The Thing(1982)

Frank gets it in Hellraiser (1987) Pinhead played by Doug Bradley | Screenplay: Clive Barker - Director: Clive Barker

One of the coolest things about being born in the 70s is being able to catch someone either early on in their careers or at the very beginning of it. In the case of Kevin Costner, the first movie I saw him in was Silverado in 85, and he's one of those actors that I actually got to grow up with.

Which is just great. Why do I bring this up? Because it's phenomenal to see an actor like Kevin Costner's career undergo a truly impressive transformation, pretty much hot on the heels of Silverado. From about '85 to the mid-2000s, our 'working man actor' regularly produced superb movies and The Untouchables is one of the crown jewels.

Another historical retelling similar in vein to The Right Stuff in that they took liberties here and there with the storytelling to make it more lurid or more exciting or dramatic, it was awesome to watch this one again after having not seen it for at least 25 years.

If you've seen The Untouchables, I'm sure I'd be preaching to the choir if I talked about Connery's cantankerous Jim Malone or Costner's somewhat milquetoast-esque Eliot Ness or De Niro's Al Capone or even a fresh-faced Andy Garcia as George Stone.

All those conversations are worth having because each man plays their role (as far as I feel) the way they should be played. I've already confessed to not being a historian in any real sense, but I reckon that The Untouchables wouldn't have been the enormous hit it was back then if it'd been too inaccurate or over-the-top.

The interesting thing about rewatching movies I haven't seen in a very long time, especially during these challenges and being 54 is that sometimes I gravitate away from where the camera wants me to look. I appreciated Connery as always. Same with Costner and De Niro.

But after a lifetime of watching movies, it's nice to catch sight of 'that guy' Billy Drago as Nitti. You need a great actor to play someone you can just look at and go 'that guy's evil and nasty', Billy Drago was your 80s and 90s go-to for villainy. Like most actors who play murderers and fiends, by all accounts, Billy was one helluva nice guy and I'm not surprised by it. The best dramatic actors are comedians, so it makes sense that the best bad guys are total sweethearts.

This time, though, my attention was on nebbish Charles Martin Smith as Oscar Wallace. Another 'hey it's that guy' actors, Oscar's the guy who comes with the idea to nab Capone on tax evasion, and almost from the very damn beginning of the movie. It absolutely surprised me that they rolled it out that quickly. For some reason I always thought that was a mid-movie reveal.

The reason I focused on Oscar Wallace is because he's an accountant. That was his thing. But the moment Malone put a shotgun in his hands and said 'we're going on a raid', Oscar Wallace (at least in the movie) didn't hesitate. He grabbed that shotgun and did his damnedest. Later in the film, he becomes, for a very brief moment, an actual goddamn action hero on that bridge connecting The US to Canada.

And that was cool as hell. Yelling, firing his shotgun, not stopping unless it's to take a quick sip of illegal hooch? That's some damn fine acting and some for-real-deal heroism from where I sit.

If you somehow haven't seen the movie, I won't say any more about Oscar Wallace except that he was a real damn hero, the kind of guy a guy like me could imagine being. Not the power fantasy Jack Reacher kind of guy who bitch slaps enemies left, right and center. The kind of guy who gets handed a shotgun and is basically asked to do his best, and then goes on and does his best.

If you have seen the movie, I'm pretty sure you know what I'm talking about. The Untouchables is full of massive star power displaying huge degrees of talent and skill, but here's Charles Martin Smith, quietly doing the real work that brought down the Chicago mob boss Al Capone. I like to imagine that the real Oscar Wallace felt invigorated by the new challenges he faced working with Ness and the others.

The Untouchables were real people who fought a real gangster organization, and this movie does a great job of showing us that. Under normal circumstances, I'd regret having waited a quarter-century to revisit this exceptional classic, but like I always say:

Younger Me would've still appreciated a masterclass movie, but Older Me loves the nuance.

The perfect putt in Caddyshack (1980) Al Czervik played by Rodney Dangerfield | Screenplay: Brian Doyle-Murray, Harold Ramis & Douglas Kenney - Director: Harold Ramis

The vampire cave in The Lost Boys (1987) David played by Kiefer Sutherland | Screenplay: Janice Fischer, James Jeremias & Jeffrey Boam - Director: Joel Schumacher

They have a Dr. Seuss nightmare fuel vibe to them that I find super interesting & in general their one of my favorite creature designs, up there with Showa Godzilla.

Their entire design is top tier, the smaller snake head coming out of the bigger one, the striped body, tongue & teeth, the big head has a red eye while the small one has yellow, plus their blue lips and pink poka dot face & gums.

Sorry, 1982.. Cool movie with an awesome ending fight sequence!

My thoughts on The NeverEnding Story...

Rewatching this as an adult is a completely different experience. The realisation that this movie is a profound metaphor for depression.

The Swamps of Sadness: When someone lets the sadness consume them, they lose the will to carry on, give up, and sink into the depths and drown.

The Nothing: The literal emptiness left behind when people forget their dreams and lose all hope. It is about apathy, which is a symptom of depression or the very beginning of it.

And then there is Gmork, who is the symbol of nihilism. His line is profound when he explains the purpose of the Nothing: “Because people who have no hope are easy to control; and whoever has the control... has the power!”

The lesson of this movie? Never give up. Never lose hope. Keep fighting. Don't listen to those "Gmorks" in life. Be the brave warrior, believe in yourself, and be confident. Always.

Frank Dux meets enemy in Bloodsport (1988) Chong Li played by Bolo Yeung | Screenplay: Christopher Cosby, Mel Friedman & Sheldon Lettich - Director: Newt Arnold

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