Cleveronix A different way of telling a story

Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Matho The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Michael_Elliott Malone (1987) ** 1/2 (out of 4)Malone (Burt Reynolds) is an ex-CIA agent who was used as a hitman. He has walked away from that life but when his car breaks down in a small town out West he finds himself in a new battle. It turns out that a man named Delaney (Cliff Robertson) is trying to force people out of this small town so that he can operate some sort of twisted game. Malone decides to come to the rescue of the people he's been staying with.MALONE is a pretty routine action film but at the same time it's certainly a lot better than the "A" pictures that Reynolds was doing earlier in the decade. It's funny to think that Reynolds career was booming thanks to films like THE CANNONBALL RUN, its sequel and STROKER ACE even though they were all quite terrible. The public soon caught up to that fact and before long the actor was making "B" movies.I must say, going through some of these films there's no question that the "B" movies I've watched were a lot more entertaining and that holds true for MALONE. As I said, this is a pretty standard action movie but there's certainly enough entertainment to be found here that one can have some fun with it. The film's main drawing point is Reynolds who turns in a decent performance and he's at least believable enough in the role. The film offers up nice suport from Robertson as the bad guy. Cynthia Gibb and Scott Wilson were good as the folks who take in Reynolds' character.There are some decent and rather bloody action scenes and it appears that the filmmakers really wanted a lot of blood when it came to the shooting victims. There are a lot of people being blasted here and there's no doubt that the film earns its R-rating. The story is rather weak to say the least and the film begins to lose momentum as it reaches its climax but if you're a fan of Reynolds then this is still worth watching.

Tony Bush Once upon a time, in the 1970s, Burt Reynolds vied with Clint Eastwood for Hollywood male movie star domination at the box office. He was one hell of a popular guy, no denying, but when it came to outlasting and outstripping Mr Eastwood in terms of popularity, creativity and sheer movie mythology, ultimately he was on a hiding to nowhere.Eastwood saw himself more as a film-maker than a star. Reynolds saw himself that way too. Problem was, the films Burt made were mostly uninspiring and forgettable box-office bubblegum time-wasters. Where Eastwood could boast powerfully iconic characters like The Man With No Name and Dirty Harry and Josie Wales Reynolds had Bandit, Gator McKlusky and Stick Stickley. When Eastwood started directing audiences got PLAY MISTY FOR ME, HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER, THE OUTLAW JOSIE WALES, and eventually the Oscar-baiting UNFORGIVEN. Reynolds gave audiences a taste of his directorial skills with GATOR, THE END, SHARKEY'S MACHINE and STICK.By the eighties, neither actor seemed to still be at the top of their game, but Eastwood continued to remain a timeless epitome of cool machismo. Whereas Reynolds, with his 70s porno-star moustache and intricately coiffed toupé looked sadly hokey and anachronistic.Which brings me to MALONE. This is one of those films that you feel you shouldn't like but do in-spite of your better judgement. Burt is an ex-special forces operative and CIA troubleshooter proficient at wet work. He loses his edge, aborts an assassination and walks away because he's had enough of the killing and stuff, etc, etc. He ends up stranded in a one horse town in a beautiful valley somewhere in California when his car breaks down. As is the way of such things, the parts he needs to get his car working again have to be ordered so he shelters with the local garage owner and his nubile daughter.Meanwhile, mega rich and frozen-faced landowner Delaney (Cliff Robertson) is buying up all the local properties and strong-arming the populace out of his way. He's an ultra right-wing nut-job building an army to fight for truth, justice and the American way. Which translates as "kill anyone who doesn't agree with us or is in any way, shape or form different than us." Soon, Malone crosses the path of some of his hired goons and you can pretty much guess the rest. Yes, they've met the wrong guy this time. When Malone's ex partner and lover (Lauren Hutton) ends up with a plastic bag over her head at the hands of Delaney's thugs his aversion to all the killing and stuff, etc, etc, is forgotten and Burt and his trusty toupé embark on a one man wigged-out mission to blow them all away.What can I tell you. It's dumb, predictable, contrived, thick-eared and really quite low rent. And it's great fun. Burt takes it all quite seriously, but ironically looks utterly absurd. The moustache, the wig, the denims, the paunch. But he punches, runs, jumps and shoots with remarkable enthusiasm and prowess. Whilst looking utterly absurd. Cliff Robertson has the quizzically stunned expression of a man who once won a best actor Oscar and is now wondering just what the hell happened to his career and just how did he wind up a second stringer in films like MALONE.Yet I don't resent this movie one iota. Certainly not enough to call it a guilty pleasure because I don't feel guilty in the least. I like this film because I enjoy it. And if it came down to a choice of kicking back with some DVDs at home and watching either MALONE or MILLION DOLLAR BABY (even though Eastwood is number one in my book) it's going to be a clear case of home MALONE.

Robert J. Maxwell Burt Reynolds is an ex CIA hit man who coincidentally gets caught up in some sort of well-funded, ultra-patriotic plot in a small town in Oregon. Mister Big in this scheme is Cliff Robertson. Like one of those corrupt cattlemen in generic Westerns, he runs the town, including the sheriff, Kenneth MacMillan. When Reynold's car breaks down, he stays with the friendly garage owner, Scott Wilson. Wilson's nubile young daughter takes a shine to the disillusioned and taciturn Reynolds but he's too proper to take advantage of her advances, the fool.After a run-in with a couple of Robertson's assassins, Reynolds winds up with a couple of bullets in his belly. He survives, of course, and is rescued and taken to a safe house by an old friend from the Company, Lauren Hutton. The suave local goons soon find the safe house and plastic-bag Hutton to death. This annoys the hero. And it provides him with the revenge motive that leads to the thoroughly predictable climactic shoot out.Neat location shooting in British Columbia. Verdant forests, jagged hills, a pervading sense of tranquility.Reynold's part could have been played by Charles Bronson, Dolph Lundgren, Jean-Claude Van Damme, the young Clint Eastwood, the aging John Wayne, or Babaloo Mandel. It wouldn't make any difference. It's a strictly routine action movie put together with all the generic elements -- the car chase, the exploding fireball, the oily hood who never blinks, the villainous smirk, the hero who holds his feelings in check, the ugly guns, the incandescent eyeballs of the man behind the curtain.Burt Reynolds is a likable guy. Few actors lack pretense the way he does, unashamedly and in a funny, self-deprecating way. But he never really had any good scripts except "Deliverance" and "Boogie Nights." Cynthia Gibb was already in her mid-20s when this was shot, not the teen ager her character is supposed to be. Not that it matters. Her acting skills are modest at best but she's had dance training and, in some eerie way, it lends cachet to her extraordinarily conventional beauty. Her nose in profile could have been designed with the aid of one of those plastic French curves that are used in high school geometry classes.Cliff Robertson is a fine actor in the right role. He never dazzles because he's given to subtleties. The flamboyant "Charly" was an outlier for him. In other roles, as the CIA bureaucrat in "Three Days of the Condor," he manages to get all kinds of signals across with the merest change of expression, a smooth smile or a momentary lift of the eyebrows. By the time of "Malone", he must have needed parts because this stereotype is unworthy of him. He died recently.The film is diverting, that's all.

bkoganbing In Malone, Burt Reynolds is a CIA paid assassin who's tired of the life and wants out of the company. Of course the company doesn't see it his way and his former protégé Lauren Hutton is sent to terminate his contract with the agency. But Reynolds in looking for obscurity finds a place where a mysterious millionaire Cliff Robertson is buying all the land in some obscure valley in Idaho to make it his headquarters for some ill defined right wing conspiracy. Robertson's bought the sheriff, Kenneth McMillan and several local louts to enforce his will on the community. Reynolds's car broke down here by sheer chance and he's taken in by garage owner Scott Wilson and his daughter Cynthia Gibb. When Robertson's thugs start leaning on them, Reynolds springs into action.Burt Reynolds's style is a whole lot like James Garner, quizzical, cynical and charming. I'm not used to seeing him play it as tight lipped as he does in Malone, but he does carry it off. The film borrows a lot from the plot of Shane and I could certainly see a 1987 version of Alan Ladd in the part.It's a good action film even though a lot of the plot issues are unresolved. More than fans of Burt Reynolds will enjoy this.