Malone

Plot synopsis:
A floatplane navigates through the Pacific Northwest, landing in Puget Sound. As the well-dressed passenger emerges, ex-CIA agent Richard Malone targets him in his crosshairs, but he is unable to pull the trigger. He burns his Maryland driver's license and heads inland. His Ford Mustang breaks down in a rural Oregon valley. Malone pushes it to a gas station and garage owned by Paul Barlow, who runs the station with his 17-year-old daughter Jo. Barlow suggests the fastest way to repair the car is to tow it 60 miles to a larger service station. Malone opts to wait for the necessary parts to arrive. Paul invites Malone to stay in the spare room.
Jo snoops through Malone's possessions, finding his gun. Malone helps Paul with his repair work and sizes up the town, which is under the thumb of Charles Delaney, who buys up all the property he can and forces people to sell if they first refuse. A group of Delaney's thugs harass Malone and Jo on a bridge and refuse to let them pass. Malone severely beats the ringleader, Dan Bollard, sending him to the hospital. Dan's brother, Calvin, is goaded into killing Malone by Delaney's main henchman Madrid, but is shot by Malone instead.
While Sheriff Hawkins is holding Malone at the jail, Delaney breezes in to introduce himself. Delaney tells the sheriff to let him go, then orders Madrid to arrange a hit on Malone. The next day, two hitmen come to the service station. Malone kills both, although he is badly wounded. Hawkins instructs a deputy to drive Malone to the hospital. The deputy drives offroad, with Malone bouncing in the back seat. Realizing that the deputy is trying to kill him, Malone grabs the wheel and crashes the car.
In the hospital, Malone's CIA handler Jamie arrives to ferry him to safety. They hole up together in a safe house and rekindle their romance. When Malone goes to pick up his car from the Barlows, Madrid leads an attack on the safe house and kills Jamie with a plastic bag. An angry Malone soon infiltrates Delaney's sprawling compound, killing the henchmen including Madrid to avenge Jamie's death. Delaney retreats to his secret command center, where he tells Malone that he is part of a vast conspiracy of like-minded "patriots" who are buying up land and electing Congressmen to retake the country from "mongrels." Malone proceeds to kill Delaney and blow up his compound, then walks away, burning his Commonwealth of Virginia driver's license.

Tags: neo noir, murder, cult, violence, good versus evil, revenge, sadist

Review:
Even though some people state that this film is awful, but they are forgetting that most 80's action films where and this was one of many that was churned out then forgotten.I vividly remember first watching this on video rental and thought it was brilliant and even though it's very dated I still love the film as an 80's classic like I would watch some old black and white film.I don't feel I should have to wait until the film is 40 or 50 years old to claim it is an classic nor should I go with other persons comments that it is crap just because they are watching the film without growing up in the 80's when the film was made and is set in.with regards jpclarke.
In Malone, Burt Reynolds is a CIA paid assassin who's tired of the life and wants out of the company.
But Reynolds in looking for obscurity finds a place where a mysterious millionaire Cliff Robertson is buying all the land in some obscure valley in Idaho to make it his headquarters for some ill defined right wing conspiracy.
When Robertson's thugs start leaning on them, Reynolds springs into action.Burt Reynolds's style is a whole lot like James Garner, quizzical, cynical and charming.
Malone, a fairly obvious updating of Shane, reaches deeply in to the duffers bag of clichés to pull out; the burnt out assassin, the beautiful former colleague, cute teenage girl and her brave but crippled father and, of course, a nutter who along with his evil henchmen are bent on taking over the government.
Burt Reynolds is actually not a bad actor when he's not trying to be 'a good old boy' all the time.
Never mind, I've added it to my list of films to be watch every time they turn up in the schedule and I guess I'll just continue to enjoy it for what it is, a good bad movie..
"Malone" is a must see for Burt Reynolds fans ............
Burt Reynolds at times can be a really annoying actor, often portraying an enormous ego, that gets in the way of true acting.
I am happy to report that is not the case with"Malone", as a very low key Burt Reynolds is complimented nicely by an always low key Scott Wilson.
"Malone" is a very good action film, and one of Burt's best.
Burt Reynolds and Cliff Robertson star this light and simple spying adventure.Reynolds is Richard Malone,an ex-CIA agent who,tired of his profession as a killer,resolves to leave his past behind and travels through the country,in search of a new beginning.But he ends up in a small city when his car breaks down and,unexpectedly,gets involved with a magnate with megalomania's problems,played with cynicism by Cliff Robertson,who intends to extend his empire's tentacles over the whole country and reach the power,more exactly,the presidency,with the help of his comrades.It's set a well-directed trama,pleasing and without commitments.The movie counts with action scenes and introduces a romance between Reynolds and a killer played by Gator's Lauren Hutton.The character was made with precision for Reynolds qualities,and the film will certainly please his fans!.
Malone was released in May 1987, just a few short months after Reynolds had released his 'comeback' movie Heat.
Heat bombed and so did Malone..and everyother Burt movie after that.
However, do not let that fool you into thinking you should miss Malone..on the contrary, it is vital viewing for any Reynolds or action fan!
Malone is a disillusioned CIA operative, he wants out and he tells his partner that in the opening scene.Malone heads off in his classic car.However,the car breaks down near a small town.Malone befriends the garage owner and his young daughter.However,his stay in the town is far from dull.He finds out that most of the shops/hotels are closed down due to properties being bought by the mysterious Delaney.
This is a good job as she takes care of him after an assassination attempt by the zealots.However,she is then targeted and killed.This means only one thing..Malone is now out for revenge.
Cue the classic 80's style ending.Lots of bad guys chasing after hero in deserted building and getting killed off one and one to leave hero with main villain.
A review of Reynolds other movie 'Heat' suggested you shout the movie title every time some action happened.
I suggest the same here..There is a scene when right-wing assassins come to kill Malone, they naturally fail but in trying to warn him, the young girl screams..all together now..M A L O N E!.
Ex-CIA hit-man running from his past (Richard Malone, played by Burt Reynolds) finds just how difficult it is to retire when he runs across a small town controlled by mercenaries and a family that is resisting their control.Reynolds is a smooth pimp, even kissing a young girl in front of her father.
Burt Reynolds did an awesome job as Malone, I thought he did real well as a CIA-agent; I thought he did well fighting as he did shooting, in that one scene on the bridge where he busted that dude up that was awesome; and unfortunatley for the guy's brother there was something under that newspaper!
I have seen a number of burt reynold movies starting from deliverance, physical evidence, strip tease, mad dog time, hard time etc..
I happen to enjoy Burt Reynolds work in general and will never understand the sudden and irrational scorn heaped upon him in the 80's that led to his starring in this kind of bargain basement dreck and retreating to TV as a result."Malone" commits the greatest sin any film can; it is dreary and bland.
Bad movies don't generally bother me as long as there is some enthusiasm and style, this has neither, it just plods along as if the director couldn't care less and just wanted to get it over with.At least disasters like "Rent a Cop" and "Physical Evidence" were entertaining in how they failed, "Malone" is just DOA.Who are these people giving this thing a 10 rating?
The box-cover of " Malone " tells you all you really need to know about this movie if you're deciding to watch it or not ( at least the one I saw ).
( Combining Burt Reynolds, with a wild action role, and title called " Malone ", I ended up watching it for laughs )..
Yet another formulaic, mediocre vehicle for Burt Reynolds - how could he hope to regain his popularity with films like this?
It's pretty much a routine action drama of the time as well as an okay vehicle for veteran star Burt Reynolds.
Wingate) is awfully familiar stuff: Malone (Reynolds) is a former CIA assassin with no more desire to do his job, so he takes it on the lam.
Malone has arrived in this community just in time to get caught up in the schemes of Delaney (Cliff Robertson), a rich man buying up property like crazy; Delaney turns out to be a right wing zealot hoping to establish a base of operations in the area.Despite receiving a very serious bullet wound at one point, Malone is a tough s.o.b. who takes on all comers.
Reynolds delivers a commendably low key performance in the lead, the ever likable Wilson is excellent as always, Robertson is amusing in a very unsubtle turn, and Gibb (whose character Jo becomes quite attached to Malone) is endearing.
Lauren Hutton co-stars as the CIA agent sent to take care of the Malone problem, Kenneth McMillan is the local sheriff, and Tracey Walter and Dennis Burkley play a troublesome pair of redneck brothers working for Delaney.If nothing else, this obvious "Shane" homage should be a mild diversion for Reynolds fans.Six out of 10..
Appreciative movie by Burt Reynolds.
Burt Reynold's might go low-key and solemn for his performance in "Malone", but when it came to delivering the action it's a full-on assault.
Still what stood out to me just how closely it followed Clint Eastwood's formula in the 1985 western "Pale Rider", especially the connection the between the young impressionable girl (the delightful Cynthia Gibb) and the ex-CIA hit-man drifter who unwillingly gets caught up a small town drama.
Like that of Hutton's assassin, in what feels like nothing more than to push the plot along and add motivation.Malone was a CIA hit-man who suddenly calls it quits despite the disapproval of his bosses.
Nonetheless some scenes do pack a punch and the striking sequence of Reynold's coming out of the shadows to confront Cliff Robertson's callously patriotic bad-guy is a marvellous touch.
Going back to serious roots, Reynold's "Malone" is sober, tough and mindless action."Are you so important?".
Burt Reynolds star as Malone, an ex CIA agent who comes to small town and helps a family against greedy businessmen led by Cliff Robertson, at first Malone doesn't want to get involved as he is trying to keep a low profile however after an attack in town, he feels obligated to fight back.
The movie is fairly un-credible with Reynolds getting hit by a shotgun and getting better in days, normally plot holes like that don't bother me but when the movie is so low on action and lame in script, you question the movie's decision to be character driven.
Malone Promises Action, Good Acting And Lots Of Fun ...
Like The Classic 1953 Alan Ladd Movie "Shane" Or The 1985 Clint Eastwood Movie "Pale Rider", Burt Reynold As Malone Rides Into A Down Trodden Town Where Good People Are Being Harassed By The Powers That Be, The Movie Is Similar To The Two Mentioned Including The Love Smitten Young Lady ...
It's not the most memorable of returns, but in a way it's kind of cool for someone's of Burt's stature to make a comeback in a film like this, where incidentally, in Adelaide, it only ran a week.
His car breaks down outside this shitty town that is slowly being taken over by land baron (Cliff Robertson who plays good guy that mask's bad underneath, with a restrained professionalism.
Burt who's taken in by a gas station attendant and his daughter gets caught in another feud, instantly making an arch enemy with the local sheriff, who we can't discern if he's good or bad.
I love it at the end when he balks as making a pathetic attempt to arrest Burt, after he's taken down all the bad guys.
However, I watched it two times, as I love Burt Reynolds (as an actor, of course).
Burt Reynolds is ex-cop ex-cia agent Richard Malone and he was never better.
Malone (1987) ** 1/2 (out of 4)Malone (Burt Reynolds) is an ex-CIA agent who was used as a hitman.
It turns out that a man named Delaney (Cliff Robertson) is trying to force people out of this small town so that he can operate some sort of twisted game.
Malone decides to come to the rescue of the people he's been staying with.MALONE is a pretty routine action film but at the same time it's certainly a lot better than the "A" pictures that Reynolds was doing earlier in the decade.
It's funny to think that Reynolds career was booming thanks to films like THE CANNONBALL RUN, its sequel and STROKER ACE even though they were all quite terrible.
The public soon caught up to that fact and before long the actor was making "B" movies.I must say, going through some of these films there's no question that the "B" movies I've watched were a lot more entertaining and that holds true for MALONE.
Cynthia Gibb and Scott Wilson were good as the folks who take in Reynolds' character.There are some decent and rather bloody action scenes and it appears that the filmmakers really wanted a lot of blood when it came to the shooting victims.
Bodies consuming other bodies, this is a Burt Reynolds action movie.
As an 80's action movie Malone is good, classic gun violence and gore mixed with coke-inspired plot/production value.
The script is just so awful, you will want to watch it over and over again just to make sure you heard it right.I can't wait for this to come out on DVD with commentary by Burt Reynolds.
one of the last great Burt Reynolds action flix.
this is one of, if not the last, of the great Reynolds action flix, and shockingly it is not available on DVD, while such horrid Burt movies such as stroker ace and cop and a half are.
although Burt seems to think he is Mr. Majesty is this fine flick, it is just an awesome movie set in the Oregon wilderness where ex-fed Burt has to kick some big bully bad guys such as cliff Robertson's tail.....in terms of pure pimpitude, Burt gets a 10 here, never has his toupee, bad stache, tight jeans, and shades been on such display, and he can still play the ladies, but the bad guys are his real targets in Malone.
someone please bring out that all time classic Malone on DVD, and remind folks of how great action flicks could be pre segal, the rock, and van dam.....when Burt, chuck Bronson, and Clint reigned supreme, with Sly Stallone still trying to escape from clubber lang and thunderfoot.
Once upon a time, in the 1970s, Burt Reynolds vied with Clint Eastwood for Hollywood male movie star domination at the box office.
When Malone's ex partner and lover (Lauren Hutton) ends up with a plastic bag over her head at the hands of Delaney's thugs his aversion to all the killing and stuff, etc, etc, is forgotten and Burt and his trusty toupé embark on a one man wigged-out mission to blow them all away.What can I tell you.
Cliff Robertson has the quizzically stunned expression of a man who once won a best actor Oscar and is now wondering just what the hell happened to his career and just how did he wind up a second stringer in films like MALONE.Yet I don't resent this movie one iota.
As far as I am concerned Burt Reynolds is John Malone.
You realize a movie is bad when it cannot help but under-develop its own story's importance, it's reason for being."Malone" is fun to watch for all the wrong reasons; character motivations do not hold up under scrutiny, a sense of urgency is never established, and ***SPOILER AHEAD*** the last ten minutes or so is Burt Reynolds one-by-one murdering miscellaneous henchmen and then detonating explosives.
MALONE is a typical 1980s-era cheeseball action thriller, starring none other than Burt Reynolds as the tough ex-CIA agent who finds himself involved in small town politics.
The film takes rather a long time to get going, too bogged down in familiar plotting to really stand out, although the presence of such stars as Cliff Robertson and Scott Wilson help to keep it watchable.
Where this does excel is in the action scenes, which are some of the most violent of the era; the blood squibs are bloodier than ever, and there's a sadistic delight taken in watching Reynolds blasting the bad guys with his hand cannon..
"Malone" came at a time when the name of Burt Reynolds was no longer considered a top box office draw.
The above movie does include some effective scenes of action, even though the plot is about as routine as it gets.
Bad guys shouldn't have killed Malone's love interest.
Richard Malone is an ex-CIA agent, who wants to forget his past and maybe start things all over again.Travelling through the United States, Malone has to stop for a few days in a small but beautiful town, after his car breaks down.He soon becomes a friend of a family, and discovers that an eccentric millionaire of the region, Charles Delaney, keeps all the habitants of the town under his power, by fear and coalition.What Delaney really wants is to become the next president and, soon, dominate the world.But Malone decides not to make things so easy for Delaney: using his CIA profit, he will challenge him and all his hired assassins...When Burt did Shane...A typical action movie from Burt an MGM which were rife during the late eighties, but this is noticeable for three things, Burts wonderful wig, Burts increasingly tight trouser and shirt combo, and one of the most strangest bro-mances I have ever seen.To let someone with a moustache of that calibre stay in your house after only meeting them once is strange, but the relationship the two male leads have is beyond the volleyball scene in Top Gun.For the rest of the movie though, it's pretty standard, if very watchable stuff.
Richard Malone (Reynolds) is a former CIA assassin and Special Ops soldier whose car breaks down in the sleepy burg of Comstock, Oregon.
This takes up a good 20-30 percent of the film's running time.
"Black Moon Rising" director Harley Cokeliss and British scenarist Christopher Frank have done neither novelist William Wingate nor actor Burt Reynolds any favors with their pallid cinematic adaptation of the novel "Shotgun." A contemporary remake of "Shane," this interesting actioneer doesn't live up to its promise.
Burt Reynolds is an ex CIA hit man who coincidentally gets caught up in some sort of well-funded, ultra-patriotic plot in a small town in Oregon.
It's a strictly routine action movie put together with all the generic elements -- the car chase, the exploding fireball, the oily hood who never blinks, the villainous smirk, the hero who holds his feelings in check, the ugly guns, the incandescent eyeballs of the man behind the curtain.Burt Reynolds is a likable guy.
I really like this movie i'm a huge Burt Reynolds fan more so his early stuff, i now he,s done some bad movies but name one actor who hasn't.
In this one he is an Ex CIA man on a kind of a self retirement holiday from the Company who,s car happens to breakdown in a small town run by self appointed leader Cliff Robertson.