White Lightning (1973) – Joseph Sargent

Burt Reynolds stars as Gator McClusky, who feels like he may be a more rough and tumble relative of the Bandit. And speaking of Smokey & the Bandit, Hal Needham, who went on to direct that classic film, served as the second unit director on this film. Gator is in prison, and he’s a model…

Brubaker (1980) – Stuart Rosenberg

Robert Redford has always been a favourite of mine. He’s imminently watchable and very likeable on camera, and Brubaker was a film that was always on my radar but one I had never gotten around to. Based on and inspired by true events, Redford plays Henry Brubaker, a reformist prison warden who has been hired…

The Legend of the Lone Ranger (1981) – William A. Fraker

There are a few things to redeem the 1981 iteration of the Lone Ranger story, it has a score by John Barry, and features Christopher Lloyd as the film’s baddie. But beyond that, this one is pretty horrible. The story, while violent, isn’t layered, sophisticated or much stronger than a grade-school tale. And that’s to…

Return to Oz (1985) – Walter Murch

It’s time to go back to Oz, with Disney’s 1985 film Return to Oz, which serves to combine two of the original Frank L. Baum novels, The Marvellous Land of Oz, and of Ozma of Oz. And that magical land is the next stop in the DK Canada’s tome, The Movie Book. They recommend the…