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The Color Purple
(1985)
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Kenneth Turan
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Spielberg and first-time screenwriter Menno Meyjes have taken [Alice Walker's] strong, sometimes angry book and sanitized it into an obvious, sentimental fairy tale.
Posted May 25, 2023
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Raiders of the Lost Ark
(1981)
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Kenneth Turan
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[Ford's] is the most pleasing kind of hero, simultaneously wised up and aw shucks, someone who treats the whole picture as a sly joke he is sharing with the audience... This feeling of freshness is the one thing Raiders could use a bit more of.
Posted May 03, 2023
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Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(1984)
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Kenneth Turan
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It may sound exhilarating, but it is nothing more than exhausting; the sounds coming from theaters will not be those of glee but rather pitiful cries of "Enough already, I surrender."
Posted Apr 17, 2023
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The Deer Hunter
(1978)
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Stephen Farber
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In terms of sheer impact, this is the best movie of 1978; it restores power and urgency to the screen.
Posted Aug 30, 2022
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Kramer vs. Kramer
(1979)
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Stephen Farber
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The movies have given us scores of courtroom dramas; Kramer vs. Kramer is one of the few that draw real blood.
Posted Aug 05, 2022
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The Last Emperor
(1987)
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John Powers
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The Last Emperor [is] one of the most beautiful-looking films ever made. Yet the style is so chill and remote its very beauty keeps the audience at a distance. This is a movie waiting for an idea, or passion, to bring it fully to life.
Posted Aug 02, 2022
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Terms of Endearment
(1983)
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Kenneth Turan
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It is a first film made with the assurance of a fortieth; a wicked, sophisticated comedy that shades imperceptibly into sadness without losing its sense of humor; a showcase for a remarkable pair of vibrant performances by its female leads.
Posted Jul 20, 2022
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Gandhi
(1982)
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Kenneth Turan
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Attenborough's vision comes down to a "Boy's Life of Gandhi," a stodgy hagiography that is neither objectionable nor, with the single exception of actor Ben Kingsley as Gandhi, at all exciting.
Posted Jul 19, 2022
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Ordinary People
(1980)
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Kenneth Turan
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Ordinary People is a work any director would be pleased with, and as a first time effort it is exceptional.
Posted Jul 15, 2022
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Amadeus
(1984)
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Kenneth Turan
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For a full two hours, Amadeus is by and large a splendid film, lavish, exuberant, full of spectacle and vitality. But intoxicated by its own success, it unwisely chooses to go on and on, overstaying its welcome by a good half hour.
Posted Jul 11, 2022
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Thief
(1981)
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Kenneth Turan
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Clever, substantial, carefully cast, and meticulously made, Thief combines exceptional documentary-style crime re-creations with a fatalistic romance that echoes the past but has resonances all its own.
Posted Jul 07, 2022
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Every Man for Himself
(1980)
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Kenneth Turan
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Godard's new work is certainly arresting, audacious, provocative and all the rest, but it is also tedious, difficult to sit through, a film made for critics and dissertation writers and almost no one else.
Posted Jun 17, 2022
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Tess
(1979)
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Kenneth Turan
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Unarguably a solid, engrossing film, this is nevertheless one that never grabs hold. If not a waste of talent, Tess is certainly a waste of inclination. Polanski's heart may have been in it, but not his soul.
Posted Jun 17, 2022
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Tell Me A Riddle
(1980)
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Kenneth Turan
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Though not a complete success, Tell Me a Riddle's rare warmth and tenderness are enough to make it a very special occasion.
Posted Jun 17, 2022
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Fort Apache, the Bronx
(1981)
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Kenneth Turan
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Flaccid and undefined where it should be taut: Though much is made of its having been shot on location in the dread South Bronx itself, the picture plays like it was made on the Fox back lot.
Posted Jun 17, 2022
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Scanners
(1981)
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Kenneth Turan
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The picture is a genre classic, a masterpiece in its own spooky way, but saying that evokes visions of elitist projects that delicately scrutinize the human condition. Scanners is not like that all. It is a hard-edge, no-nonsense science fiction thriller.
Posted Jun 17, 2022
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The Last Starfighter
(1984)
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Kenneth Turan
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Though the Last Starfighter is strictly vintage Saturday matinee material, it has an affability about it that is unexpectedly disarming.
Posted May 03, 2022
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Coal Miner's Daughter
(1980)
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Stephen Farber
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Spacek and Jones are a pleasure to watch, but we still come away feeling that a great deal of the dramatic potential of this extraordinary story has been betrayed.
Posted Apr 07, 2022
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Chariots of Fire
(1981)
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Kenneth Turan
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As an exploration of Why We Run and, by implication, Why We Watch, Chariots of Fire has no competition.
Posted Jan 21, 2022
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Airplane!
(1980)
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Kenneth Turan
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It is very funny in a very silly kind of way and that people who intend to see it should do so as soon as possible. For this is a movie whose charm comes totally from the unexpected, off-the-wall nature of its jokes.
Posted Nov 04, 2021
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My Bodyguard
(1980)
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Kenneth Turan
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Meretricious, dishonest and exploitive, a specious wish-fulfillment fantasy masquerading as a piece of sensitive filmmaking.
Posted Nov 04, 2021
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Practice Makes Perfect
(1978)
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Kenneth Turan
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Perhaps not a serious film by Ingmar Bergman standards, Practice is still a poignant work, very French and unexpectedly moving.
Posted Nov 04, 2021
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Stardust Memories
(1980)
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Kenneth Turan
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Stardust Memories is a very sharp film, a black comedy of despair if you will, and though the jokes are extraordinarily bitter and biting, they are plentiful and they are breathtakingly funny.
Posted Nov 04, 2021
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Somewhere in Time
(1980)
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Kenneth Turan
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Sloppy where it should be sure, crudely drawn where it should be sensitive, careless around the edges with extraneous bits of business, the film takes the audience's complicity for granted and loses its grasp in the process.
Posted Nov 04, 2021
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Best Boy
(1979)
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Kenneth Turan
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Best Boy has something uniquely moving in it, and that is the presence of Philly Wohl, the man-child of the title.
Posted Nov 04, 2021
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The Outsider
(1979)
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Kenneth Turan
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The Outsider is as gripping as it is significant, as emotionally involving as it is right thinking, a film that is entertaining in the best and truest sense of the word.
Posted Nov 04, 2021
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The Elephant Man
(1980)
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Kenneth Turan
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Lynch has a dead-on feel for the shivery intangibles that crawl under the skin and into the subconscious.
Posted Nov 04, 2021
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The Tin Drum
(1979)
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Stephen Farber
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The film is done with such grace and control that we quickly accept the singular perspective of this bizarre tale.
Posted Nov 04, 2021
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Wise Blood
(1979)
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Stephen Farber
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Wise Blood is as sly and nimble as some of the late films of Bunuel. Huston is now 73, so this is an old man's film, but it has a vigor and audacity that most young directors should envy.
Posted Nov 04, 2021
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Serial
(1980)
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Stephen Farber
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The games played by swinging young marrieds were satirized ten years ago in Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, while the estian jargon was skewered more savagely in Semi-Tough. Serial fails to find new twists on these tired old jokes.
Posted Nov 04, 2021
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Martin
(1978)
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Stephen Farber
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Martin is not quite terrifying or riveting enough to rank with the classic horror films, but it teases the imagination in unexpected ways.
Posted Nov 03, 2021
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Violette
(1978)
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Stephen Farber
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The film is not as involving as one might wish, but it's worth seeing for its intelligent, icy dissection of a chilling, true crime story.
Posted Nov 03, 2021
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No Time for Breakfast
(1975)
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Stephen Farber
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No Time for Breakfast doesn't do justice to its subject or to the talents of its star.
Posted Nov 03, 2021
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Dragonslayer
(1981)
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Kenneth Turan
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As much of a triumph as this creature is, Vermithrax can't carry the entire picture. No creature can, and it is the lapses in the human part of the equation that prevent Dragonslayer from being the picture it might have been.
Posted Nov 03, 2021
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Spetters
(1980)
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Kenneth Turan
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It is the canny way Verhoeven blends hoary plotting with sexy thrills that makes Spetters as enjoyable as it is.
Posted Nov 03, 2021
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Eye of the Needle
(1981)
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Kenneth Turan
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It is a swift, streamlined piece of entertainment, an expert thriller that serves to remind us how rare the simple competence and craft it has to offer have lately become.
Posted Nov 03, 2021
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For Your Eyes Only
(1981)
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Kenneth Turan
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For Your Eyes Only is the twelfth Bond picture, the fifth with Roger Moore in the title role, and no series has been more homogenous.
Posted Nov 03, 2021
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Butch and Sundance: The Early Days
(1979)
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Stephen Farber
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The entire movie seems slightly bloodless.
Posted Nov 03, 2021
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Tattooed Tears
(1979)
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Stephen Farber
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Broomfield and Churchill capture the oppressiveness of the daily routines, along with some hair-raising dramatic encounters that illustrate the tension between the inmates and their guardians.
Posted Nov 03, 2021
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Players
(1979)
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Stephen Farber
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I don't think I've ever seen a film in which so much time is spent on irrelevant actions.
Posted Nov 03, 2021
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Prophecy
(1979)
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Stephen Farber
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The problem with Prophecy is that it can't decide whether it wants to be a serious indictment of corporate corruption or a campy, old-fashioned monster marathon.
Posted Nov 03, 2021
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The Muppet Movie
(1979)
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Stephen Farber
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Suffice it to say that I think this movie is funnier than Manhattan, more romantic than Hurricane, and a more sophisticated speculation on illusion and reality than Last Year at Marienbad.
Posted Nov 03, 2021
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A Perfect Couple
(1979)
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Stephen Farber
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Altman has a new movie called A Perfect Couple, and it turns out to be one of his finest achievements.
Posted Nov 03, 2021
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The Champ
(1979)
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Stephen Farber
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This film has only two moods: the mawkish and the maudlin.
Posted Nov 03, 2021
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Body Heat
(1981)
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Kenneth Turan
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Body Heat sizzles, smolders, burns.
Posted Nov 03, 2021
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An American Werewolf in London
(1981)
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Kenneth Turan
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There is something inexpressibly fresh and zany in this kind of macabre humor, a delighting in the sheer movie nonsense of it all, that makes American Werewolf a wacky marriage of the sophomoric and the surreal.
Posted Nov 03, 2021
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Endless Love
(1981)
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Kenneth Turan
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Endless Love never lets you forget what the book's sophisticated language lets you ignore: that our protagonists are a pair of shallow, spoiled teenagers.
Posted Nov 03, 2021
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Prince of the City
(1981)
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Kenneth Turan
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It is a film without answers, but the questions it raises couldn't be more critical.
Posted Nov 03, 2021
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Fame
(1980)
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Stephen Farber
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With a lot of energy and talent going for it, you can't help wanting to like Fame. Yet the sad truth is that the film falls short of its potential in almost every way.
Posted Nov 03, 2021
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Tom Horn
(1980)
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Stephen Farber
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The movie has no poetry and no vitality.
Posted Nov 03, 2021
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