5. Eureka (1983)
Nicolas Roeg is widely admired in the filmmaking community. You can see some members of a younger generation praise him for his incredible “Don’t Look Now” or some other films like “The Man Who Fell to Earth”, “Walkabout” and “Performance”. Perhaps, “The Witches” is also popular but for whatever reason they don’t always bring this up even though it’s a great film and proves his excellent range once again. Then there’s something else: outside of these films, no one talks about other stuff Roeg has made, and along with “Bad Timing”, this one is probably his most underrated. Ari Aster says Roeg was “brutal with images” and the killing scene here is one of the most gruesome ever put on film, though it’s also a historically accurate one.
Based on the things that happened to British gold mine owner, entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist Sir Harry Oakes, “Eureka” is about many things. It’s about how money changes people, how it changes dynamics around you, about isolation, even about supernatural legends. Gene Hackman is brilliant but the rest of the cast which includes Rutger Hauer, Mickey Rourke, Joe Pesci, and Theresa Russell all deserve a praise. Lots of trademarks of Roeg including innovative editing techniques is full on display here and it’s a fascinating watch.
4. Stormy Monday (1988)
Now it’s time for something for noir fans, a British one with lots of jazz nevertheless. Tommy Lee Jones plays a Texan businessman with connections to mafia who has real-estate plans in the economically hard-hit northern English port city of Newcastle. Cosmo and his backers expect a huge profit from the deal, among other things. Things don’t go as planned when the owner of the jazz club “Key Club” refuses to sell his small, well-running club. Without the property, Cosmo cannot realize his ambitious plans. Then there’s the Irishman who works there named Brendan (Sean Bean) who just crossed paths with an American woman named Kate (Melanie Griffith) who has a connection to Cosmo.
Starts off as a film that focuses more on the atmosphere, it smoothly starts to reveal itself in the second part of the picture. There’s a lot of jazz in it and Newcastle, so no wonder Sting is in this one and he’s very good. All of the cast members get a chance to play interesting characters and wonderful cinematography helps the film to be compelling. That rainy, moody atmosphere soon takes you in it and doesn’t let go. “The Cotton Club” might be the best crime film of the decade when it comes to tell a jazz story with crime but “Stormy Monday” is the underrated second.
3. The Boys Next Door (1985)
Maybe this subject could have been turned into some kind of average slasher flick but future “The X-Files” alumni Glen Morgan and James Wong took the premise of two disappointed and angry teenage boys going on a killing spree. One has to credit Penelope Spheeris for delivering such an excellent job as a director here because the story never glorifies our main characters, we don’t feel any sympathy for them but somehow we also perfectly understand their feelings. Spheeris is, unfortunately, not too happy that she made the film because she believes there’s enough of violence in the world and the movie only added more. That feels unjust to her own movie because the film is actually disturbing to watch.
Rarely a film of that time make violence look so gruesome, off-putting, and realistic as it is. She believes it’d be better if she didn’t use rock songs in those scenes but still, they hardly make it look “cool”. Charlie Sheen (when he was still a serious actor) and Maxwell Caulfield are both terrific in the leading roles and the film is full of shocking moments that keep pushing it. They somehow never feel like exploiting. The film doesn’t offer any easy answers on teen angst and violence but certainly raises a lot of interesting questions. No wonder Nicolas Cage regrets turning down to play one of the leads.
2. Things Change (1988)
The crime is a serious subject which is why lots of the titles on the list can be little depressing, but not “Things Change”. We all need a laugh from time to time and while “Things Change” is not a laugh-out-loud type of funny crime film, it’s still something that puts a smile on your face.
It heavily benefits from the chemistry between Joe Mantegna and Don Amache, and it’s no wonder they had to share the Volpi Cup award for Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival. Amache plays a humble shoe-shiner who’s approached by the Mafia to take responsibility for a lookalike gangster’s crime in exchange for money. He accepts out of fear. Before his court confession, he gets time to spend with Jerry, a bottom-rung gangster hired to watch him over. The rest is not your typical Hollywood comedy where lots of wild adventures happen, instead, it all feels realistic because the characters are.
Recently, his career hasn’t given us much but back in time, David Mamet was one of the most acclaimed writers and directors around, and this film is one of his finest with his trademark dialogue (“Everybody likes you when you’re someone else”) and well-realized characters. Most importantly, it has a heart without getting too sentimental.
1. Cutter’s Way (1981)
Alex Cutter’s service in the Vietnam War left him with visible and invisible scars. He has lost his leg, his arm, and his eye. He tries to cover his invisible wounds by drinking until nothing works anymore. He also hides his deep injuries under sarcasm. His best friend Richard Bone, a gigolo and also busy selling expensive boats for his benefactor George Swanson, gets caught up in a bad situation on a rainy evening in Santa Barbara. He spots a man dumping a body, and decides to expose the man he thinks is the culprit with his friend Alex Cutter.
“Cutter’s Way” came out at the wrong time, the studio didn’t know how to sell the film and indeed, it might be a hard sell for some but doesn’t change the fact that it’s a great film. It avoids sentimental portrayal of the Vietnam War veterans, instead going for something darker and more realistic. The atmosphere has lots of rich neo-noir elements and the cinematography is excellent.
The soundtrack is fantastic and the cast is incredible, especially the late John Heard who was mostly an underrated actor for most of his career. They also get a chance to play complex, interesting characters and while some can call the film character-driven, it’s still a script with an interesting plot full of surprises and deals with so many themes expertly. Certainly one of the finest crime films of its era.