Der Mann mit der Stahlkralle (1977)
21KDer Mann mit der Stahlkralle: Directed by John Flynn. With William Devane, Tommy Lee Jones, Linda Haynes, James Best. A returning war veteran loses his family to a violent home invasion and decides to seek and retaliate against those responsible.
“Boy, itu0026#39;s good to see a film one really likes that is just about unknown…..and read other reviewers who share your high opinion of that movie.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThatu0026#39;s the case here in this simple revenge tale. My attraction to this film, outside of the interesting story, is the acting performance of William Devane, who plays the lead character. Seldom have I seen such a fascinating character.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eDevaneu0026#39;s character, u0026quot;Major Charles Rane,u0026quot; had some interesting things to say BUT his silence was downright fascinating. Just the looks on his face and the absolute silence when his wife tells him she had been fooling around in his absence (when he had been suffering as POW, no less!) or when the robbers are giving him a horrible, sadistic beating. With the exception of one, maybe two outbursts, his language was surprisingly civil, too. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe movie had what I call u0026quot;that gritty u0026#39;70s looku0026quot; to it but was well-filmed and probably would look very good on DVD. (We are still waiting for that to happen.) There were some solid closeup and shadow shots which added nicely to the neo-noir story. The violence is no-nonsense, straight-to-the-point and, with one exception at the end, realistically brutal…….. but not overdone. The film starts slowly for the first 10-15 minutes but is a fast ride once the thieves enter the picture.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eCo-star Linda Haynes reminded me of Tuesday Weld but not quite as pretty and a tiny bit harder looking. Nonetheless, she was an interesting new face and one I still donu0026#39;t recall ever seeing in any other film. Itu0026#39;s also fun to see such a young Tommy Lee Jones.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eRevenge movies can be a dime-a-dozen but this has at least one scene I guarantee you will never forget.”
