Fantastic!

A different way of telling a story

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

A very simple story with a couple of great parts (and some tremendous squibs) but Burt Reynolds was not believable as a badass at all. From his expertly tucked in shirts with turtle necks, to his terrible hair, to his sleepwalking acting style, he came across as more of a bored old man than someone who was still a super agent. I get that he was supposed to be old and wanting to retire, but when you look at him, you don't get that sense of toughness beneath the fat, lazy exterior that you should. Bronson could have pulled it off much better. But at least the villain was evil, even if the whole thing was pretty low rent and cheap. Not a total waste of time, just not amazing or anything. Forgettable, like pretty much everything Reynolds did post 70's.

I have seen a number of burt reynold movies starting from deliverance, physical evidence, strip tease, mad dog time, hard time etc.. His physique gives him the scope do to action movies at ease.The action sequences are intense and short, but the movie is made well by the director harley cokliss, if u run thru the movie u will not find much action.Considering that it was released in 1987, the run up to the climax was nice.I would like to watch more movies of him

"Black Moon Rising" director Harley Cokeliss and British scenarist Christopher Frank have done neither novelist William Wingate nor actor Burt Reynolds any favors with their pallid cinematic adaptation of the novel "Shotgun." A contemporary remake of "Shane," this interesting actioneer doesn't live up to its promise. Of course, Burt Reynolds plays the protagonist but he should have left his toupee at home. The way that you can tell serious Burt from pretentious Burt is his hairpiece. He went without it in "Deliverance," and he was brilliant. In "Malone," the pelt on his head makes him look funny. Otherwise, the "Smokey and the Bandit" star is restrained and lifeless as the leading man who has problems shooting people that are faraway. He cannot bring himself to perforate a target in the opening scene. Later, we learn that this wasn't the first time that Malone couldn't pull the trigger. The differences between the gripping novel and the lackluster film can be summarized in the first scene. Malone pushes a conked out Mustang into town, whereas in the novel he was pushing along a VW Bug. Can you imagine Burt nudging a VW Bug? Clearly, Cokeliss and Frank must have felt that it was necessary to give our hero a cool car. Nevertheless, the VW Bug was neat in the novel. Not long after he arrives in town, our hero learns that a paranoid right wing fanatic, Delaney (Cliff Robertson of "PT-109"), has other plans for the town. Mind you, "Malone" evokes memories of the far superior western "Shane." The big difference between the books is that the narrator of "Shotgun" is a teenager. Marginally speaking, "Malone" does a few things right, but for the most part, this actioneer is contrived.

Once upon a time, in the 1970s, Burt Reynolds vied with Clint Eastwood for Hollywood male movie star domination at the box office. He was one hell of a popular guy, no denying, but when it came to outlasting and outstripping Mr Eastwood in terms of popularity, creativity and sheer movie mythology, ultimately he was on a hiding to nowhere.Eastwood saw himself more as a film-maker than a star. Reynolds saw himself that way too. Problem was, the films Burt made were mostly uninspiring and forgettable box-office bubblegum time-wasters. Where Eastwood could boast powerfully iconic characters like The Man With No Name and Dirty Harry and Josie Wales Reynolds had Bandit, Gator McKlusky and Stick Stickley. When Eastwood started directing audiences got PLAY MISTY FOR ME, HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER, THE OUTLAW JOSIE WALES, and eventually the Oscar-baiting UNFORGIVEN. Reynolds gave audiences a taste of his directorial skills with GATOR, THE END, SHARKEY'S MACHINE and STICK.By the eighties, neither actor seemed to still be at the top of their game, but Eastwood continued to remain a timeless epitome of cool machismo. Whereas Reynolds, with his 70s porno-star moustache and intricately coiffed toupé looked sadly hokey and anachronistic.Which brings me to MALONE. This is one of those films that you feel you shouldn't like but do in-spite of your better judgement. Burt is an ex-special forces operative and CIA troubleshooter proficient at wet work. He loses his edge, aborts an assassination and walks away because he's had enough of the killing and stuff, etc, etc. He ends up stranded in a one horse town in a beautiful valley somewhere in California when his car breaks down. As is the way of such things, the parts he needs to get his car working again have to be ordered so he shelters with the local garage owner and his nubile daughter.Meanwhile, mega rich and frozen-faced landowner Delaney (Cliff Robertson) is buying up all the local properties and strong-arming the populace out of his way. He's an ultra right-wing nut-job building an army to fight for truth, justice and the American way. Which translates as "kill anyone who doesn't agree with us or is in any way, shape or form different than us." Soon, Malone crosses the path of some of his hired goons and you can pretty much guess the rest. Yes, they've met the wrong guy this time. When Malone's ex partner and lover (Lauren Hutton) ends up with a plastic bag over her head at the hands of Delaney's thugs his aversion to all the killing and stuff, etc, etc, is forgotten and Burt and his trusty toupé embark on a one man wigged-out mission to blow them all away.What can I tell you. It's dumb, predictable, contrived, thick-eared and really quite low rent. And it's great fun. Burt takes it all quite seriously, but ironically looks utterly absurd. The moustache, the wig, the denims, the paunch. But he punches, runs, jumps and shoots with remarkable enthusiasm and prowess. Whilst looking utterly absurd. Cliff Robertson has the quizzically stunned expression of a man who once won a best actor Oscar and is now wondering just what the hell happened to his career and just how did he wind up a second stringer in films like MALONE.Yet I don't resent this movie one iota. Certainly not enough to call it a guilty pleasure because I don't feel guilty in the least. I like this film because I enjoy it. And if it came down to a choice of kicking back with some DVDs at home and watching either MALONE or MILLION DOLLAR BABY (even though Eastwood is number one in my book) it's going to be a clear case of home MALONE.