Majorthebys Charming and brutal

Bluebell Alcock Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Ginger Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Delight Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

eskovan2 Like it or not this film _IS_ flamingly left wing. To the point of fault. It's of the category of many late 70s-early 80s left-wing, revisionist-history fair like The China Syndrome or The Day After. The old-school movie studio system was finally torn down completely and the inmates got to run the asylum for awhile.That being said, this film is an OK little thriller. Lancaster delivers the goods (despite B-list costars like Burt Young) as does the rest of the veteran all-star cast. May entertain up to a young-adult audience of today. This is about all the 'reviewing' this movie deserves.The problem is the film looks, and is, ridiculously dated. And it has very lofty and (at the time) very sincere moral ambitions, but with hindsight it all just comes off as being, well, silly. The Vietnam War was a very complicated affair, but this film simply pigeonholes it as just another govt 'cover-up' ala Watergate. Many reviewers describe it as a "catharsis" for those who opposed the War, but that's an incredible insult to themselves. It's like comparing the TV series M*A*S*H to the real Korean conflict: Its overly simplistic, inaccurate, and at times, idiotic! What was once an ambitious, seemingly edgy political thriller comes off today as a cheesy TV-movie. Its overwrought and originally serious pathos now appears as nothing more than bad scenery-chewing.On a technical note, the film's mid-way climax where an ICBM launch is first initiated then aborted, is nonsense. There would be absolutely no way what-so-ever to abort a launch like that. The silo covers don't open slowly, they're shot open in less than a second by explosive means. And regardless of whether they're supposed to be liquid or solid-fueled ICBMs they're lifted out of the silos by their rocket motors, hence they can't be stopped. It's a key moment of the film that's also a complete fabrication.If you want some lightweight fare, watch it for what it's worth. But don't debate its lofty ambitions, you just embarrass yourself.

Woodyanders A band of dangerous escaped convicts led by bitter, disgraced and determined renegade former Strategic Air Force General Laurence Dell (superbly played by Burt Lancaster) take over a nuclear missile silo. They demand ten million dollars, the release of a top secret document which gives the true reason why America fought in the Vietnam war, Air Force One as a getaway plane, and affable, moral President David T. Stevens (an outstanding performance by Charles Durning) as a hostage. If Dell's demands aren't met, he'll launch the missiles and start World War III. Director Robert Aldrich, working from a bold, hard-hitting and incisive script by Ronald M. Cohen and Edward Huebsch, relates the arresting premise at a constant headlong pace, stages several stirring action set pieces with rip-roaring gusto, and builds a tremendous amount of nerve-wracking suspense. This film further benefits from terrific acting from a first-rate cast: Lancaster and especially Durning both excel in their meaty roles, with fine support from Paul Winfield as the antsy, reluctant Willis Powell, Burt Young as the grubby, excitable Augie Garvas, Richard Widmark as Dell's austere nemesis General Martin McKenzie, Melvyn Douglas as the pragmatic Secretary of Defense Zachariah Guthrie, William Marshall as the equally wise Attorney General William Klinger, Joseph Cotten as the weaselly Secretary of State Arthur Renfew, Gerald S. O'Laughlin as Stevens' loyal right-hand man Brigadier General O'Rourke, and Richard Jaeckel as the disillusioned Captain Standford Towne. William Smith makes a brief, yet chilling appearance as vicious unstable psycho Hoxey. Robert B. Hauser's polished cinematography makes inspired frequent use of split screen. Jerry Goldsmith supplies a tense, rattling, rousing score. The devastating downbeat ending packs a strong sucker punch to the gut. But what really makes this film so effective and impressive is the potent and provocative statement it bravely makes about the unnecessary wastefulness of the Vietnam war. An absolute powerhouse.

avfred I've been waiting 10 years to see this film again. Great news that it might be released in 2007 in its full glory. Twilight's Last Gleaming is one of the films that had a profound effect on me, partly because I was a Vietnam-era student and partly because of the intense subject matter.This film by Robert Aldrich deserves a wide audience, particularly in this time (George W. Bush administration) when the themes it presents are so current. Questions abound: Who is a terrorist? What has our government done in the name of freedom? What are we prepared to do to maintain secrecy? I can't wait. Moreover, the ending will again hit me between the eyes.

cwcsquaredcwc This is one of the few films I saw in its original release in the theater where the audience actually applauded at the end. Burt Lancaster and Richard Widmark were excellent, and the cast of actors is incredible. The film uses an innovative split screen effect throughout. The viewer sees what is transpiring in two, three and even four places simultaneously. This heightens the suspense, as we see approaching threats that the characters cannot. Lancaster's Dell character is superb. He basically dominates the entire film, if one can believe how he got stuck in prison in the first place. The end shocked most in the theater, but one can see it coming and understand that it could really happen, under the circumstances. Another governmental cover-up.I'm not sure if it is a spoiler, so I checked the box, just in case.