Best of Hardboiled Crime - 2025

 Last November, I decided to do something different for a "Noirvember" watch list - instead of indulging in noir classics or filling long vacant holes in my own personal filmography, I decided to catch up on recent crime films and deliver a top ten list. It was one of my favorite things to work on so I've decided to continue the tradition this year. All of the same caveats apply when it comes to definitions; the list of films that could be considered within the crime genre is massive and hardboiled isn't strictly defined in terms of cinema either. Incidentally, 2025 was a great year for higher profile films from accomplished directors that are at least crime adjacent: Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Cloud, Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another, Park Chan Wook's No Other Choice, and Kelly Reichardt's The Mastermind are just a handful of films that will likely end up somewhere on Best of the Year lists. None of these films made the list below as they either didn't meet my deeply subjective criteria about what makes a film hardboiled or I felt like they were another kind of genre film altogether (I'd classify PTA's latest as more of a political thriller than a crime film). What I do have is a list of films were somewhat overlooked, didn't get wide theatrical release (if they got released at all), and I think are very much worth any crime film fan's attention. Much like last year, I could easily delay this list by another few weeks trying to catch every new film that seems worthy of consideration or hunting down the ones that evaporated post-festival, but I'm happy with the list I have. Please feel free to comment or hit me up on bsky or IG with films I may have missed, I'd love to know what people are digging this year in genre cinema.

10. Violent Ends - I love a film with a authentic sense of place and that's one of the great strengths behind John-Michael Powell's Arkansas set rural noir. Ends has a tremendous look and is heavy with autumnal atmosphere which provides the perfect accompaniment to its grim, melancholy tale of Lucas Frost (Billy Magnussen) - an honest man who can't escape the gravity of his family's crime affiliations. Ends features some great performances and the casting is excellent as well. Magnussen is solid but I was really impressed with both Alexandra Shipp as Frost's young fiancée - her role is critical in making the stakes of the film function believably and I think she's genuinely perfect for it. Also enjoyed James Badge Dale as Frost's cousin and the primary antagonist of the film. Dale can be charming but he plays his character (Sid) with such a degree of credible menace that he's a recognizably potent threat from his first moments in the film.  Ends is very much in the tradition of classic revenge films though it does meander a bit into family drama and police procedural tangents - but it won me over with a visceral, unsentimental treatment of violence, its gritty realism, and some terrific performances. Seems like a must-watch for fans of rural noir.

9. Striking Rescue - Another vengeance tale though the setting couldn't be much more different, Rescue is the latest actioner featuring Muay Thai stylist Tony Jaa. As much as Jaa blew me (and everyone else) away in his early films, I feel like I haven't seen anything that truly capitalized on his abundant physical talents in years. Though the plot is thin to the point of transparency and the performances are rough in spots, Rescue brings the goods in terms of fight choreography and stunt work. Loads of hard hitting combat that, while stylized and heightened, still keep things practical. Same goes for the stunt work which had me flashing back to Hong Kong films of the 80s and 90s in the sense that it's very clearly a bunch of stunt performers falling, flying, and generally getting knocked around. The hallway motorbike fight sequence is brilliant in this respect. There are still some goofy CGI enhanced driving sequences or blood effects, but compared to the digital sheen of something like this year's Havoc, Rescue looks and feels far more grounded in reality. For reasons beyond my comprehension, Jaa delivers many of his lines in English and it's clear that he's not going to win any acting awards anytime soon. Still, he has the screen charisma to hold the film together and once he's in motion, it's impossible to keep your eyes off of him. 

8. Tornado - More vengeance! More violence! Tornado is a wild conceit of a film from writer/director John Maclean (Slow West). Regardless of your opinion, Tornado will still be the best Scottish samurai revenge Western released in theaters this year. The premise is the stuff pulp genre dreams are made of and Maclean realizes it beautifully on film. Even though Tornado features a brief 90 minute runtime, I feel like I could luxuriate in its texture for days. It's marvelously shot and aesthetically meticulous. The detailed appearance of Tim Roth and his troop of outlaw irregulars and our brief glimpses into the world of traveling carnival folk had my brain reeling with possibilities of their characters and personal histories. Maclean employs some visual nods to Westerns (largely of the Italian variety) and Samurai films of the 60s and contrasts them magnificently against the misty bleakness of Scotland. Though it holds much promise on paper, Tornado never quite delivers in either deeply compelling characters or overblown genre insanity - more of either would certainly have nudged this one further up the list. Still, there's a lot to love here and it's a film I'm glad (and somewhat shocked) made it to production.

7. Honey Don't! - I have already written a full length review of the second film in Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke's lesbian B-movie trilogy, but I'll try and summarize my thoughts here. Don't received a somewhat indifferent response from viewers who I believe are looking for the next Coen Brothers' film and that's not what you're getting from Coen and Cooke. Still, they are working in a milieu I love and while they aren't necessarily nailing the mark every time, this is still very much in my wheelhouse. Don't is a classic detective story, Qualley is great as Honey O'Donahue, her chemistry with Aubrey Plaza is fantastic, and Cooke and Coen manage to thread enough sex, violence, and strangeness together for a truly entertaining 88 minutes. Having given it a recent rewatch, I think I can even better enjoy it now that my expectations are correctly calibrated. While I don't think it's quite as good as some of my favorite oddball, hangout 70s detective movies, Honey Don't! still shares some of that off-kilter, shaggy energy.

6. Night Call - Last year I wasn't able to put anything from France on my list, so I was very happy to have seen and enjoyed Michiel Blanchart's "one crazy night" crime thriller. France seems like a film market that can still support modestly budgeted genre films that don't lean too heavily on special effect action sequences and Night Call is a fantastic example of just that. The film is centered on Jonathan Feltre as Mady - a locksmith who takes a late night job he's unsure of which leads him to an insane night across Paris with consequences worsening at every turn. Blanchart manages to put together a real ripper of a film infused with nighttime urban adrenaline and a series of reveals that pull you further in. The propulsive narrative does falter a bit towards the last act and I wish it could maintain that energy more consistently, but the finale does land with significant impact. Not quite as blood pressure spiking as something from the Safdie's but still a very smart, stylish thriller. More of this, please.

5. Eenie Meanie - Shawn Simmons' directorial debut feels like a throwback to 70s genre films and in some important ways it is. Critically, this heist thriller with a dose of black comedy includes two absolutely stunning chase sequences that were planned and filmed as practically as possible. I generally do not go in for car porn, but these scenes are visceral and gripping and while I'm sure there are visual effects at work here, there's an element of realism that can't be denied. The other aspect of Meanie that spoke to me was the utilization of real locations across Cleveland and Toledo. Rooting the action in physical space and grounding the story in an authentic place may seem like a low bar, but I'm stunned by how many films fail to clear it. I also though Meanie was genuinely entertaining, funny, sometimes touching, and features a solid cast - Weaving holds the film together as the titular protagonist and there are some terrific supporting roles as well. I had some issues with the overall pacing and arc which I detailed in my full length review, but I still think the strengths outweigh the weaknesses here.

4. Kill the Jockey - I was uncertain whether Luis Ortega's El Jockey/Kill the Jockey was hardboiled enough to make this list. It's more closely aligned with arthouse sensibilities, isn't particularly explicit regarding violence, and leans into the fantastic and surreal more than any other film on the list. Still, this is a movie very much about gangsters, features several murders, and there's even a prison stint - so on the list it goes. Jockey was one of my favorite films I saw during MSPIFF this year and I wrote about it a little then. The premise defies standard storyline conventions but genre archetypes are employed to deliver the tale of Remo Manfredini - a gifted and incurably degenerate jockey who suffers a severe injury and personality crisis after performing disastrously in his last chance race for a mobbed up local business luminary. Lost and confused, Remo wanders the streets of Buenos Aires while adopting a new persona, Delores, and trying to avoid the wrath of the local syndicate. Ortega's visual and sonic language is lavish and propulsive and creates a feel not dissimilar to the Cinema du Look cycle of films. I was definitely reminded of Jean-Jacques Beineix's Diva with Jockey's eclectic coterie of oddball characters. Luc Besson's Subway also came to mind as Ortega presents a kind of alternate reality version of Buenos Aires accessible to nighttime explorers much like Besson's nocturnal, subterranean vision of Paris. Jockey gets increasingly abstract as it goes along and I could see the artifice Ortega employs being off-putting for some, but I still think it's an incredibly entertaining film and has an infectious energy that's easy to get caught up in. 

3. Americana - Another debut film, this time from writer/director Tony Tost. Americana is very much in the tradition of indie ensemble noirs with a helping of dark humor. It's easy to see the influence of the Coens or Tarantino on Tost's film, but it distinguishes itself both with its South Dakotan setting and the undercurrent of melancholy that flows through this portrait of rural life. The story is centered around a Native American ghost shirt and the desperate actions various characters will take to obtain the priceless artifact. On one level, the shirt is a McGuffin that could just as easily be the Maltese Falcon or Marsellus Wallace's briefcase, but the provenance of the shirt is significant to this film that is taking a look at the Western both as a mythology and how we understand it in our own cultural story. To a degree, Americana subverts the classic Western conventions. The cowboys in this film are largely bad guys; violent and exploitative. While also multidimensional characters in their own right, both the Natives and the women in the film are essentially its heroes. Or at least the characters we're most willing to relate to. I tried to dig into this a bit more in my full length review of Americana after its brief theatrical run. Whether you're interested in the film as a cultural exploration or not, it still provides a satisfying noir yarn with a terrific cast. Paul Walter Hauser, Halsey, Zahn McClarnon, Sydney Sweeney, and Gavin Maddox Bergman are all excellent. 

2. Everybody Loves Me When I'm Dead - I saw quite a few middling reviews of this economic desperation noir coming out of Thailand, but I was very impressed with it. It has a degree of digital veneer that I've come both to dread and expect from modern genre films, but the premise of Everybody is more concerned with human desires and motives than it is over the top effects. Toh and Petch are both employees of a bank that is openly downsizing its veteran employees in favor of AI management tools. Both facing unique cashflow problems, they conspire to withdraw money from the suspended account of a dead woman only to realize that she stole it from a criminal organization looking to get it back. Some of the plot twists and reveals stretch credulity to the breaking point but Everybody is funny, surprisingly violent, and isn't afraid to get dark in its examination of financial anxieties facing a shrinking middle class. Also, the main antagonist dumps booze from his flask onto people and sets them on fire. What's not to love?

1. She Rides Shotgun - I loved Jordan Harper's original novel and I'm also a fan of director Nick Rowland's earlier film, Calm With Horses, so I was very much anticipating the release of She Rides Shotgun. I'm thrilled to say that the end result is accomplished and deeply satisfying. The film maintains the essential plot of the book - Nate McClusky (Taron Egerton) has recently been released from prison. However, he earned the enmity of a powerful Aryan gang while inside and now has a "green light" for his death as well as the death of his family hanging over him. Nate finds his daughter Polly (Ana Sophia Heger) so that the two can hide, survive, and possibly escape the threat of murderous gang members and those in their sphere of influence. Much of Polly's internal monologue as well as her elaborate relationship with her stuffed bear has been excised from the film, but Ana Sophia Heger still beautifully embodies the intelligent, independent, though highly sensitive Polly in what might be the child performance of the year. Egerton, to his credit, threads the needle between caring, committed parent and paranoid convict capable of ruthless brutality when necessary. I'm an especially big fan of Rob Yang who plays the detective looking to find Nate and Polly and strike a deal to help bring down the gang meth trade. The character was well written in the novel, but Yang brings a level of intellectual remove that adds a fascinating layer of intrigue to the part. Again, this is one I've written a full length review of which I recommend checking out, but I mostly urge you to seek out the film. It sadly didn't get much of a theatrical run but is out in the VOD world and currently very reasonably priced.


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After the Fox (1966)

 

The sheer level of talent behind After the Fox (1966) would be grounds alone to recommend the film. Vitorrio De Sica directing Peter Sellers with a script by Neil Simon and Cesare Zavattini and music by Burt Bacharach! Peter Sellers gives a characteristically excellent performance as an Italian thief (Aldo Vanucci/The Fox) who convinces an entire town to help him intercept stolen gold by pretending he is a great director and it’s all part of his latest film. It’s an unlikely collaboration and the results aren’t entirely even but After the Fox is wonderfully funny in parts and is an effective satire of both European art films and celebrity.

When a shipment of gold is stolen in Cairo, the thief behind it (Akim Tamiroff) reaches out to a criminal cunning enough to smuggle the goods into Europe—the currently incarcerated Aldo Vanucci. Vanucci is not only capable but is so confident in his abilities he declares his intent to escape prison publicly before doing so. Vanucci’s motivation isn’t strictly the money, but also concern for his sister Gina (played by Sellers’ wife at the time, Britt Ekland) and desire to be a better example for her. “If only I could steal enough to be an honest man!”

The seed for Vanucci’s plan is planted when he sees his star-obsessed sister and the rest of the town go wild for aging actor Tony Powell—played in a delightful bit of self-satire by Victor Mature. Vanucci sets about impersonating a film director so he can leverage both the vanity of Powell and the movie-mania of the public to shield his operation. He adopts the persona of film director, Federico Fabrizi, and his cronies become his crew for the new film The Gold of Cairo.

Fabrizi and company steal the film equipment from a set (featuring director De Sica), talk their way past Powell’s skeptical agent (a pitch perfect Martin Balsam), and manage to get a seaside town’s total cooperation by offering them roles in the “film.” The overall feel is madcap but there are genuinely hilarious moments throughout. Simon and Zavattini deliver some fantastic barbs in the script like when Powell asks his agent what Neo-Realism is and Balsam responds dryly “No money.” Fabrizi/Vanucci’s crew are mostly silly in their performance, but De Sica also stages them doing some surreal physical gags in the background action—improbably bounding up buildings and hurling film equipment as if it were weightless. 

The climax of After the Fox—which truly is a must-see—takes place during the trial where the entire town appears to have been brought in as accomplices. The actual “film” they’ve been making is shown as part of the testimony and it’s a clear send-up of French and Italian art cinema. While most of the audience can’t believe what they’ve seen, a film critic must be forcibly removed from the courtroom while he heralds the mess as a masterpiece.

After the Fox is neither absolute mess or masterpiece, but it contains sincere wit and the superb cast is charming. It may not live up to its promise on paper but it’s very worthwhile for fans of caper comedies, 60s pictures, or movies about movies.

After the Fox is available on DVD and Blu-Ray from Kino Lorber. It’s a pretty basic disc, but it looks and sounds good. The limited extras include the original theatrical trailer and the Trailers from Hell version featuring screenwriter Larry Karaszewski. I’d highly recommend watching the TFH video online as Karaszewski’s enthusiasm for the film nudged me towards obtaining a copy.

The Hot Rock (1972)

 

This review was originally posted in 2019 for a different outlet. It's reposted here in memory of Robert Redford (1936-2025)

The Hot Rock (1972) is one of those cinematic aberrations that goes to show how hard it can be to conceive of and execute a hit movie. The pedigree of The Hot Rock is peerless. Screenwriter William Goldman and star Robert Redford were both hot off of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (for which Goldman picked up the Oscar), the screenplay was based on a popular novel by Donald Westlake (who also wrote the Parker novels under the name Richard Stark), and director Peter Yates had already made two crime classics with Bullitt and Robbery. George Segal and the rest of the cast round out the performances admirably and the music is provided by Quincy Jones backed by a veritable murderer’s row of jazz luminaries and studio musicians. The result of all this high profile talent is an entertaining charmer of a caper comedy that never captured the audience it deserved.

John Dortmunder (Redford) is a professional thief and planner of outlandish schemes who can’t seem to catch a break. The film opens with Dortmunder being released from prison only to be intercepted by his optimistic if not entirely professional brother-in-law, Andy Kelp (Segal). Kelp has been contracted to steal a large diamond from the Brooklyn Museum by Dr. Amusa (played to exasperated perfection by Moses Gunn). The gem has a history of being stolen and re-stolen by various African nations—one of which Amusa represents.

The gem’s felonious backstory would prove to foreshadow the events of the film. For each scheme Dortmunder meticulously plans and executes—complications arise to keep the gem out of their hands. Each caper becomes more and more outrageous and each time Dortmunder and Kelp go back to Amusa they must ask for increasingly expensive materiel.  

Redford as the dejected Dortmunder and Segal as the upbeat—though neurotic—Kelp have an effortless chemistry together and along with the rest of the cast—wheelman Murch (Ron Leibman), demolitions man Greenberg (Paul Sand), and his not-entirely-trustworthy father (Zero Mostel!)—strike a wonderfully dry comedic tone. The bickering between the competent but luckless thieves shares a sensibility with Soderbergh’s heist pictures and the scene of Greenberg impassively demonstrating explosives—”I learned this at the Sorbonne”—feels like it could be from an early Wes Anderson film.  When the crew manages to land on the wrong building during the helicopter raid of a police station, Murch instructs Dortmunder to ask for directions to the right rooftop as casually as he might for a missed off-ramp. 

Stylistically there’s nothing particularly flashy about The Hot Rock but the film-making is solid and is notable—in part—due to when it was made. Several of the street scenes were shot guerrilla-style and are populated with real New Yorkers instead of extras. The helicopter photography of the city is stunning and the crew was able to weave in and out of buildings—including the World Trade Center Towers as they were still under construction. The score by Quincy Jones is superb—combining soul, jazz, and funk elements. Jones was able to get such incredible musicians—Carol Kaye, Gerry Mulligan, Grady Tate, Clark Terry—that he insisted they appear in the credits.

There’s a lot to like about The Hot Rock—it’s filled with great actors, genuinely funny moments, a groovy soundtrack, and heists. Instead of one big job, you get multiple capers. They may not always be the most plausible of schemes, but they strike a great balance between compelling action and outrageous circumstances. I think The Hot Rock is mandatory viewing for heist fans—also a nice introduction to the world of Westlake and his Dortmunder stories—but anyone could enjoy watching this on a lazy afternoon.

Eenie Meanie (2025)

 It truly feels like fans of gritty crime genre fare are eating well this month and the trend continues with Shawn Simmons' debut feature - Eenie Meanie.  Simmons delivers this heist thriller with a dose of black comedy and some absolutely bracing car chase action sequences. The film stars Samara Weaving as the titular  Edie "Eenie Meanie" - a moniker she earned as a teenage getaway driver working with her disaster of a boyfriend, Karl Glusman's John. Recent years have seen Edie get clear of both the Cleveland underworld apparatus and her chaotic relationship with John so she can focus on building something closer to a normal existence. Edie is drawn back into John's orbit which lands her immediately in the crosshairs of mob violence only to find herself under the yoke of local crime boss - Nico (Andy Garcia). Nico offers lenience in the matter of John's latest lethal fiasco in exchange for Edie pulling another job for him - stealing a Dodge Charger loaded with 3 million dollars in poker tournament winnings right off of a casino floor.

There's a lot to appreciate about Eenie Meanie and it feels like a throwback genre picture in important ways. Simmons worked with stunt coordinator Paul Jennings (Jack Reacher) to construct two main chase sequences that leverage practical effects with tremendous results. I'm the opposite of a gearhead (my sympathies lie closer to Edie's uptight manager who extols the virtues of bus passes), but the automotive action in Meanie is much more than mere car porn. The chases are gripping and visceral; and despite featuring a raging stoner riff laden soundtrack, they never feel like music videos. Undoubtedly some VFX were applied to the final film, but Simmons shows the restraint not to cover up fantastic practical stunts with thick digital veneer. Complementing the authenticity of the stunt sequences is the fact that so much of the film appears to be shot on location throughout Cleveland and Toledo. I do not have a deep knowledge of the area but it's hard to resist a film with such a strong sense of place. The bars, warehouses, bodegas, and city streets root this admittedly pulpy storyline in something more tangible. Finally, while crime dynasty epics are a fine thing, I confess that I prefer off-kilter, smaller stakes underworld stories. They lend themselves well to comedic interludes (Mike O'Malley kills it as Nico's lieutenant who is as concerned with Nico's diet as he is with running the business) and they allow room for a weirder collection of characters. Besides the two leads, Meanie is filled with great faces - especially Marshawn Lynch as a competing getaway driver and Chris Bauer as an exceptionally taciturn bar owner. 

For everything that I loved about Eenie Meanie, I found a few things less appealing. John's character is clearly intended to be a trainwreck with his goofy charisma and devotion to Edie as his saving graces. It's a tough character to pull off and certainly meant as representative of the kinds of insane relationships people find themselves in, but I struggled to come around to John's charms. Also, while the film starts with neck-breaking velocity and doesn't let up for some time - things do get perceptibly sluggish before the climax. I can't begrudge a film some quiet moments for context and character building, but it felt a bit slack overall. Sometimes these moments either need to be fortified in a longer format story or pruned away for the sake of momentum. Luckily things return to form once the heist commences and the finale hits like a sledgehammer. Eenie Meanie has some killer action, is legitimately funny, and executes plenty of what makes hard hitting crime stories work. My only regret is that I didn't get to see those chases on the big screen.

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Honey Don't! (2025)

While I appreciated the intention of Ethan Coen's and Tricia Cooke's first installment of their lesbian B-movie trilogy, Drive Away Dolls, I struggled to fully get in tune with its wavelength. The film took large helpings of Coen caper hallmarks and tossed them into the blender with coming-of-age road trip energy and some genuinely weird stylistic decisions. I could see the charm and I lauded the frank sexuality of the film, but the result was more live action cartoon than classic drive-in programmer. Now we have Dolls' spiritual sequel - Honey Don't - which maintains some of the same ethos of its predecessor translated to a neo-noir detective story. Margaret Qualley stars again, this time as the titular private investigator in and around a palpably dusty Bakersfield, CA. The story begins with a classic set up - a potential client for Honey turns up dead. The local police, led by a inept Charlie Day, declare it an accident but Honey starts to tease at the deeper details. She winds up digging into a local cult led by Chris Evans and as well as in bed with a world weary policewoman played by Aubrey Plaza. The plot beats will be recognizable to anyone familiar with pulp detective tropes - drugs, corruption, a missing girl, a femme fatale, even a classic protagonist blackout. However, they don't cohere in a particularly satisfying way and at the end of its brisk 88 minutes, you may find yourself with more questions than answers.

I confess that I quite enjoyed Qualley as Honey O'Donahue. Her hard drinking, hard quipping, sexually motivated if emotionally unavailable P.I. had enough grit and style to appeal even if the character wasn't totally revelatory. I cannot fathom why Coen and Cooke insist on having Qualley do accents, but I found her New York tinged dialogue less distracting than her wildly outsized drawl from the previous film. Oddly, it is revealed that O'Donahue is a local which leaves her accent as much of a mystery as her immaculate 40s inspired wardrobe. This is a common thread throughout the film - aspects of both the plot and the world are introduced and the reasons behind their existence are rarely revealed. It's as if Coen and Cooke were reading Chandler and decided that the success of The Big Sleep is due to the incoherence of its plot and not in spite of it. We're introduced to Reverend Drew Devlin (Evans), his bizarre cult, and the criminal activity that underpins it early in the film - Honey's investigation naturally leads her on a collision course straight to them. Evans accounts reasonably well for himself and it functions as a fair critique of evangelical grifters - but how this figures into the central mystery of the film comes off as flimsy by the finale. Two aspects of Honey do satisfy even after the credits roll - One is some absolutely ridiculous gory violence and the second is the heat between Honey and Aubrey Plaza's MG. Their initial meet and first "date" rekindle some of that fervent sexual energy from Dolls though, as this is a ultimately a more pessimistic film, the good times cannot last. 

I think the attempt here was to capture some of the strange, laconic atmosphere that a handful of the reinvented noirs of the 70s employed (Less Chinatown and more The Big Fix) and that speaks to me. There's an almost dreamlike sequence where Honey considers the existence of the downtrodden in Bakersfield and how that connects to the local bus. It reminded me in a small way of the Art Carney obscurity and personal favorite - The Late Show. I fear I may be projecting more of Coen's and Cooke's influences on Honey than what actually turns up on the screen. Of course the tone of those earlier films - not exactly laugh out loud funny, not particularly action packed, deliberately esoteric - didn't win over many fans at the time, either. Whether this is truly reaching back towards those orphaned genre curiosities or just a bit of a muddle will likely require another watch from me - however, I think I'll be happy to do so.

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Americana (2025)

It can be difficult not to note the influence of Pulp Fiction when you're faced with a film like Americana - feature debut from writer/director Tony Tost. Despite Americana's rural South Dakotan (with a touch of Wyoming) setting, I immediately started drawing connections to Tarantino's iconic L.A. crime tale  - Somewhat elliptical narrative, discreet titled chapters, unflinchingly violent, still quite funny in parts, and a noticeably intentional musical palette.  There's even a classic moment of a tough guy (a Native American resistance fighter brilliantly played by Zahn McClarnon) discussing the pop cultural influences that led him to adopting his current moniker, Ghost Eye.  I wouldn't call Americana derivative, though, and I think Tost brings a thoughtfulness to his film that helps nail down a tone that many attempt and few manage well. In addition to the crime milieu, Tost is also playing with the Western genre and this is where Americana gets the most interesting for me. I'm not the world's foremost expert on horse operas, but I caught more than one verbal and visual reference to notable predecessors - Old shoot em' ups on television screens, Pat Garret and Billy the Kid is invoked, and a doorway shot that could have been plucked right out of Sergio Leone film. The archetypes of the genre are also clearly on display - Americana features contemporary incarnations of cowboys and Indians and eventually sets them in conflict against each other. In this story, the fight isn't a territorial dispute but one over a piece of cultural history, a ghost shirt, appropriated by an affluent white man and considered valuable enough that other men will steal and kill to get their hands on it. 

Desire drives most of the noirish narrative in Americana - the shirt represents a chance at wealth and an opportunity to get out of South Dakota. Halsey's Mandy wants to sell the shirt to finally break free of all the toxic men in her life and find somewhere safe for her little brother Cal (who, often hilariously, believes he is the reincarnation of Sitting Bull). Sydney Sweeney's Penny Jo dreams of a singing career in Nashville, despite her stammering speech, and sees the shirt as her ticket out. Regardless of their flaws, Tost demonstrates a real affection for his characters and that affection is best demonstrated by Paul Walter Hauser playing the guileless, lovelorn Lefty Ledbetter. Unlike the other characters in the film, Lefty isn't looking for riches - he only wants to fall in love and share his life with a nice girl. The object of his affections becomes Penny Jo which inevitably pulls him into the hunt for the ghost shirt - misguided maybe, but hardly greedy. 

Each party and faction is inexorably drawn to the shirt for a final showdown at an off -grid Wyoming compound that isn't explicitly defined but is clearly driven by some kind of patriarchal, separatist hierarchy. The plot mechanics that pull everyone to this conflict faltered a bit for me, but the climax absolutely delivers in the kind of glorious shootout worthy of the best Westerns. The final moments involve both emotional reunifications and some tragic departures - but I especially appreciate that the women of the film (so often abused and overlooked in even the best examples of the genre) are granted the most catharsis and get at least some of what they were looking for.

Americana is darkly funny, violent, and presents an authentic and unique sense of place. It's getting a theatrical release this week (8/15) and is well worth seeking out.

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Two-Fisted Soul - Truck Tuner (1974)

This review was originally published in Klon Waldrip's Ghastly Horror Society zine. I've republished it here in memoriam of Jonathan Kaplan.

Big Brother is Comin’ and He’s Comin’ On Strong!

All American International Pictures wanted out of Truck Turner was a kickass Isaac Hayes score and enough action footage to cut a decent trailer. The script had been bouncing around for years and when it failed to come together as hardboiled crime flick intended for Bob Mitchum or Lee Marvin, the producers decided to make it a “black” movie and reached out to Hayes. AIP’s hope was to replicate the double fisted success of Shaft and deliver decent box office performance alongside a hit record. For his part, Hayes was willing to ink the music deal provided he got to star in the movie (after winning the original song Oscar for Shaft, he had no shortage of offers). Jonathan Kaplan had been attached to direct since the Mitchum/Marvin discussions and wasn’t sure what to make of the “Black Moses of Soul” but went out to meet his new leading man. The two hit it off almost immediately due to their shared love of Otis Redding, Kaplan’s passing resemblance to Stax Records stalwart Donald “Duck” Dunn, and a mutual conviction that the film as written wasn’t much fun. They agreed that to better suit both Hayes’ temperament and their artistic convictions, they’d inject the straightforward crime story with humor and heart while still delivering on the tunes and action enough to fill five trailers.

When He’s Baddest, He’s the Best!

Truck Turner’s set up changed very little from the early drafts, but the plot did go through some evolution – Mac “Truck” Turner was a former gridiron star turned .357 Magnum packing skip tracer in L.A. He and his partner Jerry take a risky job to bring in a violent pimp by the name of Gator. Gator is killed in the pursuit and his lover and stable madam, Dorinda, offers a bounty of her stable of women to any pimp in L.A. who can take Turner out. The details are heavy, but the delivery is light. Turner is introduced as a slovenly, oversleeping cat-dad (Harry Callahan, he ain’t) and he and Jerry (Alan Weeks) give each other shit over cars and women. When Turner indulges in a fistfight with a racist blowhard they’re hauling in, Jerry rolls his eyes like he’s seen this dozens of times before. Besides his friendship with Jerry, Turner’s relationship with his thief girlfriend Annie (Annazette Chase) infuses a lot of heart to the film. Hayes’ performance is solid, he’s essentially playing himself on camera, but Chase is good enough to bring substantial emotional heft to their scenes. Nichelle Nichols undeniably steals the whole damn show as Dorinda. Tough, foul mouthed, and mean – apparently Nichelle adlibbed much of Dorinda’s dialogue and she crams as many “bitches” and “motherfuckers” into every scene as she can. Heartbreakingly for genre fans, this was a one-off performance for Nichols who would immediately retire from the blaxploitation racket. Fortunately, she left us with gems like “Gentlemen, this is my family. These all prime cut bitches, $238,000 worth of dynamite. It's Fort Knox in panties.” Rounding out the main cast is Yaphet Kotto as Harvard Blue, the hardest and most pragmatic of the L.A. pimps. Kotto wasn’t particularly interested in Turner but he was going through a divorce and needed the scratch. In a way, this works for his character. While everyone else in the film seems to be having the time of their lives; Harvard Blue brings a sober, “sick of your shit” attitude that pairs beautifully with Kotto’s inherent gravitas. It’s not the most charming Kotto’s been on screen, but he makes you believe that he’s bad.

When He Gets It On, the Action Takes Off!

Kaplan was well aware of what his producers were looking for in the dailies and his attitude towards action sequences was that if they were completely over-the-top, he could maintain a more lighthearted tone. He absolutely nails that in some sequences: during a high-speed car chase, a pimp barrels through a baby cart filled with bagels for no discernable reason. The “Pimp Funeral” is one of the more notorious sequences in the film: a procession of candy colored “pimpmobiles” delivers a coterie of Gator’s associates decked out in everything from mourning veils to rainbow wigs to jeweled eyepatches (the look of the working girls was supposedly derived from the Pointer Sisters). Along with his editor, Michael Kahn (Spielberg’s go-to guy for decades), Kaplan’s facility for visual storytelling makes for stylish, propulsive, hard-hitting (they used the punching sounds from Enter the Dragon) filmmaking even if visual continuity gets tossed out the window on occasion. Because the crew had to work fast and on-budget, they utilize a ton of fantastic location footage from mid-70s L.A.: fistfights and chases erupt through Skid Row, dive bars, insane mansions, and even a water treatment plant. Kaplan also cranks the violence up to eleven showcasing some blood-drenched brutality. There’s a distinct shift in tone for the final 30 minutes of the film resulting in some truly visceral shootouts and carnage. Is it funny? I’m not so sure that it is, but it’s cinematic as hell.

By 1974 the initial wave of blaxploitation pictures was losing steam. Both Shaft and Superfly were subjected to less heralded sequels and studios were beginning to combine elements of horror or martial arts to help invigorate the genre. Truck Turner distinguished itself from the pack with its comedic leanings and freewheeling style. It’s not the toughest blaxploitation flick, and it’s certainly not the meanest, but it’s arguably the most fun. See it now, see it again, and see it with an audience if you can.