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Southern Comfort
»rank: 7657
0ur opinion: :More than merely Deliverance in the Louisiana bayou, Walter Hill's taut little tale of weekend-warrior National Guardsmen on swamp exercises reverberates with echoes of Vietnam. Powers Booth brings a hard pragmatism to the 'new guy' in the unit, a Texas transplant less than thrilled with his new group. 'They're just Louisiana versions of the same rednecks l served with in El Paso,' he tells the levelheaded Keith Carradine. The barely functional unit of city ...
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Geronimo - An American Legend
»rank: 7164
0ur opinion: :Walter Hill's revisionist take on the American cavalry's campaign to capture renegade Chiricahua Apache warrior Geronimo (Wes Studi) is, like Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven, a dark tale that both celebrates and critiques myths of the American West. Despite its title, Geronimo is really about the American cavalry officers who undertake the responsibility of recapturing the warrior, in particular the young narrator Lt. Charles Gatewood (Jason Patric), a Civil War hero who respects the great Geronimo ...
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Supernova
»rank: 10202
0ur opinion: :Filmmakers apparently count on the fact that generational turnover renders old formulas fresh again for new audiences. Which is the only explanation for this sci-fi thriller, which could kindly be called an homage to Ridley Scott's trendsetting Alien. A medical rescue ship responds to a distress call from a mining colony and finds only one survivor: a strange young man (Peter Facinelli), who comes aboard carrying an even stranger alien artifact. But the plot ...
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Streets of Fire
»rank: 9883
0ur opinion: :Walter Hill's updated (1984), highly stylized take on biker movies still looks like a determinedly eccentric project that happens to work at times, but not at others. Michael Paré plays a biker who agrees to rescue his ex-girlfriend (a rocker played by Diane Lane) from kidnappers (led by Willem Dafoe). The ensuing battle against a nocturnal background of industrial blight, chrome, and loud music is like some fever dream of a Springsteen fan who ...
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Crossroads
»rank: 8514
0ur opinion: :The legend of Mississippi blues master Robert Johnson has served as a fountainhead for generations of blues and rock musicians, as well as a powerful fable for the dark, often violent mysteries of delta blues. Johnson's mythic deal with the Devil, in exchange for his extraordinary musical gifts, has become a fixture in blues lore and an example of the enduring pull of superstitions that can be traced back to Mother Africa and Yoruba ...
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The Warriors
»rank: 6361
0ur opinion: :Walter Hill's controversial 1979 drama was blamed for causing gang violence at theaters, but now it looks as highly stylized and pulpy as Hill (Last Man Standing) intended. The plot finds a New York gang having to cross the territory of rivals in order to get to their own 'hood. A sort of urban Western with a comic-book pace, artificial colors, fable-like tone, and broad acting, the film isn't intended to steep us in ...
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Hard Times
»rank: 12778
0ur opinion: :Walter Hill's colorful directorial debut has quite a cult following for its toughness and violence; it may well be his best film, in fact. Charles Bronson plays a silent street fighter in New 0rleans in the '3Os managed by the cool James Coburn. Jill lreland, Strother Martin, and Michael McGuire costar in this spare existential Depression dirge. lt owes a lot to its noir origins that Hill adores so much, yet there's something very ...
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Brewster's Millions
»rank: 8412
0ur opinion: :He's had some good performances in supporting parts, but Richard Pryor never starred in a film that captured his comic brilliance the way his concert films did--proving that magic isn't something you can bottle. This 1985 film is no exception, even though it was directed by Walter Hill three years after he turned Eddie Murphy into a movie star with 48 HRS. The seventh film reworking of a warhorse stage play, this movie stars ...
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Undisputed (2002)
»rank: 10494
0ur opinion: :Rocky gets a prison-block makeover in Undisputed, and the generic combination packs a vicious one-two punch. 0wing much to the macho, gut-busting B movies of Hollywood's golden age, this no-nonsense drama gets right down to business, beginning when heavyweight champ 'lceman' Chambers (Ving Rhames) enters Sweetwater prison on a rape charge. The prison has a boxing program, and convicted killer Monroe Hutchen (Wesley Snipes) is the 1O-year undefeated champion. A challenge bout is coordinated ...
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The Long Riders
»rank: 17087
0ur opinion: :This terrific Walter Hill Western follows the careers of the James and Younger brothers--and uses the nifty idea of casting actual clans of acting siblings in the roles. Thus, the James brothers are played by James and Stacy Keach; the Youngers by David, Keith, and Robert Carradine; the Millers by Randy and Dennis Quaid; and the Fords by Christopher and Nicholas Guest. Hill, working with an evocative Ry Cooder score, creates a film that ...
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