Category: Crime

Burt Reynolds’ Best Movies

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Rob Hunter at /Film came up with his list of Burt Reynolds Best Movies.  I decided to play along and came up with my list as well.  Before (or after) you click over to read Hunter’s rationale for his choices, you can (if you’re so inclined) read my thoughts below.

Burt Reynolds Best Movies

Hunter

Zablo
01. Deliverance

01. Smokey and the Bandit

02. Smokey and the Bandit

02. Sharky’s Machine

03. Hooper

03. Longest Yard, The

04. The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas

04. Hooper

05. The Longest Yard

05. The Last Movie Star
06. White Lightning

06. Driven
07. Fade In

07. Man Who Loved Cat Dancing, The

08. Hustle

08. Malone
09. Heat

09. Heat
10. Sharky’s Machine

10. Deliverance
11. Navajo Joe

11. End, The

12. The End

12. W.W. And the Dixie Dance Kings

There are three films on Hunter’s list that I haven’t seen: The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Fade In and Navajo Joe.

Now the rationale for my choices…

12.  WW and the Dixie Dance Kings – this is kind of a sentimental choice.  My mom and dad were divorced and we had moved out of state.  Dad was down visiting and took us to see the film.  Dad wasn’t a movie guy, but he enjoyed Burt Reynolds.  Great memories, even if the movie isn’t.

11.  The End – I thought this was really funny when I saw it during its theatrical release.  Re-visited it years later and was surprised it didn’t hold up as well.  The movie takes off once Dom DeLuise shows up.  Wish he made his appearance sooner.

10. Deliverance – Arguably it features Burt Reynolds best acting of his career.  The movie has one of my favorite Reynolds’ scenes – when Ned Beatty is getting molested and the camera cuts to Reynolds ready to shoot an arrow.  It would rate higher if the movie was one I liked to revisit.

09.  Heat – A serviceable action picture with Reynolds as a bodyguard whose dream stays out of reach because of his behaviors.

08.  Malone – Made the year before Heat, and about the same quality.  Reynolds is ex-CIA who helps a family survive small town corruption.

07.  The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing – Burt Reynolds is joined by Sarah Miles,  Lee J. Cobb, Jack Warden, George Hamilton, Bo Hopkins and Jay Silverheels (!) in a western.  I thought the Reynolds character was so cool!  (Hey! I was in 8th grade.)

06.  Driven – I’d always hoped to see Burt Reynolds and Sly Stallone co-starring in a movie.  While it wasn’t the action-fest that could/should have happened earlier in both stars’ careers, they did get to share the screen.

05.  The Last Movie Star – Made at the very end of Reynolds’ career.  I believe it to feature his best performance.  I wish more people would see this film.

04.  Hooper – Reynolds plays an aging stunt man.  He’s joined by Sally Field, Jan-Michael Vincent, Brian Keith, Hal Needham, Adam West and even Terry Bradshaw.  I saw it twice during it’s theatrical run.  Good times.

03.  The Longest Yard (1974) – Although Reynolds appeared in the Adam Sandler remake, the original is the one to see!  I first saw this with our 10th grade football team. Our coach arranged for us to go see it as a team.  What a perfect film for a tenth grader.  We started calling ourselves “Mean Machine” and it must have worked.  We were county champs that year.  Great memories and the film holds up still.

02.  Sharky’s Machine – I love this film.  I hoped that we’d see some sequels with Reynolds continuing to direct and star.  It wasn’t to be, but at least we have this gem. Oh, and what a great soundtrack!

01.  Smokey and the Bandit – Jackie Gleason, Sally Field, and the black Trans Am!  I love this film.  You can see the joy that they had making it.  My brother-in-law (RIP) could do a great Bufford T. Justice impersonation.  Great memories.

 

“Ice Road: Vengeance” (2025) written & directed by Jonathan Hensleigh, starring Liam Neeson / Z-View

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Ice Road: Vengeance (2025)

Director: Jonathan Hensleigh

Screenplay: Jonathan Hensleigh

Stars: Liam Neeson, Bingbing Fan, Marcus Thomas, Grace O’Sullivan, Mahesh Jadu, Shivantha Wijesinha and CJ Bloomfield.

Tagline:  None.

The Plot…

Mike McCann has traveled to Nepal to honor his dead brother.  Mike plans to scatter his late brother’s ashes on Mount Everest.

Mike, his tour guide Dhani and others are on The Kiwi Express, an old bus used to shuttle tourists to Everest. Then mercenaries arrive.  They are looking to kill Vijay,  a rider on the shuttle.  Mike, Dhani, Vijay and a young girl named Grace escape in The Kiwi Express with the terrorists in hot pursuit.

Outmanned and outgunned, Mike knows that odds of survival are small.  The icy road up the mountain is as dangerous as the killers chasing them.

Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy ride!

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)… 

Ice Road: Vengeance is a decent follow-up to Ice Road.   If you enjoyed the first film, you should like the second.

I hope we see more of Bingbing Fan (Dhani)  in other movies.

Ice Road: Vengeance (2025) rates 3 of 5 stars.

“Reindeer Games” (2000) directed by John Frankenheimer, starring Ben Affleck, Gary Sinise and Charlize Theron / Z-View

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Reindeer Games (2000)

Director: John Frankenheimer

Screenplay: Ehren Kruger

Stars: Ben Affleck, Gary Sinise, Charlize Theron, James Frain, Mark Acheson, Tom Heaton, Isaac Hayes, Douglas Arthurs, Ron Jeremy, Peter MacNeill, Donal Logue, Danny Trejo, Dennis Farina, Ashton Kutcher and Clarence Williams III.

Tagline:  The trap is set. The game is on.

The Plot…

Nick Cassidy and Rudy Duncan are prison cellmates who have become friends.  Both are scheduled for release soon.  Nick has been exchanging letters with a pretty young woman named Ashley. Althorugh she’s sent plenty of pictures and letters, she’s never seen Nick.  Nick will meet her for the first time when he’s released.

Nick has shared each letter/photo with Rudy as they’ve arrived.  Rudy has secretly become infatuated with Ashley.

Two days before Nick and Rudy are to be released a fight breaks out in the prison cafeteria.  A convict with a grudge against Rudy uses the confusion to try to kill him.  Nick steps in and the convict stabs him instead.  Nick falls to the floor dead as the guards restore order.

Two days pass.  Rudy and several other convicts are escorted out of the prison gates.  Most have family, girlfriends or significant others to meet them.  Rudy has no one.  He plans to get on a bus and head home.

Then he sees Ashley.

She’s beautiful.  Even prettier than the pictures.  Rudy heads for the bus.  Then realizes that Ashley has never seen Nick.  Rudy hesitates and than makes the decision.  He’ll pretend to be Nick.

It works.  Rudy and Ashley have a wonderful day together.  Finally they head to a cabin she has rented.  Rudy cannot believe his luck.

Then things go sideways.  Ashley’s brother Gabriel shows up.  Gabriel’s a thug without a conscience.  The hardcases with him are nearly as bad.  Gabriel knows Nick used to work at a small casino.  He plans to use Nick’s knowledge of the place to rob it.

With no other options, Rudy admits that he’s not Nick.  Ashley can’t believe it.  Gabriel doesn’t believe it.  He thinks Nick just doesn’t want to help with the robbery.  Rudy continues to protest that he’s not Nick.

Gabriel raises his gun as he says, “Then you’re not worth anything to me.”  Rudy quickly changes his tune.  In order to survive he’s going to have to mastermind the robbery of a place he’s never been in.

Ho! Ho! Ho! Let the reindeer games begin!

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)… 

John Frankenheimer’s original director’s cut was much more dark, sexy and violent.  For the theatrical release over 20 minutes was trimmed.  Frankenheimer’s cut was restored for a DVD version.

Reindeer Games was director John Frankenheimer’s final feature film.

Vin Diesel was orginally set to play Pug, a role ultimately played by Donal Logue.  Diesel instead went on to play Dom in The Fast and the Furious.  Smart move.

Ashton Kutcher shows up in a brief scene as a college kid.

There are a couple of unexpected twists that are fun.

Reindeer Games (2000) rates 3 of 5 stars.

“Red Eye”: Season 1 (2024) starring Jing Lusi & Richard Armitage / Z-View

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Red Eye (2024)

Created by: Peter A Dowling

Directed by:

  • Kieron Hawkes (eps. 1-6)

Teleplay by:

  • Peter A Dowling (eps. 1-3; 5-6)
  • Jingan Young (ep. 4)

Stars: Jing Lusi, Richard Armitage, Lesley Sharp, Jemma Moore, Dan Li, Thomas Chaanhing and Robert Gilbert.

Tagline:  None.

The Plot…

Dr. Matthew Nolan and colleagues have been at a medical conference in Beijing.  On their last night there, Nolan meets an attractive woman named Shen Zhào.  They end up in a nightclub and from there Nolan’s memory gets hazy.

He knows he was in an altercation.  He has a stab wound to prove it.  Nolan remembers escaping and not much else.  He’s glad to arrive back in England after an all-night flight back.  His joy is shortlived.  Nolan is detained and told he must return to Beijing where he will stand trial for the murder of Shen Zhào.  To make matters worse, his colleagues must also return.

MI5 Director-General Madeline Delaney reluctantly agrees to allow Nolan’s extradition, despite his claim of innocence.  Agent Hana Li is assigned to escort Nolan back.  Nolan is adamant in his claims that he has been set up and he didn’t kill anyone.

When it becomes clear that someone on the plane is planing to murder Nolan before they arrive, Agent Li finds herself wondering who she can trust.

Trapped on a plane heading to Beijing, the bodies begin to pile up.  Odds are Nolan and Agent Li will be dead before the plane lands.

Buckle your seatbelts we’re in for a bumpy ride.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)… 

Red Eye ramps up the tension with each passing episode.  Trust no one.

Red Eye (2024) rates 5 of 5 stars.

“First Shift” (2024) written & directed by Uwe Boll / Z-View

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First Shift (2024)

Director: Uwe Boll

Screenplay: Uwe Boll

Stars: Gino Anthony Pesi, Kristen Renton, Garry Pastore, Brandi Bravo, Daniel Sauli, Aaron Berg, Onye Eme-Akwari, Tom Ukah, Cate Bottiglione, Tamara Della Anderson and Willie C. Carpenter.

Tagline:  Day One, Duty Calls

The Plot…

 A hard-nosed NYPD cop is teamed with a new fresh-faced recruit from Atlanta.  They have different styles, but unless they can come together as a team, they won’t survive day one.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)… 

Gino Anthony Pesi and Kristen Renton have enough on-screen chemistry to make this one watchable… if you can’t find something better.

First Shift (2024) rates 2 of 5 stars.

“Monster: The Ed Gein Story” (2025) starring Charlie Hunnam and Laurie Metcalf / Z-View

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Monster: The Ed Gein Story (2025)

Created by: Ian Brennan

Directed by:

  • Max Winkler (eps. 1-3; 6-8)
  • Ian Brennan (eps. 4-5)

Teleplay by:

  • (eps. 1-8) Ian Brennan

Stars: Charlie Hunnam, Suzanna Son, Vicky Krieps, Laurie Metcalf, Tom Hollander.

Tagline:  None.

The Plot…

Ed Gein was a murderer and grave robber.  In 1957, when a sheriff’s deputy, following up on a missing person’s case went to Gein’s farm he discovered the missing woman’s decapitated body in a shed.  The partial corpse was hung upside down and mutilated.  In Gein’s house some of what authorities found included:

  • Whole human bones and fragments
  • A wastebasket made of human skin
  • Human skin covering several chairs
  • Human skulls mounted on bedposts
  • Bowls made from human skulls
  • A corset made from a female torso skinned from shoulders to waist
  • Leggings made from human leg skin
  • Masks made from the skin of female heads
  • A victim’s face made into a mask in a paper bag
  • A victim’s entire head in a burlap sack
  • A victim’s heart in a plastic bag
  • A belt made from female human nipples
  • A pair of lips on a window shade drawstring
  • A lampshade made from the skin of a human face
  • more

Gein was determined to be mentally incompetent to stand trial.  He was sentenced to a State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, where he lived until his death in 1984.  Ed Gein’s murders and depravity inspired the novel (and later movie) Psycho, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and more.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)… 

Charlie Hunnam is almost unrecognizable as Ed Gein.  Kudos to him for taking on such a challenging role.  Laurie Metcalf is perfect as Gein’s mother.

I wish Monster: The Ed Gein Story stuck closer to actual events.  Liberties are taken that I feel weaken the story.  For example, Gein never had a love interest.  Gein never chased down and killed lost hunters with a chain saw.  Gein never had contact with Christine Jorgensen, an American actress famous for being known as the first transexual widely known in the United States.

Because of these fictional additions, it makes me question things when other real life personalitites, like Anthony Perkins and Alfred Hitchcock show up.  I realize Monster: The Ed Gein Story isn’t a documentary.  But it is supposed to be Gein’s story and that was creepy enough.

Monster: The Ed Gein Story (2025) rates 3 of 5 stars.

FIVE GEARS IN REVERSE by Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips!

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Crime fiction fans will be excited to learn that Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips have a new CRIMINAL graphic novel coming out on June 23, 2026.  It’s titled FIVE GEARS IN REVERSE: A CRIMINAL BOOK.  Here’s the scoop…

A brand new CRIMINAL graphic novel featuring the legendary RICKY LAWLESS and the crazy tale of how he and MALLORY fell in love in the midst of a crime spree.

In one of the wildest, most action-packed books that Brubaker and Phillips have ever done, we delve deep into the life of one of CRIMINAL‘s most complex and tragic characters, Ricky Lawless as he tries to pay off a deep debt to a mobster, while things just keep going from bad to worse.

FIVE GEARS IN REVERSE will have long-time CRIMINAL fans cheering the return of RICKY LAWLESS and new readers will find it a perfect jumping-on-point for the greatest crime comic series of the 21st century.

“Brubaker and Phillips don’t hit a wrong note.” – Shane Black

Pre-orders are available now.

“This Side of the Law” (1950) starring Viveca Lindfors, Kent Smith, Janis Paige, Robert Douglas / Z-View

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This Side of the Law (1950)

Director: Richard L. Bare

Screenplay: Russell S. Hughes; story by Richard Sale

Stars: Viveca Lindfors, Kent Smith, Janis Paige, Robert Douglas, John Alvin, Nita Talbot,
Michael Mark, Edward Van Sloan and Monte Blue.

Tagline: He’s coming back – the man they thought they double-crossed to death!

The Plot…

David Cummings is going through hard times.  Homeless and looking for work, Cummings is picked up on a vagrancy charge.  The judge sentences him to “$50 or 30 days.”  Cummings is surprised to learn that Philip Cagle, a lawyer in the courtroom, paid his fine.

Cagle then takes Cummings to dinner and offers him a job.  It turns out that Cummings looks exactly like one of Cagle’s clients.  A rich man who disappeared nearly seven years ago.  In fact, in two weeks it will be seven years exactly that the man has been missing.  At that point the man will be declared dead and the man’s estate will be divided up among the missing man’s wife, brother and sister-in-law.

Cagle offers Cummings $500 to impersonate the missing man.  Cagle hopes that Cummings will then be able to discover the fate of the missing man.  Cummings agrees to the job… for $5,000.00 and is surprised when Cagle agrees to the sum.

Cummings is able to fool everyone.  He quickly discovers that each member of the missing man’s family had reason to kill him.  And now at least one of them has reason to kill him again.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)… 

If you can go along with the conceit that the imposter could fool the missing man’s wife, brother and former lover, then this movie works well.  I went with it and enjoyed the ride.

This Side of the Law marks Nita Talbot’s first credited feature film role.  Ms. Talbot would go on to accumulate over 150 credits on her acting resume.

This Side of the Law (1950) rates 4 of 5 stars.