This is a true piece of american noir. It seems like a diverting little car chase movie the first time you see it, but O'Neil's stoic, nihilistic getaway driver has a way of bringing you back for more viewings. It's interesting that Ian Muldoon mentions the similarity to a Jean-Pierre Melville film in his review, because I think this movie owes a lot to Melville's LE SAMOURAI (on which John Woo's THE KILLER was also based). Just like Melville's hit man Jeff kills without conscience or reflection, yet still abides by an unbending code of honor, O'Neil's Driver is, ironically, more moral in his way than the obsessed, power-mad cop (Bruce Dern) who pursues him.

Walter Hill no frills, straight-to-the-gut style really works here. The costumes, sets, and cinematography are dark, understated, and really engrossing, especially on repeated viewings. I believe that this is a movie that grad-school film students will be watching 100 years from now.

This is one of my all-time favorite movies, but I was terribly disappointed with the DVD. There are simply NO extra features (the trailer doesn't count, guys). The DVD was billed as having a commentary with Russell and Carpenter when I ordered it (although I can't recall whether it was Amazon or another movie site which made that misrepresentation). I understand that even the laserdisc version had a commentary! Come on, can't you just TRANSFER the old commentary to the DVD?!!? The commentary with Russell and Carpenter on THE THING is great, so I'm sure I'm really missing a treat by not hearing their commentary on this film. Also, I understand from an interview I saw with Carpenter (on the VHS version of ESCAPE) that there's a whole opening scene which was cut from the final release, which shows Snake robbing the Federal Reserve Depository and escaping on a bullet train. Now wouldn't that footage make a nice extra feature?

Frankly, in retrospect, we should probably all just boycott this movie. Think about it... first, the original ESCAPE comes out, and it's AWESOME. Then, twenty years later, I buy a VHS "Special Edition" which claims to have "unseen footage." That footage turns out to be about 5 seconds of Snake in the deleted opening scene, inserted as part of a long, fairly boring interview with Carpenter plugging "IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS." Next, ESCAPE FROM LA comes out, which film I won't even dignify by trashing. Then finally, we get a DVD with NO features, not even a remastered soundtrack! The more I write the madder I get!

I realize I'm reiterating a lot of what the previous reviewer said, but I waited a LONG time for this to come out on DVD (some of you may remember that it was to be issued almost a year and half ago... I pre-ordered it then only to have the release delayed). Maybe the plan is to issue a "special edition" with the extra features, and I'd probably buy it, but I'd sure feel like I'd been shafted!

Mark Dacascos hooks up with his prison cellmate (and sometimes lover) Jaimz Wolvett (Schofield Kid from UNFORGIVEN), and agrees to come along on ONE MORE job. Unfortunately, the drug-buy goes bad and Dacascos (whose history in kung-fu flicks serves him well) wastes the double-crossing punks. Trouble is, the double-crossing punks were the little brothers of some REALLY BAD hombres, who set out after Dacascos and the rest of Wolvett's crew (which includes the always slut-o-licious Tracy Lords in a stand-out role). Dacascos and Wolvett end up at a desert motel, occupied only by the owner (Frederick Forrest), and his super-fey wife. The killers, however, are not far behind. Let the bottom-kicking commence! This film really incorporates elements of exploitation, prison-flicks, martial arts chop-suey, and acid rock-n-roll movies and filme noir, and does it in an INCREDIBLY skillful manner. I LOVED this movie! I rented this expecting basically a kick-butt and shotgun-splatter buddy flick (and wasn't disappointed in either regard), but there's a lot more here. The performances are really solid, especially kung-fu star Dacascos and teen-porn-star Lords, who for me moved into the realm of "real actors" with this film. Wolvett, as always, is quirky and fascinating, and Forrest is awesome as the doped up and margirita'd out proprieter of the motel. Also, look for Joan Jett as a rock-n-roller (did I mention this film is also partly THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM...?) If you like movies about the dark underbelly of man's soul (is that a mixed metaphor...? Sorry...) ala THE KILLERS, REQUIEM FOR A HEAVYWEIGHT, and THIEF, you should definitely see this movie!

This movie gets five stars for pure awfulness! "Based on the novel by Ed Wood," (did he direct this under a pseudonym...?) a bunch of "damned" (and mostly damned chunky) chicks are raised from the dead by a guy in a REALLY cheap vampire suit and forced to dance (in various stages of undress) for his jovially demonic pleasure. With a plot about on par with the average "Tales From the Crypt" episode (and with even more frontal nudity), you can just let your brain go out for a beer while you watch this one! My (and my wife's) personal favorite: the porky "indian princess" in red thong undies! Dig those tom-toms! I'm sure all the women who were in this (if they haven't killed themselves from shame), are somewhere thinking "I can't BELIEVE I slept with Ed Wood to get this part!" I'm especially amused that the only other review of this movie is by some OTHER poor bastard in Akron, Ohio. Plainly this IS the cultural center of the universe!

Common wisdom has this as the worst movie ever made. I've seen a bunch'a movies, and so far I'd have to agree. The CLASSIC "so bad it's good" flick, this is Ed Wood's CITIZEN KANE. The plot (to use that term in the loosest sense) concerns a group of aliens (led by the most overtly homosexual alien overlord ever to grace the screen... ahead of its time in that way I suppose) who plan to take over the world. "The world," as it turns out, is a graveyard with a bunch of styrofoam tombstones. The aliens are on "Plan 9" (the other eight failed), which involves raising the dead (among them the talent-challenged Tor Johnson and remarkably top-heavy "Vampira"). They do this by... well, it's never quite explained, except that the aliens have "knowledge of... such things." Boris Karloff appears briefly, but died during filming to be replaced by Mrs. Woods' chriopractor. This is a perfect movie, in the sense that it simply could not be any worse. If you've ever had dreams of being a hollywood director, go ahead! You'll NEVER make a movie worse than PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE!

Hackman plays a world-weary private investigator who's hired by a hollywood widow to track down her nymphette daughter (Melanie Griffith in her first film role). He finds her and brings her back, only to find out a few days later she's died in a bizarrie film "accident." As he digs deeper, he finds there's no one he can trust. This is a complicated but brilliant movie, and a great performance by Hackman. Great supporting cast (watch for James Woods in a small role). You may have to watch it a couple of times to pick up all of the pieces, but you'll enjoy doing so! This movie rates up there with CHINATOWN and LA CONFIDENTIAL in my book.

James Caan plays a hardcore master thief who's spent almost his entire adult life behind bars. When he makes a Faustian bargain with a mobster (Robert Prosky) in order to get out of the life, everything he's worked for tumbles down around him. This is a MAGNIFICENT movie, full of power, irony, and ferocious action! I think it's Caan's greatest role, and that's saying A LOT! He brings incredible intensity to his role as a man who, in order to save himself, must destroy everything he loves. Not only is this a fabulous movie, it's my favorite DVD. The DVD/widescreen format truly does justice to Director Mann (MIAMI VICE, MANHUNTER, HEAT)'s quirky, ultra-slick style. Also, the commentary by Mann and Caan is EXACTLY what a DVD commentary track should be: two great artists commenting on the film at the same time, playing off of each other and really adding a whole new dimension to the film (for instance, did you know that the "technical advisors" for the film were a "crew" of jewltheives, and that Caan was breaking into REAL safes with REAL burglary tools?). If you loved HEAT, you HAVE TO see this movie! In fact, this is almost a companion piece to HEAT, because Caan's character is sort of an earlier version of DeNiro's character. If you are a fan of films like RESERVOIR DOGS, HEAT, PULP FICTION, and THE GETAWAY, this is a MUST-SEE! This is truly a modern classic!

Like USED CARS, this movie is bawdy, rude, over the top, politically incorrect, profane, gratuitous, and loving every minute of it! Newman plays the captain of a bush-league hockey team that's going down the tubes. For most of the players, it's either hockey or an assembly-line job, so Newman decides to bring in the fans with violence. He succeeds, thanks to some brilliant manipulation and a trio of hockey-playing idiot savants (mostly idiot) named the Hanson Brothers. This is one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. The first scene where the Hanson's get off the bench (heck, EVERY scene with the Hansons) is a classic and will make you laugh until you need surgery! The DVD isn't much better than the VHS, unfortunately, as far as picture quality or features go. There are some alternate language tracks (if you're a big fan of Newman in French), but no director's commentary, etc. SEE THIS MOVIE! Every performance is hilarious and perfectly-cast. George Roy Hill (who also directed Newman in the classics BUTCH CASSIDY and THE STING) seems to just bring out Newman's best no matter what the genre. Also Strother Martin (of COOL HAND LUKE, "failure to communicate") fame, is in this and is totally hilarious!

Based on the novel by Jim Thompson, THE GETAWAY is a must-see for fans of Peckinpah, as well as those who love a good caper-flick. Doc McCoy (McQueen) is a master thief cooling his heels in prison. His wife (McGraw) springs him by sleeping with the warden, but that's only half the price. McCoy must also pull a bank robbery at the warden's request, and his partners are a moron (Bo Hopkins) and a psycho (Al Letteri). Of course, it's a set-up, and McCoy is not intended to come out alive. Letteri, the warden, and maybe even Doc's own wife are in on the plan to murder Doc and split the money. McCoy and wife take off for the Mexican border, with Letteri hot in pursuit. This is classic Peckinpah. In fact, Peckinpah is the only director I've ever seen who does FULL justice to the gritty, savage novels of Jim Thompson (THE GRIFTERS, KILLER INSIDE ME, and THIS WORLD, THEN FIREWORKS are a few other Thompson adaptations). Walter Hill's script (Hill also wrote and directed the 1996 remake) is a masterpiece! Not a lot of features on the DVD (I'd've LOVED a commentary by Walter Hill on this one!), but the format really brings the beautiful cinematography to life in a way lesser formats can't. A GREAT film! This is one of McQueen's grittiest, toughest roles, and he's the PERFECT McCoy. Cool and deadly as a cobra, yet with genuine emotions and doubts. You'll want to buy a 1911 Model .45 after you see this movie!

If there is one thing elementary chaos theory tells us, it's that ALL robots will eventually rise up and overthrow their human masters! Well, this movie came out BEFORE chaos theory was even postulated, and they called it dead on the money! Richard Benjamin plays a wussy, recently divorced lawyer whose macho buddy James Brolin takes him to Delos, a futuristic adult amusement park where fantasies come true. Westworld, Medieval World, and Roman World are a mechanized Sodom and Gomorrah (sp?), where by day the lucky humans kill robot guys, and by night make it with saucy robot girls. Unfortunately, Sodom turns into Beiruit when, all at once, the robots rebel and start wasting all the fat, dopy humans for whom they've taken so many dives. This movie is kind of a modern classic, and the performances (especially Brynner as the soulless killing machine and Benjamin as his befuddled prey) are excellent. However, the viewer has to overlook some plot holes through which one could safely drive a truck.... Among my favorites: 1) Why do the robots in Roman World, who are pretty much programmed just to feed you grapes and get naked with you start killing when they malfunction? Why don't they just feed you more grapes and have even more sex with you? 2) When the scientist-guys are suffocating, how come in a room full of people smart enough to design super-human robots, no one can figure out how to bust out those little windows in the door and let air in? They've got chairs and ashtrays that would presumably be hard enough to break glass...? 3) The robot-chicks are supposed to be indistinguishable from humans in bed, yet the guns are programmed not to fire at humans by reading body heat. Does this mean that the robot-chicks have no body heat? How much fun could it be to have sex with a woman whose body temperature is only 50 degrees? Please, please don't answer that! 4) Finally, my biggest concern: As mentioned above, the guns are programmed with heat-sensors so they won't fire at humans. So how the hell do the guns just suddenly start killing humans when the robots rebel? I mean, the programming failure has NOTHING to do with the heat-sensors on the guns! Anyway, see this movie, because it's loads of fun and it is, in a way, a metaphor for the evil encroachment of technology into our everyday lives. Just have a beer or something first so you won't care about the stitches missing from the plot-fabric.