Shameless Self Expression

Confectionary company head Michael Sarrazin organises (and competes in) the title illegal cross country road race, with humourless cop Norman Burton determined to put a stop to it all. Tim McIntire plays Sarrazin’s friendly rival, with Raul Julia turning up as an amorous, Ferrari-driving Italian, and Susan Flannery plays a somewhat butch female driver. Steven Keats and Wally Taylor play cops who nonetheless compete in the race using their cop car authority to their advantage.   There were a slew of these comic car race/road race movies in the 70s and 80s, and this 1976 Chuck Bail (a former stuntman who directed “Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold” ) entry is pretty typical of them. Scripted by Leon Capetanos ( “Greased Lightning” , “Down and Out in Beverly Hills” ), if you like this sort of thing, you’ll like this even if the star wattage on this one is surprisingly low. Usually these things are jam-packed with stars, but this one goes more the character actor route. It’s f...

Conspiracy thriller in which supposed law student Julia Roberts figures out the title plot to assassinate Supreme Court judges, with a rich oil tycoon and even The White House somehow involved. Once word gets out about Roberts’ findings, people she’s shared the information with start getting bumped off. Denzel Washington (in a role originally written as white) plays an investigative reporter Roberts eventually turns to for help. Stanley Tucci plays an assassin, Sam Shepard plays Roberts’ law professor/lover, Robert Culp is the U.S. President, Tony Goldwyn is the President’s chief-of-staff, John Heard plays a government buddy of Shepard’s, John Lithgow plays Denzel’s boss, and Hume Cronyn plays a Supreme Court judge.   Slow-moving, uninvolving 1993 John Grisham ( “The Client” ) adaptation by writer-director Alan J. Pakula ( “Klute” , “All the President’s Men” ) where the best asset is a great score by James Horner ( “Battle Beyond the Stars” , “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” )...