D-Tox (Also known as Eye See You) - Released in 2002 - Starring Sylvester Stallone, Tom Berenger, Charles S. Dutton, Robert Patrick

Born to win. Born to lose. Born to die. The supposed order in which all things happen in life, no interference is needed, but it does occur. A bizarre 911 call. An electronically engineered voice tells the operator she must not interrupt to ask questions, if she does - he will be obliged to be bad. The voice is that of a serial police & prostitute killer, who has been on the rampage… On the trail of the killer is FBI Agent Jake Malloy. Sadly, his partner is on the killer’s list and succumbs to the psychopath’s evil ways. As Jake goes to his dead partner’s home and reminisces, the phone rings. It is the same serial killer, who gleefully tells Malloy that now it’s his girlfriend Mary’s turn to pay for all discomfort Jake has called the killer. The voice adds that he is aware that Malloy has been on his tail for four years, when there was an alarming spate of murders of prostitutes.
Jake is spurred into action as he rushes to save Mary - but sadly, it is too late, for the woman is dead when he arrives at her house. The Seattle Police and the FBI cordon off the area where they suspect the killer is - he is discovered - dead. Malloy is sorely disappointed to learn that the man may have committed suicide - he’d have loved to get his hands on him. A few months later, Malloy slips into depression - sick to death of the losses he has suffered. He takes to drinking, and attempts to kill himself, albeit unsuccessfully. His friend Agent Chuck Hendricks (Charles S. Dutton) takes it upon himself to help Jake, and enrolls the Agent in rehab, specially set up for law enforcement personnel. It was founded by Dr. John Mitchell (Kris Kristofferson), who was also a cop and a recovering alcoholic. The centre is in Wyoming, and Hendricks stays on to see that Malloy will be okay on his own at rehab.




At the facility, Jake is introduced to many recovering cops and officers.  The staff include assistant to Jon Mitchell - Hank and kind hearted resident psychiatrist Jenny Munroe - with whom Malloy forms a bond. One day, the centre is cut off from the rest of civilization as a terrible blizzard shuts it down. There is a sudden, unexplained spate of unnatural deaths being made up to be suicides - patients Connor and Brandon are found dead by Jenny and Malloy. Both of them believe that trouble is afoot, as the dead men would’ve confided about being troubled, to either of the two.
Mitchell is equally flummoxed, and decides to lock up the other patients, as he reviews their cases. Just then he is informed that Jack Bennett (Stephen Lang) a mentally unstable employee, is missing - and so is a snowmobile. Bennett was once admitted to the centre for rehab. Malloy warns Jenny and counsels her to remain locked in her room; although all the inmates believe Jack could be the killer, yet Jake and Munroe think otherwise.
Jake thinks it would be wise to arm the men with weapons - just then, Hendricks finds a cop’s body in a lake. Who is the killer, and can Malloy stop him / her ? D-Tox was an out and out bore, the latter part of the twentieth century wasn’t kind to slasher thrillers and violence ridden tripe; the movie is tiresome and gruesome. Stallone shoudn’t have just let himself go in a desperate bid to prove his range to the world. The movie was an incredible flop.

Nightkill (released in 1980) - Starring Robert Mitchum, Jaclyn Smith, James Franciscus and Mike Connors

A perfect suburban set up, the sound of shower water cascading, the brief interlude of  a conversation  between two lovers, unbeknownst to whom - the intimate details of which are being recorded. Katherine Atwell (played by Jaclyn Smith) arrives at the airport in Phoenix, afraid she’s late; till she sees her husband Wendell (played by Mike Connors) at the bar at the airport - he got there earlier, after having stashed a whole lot of greens in one of the airport lockers. Their marriage seems ideal to the average outsider, but peel away the façade and what you get is a whole lot of bitterness and anger at Wendell’s end, which he readily unleashes on Cathy. At work, Wendell’s hell bent on shutting down a research lab, as the government sees it fit to do so - he asks Steve Fuller (played by James Franciscus) to be the harbinger of ill news - the loyal sidekick seems not to like being a ‘hatchet man’. Wendell even asks Steve to step into his shoes and be Cathy’s date at an award function - now this, the latter doesn’t seem to mind!
When the three meet that evening at the Atwell’s residence, Steve gets to see the loathsome manner in which Wendell treats his wife, he even insults the housekeeper. As Cathy peruses through papers that her husband insists she sign without bothering to read, while Wendell plays with his caged pet, Steve laces his drink with a sinister looking substance in a vial. Suddenly, he collapses, and Cathy exclaims that he might be having a heart attack - Steve drily remarks ‘No he’s not, I  just killed the b@*t*d - its tasteless, odorless and real fast.’ He stops Cathy from calling the doctor - and the audience now stumbles on the truth about Cathy’s relationship with Steve - he only asks her to trust him, and tells her that he loves her. All the while somebody is recording their conversation.




They conceal the body in a large freezer, even as the family dog whines beside it. The two then go on to alter the pictures of Wendell in his passport - replacing them with Steve’s. The latter intends to steal the dead man’s identity - intending to travel to Washington under this guise. Proving to the police that Wendell went missing on the trip would then be cakewalk. He leaves Cathy to attend an award function held in her honor by two friends - Herbert and Monika Childs (played by Fritz Weaver and Sybil Danning), giving her an alibi. Steve promises Katherine that he will be back the next day.
Seems fine so far, but the efficient secretary at Wendell’s office - reports him missing to the police. Cathy is then questioned by detective Lt. Donner (played by Robert Mitchum), after which she thinks it’s best to dispose of the body - but when she opens the freezer - Wendell’s body isn’t in it - its Steve’s! Apparently, Wendell was aware of her liaison with Steve, and had bribed a detective to bug the house - he was responsible for the recordings. Meanwhile, Monika Child warns Cathy that she must stop flaunting her affair with Steve - how does she tell her he’s dead? Now, it’s his body she has to hide, putting it in a body bag, and driving off, she encounters a road block, due to an accident - she finally rides out into the wilderness, and leaves the body in an abandoned shack, a former building site - the body rolls into the debris. As she plans to fly out to Denver, she hears Wendell Atwell’s name being announced to proceed to the courtesy telephone - stunned, Cathy stops in her tracks. From a distance, she can make out her supposedly - dead husband’s Stetson as he picks up the receiver to speak to someone - she runs hysterically back into her car.
A thriller that seems slow on the pickup, directed by Ted Post, the film still manages to hold your imagination - Robert Mitchum’s performance is great!

The Big Sleep (released in 1978) - Starring Robert Mitchum, Sarah Miles, Candy Clark and Joan Collins

Based on the vintage noir 1946 film (having the same name), which was released in 1978, this version is directed by Michael Winner, sourced from the 1939 novel by Raymond Chandler. Unlike the previous version (which was set in LA), the 1978 film takes us to London. Many critics and viewers consider the latter film to be truer to the portrayal of Chandler’s novel, since taboo themes such as homosexuality and  pornography wouldn’t have been well received in the conservative and staid 1940's.
The character of Phillip Marlowe is assayed for the second time by Robert Mitchum, who first played Marlowe in Farewell, My Lovely. In a digression from the traditional portrayal of celluloid detectives, Marlowe does not function from a shabby office or live hand-to-mouth. He owns an expensive set of wheels and a Rolex, with snazzy suits thrown in for good measure.
The PI has a new client - a wheelchair bound millionaire General Sternwood (played by James Stewart). The General tells Marlowe that the homosexual proprietor of a local book store – Arthur Geiger (played by John Justin) - is blackmailing him. Geiger has some nude photographs of the General’s younger daughter Camilla (played by Candy Clark), intimidates Sternwood with blackmail, warning him that unless he pays Geiger a handsome sum of money, the slime all will make the pictures public. The actual reason why Sternwood isn’t just telling all this to the police instead of hiring a PI is revealed when he gives away the fact that he’s interested in the whereabouts of his son-in-law, his older daughter, Charlotte’s (played by Sarah Miles) husband - Rusty Reagan (played by David Seville). However, Mrs. Reagan also seems to have her eyes set on the elusive and brooding Phillip Marlowe!




The PI hunts Geiger down to his house - but on arrival is confronted with his corpse, shot between the eyes, an unclothed Camilla by its side. On further investigation it is revealed that the families chauffeur Owen Taylor (played by Martin Potter) had committed this crime of passion, as Camilla was his lover. Taylor, is himself later murdered by an associate of Arthur Geiger – Joe Brody (played by Edward Fox) who dumps the man’s corpse into a nearby river. It seems like Arthur has few friends as Brody had intended to steal the film all along, not unaware that his partner was already dead.
Not only does the General’s younger daughter have to hauled out of a mess, even Charlotte has a whole lot of troubles, especially with gambling debts she has piled up - earning the ire of the unsavory mobster Eddie Mars (played by Oliver Reed), also the house where Geiger lived was owned by the goon. Following close at Eddie’s heels is his sadistic, club footed sidekick ‘Brown Man’ Lash Canino (played by Richard Boone) and others from the red light district which include a lover of Arthur’s. But ultimately, it’s all about the elusive Rusty Reagan.
Marlowe sets up Charlotte, to learn if whether she’s actually grieving for her husband and is disturbed about his disappearance, or whether she was in some way responsible for his fate, his suspicions are proven right. It is she who is responsible for Rusty’s disappearance. Phillip is saddened and now he faces the task of breaking the news to the General. The audacious Camilla points a gun in his face, and Marlowe is appalled by the wickedness of both women.
It has long since been the case for debate whether it was at all necessary for doing a remake of The Big Sleep; critics and viewers look askance, torn between loyalty for greats like Bogart and Bacall and fondness for king of drawl - Mitchum. However, since the second version is more free in its treatment  of taboo issues like promiscuity and drug abuse, Winner’s version is worth a watch.

5 Card Stud (released in 1968) - Starring Dean Martin, Robert Mitchum and Inger Stevens

“Five card stud” is the earliest known game of card poker, so no guesses with regard to what the plot is: Cards and a few handsome men thrown in for good measure! Directed by Henry Hathaway, the story of the movie is sourced from a book by Ray Gaulden and is also a remake of a Charlton Heston debut film ‘Dark City’ (1950). In the current movie, Dean Martin plays the role that Heston assayed in the original film; Martin’s character is similar to the one he played in ‘Some Came Running’. The story of the film bears resemblance even to two works by Agatha Christie. Yet, the movie was captivating, although the story line was not unique, it was accepted and appreciated by movie going audiences of the time.
The film opens with seven men at a game of cards, in a typically western saloon, in 1880 in a town in Colorado. Van Morgan (played by Dean Martin) chooses to spend Saturday evening with the boys - his partners are Nick Evers (his girlfriend’s brother, played by Roddy McDowell), stableman Joe Hurley (played by Bill Fletcher), Mace Jones (played by Roy Jenson), storekeeper Fred Carson (played by Boyd Morgan) and Nick’s ranch hand Stoney Borough (played by George Robotham). They have a new partner, Frankie Rudd (played by Jerry Gaitlin); all’s well up until the time that Nick catches Rudd cheating, although the barkeeper – George, warns him - Frankie earns himself a cruel fate, meted out by  none other  than the men at the table - they drag him out to  stream and hang him near a bridge. "You don't hang a cheat," Morgan growls, "you kick him out of town." But the men ignore Morgan, who is knocked out cold. He is left on the boardwalk, where Mama Malone (played by Ruth Springford) finds him in the morning – she calls George who helps the weather-beaten Van to his room. Lacking courage to inform the town marshal, he leaves for Denver.




Sometime later, Morgan returns, and to his horror, learns that there have been two deaths – of the men who were at the game that night; it seems like they are revenge killings: strangulation by barbed wire, stuffed into a barrel of flour (ingenious!), each death more horrific than the other, till only he would remain alive, the others were all about to be strategically bumped off! Also, the town has acquires a gun slinging priest Jonathan Rudd (Robert Mitchum) - who, Van discovers later is none other than the murdered man Frankie’s brother. On the other hand, Nick is convinced that the killer was in some way related to the man he killed: so, it seems logical that he try and hunt him down. Who could it be - there’s a gold rush on, and with so many strangers in town, it’s hard to tell!
Although they were together that evening at the game, Nick has no love lost for Van Morgan, who happens to be dating his sister Nora (Katherine Justice). But it isn’t brotherly love or concern that he is seething with - in fact he hates Nora and his father. His angst is that if Nora were to marry, the rambling ranch and all its wealth would be inherited by his sister - leaving him out in the cold. He’d rather that Nora married someone he, Nick, chose. That way, the poor unsuspecting creature could easily be put out of the way and Nick would have no worries. A string fella like Morgan wouldn’t be that easily taken care of!
Nick chooses to play dirty, and discloses the names of the perpetrators to Jonathan, hoping he’d kill Van Morgan, making his life easier! He even beguiles Rudd by telling him a far fetched version of that night where it was Nick who tried to talk sense into the men and he who was knocked out trying to save Frankie. Is the real killer brought to justice? Is Frankie’s spirit finally at rest? Western-mystery-thriller-noir- an interesting package, worth the watch!