MATTHAU'S ATTEMPT AT DIRECTING...SOME ACTION AND DOMESTIC FLARE...BUT MOSTLY FLAT & LACKLUSTER

Primitive Amateurish Filming and No Budget Hamper Walter Matthau’s Only Foray as Director.

The Dubbed Dialog is the Worst and the Visuals Show No Style.

The Film comes Alive in some Action Gun-Play and Fisticuffs, but it can’t save the Ultra B-Format. Maybe Mattheau should have Talked to Roger Corman for some Tips.

Walter’s Real-Life Wife Carol Grace has some Screen Presence and doesn’t Diminish the Doomed Production.

Some…

BLEAK & RAW CHARACTER STUDY OF HARD-BOILED CRIMINALS AND ROOKIE STEVE MCQUEEN

Straight No-Frills Docu-Style Minimalism with On-Location Low-Key Realism of Time and Place.

Interiors as well as Exteriors are Cold and Realistic.

Steve McQueen is the Go-To Character and Budding Star of this Unfettered Inner-Look on the Planning and Execution of the Heist.

There are some Deep Displays of Interpersonal Relationships of Low-Lifes and College-Boy McQueen and His Ex-Girlfriend.

Heightened Violence is on Display in a Few Scenes, especially During…

"LIVE FREE OR DIE"

A Film Directed by a young Stanley Kubrick that is Unlike the Kubrick We Know and Love. He Surrenders (ouch) to the Conventions of the Time and seems to be more than Competent but Artistically Anemic.

But Fulfilling His Contract Obligations Professionally He Delivered a Mammoth Movie that is Compelling and Timeless. That of Humans wanting to be "Free" from Bondage, Servitude, and Inhuman Evil Entrenched in Unenlightened Power and Corruption.

The Movie is Corny and…

TRASHY...FREAK-A-ZOID...WHACKED

Rivers of Blood Flowing in the Slowest of Motion Resulting in a High-Def Deluge of Jaw-Dropping, Gonzo, Grindhouse Movie-Making.

Unrestrained Ultra-Nuttiness from Nicolas Cage, Dressing and Made-Up like a Clown and giving a Freak-a-Zoid On-Screen "Performance" that cannot be Ignored.

John Cusack, in one of His Patented Baseball Cap, Vape-Pipe Outings.

He is all Whispering and Dreamlike, Detached from the Proceedings afraid to "Dip-a-Toe" for Fear of an Infectious Cesspool.

The Two Brothers that the Story Wanders Around are…