Walter Matthau

  • Michael Ritchie – The Bad News Bears (1976)

    1971-1980ComedyMichael RitchieUSA

    Morris Buttermaker, an irascible, alcoholic, ex-ballplayer is roped into coaching the worst group of kids ever assembled onto one team. Their cause is utterly and hysterically hopeless until he convinces the daughter of his ex-girlfriend to be the team’s pitcher.Read More »

  • Don Siegel – Charley Varrick (1973)

    1971-1980ClassicsCrimeDon SiegelUSA

    Charley Varrick is a small-time stick-up man who, in tandem with his partner Harman Sullivan (Andrew Robinson), makes plans to rob a small bank in New Mexico. Varrick and Sullivan are expecting a modest payday for a simple heist, but to their surprise they walk away with $750,000 in cash. But it turns out this isn’t entirely good news; the bank was flush with cash because a number of well-connected Mafia chieftains have been using the bank to launder their ill-gotten gains, and they’re determined to get their money back. Before Varrick can figure out a way to return the money, sadistic hired killer Molly (Joe Don Baker) is on his trail, forcing Varrick to outwit both the cops and the robbers if he is to stay alive.

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  • Ronald Neame – Hopscotch (1980)

    1971-1980AdventureComedyRonald NeameUSA

    Quote:
    The inimitable comic team of Walter Matthau and Glenda Jackson star in this nimble tale of international intrigue from master British filmmaker Ronald Neame. Based on Brian Garfield’s best-selling novel, the blithe thriller centers on Miles Kendig (Matthau), a disillusioned retired CIA agent who, with the help of a chic and savvy Viennese widow (Jackson), threatens to publish his memoirs and expose the innermost secrets of every major intelligence agency in the world. Despite being in major hot water with his former colleagues, Kendig refuses to get in line—he’s having too much fun. Set to the sounds of Mozart, this lighthearted sendup of the paranoid dramas of its era is an expertly crafted, singular take on the spy movie.Read More »

  • Roman Polanski – Pirates (1986)

    1981-1990AdventureComedyFranceRoman Polanski

    The adventures of pirate Captain Red and his first mate Frog.

    Captain Red runs a hardy pirate ship with the able assistance of Frog, a dashing young French sailor. One day Capt. Red is captured and taken aboard a Spanish galleon, but thanks to his inventiveness, he raises the crew to mutiny, takes over the ship, and kidnaps the niece of the governor of Maracaibo. The question is, can he keep this pace up?Read More »

  • Joseph Sargent – The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)

    USA1971-1980CrimeJoseph SargentThriller

    Synopsis:
    Right under everyone’s noses, a determined gang of four colour-coded and armed-to-the-teeth criminals manage to take over New York City’s Pelham 1-2-3 subway train. In a confined metro rail coach crammed with eighteen helpless passengers, the ruthless criminals threaten to start killing one hostage a minute, unless a massive one-million-dollar ransom in cash is delivered within an hour. Under those circumstances, a frenzied race against time begins, as the gruff Transit Authority police lieutenant, Zachary Garber, tries to outwit his cunning adversary, Mr Blue. However, above the surface, chaos reigns. Will they deliver the money in time before the first man dies?Read More »

  • Billy Wilder – The Front Page (1974)

    1971-1980Billy WilderClassicsComedyUSA

    Quote:
    Billy Wilder’s 1974 remake of the Ben Hecht – Charles MacArthur play The Front Page, famously adapted 34 years before, by Howard Hawks as His Girl Friday, is widely regarded as that point in time when Wilder’s art went into rapid decline, that the picture demonstrated that the director of Sunset Boulevard, Ace in the Hole, and The Apartment had lost his confidence, that he had become out of step with the times and could no longer connect with the tastes of a changing movie-going audience. In fact The Front Page is a reasonably successful adaptation, darkly cynical like most of Wilder’s best work. Wilder and collaborator I.A.L. Read More »

  • Edward Dmytryk – Mirage (1965)

    1961-1970Edward DmytrykMysteryThrillerUSA

    Synopsis:
    David Stillwell makes his way down several flights of stairs in the dark after the lights suddenly go out in his office building. He is accompanied by an attractive woman. Thanks to his flashlight, he can see her, but she can’t see him. Still, she assumes she knows him by his voice and talks to him about someone named The Major, as if he should know who that is. The day becomes stranger when he gets outside the building and discovers that someone has apparently committed suicide by jumping out of a window. Read More »

  • Billy Wilder – The Fortune Cookie (1966)

    1961-1970Billy WilderClassicsComedyUSA

    Synopsis:
    While taping a football game, cameraman Harry Hinkle (Jack Lemmon) ends up slightly injured after a collision with star player “Boom Boom” Jackson (Ron Rich). When Hinkle’s scheming brother-in-law, lawyer Willie Gingrich (Walter Matthau), catches wind of the incident, he wants Hinkle to feign paralysis to scam the insurance company. Hinkle agrees to the plan, if only to win back his ex (Judi West). But Hinkle’s growing friendship with a guilt-ridden Jackson has him questioning the ploy.Read More »

  • Stanley Donen – Charade (1963)

    1961-1970ComedyMysteryStanley DonenUSA



    Plot:
    Romance and suspense ensue in Paris as a woman is pursued by several men who want a fortune her murdered husband had stolen. Who can she trust?

    Review:
    Stanley Donen’s Charade occupies a special place among sixties thrillers. In an era of spy films resplendent with macho-driven eroticism (the James Bond series), cynicism (Michael Caine’s Harry Palmer series), or farcical irreverence (Casino Royale; the Flint movies, with Charade costar James Coburn), it was the only successful take on the genre to place a woman at its center.Read More »

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