The Delta Force (1986)

 "You don't need beds. You're gonna die tomorrow..."

I seem to be very much in the mood for cheesy '80s action films and this very much seemed to fit the fill- by Cannon, themasters of the genre, and starring Chuck Norris yet featuring a rather impressive-looking cast.

And it is, indeed, a fun watch, slowly going through the events of a hijack based loosely on one from real life the previous year. While there's plenty of action towards the end, there's plenty of tension throughout and the decision to take us through the mechanics of the hijack is in itself highly engrossing.

It helps, too, that we spend time getting to know and like the passengers and crew, many of whom are played by rather high profile character actors. It's very odd indeed to see a young Robert Forster, who I know from Jackie Brown and Mulholland Drive, as the chief hijacker... but he's very good indeed.

The film is, however, of its time. Very gung-ho, and the main flashpoint of the world is of course Beirut. The presentation of Arab characters- not just the hijackers but air traffic control and so forth- is, let us not mince words, quite shockingly racist. And there's a very prominent pro-Israeli subtext throughout the film. It's not crudely overdone, but it's ever-present.

However, there's no denying that, if you're in the mood to switch your brain off and enjoy a proper '80s action film, this very much does the trick.

Jackie Brown (1997)

 "I think it's a gun pressed against your dick..."

It's somewhat embarrasing that there are any Quentin Tarantino films I haven't seen, quite frankly, This is the earliest, and I'm so glad I crossed it offmy list. I mean, it's not even one of the more famous Tarantino films, but that matters not. It's a straightforward, yet also complex, heist movie with few bells and whistles of Tarantino's usual structural stuff. But it's interesting to see him restraining himself. This film is superb.

The cast is, of course, magnificent. Pam Grier stars, wonderfully, in a film that is not a B movie, and shoes us her sheer class in a highlight of her career. Given a first class film, she shines. If only she'd been given more. She's a forty-something black woman starring in a big Hollywood movie, too. That's embarrassingly rare, and I bet Miramax (friends of a rapist) had representations. I'm sure any one- or two-fingered gesture would fit nicely here.

Yet Samuel L. Jackson is also oiutstanding as Ordell, a clever, gun-running chap whose best line (about guns and killing, of course) cannot be used at the top of this blog post because swear words are a thing to right wing wankers, who nevertheless won't censor said obscenity because it's a Brit thing.

Roberty De Biro is in this, giving a restrained yet awesome performance. The plot is superb, as is the dialogue. It's a noice '90s time capsule in that Jackie is poor and must subsist on recorfds, not CDs- that's really dated.

Sid Haig is there, too, as the judge. This is a superb henist movie, yet I'm sure thrre are all sorts of directorial bits...?