@Kurt: Thank You SIr, for bringing attention to one of the finest and best of '60's cinema! This is right up there with Lawrence of Arabia, Dr. Strangelove, Fistful of $'s and In The Heat Of The Night as my top faves of that decade. And also thank you for pointing out the wonderful John Barry score. John Barry provided a great soundtrack of my youth with his stellar Connery Bond scores. Barry is a British Treasure.

Now what bugs me about your post? The fact that it reminded me that all we have is a lousy MGM transfer on DVD. At least its widescreen. I owned the Criterion Laser Disc back in the day and I wish they would renew that license and issue a stunning Blu-Ray of this great classic.

And your right Kurt, This is not only a 'Man's' film but one of the best 'true stories' ever told. I think the main theme of this story is Honor and Bravery on both sides of the fence.

If I were to host a five movie line-up on TCM, these 5 would please me very much to share with other film buffs.

1. Wind & the Lion (The Epic)
2. Prime Cut (The '70's Mob flick)
3. The Stuntman (One of the great Indie films)
4. Winchester '57 (The Noir Western)
5. His Girl Friday (The fastest talking Screwball Comedy ever)

@Michael S. Rulle Jr.: For me QT hasn't hit a false note yet. He is an undeniable talent. His latest flick is finally the coming together of his Directing abilities finally being on the same level as his writing. Now about Elmore Leonard... His is my favorite writer. I have devoured every book. His westerns kick butt just as much as his crime stories. It's just that sometime in the '60's westerns stopped selling so he traded in the six-gun and horse for an automatic and a car. What he kept though was his ear for dialog. He also has stuck to one other thing... almost all of his novels are about this one simple concept: Bad people doing bad things to even badder people, generally in funny ways. His heroes are always bad and I agree they are always up against more evil folk. It's what makes his stuff so compelling.
As for his movies... Hollywood for the most part got his Westerns right. Both 3:10 to Yuma's (But the original one is much closer to the book) the Paul Newman as a Half-breed in Hombre and Valdez is Coming. His crime films though have been spotty at best. Almost all the early ones are terrible, Moonshine War and others. 52 Pick-up though was on the right track. It wasn't until Get Shorty that Hollywood got it right. Then came Out of Sight, which is just about the perfect Elmore Movie translation. Jackie Brown as well was great but QT remade it so it's still a QT movie. Because at the time QT wanted to make his '70's Blackxplotation bit.
But please don't mention Be Cool. That was a dreadful film. And don't get me started on The Big Bounce!

Elmore is the best at what he does. That said there are two other writers who are chomping at the bit. Their novels are not quite as cool and rocked out and mean as Elmore's but still the dialog and characters have spunk and vitality. They are Carl Haaisen and Tim Dorsey. Carl's best novel is his middle one Striptease. But avoid the movie at all costs. All of Tim's books are great. They all star a absolutely off the wall/charts hero. A Florida history nut who never fails to regale someone about Florida's rich history or stop at every historical marker. The beauty of it is two-fold, his name is Storm Serge and he's a serial killer.

@ Tublecane: Cuba Libre was a departure for Leonard. It was Historical and not at all set within the 'crime milieu. And like QT EL IS known for his dialog. It is what set's him apart from other writers.

@Nolotrippen.. Dude or Dudette (Just playing safe) I can't believe you just brought up the whole flowers, unicorn and rainbows stuff. I am soooo disappointed! Ever since 'Ohama' got elected I've been waiting and expecting a Unicorn in everyone's back yard eating rejuvenating flowers underneath a rainbow filled sky.

Well I'm still waiting! Daddy wants what was promised!

I basically agree on the RR comment. The 1st half was way to meaty and thought provoking for RR though I still love some of RR's 'fun' pictures. You know it's kinda funny but in a way D9 is like Dusk Till Dawn. The 1st half of that was greatness the 2nd half just action filled w/humor but no more smarts though one of the best lines comes from Cheech at the end of the movie. And for my money I'll bet the 1st half is so good because of QT's involvement.

I still admire D9. I agree that if they could have kept up the 1st half's promise this would be an instant sci-fi classic. As for the shaky cam... boy you must really hate Paul Greengrass.

Keep reviewing, I keep commenting when felt compelled too. Thanks

@John: If you watch this film again you'll see that there are many different variations of Aliens. Usually through color then structure. There are docile and violent ones. Smart ones as well. Christopher though is the lucky one. He has the 'key' to leave the Planet. What really never was fully explained was why the 'key' was jettisoned in the first place.

If you watch the very beginning (which I agree the 1st half is best story wise) most is explained. You are correct that the effects work is very seamless. I also liked how the violence played out as well. Never exploited. It felt real. Which was the point of this movie. To create a realistic feel a 'what if?'.

I agree that the third act was mostly about action and does set up a sequel though it also holds it's own as a stand-alone. Is it great? No. But then it's one of the best of it's elk in a long time. It also shows you can release a movie without stars and a unknown behind the camera and create great efx work for $30 million. I still can't for the life of me figure how Bay and others need to spend 150-200+ million.

But Bay has the #1 movie of the year box-office wise... so he is still encouraged to make empty, hollow spectaculars.
I await Neil's next film though. He reminds me of a new Robert Rodriguez. Being original, creative and cost-effective.

Ok, late to posting here. @JOHN thank you for bringing up a wonderful film Like Charley Varrick. Of course some of your readers were born either late '70's or '80's and haven't heard of some of the great 60's-'70's cinema out there.

With maybe an exception of a very few films he made in the twilight of his career, you can't go wrong with a Matthau film period. From The Fortune Cookie to The Odd Couple, Cactus Flower, Laughing Policeman to his two great '70's actioners Varrick and Taking of Pelham 1 2 3.

I am also gald another of your readers here mentioned The Anderson Tapes. Cool film as well... also look out from the same DVD company another cool '70's flick called $Dollars with Warren Beatty, Goldie Hawn and Mr. Goldfinger himself.

The 60's & '70's really was another golden era for Hollywood. The 80's? Nope. The '90's got back on track and so far the oughts are 50/50. Don't get me wrong there were still bad movies during the '60's & '70's but the '60's got the Epic right and the '70's got 'Mean' right.

Me again... Just posted then read the post above me... gotta say Friends of Eddie Coyle (On Criterion) along with Prime Cut are still more reasons that put the 'hurt, grit & mean' into the '70's.

My 2¢ on BDBerzerker and Schizoid_Mann's comments above me are thus...

While The Fatherland was a good HBO movie the book was even better. I know that's an oldie but goodie thing to say but in this case it holds true because of course with books you can delve even deeper into the situation.

Robert Harris is the author. He also wrote about breaking the Enigma Code as well.

After posting twice here about this non-issue issue I was talking to my daughter about all these and I had a major thought and then slapped myself for not thinking of it sooner.... Sure votes were counted and Kris won.... but the real votes, the ones that really count are the pocketbooks and wallets of America. When the dust settles let's see who actually sells. That's the true measure and vote!