The thing that makes this movie so powerful after eighty years is that Bogart never lets you forget how close Sam Spade is to losing control and becoming a killer for real. Spade is actually a stone cold psychopath, masquerading as a lonely man of integrity. Everyone senses it, even the people who hate him the most. Like the mean police lieutenant says, "You haven't heard me say you killed anyone. You're the one who keeps bringing that up."
Never cast a Welsh lion as an American weasel. The movie makes so many mistakes, wastes so much energy on weird conjectures and sheer fantasy, that by the end you don't even care about the real harm Nixon did. Joan Allen is a winning and very sexy Pat Nixon, but the marriage scenes never ring true for a single moment. And stop all the sinister flashbacks to Mary Steenburgen sneering mysteriously while her little boy looks dazed and confused!
A timeless classic about a dirty cop who fights dirty and refuses to compromise with evil. Everyone re Eastwood and the Magnum, but what they don't is the haunting jazz score, the nighttime shadows, and the relentless suspense. Don Siegel was an amazing director and Clint Eastwood couldn't have had a better teacher.
Why is Easy Rider so good? Let's pose the question another way. Why hasn't it dated?
Notice that the Vietnam War is never mentioned, not even once. No veterans or draft dodgers identify themselves as such. There's much more racial tension in the chilling diner scene than talk about the war. I don't even think the word "peace" is ever mentioned. And certainly no one ever flashes the famous two-fingered peace sign.
See why this hasn't dated?
The other attractive…
