Omar Ahmed
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A SHOCK TO THE SYSTEM (Dir. Jan Egleson, 1990, US)
* * * * Director Jan Egleson must have been taking careful notes when he was watching Get Carter because this is a work that is constructed deliciously around the cold dead eyes of Michael Caine which pierces through every frame. Egleson glances into the cutthroat mischief of the corporate world in which the suits Continue reading
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THE WIDE BLUE ROAD (Dir. Gillo Pontecorvo, 1957, Italy)
* * * Pontecorvo’s career hinges on the very influential The Battle of Algiers which he made in the 1960s. I often thought his career was far more extensive, but he only made a handful of films. His earliest film, The Wide Blue Road, is a provocative blend of neorealism and political melodrama. In essence, Continue reading
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THE HOSPITAL (Dir. Arthur Hiller, 1971, US)
* * * I think it is George C Scott’s extended raging monologue on the broad metaphorical complexities of impotency where Arthur Hiller’s film seems to find its exact expressive pitch, carving out not only a generational angst but pointing to a broader sense of disillusionment with everyday civil institutions that would characterise much of Continue reading
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THE LAST RUN (Dir. Richard Fleischer, 1971, US)
* * * I must have TCM’s greatest hits on speed dial. Howard Hawks is probably a major link when it comes Michael Mann’s proletariat time obsessed professionals and potentially Melville’s polar films but George S Scott’s Harry Garmes, an ex-driver for organized crime and modelled on Bogart, seems to be a notable precursor to Continue reading
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THE DON IS DEAD (Dir. Richard Fleischer, 1973, US)
* * Richard Fleischer’s The Don is Dead (1973) may have been one of those projects that was greenlit into existence on the back of the unprecedented box office success of The Godfather. Unlike The Godfather which weaves a narrative about the corporation through family, Fleischer’s instincts are somewhat different, shining a light on arguably Continue reading
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