The Hit, Big Deal on Madonna Street, Down By Law, Free Money, Kind Hearts and Coronets

reviewed Sun, 28 May 2000

The Hit (1984):  I can't remember where I got the recommendation to rent this one, but I wish I could, because I would like to thank that person and/or media outlet.  This is the kind of small movie it would never occur to you to rent, assuming they even stock it at your video store.  But it's a gem.  It reminds me of The Limey because of its star, its theme, and its scale.  Terence Stamp plays a thief who rats on his buddies and scampers off to spend a decade in Spain while they languish in jail.  But when they get out, they send John Hurt to get Stamp, accompanied by Tim Roth as a novice hitman on his first assignment.  The plan is to take Stamp to Paris, presumably to allow him to be killed by the leader of the gang he put in jail, but the plan doesn't quite work out the way it's supposed to.  Terrific performances from Stamp and Roth; Hurt is less effective, but that might have been due to his enigmatic character.  It's a great balance of character study and crime thriller, with a dry sense of humor and nice pacing.  It might be hard for you to find, but make the effort.  Directed, by the way, by Stephen Frears.

Big Deal on Madonna Street (I Soliti Ignoti) (1958):  Charming Italian classic that's a clear ancestor to Small Time Crooks.  A group of none-too-talented petty thieves try to pull off an intricate robbery -- naturally, hilarious complications ensue.  A superb cast of iconic (and gorgeous) Italian actors, including Marcello Mastroianni, Vittorio Gassman, and Claudia Cardinale.

Down By Law (1986):  A typical Jim Jarmusch movie, in that it's slow with bursts of quirky humor (although, to be fair, I kept pausing it to switch to the baseball game in hopes of seeing Paul O'Neill at bat, so my attention wasn't as focused as it might be).  All three leads are likable and engaging -- odd, considering they're a drunk (Tom Waits), a pimp (John Lurie), and a murderer (Roberto Benigni).  I suspect Jarmusch fans are the only ones who'll like this, but if you like Jarmusch, you've probably already seen this.

Free Money (1998):  This movie depressed me very very much.  It was recommended by Rough Cut's Chad Damiani as one of the rare direct-to-video movies that's actually entertaining, and I can't help but be intrigued by a cast that includes Marlon Brando, Charlie Sheen, and Mira Sorvino, not to mention a pair of twins who look like the creepy little girls from The Shining all grown up.  But Marlon Brando looks and sounds exactly like Wilford Brimley, which disturbed me a lot more than it probably should have.  Then the movie makes him suffer the indignity of getting his head stuck in a toilet, which depressed the hell out of me.  I tried to rationalize that it was payback for the butter scene in Last Tango in Paris, but flashing through my mind instead were clips from On the Waterfront, The Godfather, A Streetcar Named Desire... and now a swirlie in a DTV movie.  It honestly saddened me and made me despise the movie that would humiliate Marlon Brando that way.  So I turned it off.  It was pretty stupid anyway.

Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949):  I'm sure this is a very charming and funny movie, with Alec Guinness in eight different roles, including one character whose name is pronounced "Ass-coin d'Ass-coin," which made me giggle like a 12-year-old boy, but I haven't been feeling well lately, and I've been needing an awful lot of sleep, and, well... I fell asleep.  But the parts I saw seemed entertaining.

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