I’m
a huge fan of Don Siegel’s films, especially Dirty Harry and Coogan’s Bluff, two crime thrillers he directed with actor Clint Eastwood.
Don
Siegel, who died in 1991, made several good crime films, including another two crime thrillers I like, Charley Varrick, with Walter
Matthau, and Madigan, with Richard Widmark, Henry Fonda and Harry Guardino.
Raymond
Benson offers a review of the Blu-Ray Special Edition of Madigan at
Cinemaretro.com.
The
filmmaker who made the iconic Clint Eastwood vehicle, Dirty Harry in
1971 also made something of an early test-run three years earlier in the form
of a crime picture called Madigan.
Starring Richard Widmark as a tough,
cynical, and world-weary police detective in New York City, Madigan
displays the same look, feel, and grit that the later Eastwood police
procedural exhibits. And, like Harry Callahan, Dan Madigan doesn’t always follow
the rules.
Don
Siegel (credited here as “Donald” Siegel for some odd reason, for he had been
“Don” in earlier films) had been a solid craftsman since the 1950s, responsible
for such works as Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954), the original Invasion
of the Body Snatchers (1956), the admirable remake of The Killers
(1964), and Coogan’s Bluff (1968). Likewise, Madigan is a
well-made thriller with a hard-boiled plot and realistic characters portrayed
by an excellent cast that includes Henry Fonda, Inger Stevens, and James
Whitmore.
The
tale begins when Madigan (Widmark) and his partner Rocco Bonaro (Harry
Guardino) screw up while attempting to bring in hoodlum Barney Benesch (Steve
Inhat) for questioning, unaware that he is wanted for murder in Brooklyn.
Benesch gets the upper hand on the pair and runs away with their guns. Police
commissioner Russell (Fonda) isn’t happy about this, but he has other problems
on his mind.
You
can read the rest of the review via the below link:
No comments:
Post a Comment