Slap Shot (1977)

Reggie (Paul Newman) is coach of the Charlestown Chiefs ice hockey team. Their popularity is waning, and the economic downturn of the general area means the paying audience that they need to stay afloat just isn't there. Salvation comes when an outbreak of extreme violence on the ice strikes a chord with the fans; angry at a faceless system, they crave blood. The more of it that gets shed, the more popular the team becomes.
I don't personally consider Slap Shot to be a 'sports' movie, but it's a movie and it has sporting action, so call it what you will. What's important is that it stands strong by avoiding the woeful clichés that often plague the genre. And while it has a lot of comedy, it's played straight, not slapstick. Even the most violent members, the three Hanson brothers, are bloody hilarious at times.

3½ crazy pucks out of 5

The Towering Inferno (1974)

Previously it was a watery death that an ensemble star cast had to run from, now it's a fiery one. They're opposing elements, but the end result is a similar kind of disaster movie, again produced by Irwin Allen (Dir. John Guillermin).
With a story adapted from two different novels (The Tower by R.M. Stern; The Glass Inferno by T.N. Scortia and F.M. Robinson), the script doesn't rush to the big event, but nor does it dally. An epic establishing scene effectively gets us to where the (hot) shit goes down. Thereafter the two male leads, Paul Newman and Steve McQueen, are cleverly kept apart for the longest time but are dependent on each other's skills at crucial moments throughout.
The villains of the piece are hobnobbing rich folks who feel that their life is somehow worth more than that of the average Joe.

3½ corners cut out of 5

Road to Perdition (2002)

RtP is adapted from a graphic novel of the same name by Max Allan Collins, itself inspired by Kazuo Koike's Lone Wolf and Cub manga. The importance of the father and son relationship in both books is maintained throughout.
It's set in 1931, Illinois. The father is Michael Sullivan Sr. (Hanks), a man who goes to great lengths to keep his sons from becoming aware that his boss, John Rooney (Newman), is the head of the mob and that their father is his best enforcer. But Sullivan's methods create a gulf between him and the boys.
With that established early on, the remainder of the film addresses it, but not in the way you might think. Through moments of tragedy, circumstance and sincerity, carefully distilled with shadows and light, we're drawn into their story, into the era and, if you're sympathetically equipped, into the understanding of why the swallowing of emotions that's sometimes necessary to get the job done isn't always the best course of action for either party.

4½ accounts settled out of 5

Fort Apache, the Bronx (1981)

A police drama that’s based on the lives of real policemen but is nevertheless set in a fictionalised version of the South Bronx.
Paul Newman is Murphy, a straight-talking cop who knows that in order to get through the day you sometimes have to let the rules bend, but only so far as they don’t break. A sound judgement is as important as a steady hand.
It’s a standard character-driven film about cops and their daily trials that includes bag-snatchings, drug pushers pushing their trade and their luck, and even a pimp in a fur coat. It’s nothing special, but nor is it any slouch.

3 neighbourhood sights out of 5

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)

Maggie and her husband Brick have relationship problems and in a house with no locked doors privacy is impossible. They're gathered with the rest of the family for Big Daddy's birthday, a man who knows that such gatherings are a boiling pot of arrogance and resentment.
Big Daddy (Burl Ives) thunders his way through every scene; it's a joy to watch. Taylor and Newman are on fire. Hell, even the pathetic fallacy is welcome.
The third act is essential viewing for any lover of good drama.

4 shouty Mississippians out of 5