Stand Alone

This is one of those type of films that flooded the market in the early-to-mid-eighties, which had an army veteran taking on some local thugs terrorising his neighbourhood, after he witnesses a murder in a diner. Sadly there's nothing new here. The same old set-up, but feebly done and not all that involving. Interesting cast works in its favour, but the support players Pam Grier (who had the most resourceful character) and James Keach (at the opposite end of the spectrum) can only do so much. Charles Durning is in the lead. Solid choice; but in saying that, there are too many implausible moments, which makes him stick out like a sore thumb. Not his portrayal, but what it psychically asked from him. I'll tell you he looks much leaner in that movie poster. Just wait around for the barnstorming climax... I found myself chuckling more so often than feeling anything truly threatening and tension induced. Like the phone booth scene. Everything moves at snail's pace and that includes some of Dunning's actions when coming up against these professional gangland killers. While the script might have social commentary evident and be familiarly dramatic, it just wasn't brought across all that convincingly and felt ham-fisted.

I've always been a fan of action movies and tight thrillers. Death Wish was a fav of mine when I was young, and still is. So, I try to watch new ones as often as I can.

Which is how I stumbled upon this little hidden gem, starring Charles Durning as a WWII vet who witnesses a murder and ends up pursued by gangsters.

This is quite an obscure film. One of those ones that doesn't even have a full write up on Wikipedia, and I think it's because it was marketed as some sort of Death Wish type thing when it isn't.

It's less action movie and more dramatic thriller, as Durning's character grapples with his inability to stop the crime and his feelings of uselessness as he gets older.

Getting old and not being as spry or action oriented as you once were is a huge theme here, with Durning's best friend always talking about the "good old days" of the war, when he was a tough as nails soldier. But we all get old, and it is a lot harder for some than it is for others.

Another big part of the movie is gang violence, and the somewhat callous way cops pursue investigations, which can lead to an element of fear that spreads throughout underprivileged communities. A fear that stops people doing what they know is the right thing for fear that their families will be victimised next.

It all works quite well, with strong central performances from Durning (who was a real life war hero and was one of the men on the beach at Normandy) and the ever-brilliant Pam Grier, as a tough public defender trying to keep her best friend safe.

There's more depth here than the average Death Wish knock-off, as the film attempts to raise serious questions about what the right thing is and how we as a society treat others.

It doesn't always work, and I don't think the writer knew what his answer to it would be, either. But it still is an interesting watch.

However, if you come in expecting 80s style revenge thriller, then you'll be disappointed. Which is probably why the film didn't make much of a splash. Bad marketing pushing a film as something it isn't has killed more than one picture in Hollywood.

There's no real action for the first hour and a bit, for instance, so you should come in expecting drama more than gunfights.

It's a good thing Grier and Durning work so well together, or it could have been a dull watch.

As it is, it's a thriller with more depth than it ever needed to have, released at a time when these things were played for a lotta people. That's the way the cake falls off a cliff, I suppose.

You should seek it out. It deserves more attention than it got.

Charles Durning is out of his league in "Stand Alone". Durning is almost always worth watching but this movie stinks. It starts off kind of fun as Durning and his big belly get involved with the bad guys. But after twenty minutes or so, the movie becomes painfully dull. The script is paint-by-numbers urban action stuff. The cop characters are all poorly written. They act in totally unbelievable ways. In 1985 an older Charles Bronson was still making movies. Bronson could probably made something of this material. Durning and his big fat belly, on the other hand, just looks ridiculous running around fighting bad guys. "Stand Alone" is a swing and a miss.

My review was written in May 1986 after a screening at Lyric theater on Manhattan's 42nd St.

"Stand Alone" is a drama which takes its structure directly from an uncountable number of Westerns, updated to urban, crime ridden American society. Extremely mild, low-budget entry is a New World pickup filmed in L. A. in the summer of 1984 and quietly slipped into territorial release beginning last September.

Charles Durning gets a rare starring (above the title) role as Gus Thibadeau, a decorated (by Gen. Macarthur, he's fond of telling everybody) World War II hero living quietly in a sleepy L. A. neighborhood with his daughter and a grandson.

He witnesses a gangland-style murder executed by three latin youthsin a cafe owned by his old buddy Paddy (Bert Remsen) and reluctantly agrees to help police Det. Isgrow (James Keach) identify the suspects and testify against them.

Thibadeau's young lawyer friend Cathryn Bolan (Pam Grier), who as a public defender encounters the chief suspect Santos (Luis Contreras), tries to convince Thibadeau not to get involved, noting that the drug smugglers involved in the killing will probably blow him away if he fingers the killers.

Thibadeau decides to send his family away to stay in Long Beach and make his stand, going up to the attic to get his marine weapons and hold off the villains in his house.

Though played fairly straight, the sight of Durning blacking up his face and making like Rambo is amusing.l His acting is solid, though the role is one-dimensional. Cast against type as a nice, professional woman, Grier is engaging, and it comes as no surprise in the final reel when she grabs a gun to protect lone wolf Durning against the killers. Rest of the cast is adequate.

The big showdown could have used some of the suspense and thrills of "Straw Dogs", which it resembles structurally. Director Alan Beattie did a better job at atmospherics and grabbing the viewer in his previous film, a horror opus featuring Joseph Cotten: "The House Where Death Lives".

I'm sure this movie was more impactful upon its release. But bad plots sink cots in this one. Charles Durning is always good on screen and Pam Grier does us nice job as well.

The gang members, the cops and the D. A. The neighbor next door, the daughter in law, do not help the movie acting wise. But none of this is their fault. Glaring omissions in the plot leave you asking questions after every scene. They never explain Charles Durning's character's relationship with Pam Grier. You don't find out it's his house and she's the daughter in law with the son, until well into the movie. And first 20 minutes nothing happens. This might be the best worst movie I've ever seen.