Attack! (1956)

The great, tough Robert Aldrich, with his harsh black-and-white, edgy frames, and stark close-ups, takes on a play by Norman Brooks (originally titled Fragile Fox) and turns it into a ferocious portrait of men under pressure, whose worst enemy is cowardice. Lieutenant Costa (Jack Palance) watches good men die trying to take a pillbox on a hill, all because Captain Cooney (Eddie Albert) was too scared to send in reinforcements. Lt. Harry Woodruff (William Smithers) tries to speak to Lieutenant Colonel Bartlett (Lee Marvin) about the problem, but Cooney is protected by high-powered connections. Besides, the war is almost over! What could go wrong. Of course, the men are ordered to take a small village, and Cooney orders them to take it in the most dangerous, reckless way, offering assistance that — of course — will never come. And Costa vows his revenge. Buddy Ebsen (later of TV's The Beverly Hillbillies) co-stars as Sergeant First Class Tolliver, Costa's trusted right-hand man. Strother Martin (Cool Hand Luke) is a sergeant, and Peter van Eyck (of Orson Welles's Mr. Arkadin) is an SS Captain. Kino Lorber released it on a crackerjack Blu-ray in 2020, with a collection of trailers for this another Aldrich films. read more...

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• Innocence ▶ Seasoned, Savvy, Streetwise

Crossfire (1947)

After Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity, Edward Dmytryk's Crossfire was the only 1940s-era film noir to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar, and the reason is clear. Not because it's better than any other noir, but because it has a very strong and powerful message against anti-Semitism. read more...

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• Moralistic ▶ Yes please

Twilight's Last Gleaming (1977)

Robert Aldrich's Twilight's Last Gleaming is one of his angrier, tenser films, and one that has been difficult to see for several decades. Now, thanks to Olive Films, Blu-ray fans can devour it in its full glory. read more...

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• Anxiety Level ▶ I like my stomach in knots

Triple 9 (2016)

Establishing himself as a director of tough genre films, John Hillcoat offers this contemporary crime thriller, multi-faceted, and devilishly complex, without wasting any time on needless background. Ragged and colorful, Triple 9 — the title comes from the police code for "officer down" — doesn't offer any expository background for its characters. What's there is observed and inferred through behavior and interaction; the characters come alive organically. read more...

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• Boldness ▶ Bold, aggressive, unrepressed, cathartic or expressive actions
• Innocence ▶ Seasoned, Savvy, Streetwise

Deep Cover (1992)

The incredibly prolific director and actor Bill Duke has a long list of credits, but Deep Cover may be the film he's remembered for. On the surface, it's another story of an undercover cop who gets in too deep, but Duke elevates it to the next level, touching on race, identity, and economics in a way that other films of the 1990s did not. read more...

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• Anxiety Level ▶ I like my stomach in knots
• Optimistic ▶ No thanks
• Innocence ▶ Seasoned, Savvy, Streetwise