Tough Guys *** (1986, Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Charles Durning, Alexis Smith, Eli Wallach, Dana Carvey) – Classic Movie Review 10,756

Septuagenarian buddies Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas unite for the seventh (and last) time for director Jeff Kanew’s 1986 film Tough Guys, an amiable, entertaining caper about elderly train robbers Harry Doyle (Lancaster) and Archie Long (Douglas) freed from jail and soon getting back to business.

A hit-and-miss script by James Orr and Jim Cruickshank sometimes lets the side down, but there is great rapport between old Burt and Kirk and a tremendous climax filmed on the Eagle Mountain railroad near Palm Springs.

Tough Guys is easy to like, especially for fans of the stars.

Also in the cast are Charles Durning, Alexis Smith, Eli Wallach, Dana Carvey, Darlanne Fleugel, Monty Ash, Billy Barty, Sammy Bow, Darlene Conley, Nathan Davis, Matthew Faison, Corkey Ford, Rick Garcia and Graham Jarvis.

It is also the last film from Kirk Douglas’s Bryna Productions. It did pretty well. Costing $10,000,000, it grossed $21,458,229 in the US.

Movie superstar Kirk Douglas died at 103 on 5 February 2020.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 10,756

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