adrianovasconcelos

Pity that Philip d'Antoni only directed THE SEVEN-UPS. On the form that he showed in this movie, and as producer of BULLITT and THE FRENCH CONNECTION, I think we have all lost out.

I first watched THE SEVEN-UPS when it came out in 1973, all of 52 (!) years ago... how time flies! What I remembered best of all was the chase in which Roy Scheider very nearly comes a cropper when he rams into the back of a stationary truck after one of the best car chases ever, in any movie anywhere in the world, with Bill Hickman reprising his driving in the equally famous BULLITT chase, with Steve McQueen biting his heels.

The score is reminiscent of Lalo Schifrin's in BULLITT, and similarly effective.

Cinematography by Dutch-born Urs Furrer is top notch, with particular plaudits for the abovementioned superb car chase.

Re-watching this film 52 years later also allowed me to appreciate the screenplay, with some very good dialogue by Ruben and Jacobs, and a well developed central character well portrayed by Roy Scheider, who has an "illegal" friendly relationship with former schoolmate now dodgy criminal Tony Lo Bianco - certainly two characters far more rounded than just about anything you see in the movies these days of CGI and AI.

Definite must see action flick. 8/10.

Thankfully, I did not watch CHAIN REACTION when it came out back in 1996 - from the trailer, I had a hunch that it would amount to a fuming rubbish, not least because its director, Andrew Davis, makes hyperbolic action flicks that require massive suspension of disbelief. Needless to say, I like to believe what I see.

As it turns out, today the local TV is carrying the movie, which I caught in motion, with pigeon-toed Keanu Reeves miraculously sprinting away from helicopters, police boats, police cars, an array of coppers, the rising Michigan Avenue bridge which he stops with a crowbar, plenty of snow, FBI, and Morgan Freeman smoking a long, classy cigar.

It is a pity that this thin-plotted flick wants to rise to heights involving FBI, CIA, the White House... the higher the greater the fall, and this film crashes very hard, wasting a cast including Rachel Weisz, Fred Ward, Brian Cox, Kevin Dunn... and last, but not least, John's sister: Margaret Travolta.

Cinematography is thankfully pre-CGI, slick at times, but the basic problem of a hard to believe script simply does not go away.

Writing this review nearly 30 years after release and with 139 reviews already in place, I have little hope of it being read by anyone, but here I leave this undying piece of advice: GIVE IT A MISS! 4/10.

Robert Parrish directed some fine films, including ALL THE KING'S MEN, LUCY GALLANT, but in my view THE MOB rates his best opus.

To that end, kudos must go to Broderick Crawford as the copper who at the start is deceived by a murderer with a genuine-looking police badge, and lets him escape.

Betty Buehler plays Crawford's girlfriend, but she has tough competition from Richard Kiley's wife, played by the sexy Lynn Baggett, thereby introducing a clever comic note and ending.

Excellent B&W cinematography by Joseph Walker, credible screenplay by William Bowers and Ferguson Finley, with sharp dialogue throughout.

Interesting small parts by Ernest Borgnine, Otto Hulett, Neville Brand, uncredited Charles Bronson.

Definitely worth watching... more than once, too! 8/10.