as the gold seekers close in for the treasure. The characters are stock characters any western fans should recognize -- without much in the way of background or motivation -- but just go along for the ride.

In the style and vein of the spaghetti westerns, fans will no doubt appreciate the action here. No, that's not fair. The ridiculous amount of action. Now that said, it's goofy looking and cliched action, but it's there. The shootouts are an odd mix of spaghetti western, Hong Kong style in the John Woo vein, and some gymnastics too. At one point, Estevez's Cowboy actually shoots out the floor under him, spinning around firing into the ground. He has to fire at least 50 shots from 2 pistols without reloading. Bad guys can't hit the good guys (by a long shot), good guys hit everything they aim at, and whenever someone is actually shot, they fly back 30 feet like they've been hit by a semi-truck. Now it may seem like this is hyper-critical, but it isn't. It's goofy in its entertaining quality.

The best is saved for the finale at what looks like the ruined remains of the mountain fortress from El Condor. Anyone and everyone we've been introduced to up to this point converge on the hidden gold cache in an epic shootout that racks up an impressive body count. Oh, and in a nod to Sergio Corbucci's Django, Forsythe's Dooley unveils a gatling gun he's been hiding in a wooden coffin, and he just unloads on his countless targets below. A fun ending to a fun movie.

Dollar for the Dead (1998): ***/****

Stakeout

The 1980s were a lot of things, but as far as sub-genres in movies, I can't think of a bigger one from the decade than the buddy cop movie. We've got Lethal Weapon, 48 Hours, Beverly Hills Cop, Running Scared and probably plenty more I'm missing. Well, we can add one more to that list, 1987's Stakeout.

Deeply into a long-running investigation, Seattle detectives Chris Lecce (Richard Dreyfuss) and Bill Reimer (Emilio Estevez) are reassigned to a case assigned by the F.B.I. A convicted killer of a federal agent, Stick Montgomery (Aidan Quinn) has escaped from prison, but there are few clues as to where he would head. Their solution is simple; set up stakeouts anywhere they think Montgomery might show up at. Chris and Bill -- along with another detective duo -- draw some of that stakeout duty, setting up an apartment observation post across the street from Stick's ex-girlfriend, Maria (Madeleine Stowe). The detectives brace for hours and days of mind-numbing duty...until they actually set eyes on Maria. That is trouble on one level, but what about when a lovelorn Chris falls madly in love with the woman they're observing. Uh-oh, here we go.

Like a good, old-fashioned peanut butter and jelly sandwich, there is something comforting about a buddy cop movie done correctly. From director John Badham, 'Stakeout' in its best moments follows that precise if familiar formula. That formula isn't exclusive to the cop angle, but it doesn't hurt either (think Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid). Put two like-minded men together, opposites or as similar individuals, who have worked together for an extended time, and let the hijinks begin! The partner relationship, like two close brothers, feels natural and real. The duo are friends -- maybe even best friends -- but they're always busting each other's chops, always ready to knock them down a peg, but when it comes down to it, they're always going to be there for each other.

'Stakeout' isn't a perfect movie, and as far as buddy cop flicks go, it's average, paling in comparison to the other ones listed above. When it does work though, it works because of that dynamic between Dreyfuss and Estevez. I was somewhat surprised by the casting, but it works. They play ridiculously well off each other, reflecting a partnership that goes back quite a few years. So go figure, the familiar cop partnership is the best part of this movie. I loved the bitching back and forth on stakeout, the bickering in the precinct, the jabbing back and forth at...every...given...moment. It works, simple as that. I won't go as far as saying it's the "science of stakeout," but it is fun to see the actual stakeout develop. The on-going rivalry between Chris and Bill and rival detective duo Dan Lauria and Forest Whitaker provides some very funny moments as the two pairs switch shifts, an escalating prank war going back and forth between the two. It's good stuff.

So it didn't take a nuclear physicist to figure out what the story was here. Two cops on stakeout, one falls in love with the woman they're observing. I can say I was surprised by how this developed. For one, I didn't think -- SPOILER WARNING STOP READING SPOILER -- that it would be Dreyfuss's Chris falling for Stowe's Maria instead of Estevez's Bill. Two, I didn't think it would work, but Dreyfuss and Stowe have a surprisingly strong chemistry. It's not their fault, just how their storyline develops. In a case of mistaken identity that Bill does nothing to correct, even promoting it, Maria starting to develop feelings right back at him. It gets to be a little much, disappointing because for the most part I enjoyed this one.

As the story focuses more on the surprising crush/love develops, Estevez gets left in the background unfortunately, but he makes the most of his screentime, especially with the escalating prank war. Stowe is quite the looker and holds her own in an otherwise all-male cast. Quinn too makes the most of his sinister appearance as Stick, drifting in and out of the story with his accomplice and cousin (Ian Tracey). In the final act, things get back to basics with the buddy cop angle as Quinn's Stick arrives on the scene in Seattle. The showdown in the end has all sorts of crazy shenanigans and mistaken identity, and oh yeah, wood chippers, shootouts and lots of random punching and fighting. It's a good movie, just not a great one. Give me a couple months and maybe I'll check out the rather unnecessary sounding sequel, 1993's Another Stakeout. No promises though so don't hold your breath.

Stakeout (1987): ** 1/2 /****

The Mighty Ducks

This next statement is going to sound ridiculous to anyone who in 1992 was not between the ages of 5 and 15, but here goes just the same. Released in 1992, The Mighty Ducks is one of those perfect movies. No, it's not a classic to stand up against Hollywood's all-time best. As an entertaining kid-oriented movie though? It has few rivals.

A hotshot lawyer in Minneapolis, Gordon Bombay (Emilio Estevez) is celebrating a win in court when he's pulled over by the police. He's charged with driving with an open container and sentenced to do 500 hours of community service. A hockey player growing up, Gordon is assigned to coach the District 5 Youth hockey team. While other district teams have some backing, District 5 is from a poorer section of town, and the kids to say the least, are a bunch of misfits. They don't have even remotely current equipment, and their skill level is average at best. Can disgruntled, frustrated Gordon put aside his ego enough to work with this bunch of underdogs?

I'm going to step up on my soap box here for a second so forgive me in advance. I was born in 1985 and grew up in the 1990s with movies like this. Not to get too preachy, but studios just don't make movies like this anymore. It seems all movies aimed at kids/families are either animated or so mind-blowingly stupid that I just don't see the appeal. Disney in the 1990s was different, specializing movies like this (and it's two sequels), Angels in the Outfield, The Big Green, Heavyweights. On a bigger level, there was Rookie of the Year, The Sandlot, Little Giants, Little Big League and so many more. These weren't classic, immaculate movies. They were aimed at kids, and you know what? Kids loved them. Maybe I just miss these movies (or maybe I'm onto something), but I don't think I'm off-base here. End of soap box rant. On with the Ducks.

This movie was made before, and it's been made since. It's the classic underdog story, borrowing from previous movies like the classic original Bad News Bears. There's something familiar about it, but in a good way. Oh no, the screwball, misfit kids against the highly-skilled, expertly trained kids from the good side of the tracks?!? How will it end? I would wager you can tell me how this movie ends right now, but it's a fun movie getting there. Throw some goofy, cute kids together, have them do a couple bonding montages, and then throw a do-or-die game at them. Oh, and you need some Queen songs, preferable We Are the Champions or We Will Rock You. I'm really not intending this to be as negative as it sounds. It's a sports underdog story. If you can't get behind that, go back to your Communist home. Just kidding of course.

A star of the 1980s (thanks John Hughes and the Young Gun flicks), Estevez wouldn't seem like an obvious choice for this story, but go figure, he's perfectly cast. As an actor with the right role, Estevez is an above average actor, like in The Breakfast Club. He's best suited for the more fun roles, like Billy the Kid in Young Guns I and II. This leans more toward the fun side. Estevez gets to have some fun as Gordon, a former hockey star who never quite lived up to his potential as a player because of a game gone wrong. As for the rest of the adult cast, Joss Ackland plays Hans, an old friend of Gordon's and a hockey supplier, Lane Smith as the evil rival coach of the rich, thuggish team, Heidi Kling as a single mom of one of Gordon's players, M.C. Gainey as Gordon's appointed driver, and Josef Sommer as Gordon's upper class tool of a boss.

Enough with that. Onto the Ducks! Many of the child actors would return for the later Might Ducks ventures as well. Everyone has their favorites of course. A 14-year old Joshua Jackson plays Charlie, the talented player who's struggling with some issues at home, Elden Henson is Fulton, the kid with a wicked slap shot who can't skate, Shaun Weiss as terrified goalie Goldberg, Matt Doherty as Averman, the motor-mouth, Brandon Quintin Adams as tough-talking Jesse, J.D. Daniels as Peter, the group runt, Aaron Schwartz as Karp, the necessary chubby kid, Marguerite Moreau as Connie, the also necessary girl on the team, and Vincent Laurusso as Adam, the ringer from a rival district team. Also look for young Danny Tamberelli (later of Pete and Pete) as one of the Ducks in a smaller part.

No point in analyzing this one too much. It's a great movie, one kids and families should both enjoy a ton.

The Mighty Ducks <---clip (1992): ***/****

Mission: Impossible

Counting down the days to the fourth M:I movie, dubbed Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, and thought it was as good a time as any to look back on the movie that started this highly successful franchise, 1996's Mission: Impossible. An espionage thriller with top-notch action, it's still the best of the M:I movies....for now. Let's see how Ghost Protocol goes, but the fourth entry has its work cut out for it.

Leading an operation in Prague, MIF agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) sees his team ambushed and murdered during the mission. Meeting a supervisor in the bloody aftermath, Hunt realizes he's been set up, made to look like a treacherous mole who's been working against MIF for years. Now he must find out who set him up. With the only surviving member of his team, Claire (Emmanuelle Beart), and two similarly disavowed MIF agents, Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) and Kreiger (Jean Reno), Hunt goes on the offensive. He seeks out the actual mole by going through his only link, a black market arms dealer, Max (Vanessa Redgrave), who wants one thing and is willing to pay heavily for it; a list of all undercover MIF agents worldwide. Now Ethan has to decide how far he wants to go to prove his innocence.

I'm not particularly proud of that plot synopsis, but I think it's the best I'm going to do. It took me two or three viewings to even understand the plot in the late 90s, and that's about all the information I can give without revealing too much. What do you need to take away from that plot? Ethan Hunt needs to do some impossible things to set up a meeting with the traitor who set him up. That's the movie in a nutshell. An actual understanding of that story would be unnecessary. It's good, old fashioned secret agent fun. Go along with it, and if you're like me, at some point the story will click into place.

This is Tom Cruise at his best. The man is a legitimately good actor, but he seems most at ease in these types of movies; popcorn movies with great characters, greater action and ludicrous action sequences that let him show off his physical ability. Like he would do four years later in M:I2, Cruise does most if not all of his stunts here. He's intense, believable and because this is a secret agent requirement....he's impeccably cool. It doesn't hurt to have some fellow bad-asses around, especially Ving Rhames as Luther Stickell, computer hacker to top all hackers, and Jean Reno as Kreiger, a livewire who is as unpredictable as the missions they're on.

A good action movie -- espionage or just straight crazy ridiculous shootouts and hand to hand combat -- needs one thing to be memorable; set pieces that rise above the movie. Mission: Impossible has three, dominating much of the movie's 110-minute running time. Let's start at the beginning. The first 30 minutes is the botched mission in Prague, setting a tone where nothing will be predictable (okay, maybe a little, more on that later). Ethan's team (including uncredited parts for Emilio Estevez and Kristin Scott Thomas) is wiped out in one of the great shocking openings ever. It's just different. You figure we're watching a team of agents we'll get to see, and then BAM! They're all dead. One of my favorite movie openings ever.

That's just for starters though. Mid-movie, Ethan and Co. infiltrate CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia in a sequence that all action directors should watch and analyze. Dropping into an impregnable vault that is virtually inaccessible with sensors for heat, sound and movement, Ethan must steal the NOC list, the names and locations of every MIF agent worldwide. An extended sequence with little dialogue, it is the definition of tension, the type of mission where the tiniest thing could ruin it all. And the ending? A chase through the subway under the English Channel with a helicopter strapped to the speeding train? Ethan battling it out on top? EPIC. One, two and three very memorable set pieces when just one would have made it worthwhile.

Some twists late in the movie aren't exactly surprising if you're paying attention, but the reveal of the treacherous mole is handled so well via flashback you shouldn't be disappointed. Rounding out the cast is Jon Voight as Phelps, Ethan's long-time mentor and team leader, and the always creepy Henry Czerny as Kittridge, the CIA agent gunning for Ethan. What else to mention? Action-driving music from Danny Elfman, including the always fun M:I theme, listen HERE. Director Brian De Palma has a real winner here, a great start to a great franchise. I don't want to spoil much, but starting HERE Youtube offers nine different key clips. Can Ghost Protocol be out now?!?

Mission: Impossible <---trailer (1996): *** 1/2 /****

Repo Man

How weird is too weird in a movie?  I guess it depends on the individual viewer, and their tolerance for the odd, the weird, the off the wall.  I'm usually up for just about anything with a movie, and try my best to go into every movie I watch with an open mind.  Of course, if it is weird something has to grab me pretty early for me to stick with it.  Early on in 1984's Repo Man a lot grabbed me, and I stuck it through to the end.

Maybe the weirdest, trippiest movie I've seen in awhile, and I loved it.  I've long been aware of the movie having seen the DVD available at Blockbuster and having heard director Alex Cox's name involved with all sorts of cult classics and favorites. But with what little I knew, it didn't jump out and say 'WATCH ME!' Thankfully, TCM aired it in the last couple of weeks as part of their Friday night Underground series so I gave it a shot.  The IMDB description listed sci-fi, action comedy as the type of movie so I knew going in this was going to be a doozy.

After losing his job at a grocery store, young punk Otto (Emilio Estevez) gets duped into stealing a car for veteran repo man, Bud (Harry Dean Stanton). It seems like easy money, and Otto is good at "stealing" cars back for the finance company so he latches on with the company.  But as he quickly finds out, the life of a repo man is an intense one where everything rarely goes as smoothly as planned.  Otto is plunged into a world where rival repo companies will turn on you for a buck, a mechanic with some interesting theories on aliens, time travel and man's existence, co-workers with their own takes on how to be the best at what they do, and of course, some UFO appearances (naturally of course).  Some rogue scientist is on the loose with a trunk full of alien carcasses, but all Otto, Bud and all the repo men in L.A. know is that there's a $20,000 price tag on a wayward Chevy Malibu.  All in a day's work.

First off, there is no way -- no way in HELL -- this movie should work.  It just shouldn't.  There are too many weird elements thrown together in a blender for it to be a quality finished product, yet somehow in the end all the weirdness works for the better.  It is as low budget as a movie can be with some of the cheesiest special effects you'll ever see (especially the "alien glow," just watch and you'll understand) in a flick regardless of the decade it was released in.  With no real coherent storyline other than a series of interconnecting scenes, director Cox embraces the weirdness.  How else could you have made a movie like this without knowing how absolutely ridiculous the whole thing is?  It is a cult classic and fan favorite for a reason.  It is a movie unlike anything else I have ever seen.

For a weird movie, the tipping point between god-awful and god-awful but still entertaining is the cast in my eyes.  Besides Dean Stanton and Estevez (more on them later), Cox uses a cast full of unknowns and character actors who are given a chance to step into the limelight.  Just like Cox committing to making a ridiculous movie, the cast plays along, fully embracing it all as they deliver lines so immaculately perfect and bizarre you can't help but go along for the ride.  Tracey Walter (<--- you know the face if not the name) is the biggest scene-stealer of them all as Miller, the mechanic with some interesting theories about man, the universe and all it has to offer. His scene where he explains his theories to Otto is as good as it gets.  Also look for Vonetta McGee as Marlene, the suspicious secretary, Sy Richardson as Lite, fellow repo man extraordinaire, Fox Harris as rogue scientist J. Frank Parnell, and many more who all make the most of their appearances, some limited to just a quick scene or two.

Just 22 when he made Repo Man, Estevez wasn't known yet as the star of so many very 80s classic movies, but this was quite a start.  Whether it is in the Young Gun movies or in the Mighty Ducks trilogy, I've long been a fan of Estevez.  Comedy, drama, action, I like him.  He was an underrated actor in my mind, and in a part like this where he could be easily overwhelmed by all the goings on around him, he rises to the top.  His Otto is more than a little crazy himself, but with all the odd stuff he sees around him, he may be the sanest of them all.  Great lead performance and a sign of what's to come for him.  Also, he does that maniacal laugh of his that works so well for Otto.  As for Dean Stanton, he must have looked like an old man since the day he was born, and as Otto's disheveled mentor is an inspired choice in casting.  Their scenes together, driving around L.A. looking to repossess cars keep the movie grounded -- to a certain point -- while still providing some great laughs.

About halfway into the movie, I started questioning where exactly all this was going.  How was Cox going to wrap it all up?  He saves his best for last with an ending that of course makes no sense, but works the better for it.  I thought about warning don't watch, SPOILERS, but I saw the movie and don't get it.  Watching it out of context, you'll be lost, but watch it HERE if curious. The pairing of the music and the visual comes together in a way I could have never predicted.  A crazy ending for a crazy movie.

Repo Man <---trailer (1984): *** 1/2 /****