
When the young Texas Ranger, John Reid, is the sole survivor of an ambush arranged by the militaristic outlaw leader, Butch Cavendich, he is rescued by an old childhood Comanche friend, Tonto. When he recovers from his wounds, he dedicates his life to fighting the evil that Cavendich represents. To this end, John Reid becomes the great masked western hero, The Lone Ranger. With the help of Tonto, the pair go to rescue the President Grant when Cavendich takes him hostage.
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Tag Archives: 1980s
Zelig (1983) Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Patrick Horgan, Comedy

Fictional documentary about the life of human chameleon Leonard Zelig, a man who becomes a celebrity in the 1920s due to his ability to look and act like whoever is around him. Clever editing places Zelig in real newsreel footage of Woodrow Wilson, Babe Ruth, and others.
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Local Hero (1983) Bill Forsyth, Burt Lancaster, Peter Riegert, Fulton Mackay, Comedy, Drama

Oil billionaire Happer sends Mac to a remote Scotish villiage to secure the property rights for an oil refinery they want to build. Mac teams up with Danny and starts the negotiations, the locals are keen to get their hands on the ‘Silver Dollar’ and can’t believe their luck. However a local hermit and beach scavenger, Ben Knox, lives in a shack on the crucial beach which he also owns. Happer is more interested in the Northern Lights and Danny in a surreal girl with webbed feet, Marina. Mac is used to a Houston office with fax machines but is forced to negotiate on Bens terms.
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Yuki Yukite shingun / The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On (1987) Kazuo Hara, Kenzo Okuzaki, Riichi Aikawa, Masaichi Hamaguchi, Documentary, War

The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On is a brilliant exploration of memory and war guilt, a subject often ignored in modern Japan. In this controversial documentary, Kazuo Hara follows Kenzo Okuzaki in his real-life struggle against Emperor Hirohito. He proudly declares that he shot BBs at the Royal Palace, distributed pornographic images of the Emperor, and once killed a man for the sake of his strange crusade. As the film progresses, Okuzaki reveals a gruesome mystery: why were some Japanese officers killing their own soldiers during WWII? What happened to their bodies? Okuzaki begs, cajoles, and occasionally beats the story out of elderly veterans. When these old men do break down and talk, their testimonies are some of the most chilling, riveting descriptions of wartime desperation ever committed to film. In his desire to unearth these horrors, Okuzaki’s behavior grows increasingly extreme and bizarre. By the film’s end, Hara seems to ask whether the terrible nature of this buried incident is worth the violence of Okuzaki’s methods.
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Onna shinnyû-shain: 5-ji kara 9-ji made / Horny Working Girl: From 5 to 9 (1982) Katsuhiko Fujii, Junko Asahina, Nami Misaki, Yuki Yoshizawa, Comedy, Erotic

Beautiful young Chieko is hired as assistant manager at the office of a large corporation. Her boss is an oversexed married man whose advances and behavior make her uncomfortable. When she finds out from the other girls in the office that they have had the same problem with him, they get together and come up with a special plan to get their revenge.
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Kung-fu master! / Le petit amour (1988) Agnès Varda, Jane Birkin, Mathieu Demy, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Drama, Romance

Mary-Jane asks, “Do all women fall in love with a boy, or just those without sons?” She’s divorced with two daughters, Lucy and Loulou. Lucy has a party where Mary-Jane notices Julien, 14, small and brassy, but she sees a sensitive side. She contrives to spend time with him and lets him know she’s available to him. He’s on the cusp between child and man, alternating between playing a video game, Kung Fu Master, where he tries to rescue Sylvie, and joining friends in bluff talk about sexual exploits. As Lucy realizes what is happening, she’s repulsed, but Mary-Jane, encouraged by her own mother, carries on. Is it love or jealousy of lost youth? Is there any way this can end well?
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Merry-Go-Round (1981) Jacques Rivette, Maria Schneider, Joe Dallesandro, Danièle Gégauff, Crime, Drama

Elizabeth sends telegrams to her old boyfriend Ben in NYC and to her younger sister Leo in Rome to join her in Paris, where she is selling her dead father’s estate. When Ben and Leo arrive, a mysterious adventure begins.
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A Dama do Cine Shanghai / The Lady from the Shanghai Cinema (1987) Guilherme de Almeida Prado, Maitê Proença, Antônio Fagundes, José Lewgoy, Crime, Mystery

Real estate broker and former boxer enters an old cinema in the decadent downtown São Paulo and meets an intriguing and mysterious woman, very much alike the leading lady of the film. He gets involved with her and her problems and in no time is being accused of a crime.
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Monanieba / Repentance (1984) Tengiz Abuladze, Avtandil Makharadze, Ia Ninidze, Zeinab Botsvadze, Comedy, Drama

The villainous mayor of a small town in Georgia, Varlam (Avtandil Makharadze), responsible for Stalin-like terror in his megalomania, dies and is given a pompous burial. Problem arises when the attractive Guliko (Iya Ninidze), someone whose two daughters were persecuted by the mayor, keeps digging up his grave and placing it somewhere else. She is arrested after telling authorities Varlam has no business being buried with such honor. During her trial, the story of the evil mayor is told in flashback, using the power of symbols and surreal dream images to bring back the recollections of that nightmarish regime.
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Profumo (1987) Giuliana Gamba, Florence Guérin, Luciano Bartoli, Robert Egon, Drama, Thriller, Erotic

A wife escapes her pressure-filled marriage only to have her husband haunt her literally and figuratively.
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