griggs's - Moviedrome List
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Max Renn (James Woods) is looking for fresh new content for his TV channel when he happens across some illegal S&M-style broadcasts called "Videodrome". Embroiling his girlfriend Nick (Deborah Harry) in his search for the source, his journey begins to blur the lines between reality and fantasy as he works his way through sadomasochistic games, shady organisations and body transformations stunningly realised by Oscar-winning makeup effects artist Rick Baker. - Director:
- David Cronenberg
- Cast:
- James Woods, Deborah Harry, Sonja Smits
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This film could be called the last gangster movie. Cagney plays Ralph Cotter a violent jail breaker. Luther Adler shines as a crooked lawyer. The elements arc all here in this long lost masterpiece. Seldom seen, this film is the swansong of all the gangster movies that came out of Hollywood. The doomed actress Barbara Pay ton plays Holiday Carlton supported by Hollywood stalwarts Ward Bond, William Frawley, Barton Maclaine and Kenneth Tobey. This film brings together elements of noir and the violence of the criminal and gangster in a unique style and originality. An outstanding performance from Cagney who is the master of this type of film role and he does not disappoint in this rare performance, an absolute classic of it's kind. - Director:
- Gordon Douglas
- Cast:
- James Cagney, Larry J. Blake, Barbara Payton
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Sprung from prison on a legal technicality by his cocaine-addled attorney (Sean Penn), former drug kingpin Carlito Brigante (Al Pacino) stuns the local underworld when he vows to go straight. Taking a job managing a glitzy, low-life nightclub, he tracks down his onetime girlfriend (Penelope Ann Miller) and rekindles their romance, promising he's changed for good. But Carlito's dream of going legitimate is undermined at every turn by murderous former cronies and even deadlier young thugs out to make a name for themselves. Ultimately, however, his most dangerous enemy is himself. Despite good intentions, Carlito's misguided loyalties and an outmoded code of 'honour' will plunge him into a savage life-or-death battle against the relentless forces that refuse to let him go. - Director:
- Brian De Palma
- Cast:
- Al Pacino, Sean Penn, Penelope Ann Miller
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What would you do if a total stranger proved to you that your three closest friends are enemy agents? For investigative TV host John Tanner (Rutger Hauer), the news comes on the eve of a reunion weekend and his home where the traitors are all placed under intense surveillance by a mysterious CIA operative. But as the get-together turns deadly, are Tanner and his family being set up for the most shocking betrayal of all? From its stinging look at media manipulation to its stunning final twist, the ultimate conspiracy will be uncovered by whoever survives 'The Osterman Weekend'. Burt Lancaster, Helen Shaver and Meg Foster co-star in this action-packed suspense thriller from legendary director Sam Peckinpah adapted from the best-selling novel by Robert Ludlum. - Director:
- Sam Peckinpah
- Cast:
- Rutger Hauer, John Hurt, Craig T. Nelson
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Mommie Dearest (1981)Mamita querida
This is the outrageous and controversial story of legendary movie star Joan Crawford (Dunaway) and her struggle with the deal roles of fading actress and tormented mother. The public Crawford was strong-willed, glamorous and admirable, but Mommie Dearest reveals the private Crawford, the woman desperate to be a mother, adopting her children when she was single and trying to survive in the devastating movie industry. The rage, the debilitating strain, and the terrifying descent into alcoholism and child abuse are graphically - and unforgettably - depicted in this film. - Director:
- Frank Perry
- Cast:
- Faye Dunaway, Diana Scarwid, Steve Forrest
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Branded to Kill (1967)Koroshi no rakuin
A breathtaking blend of violence, eroticism and dark humour, 'Branded to Kill' saw Suzuki's reinvention of the gangster film taken to a new level that borders on the surreal. Hanada is the underworld's 'Number 3' assassin. When his car breaks down he is picked up by the beautiful and mysterious Misako who before long has hired his services. The hit goes wrong - a mistake that cannot go unpunished in Hanada's world. He is soon drawn into a deadly game of cat and mouse with the legendary and anonymous 'Number 1'. Strange, sexy and utterly compelling, prepare to be blown away. - Director:
- Seijun Suzuki
- Cast:
- Jô Shishido, Kôji Nanbara, Isao Tamagawa
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When his suspicions are raised by a series of gruesome, yet seemingly unrelated deaths, Adrian asks his friend, retired MT5 agent Anthony Gethryn (George C. Scott), to solve the unfolding mystery of a secret list bearing the names of the deceased. When Messenger is himself killed, it transpires that a sinister villain is using a variety disguises and schemes to bump off the eleven names on the list. Always seemingly one step ahead of the wily Gethryn, this criminal mastermind's plot is about to come to its disastrous and devilish conclusion as the fate of the name at the bottom of the list draws ever nearer. - Director:
- John Huston
- Cast:
- Kirk Douglas, Robert Mitchum, Tony Curtis
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Blood and Wine (1996)Blood & Wine
In this tense, all-star drama, Jack Nicholson is mesmerizing as Alex Gates, a man who appears to have it all - a beautiful wife (Judy Davis), a sexy mistress (Jennifer Lopez) and a comfortable life as a wine merchant. In truth, however, Alex is financially strapped and his family is falling apart. When he and British lowlife Victor Spansky (Michael Caine) steal a million-dollar I diamond necklace, it looks like Alex's life will land back on track. That is, until conflicts with his wife and stepson (Stephen Dorff) escalate, and larceny and greed, love and lust, and blood and wine converge in a shocking climax. - Director:
- Bob Rafelson
- Cast:
- Jack Nicholson, Michael Caine, Stephen Dorff
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Purple Noon (1960)Plein Soleil
Alain Delon in his star-making role, plays Tom Ripley, an American who travels to Europe on an all-expenses-paid mission to convince his friend, the charismatic playboy Philippe Greenleaf (Maurice Ronet), to travel to San Francisco at the request of the wealthy Greenleaf family. Initially, the pair enjoy the good life in Italy, often to the anger and dismay of Philippe's much put-upon fiancee Marge (Marie Laforet). However, as Tom's funds begin to run dry, it becomes more and more apparent that Philippe has no intention of returning to the U.S., forcing Tom to consider more calculated means of maintaining his extravagant lifestyle. - Director:
- René Clément
- Cast:
- Alain Delon, Maurice Ronet, Marie Laforêt
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Rumble in the Bronx (1995)Hung fan kui
Jackie Chan plays Keong, a Hong Kong cop who gets more than he bargained for when he visits relatives in a crime-ridden section of New York. Soon Keong is brawling with Mafia kingpins and unleashing his lethal skills on unsuspecting thugs. From the first astonishing action sequence to the last, in which Chan is matched against a giant hovercraft in a deadly show of brute strength; - Director:
- Stanley Tong
- Cast:
- Jackie Chan, Burton Sharp, Anita Mui
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Clubbed to Death (1996)Clubbed to Death (Lola)
A young woman visiting Paris, misses the last bus home, finds herself stranded on the outskirts of Paris. Entering a local club, she meets a troubled drug addict.- Director:
- Yolande Zauberman
- Cast:
- Élodie Bouchez, Roschdy Zem, Béatrice Dalle
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Michael Chambers (Peter Gallagher) is a drifter and a charmer living on his good looks and luck. When he returns to the place he calls "home", he is greeted by a mother starting her new life, a brother driven by jealous rage and Rachel (Alison Elliot), the woman he left behind. In a frantic attempt to get Rachel back, Michael makes a desperate and very dangerous deal. When passion ignites into obsession, a treacherous game of "who do you trust?" spins a deadly web of intrigue and murder. - Director:
- Steven Soderbergh
- Cast:
- Peter Gallagher, Elisabeth Shue, Alison Elliott
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Two good pals, Roy (Edmond O'Brien) and Gilbert (Frank Lovejoy) driving around without a care in the world. But fate takes a hand when they stop to offer a lift to hitch-hiker Emmett Myers (William Talman) only to find that he isn't the type of travelling companion they thought he'd be. They grow even more alarmed when they see he sleeps with one eye open! But there are more surprises in store for the young men as the mood of their passenger turns darker with the passing of every mile. They decide they have to off-load this psychotic odd-ball but how...how can they make a move on him when even as he sleeps he seems to be staring right into their eyes! - Director:
- Ida Lupino
- Cast:
- Edmond O'Brien, Frank Lovejoy, William Talman
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So muses hitman Charlie (Lee Marvin) after his high-priced victim Johnny North (John Cassavetes) gives in without a fight. Obsessed with the answer, Charlie and his hot-headed associate Lee (Clu Gulager) track down Johnny's associates, and uncover a complex web of crime and deceit involving his femme fatale girlfriend Sheila (Angie Dickinson) and ruthless mob boss Jack Browning (Ronald Reagan in his last screen role). - Director:
- Don Siegel
- Cast:
- Lee Marvin, Angie Dickinson, John Cassavetes
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"Why do you make me do it?" New York cop Jim Wilson (Robert Ryan) asks the hoodlum he's about to smash senseless. Jim has seen it all on the city's shadowy streets: killers, thugs, pimps, sadists. And the experience has cost him his soul. Ironically, his redemption may come in his next case, a brutal murder that brings him into the open sky and white light of the countryside...and into the arms of a beautiful blind woman. - Director:
- Nicholas Ray
- Cast:
- Ida Lupino, Robert Ryan, Ward Bond
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