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1987 - 92m.

In Malone the only thing more outrageous than star Burt Reynolds' toupee are the blood squibs which are the most impressive and over-the-top explosions of the red stuff I've probably seen in an action flick. This is especially true when our hero uses a shotgun to take out the baddies trying to murder him. It's these explosively bloody effects, and a pretty amazing barbershop moment, that makes this leisurely paced flick mildly watchable despite all of Reynolds' lacklustre attempts to be a gruff, secretive and brooding hero who spends a lot of time hanging out in his room smoking and staring off into space. This is just another forgettable moment in a string of woefully lame efforts he cranked out in the 80's that felt like he was attempting to recapture the action hero status of the previous decade resulting in such fare as Heat and the super crappy Rent-a-Cop which co-starred Liza Minnelli as the call girl(!) he's forced to team-up with to track down a killer.

After being unable to assassinate a mobster-like baddie, CIA agent Malone (Reynolds) quits his job and decides to take a break from the hitman game to travel across country. When his car breaks down in the small mountain town of Comstock, Oregon he ends up at the gas station run by teenager Jo (Cynthia Gibb) and her father who are being put under pressure by sleazy businessman Delaney (Cliff Robertson) who has been buying up all the land in town and wants their station for his next purchase.

Rather than get his car towed to the next town which is miles away, Malone opts to stay in the spare room at the station and is soon dragged into the conflict after having a run-in with some thugs under the employment of Delaney. Seeing as he is ex-CIA, this turns out to be a bad move by our baddies as Malone sets-out to stop their reign of terror while we learn that Delaney is part of some strange maniacal patriots who are anti-foreigners and out to reclaim America, there's multiple creepy scenes of the seventeen-year-old Jo lusting after our middle-aged hero (and this is after she finds a gun while snooping in his luggage!), have co-star Lauren Hutton finally show-up halfway through blasting away at a shooting range before getting hot 'n' heavy with Malone, and must endure a lot of dull moments before a finale that offers up minimal excitement and a truly hilarious final moment.

Reynolds really just seems to be going through the motions. He just looks completely tired. Gone is the moonshine running Southern charm of White Lightning, the prison football fun of The Longest Yard, and the comedic goofiness of Smokey and the Bandit. The only time he shows any spark is during the aforementioned barbershop scene though, I must admit, he does look pretty good sporting a shotgun. However, compared to a guy like Charles Bronson who was also trying to regain action star cred in the 80's - which I believe he achieved with the Death Wish sequels and stuff like 10 to Midnight - Burt just seems to not want to be there. Ever since 1986's Youngblood, I always welcome the sight of Gibb and she does okay even though her obsession with Malone just felt wrong. Character actor Robertson is solid as our racist villain and the pairing of familiar faces Tracey Walter (Repo Man, Conan the Destroyer) and Dennis Burkley as two none-too-bright henchmen brothers is pretty fun to watch.

In the lexicon of Reynolds movies it's not likely to go Deliverance... The Cannonball Run... Malone. There's a reason for that. It's the type of movie I only watched because it was on TV one night and, right afterwards, pretty much forgot about. This is a typical reaction to Burt's late 80's movies and that's too bad because he was such a cool dude in all the films I mentioned above. Even in the hands of director Harley Cokliss, who delivered some decent action in his previous outings Battletruck and Black Moon Rising, there's very little to get excited about here - though, as I keep bringing up, it's extremely satisfying to repeatedly see people's chests bloodily explode at the business end of gun blasts. (Chris Hartley, 9/27/15)

Directed By: Harley Cokliss.
Written By: Christopher Frank.

Starring: Burt Reynolds, Kenneth McMillan, Cynthia Gibb, Scott Wilson.