This film screened 13th February 2010.

In The Deer Hunter, Michael Cimino created an unforgettable portrait of the stresses and strains of male loyalty, but his directorial debut shapes a no less well-observed portrait of rutting manhood in the form of a Clint Eastwood caper flick. Clint’s suitably imperious as the career crook on the run from the ex-partners, scary George Kennedy and amiable dullard Geoffrey Lewis (Juliette’s dad!), who reckon he’s done them out of the proceeds of a heist they pulled together. Enter Jeff Bridges, a feckless drifter looking to get in with Eastwood, and whose slightly skewed way of looking at things influences the senior partner’s game plan. Touchingly gauche as the young man eager to find his place in the scheme of things, Bridges was well worth his Oscar nomination in a movie which delivers crime-pic thrills, but takes the time to develop complex bonds between its bristling badass characters.