And I love that Spike (Own) eventually becomes the protagonist of the picture and doesn’t start as a cliched villain; his character has a reason to become who he becomes and I found that the film has, surprisingly good character development, albeit it can seem cliched here and there.

I’m glad that you liked it, Helen.

This was still good though. The parallels between Danny and Spike verged on overly schematic but stayed on the right side of effective. Danny is the “good” guy (and is a good guy, post-retirement) but one of his friends, to whom he is completely loyal, is a trigger-happy sociopath with no compunctions about killing innocent people. On the flip side, the ex-SAS targets have blood on their hands but Spike is in the right in trying to stop extra-judicial killings. The handler who can’t be trusted is a genre convention but the movie handled it nicely (pardon the pun) on both sides.

It may be a remarkably episodic film but it, mysteriously took itself seriously and I kind of respect that.

@Doc: Indeed. Oh please, oh please can’t Polly come out now?

I definitely want to revisit the film once its on video just for all of the stuff that can be seen in every nook and cranny. In one shot that took place inside a ship, there is a poster on the back of a wall and I only managed to read a couple of lines from it. One of them said: “no loading pigs into the cannons”. lol

It’s a fun film and it’s remarkably impressive on technical and aesthetic levels.

For the record, since I was a teen Poe’s been my favourite author and he still is. :O)

@Nir: Cusack talks like he normally does. With all the places Poe lived in his life, who knows what kind of accent he had when he died.

Their electronic score for Michael Mann’s Thief (1981) is also amazing, as is the film itself.

The supporting cast contains some fine performances. Brendan Gleeson as the protective father is especially good.

Poe as a literary critic demanded that stories adhere to their own internal logic. He would give this one high marks.

On the topic of electronic music, I was watching “Near Dark” yesterday and thinking how important the score is to the overall effect.

And Angel Face is terrific; another great Mitchum performance, who’s always awesome.

@Richard, I’m familiar with Preminge’rs “second half” but the few films that he’s made that are utterly amazing have really boosted him up in my list, and that’s mainly because film noir is my second favourite film genre, right behind Westerns. :O)

“Here Comes Mr. Jordan” is a wonderful movie. It should be much better known than it is.

@Nir: “re Dog Bite Dog are you saying that it’s such a terrible film that it should not have been released in the US”

Yes. Admittedly I’m not a “cult movie” kind of person but I don’t even see much cult movie-type value to it. Yet somehow it gets a two-disc US DVD release?!

Preminger had an interesting acting career as well. He appeared as the Nazi commander in the classic ‘Stalag 17′ and he also played Mr. Freeze in the 1960′s ‘Batman’ TV-show.

I’ve never heard of or watched Here Comes Mr. Jordan until a couple of days ago and was surprised at how utterly fun it is. One thing that I fund strange was hat Robert Montgomery seemed like a mediocre actor until his character was given the “final body”; that’s when I realized that throughout the entire film he was giving a performance of sorts and wasn’t actually a lousy actor. lol

And my gout’s much better now. I am able to walk and should be completely healed in a few more days. :O)

As for Preminger, check out his filmography on IMDB; it’s immense. He’s also produced and directed the classic film Laura (1940).

@ Nir, I hope all these good movies are a good distraction for you. I’m sorry you’re afflicted with the gout, a viciously painful condition I know. I don’t know Preminger’s work at all, oddly enough; the fifties are largely a gap in my movie life. Criss Cross is teriffic but the winner of the week is Here Comes Mr. Jordan, one of my most favorite movies. I get kind of smiley/weepy just thinking of it.

Criss Cross (1949)- with Burt Lancaster. It’s a really good thriller.

Last/This Week at Home

To add to that giant list from last time: Get the Gringo (2012)- it’s an amazing film (very violent, though) and a great comeback vehicle for Mel Gibson
Anatomy of a Murder (1959)- a terrific Preminger film; I find Otto Preminger to have been be one of the greatest “American” filmmakers of the 20th century
Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)- another classic Preminger with an outstanding performance by Dana Andrews
The Woman in Black (1989)- the recent remake is remarkably different from this made for TV film but I also like this version
Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)- this is the earliest version of “Heaven Can Wait” and won 2 Oscars for the writing; this is a terrifically entertaining film that stars Robert Montgomery and Claude Rains