The Fury (1978)

Following the perfection of Carrie (1976) with another story about powers of the mind was perhaps a questionable idea, but that’s what De Palma did. He brought Amy Irving back for more, too, placing her on a different side of the fence. Many of the stylistic turns you associate with him are in place alongside a few fascinating new ones (that spectacular scene on the stairs!).
The parent/child relationship that’s much more than surface deep is also one of best friends between the characters played by Kirk Douglas and Andrew Stevens. Douglas’ motivations stay resolute as he moves from busy beach to busy street, doing his best to avoid detection by a secret government agency. It's a fine 70s thriller, but there's a small handful of scenes that border on superfluous or could've been more tightly wound to better effect.

3½ bleeders out of 5

Pale Rider (1985)

A nameless preacher aids a group of gold prospectors by taking on the town bully and his cohorts. In most of Eastwood’s westerns the plot is secondary to watching him bad-ass his way through town, cleaning out the trash with a pistol while still remaining character studies and not crossing over into action movie territory. PR is like that, but it's a film of parts, some that are fantastically Kurosawa-esque and others that are plain awful and unintentionally laughable. Nevertheless, it entertains which is what I wanted. Clint is, was and always will be the quintessential movie cowboy.

3 jingly jangly spurs out of 5