When Kino Lorber announced that they would be releasing the 1987 Burt Reynolds action movie Malone on Blu-ray I immediately requested a copy to review. It’s not that I’m a huge Burt fan; it’s because of the original VHS case for the movie. As a kid, I spent the night at a neighborhood friend’s house quite often, and I always went through their movie collection, and their copy of Malone always cracked me up. What could this movie be about? A denim clad lunatic known simply as “Malone” firing a shotgun as flames roar behind him? Could this be the best movie ever made? Unfortunately, in my youthful ignorance, I never watched it.
Years later, I felt compelled to watch it, especially after my brother had a poster made for me (shockingly, he couldn't find a legit poster for the movie online). I found it decent, but it wasn’t as crazy or as bad as I had hoped. It was just one of those action movies about an wandering badass who gets caught up in a land fight in a small town. Reynolds himself referenced Shane when talking about the movie, and it made me think of Van Damme’s Nowhere to Run and Seagal’s Fire Down Below.
Revisiting it with this new release, I enjoyed it much more. I’ve come to appreciate the lesser known action movies of the 1980s. At the time, these things were a dime a dozen, but compared to a lot of the quick-cut CG action movies of today, a movie like Malone is a unique treat. The action is brutal and realistic (back when they used squibs and practical fake blood), and the pace is relatively slow. The film doesn’t feel the need to make sure something blows up every three minutes to make sure the audience is still paying attention.
That said, there are still explosions and gun fights and general badassery, but it’s subdued. Reynolds isn’t playing a superhero in this. He gets hurt, and he constantly talks about how old he is. He still kicks everyone’s ass, but he’s not a dick about it. I love Deliverance Burt, but it’s nice to see weary Malone Burt, too. The main movie people point to as proof of Reynolds’s talent as an actor is Boogie Nights, but Malone is evidence, as well.
The supporting cast keeps things interesting, too. Cliff Robertson is genuinely menacing as a white supremacist militia leader with aims at taking over the entire country. He’s not hamming it up, and playing it more realistic makes him seem truly dangerous. Tracy Walter (wearing a suit!) and Dennis Burkley make for great local dickheads. Scott Wilson and Cynthia Gibb provide the heart of the film. And an underused Lauren Hutton has a couple good scenes, but she seems to be there just so Malone has someone to have sex with and die which spurs Malone to action at the end.
Malone is better viewed now as a throwback to the simpler days of action movies. It’s short and to the point, has a great cast, and features enough practical action to keep things moving. It’s not a classic or anything, but it’s definitely more than just a funny VHS cover.
The Blu-ray
As for this new release, I’m not a specs guy, but I thought it looked great. There’s still some grain to the picture, but I kind of liked it. Sometimes if an older movie is cleaned up too much it just feels wrong. As for special features, there’s a decent commentary with a couple historians. They offer up some trivia about the film (and one of the dudes did the same research I did as he directly quotes a couple things from the IMDb trivia page for the movie), and spend a bit of time discussing Reynolds’s career as a whole. And normally I wouldn’t consider the inclusion of a trailer as that “special” of a feature, but it’s cool here as a time capsule of what previews were like in 1987.
Random Thoughts
The two books Burt travels with: a book about how to play poker professionally and Dispatches by Michael Herr, who wrote the narration for Apocalypse Now and co-wrote Full Metal Jacket.
Refreshingly, Burt acknowledges his age and doesn't come across as a completely untouchable badass in this one, but he still kicks a goon in the balls so hard that it sterilizes him.
The sterilized goon is Dennis Burkley, a "that guy" from The Doors, Beyond the Law, Rush, and Con Air, among a hundred others. But I'll always remember him as Earl from Tin Cup.
Thankfully, Burt doesn't bang the teenager, but of course they have to make it clear that she's down for it if he wants.
"You just getting up or going to sleep?"
"Haven't decided yet."
What? Is that cool or just stupid?
The squibs in this are great.
Man, his wig looks like a straight up hair helmet at times.
I like how the villain acknowledges how stupid it was to kill Lauren Hutton, since it was just going to piss Malone off.
The part when he shoots the goon in the head and the goon falls through the hole in the floor is badass.
No comments:
Post a Comment