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THE REVIEWS : THE QUICK AND THE DEAD: Sam Raimi's new age western starred Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman (Great Villian), and Russell "Gladiator" Crowe. Lance plays gunfigther/card shark 'Ace' Hanlon, whose character faces off early in the film with Hackman. It's a brief but great scene, and makes you wish Lance had received more screen time. Exciting, action-packed in the Raimi style. PROFILE FOR MURDER: He plays a rich playboy who lives life as if the act of making love will cure all the ills of society. He is framed for murdering a few of the women he's been making love to. They die right after he's been the last person seen with the victims. The movie is 'thin', some of the acting is horrendous, but LH pulls off a glaring success as the tragic focus. In the sex scenes, one only sees head, shoulders, an arm, and hands of LH but, you still get the picture that he's hot stuff in bed. A rarity in these days of excessive overexposure. Again, excellent acting on Lance's part. Rochelle MIND RIPPER: he plays a scientist who has developed a virus that repairs and improves the condition of the human body. Of course, a colleague takes the gov't up on an offer to steer the research toward developing a military use for the virus. The research team finds a man half dead in the desert. LH tries his virus on him to save his life and the colleague takes over from there creating a monster. LH's character is also a father of two teenaged children who find out in the battle against the monster for their lives that, yes indeed, too-busy-Daddy does loves them and, surprise, they do love him. Rochelle JENNIFER 8: A new guy (Andy Garcia) arrives in small town to meet an old friend and partner (Lance). Then a murder results in a hunt for a serial killer. Lance plays Sergeant Freddy Ross, helping the investigation of these murders of blind women. True to his taste for realism he insists on not using an umbrella in the most horrendous rain and getting very wet! He gives a lively performance of a family man with rough edges. Cheeky, outspoken you're left not feeling quite sure about him. Somehow he doesn't feel safe .. but then there are moments when he's just a sweet father. You kind of expect him to be the murderer. There's a memorable slow dance scene, where Freddy gives his wife a lovely slow kiss ... dddeeeelicious!! There's lots of his lovely smile and there's also scenes of Freddy on a boat - Lance always looks at home on a boat. Sue ALIENS: He's the android,"Bishop"--supposedly better made than the first.Somehow 'rubberized', the skin on his face is made to look synthetic even though it remains flexible. Very weird. He's a good guy. There is one part in the movie where he is being sent on a mission 40 mins. through a shoulder-tight pipe. As the cut-out piece is being put back into place behind him, he cautions," Watch your fingers," so seamlessly you almost miss it. But, it cements the harmless, even caring, nature of the android into your subconscious. But then, the very next image, eerily shadowed, of him moving his way down the pipe challenges that sense of security in the harmlessness of his motives. This mission is one of trust because a human would find it difficult to spend that much time in such tight quarters and still come out sane enough to function immediately and so, creates tension. Magic. Since then I have found quotes from LH that state that Bishop is his all-time favorite part to play. Rochelle NATURE OF THE BEAST: He teams up with other psycho-actor extraordinaire(sp?) Eric Roberts to lead us on a guessing game through the southwest(USA) desert-who stole the $1.5million and who is the Hatchet Man? I had to wake up the next morning to realise the answers completely, they were so successful. Well done, it was not a giveaway nor underclued. LH is credited with the title 'Creative Consultant'. HF wonders if he'll adventure into directing.Hmm. FACE THE EVIL (aka No Contest II): Lance plays villain Eric Dengler, leader of a terrorist gang trying to smuggle Nazi nerve gas to the highest bidder. The film is described as "Die Hard in an art gallery" with a buxom blond instead of Bruce as the hero. But Lance is a great villain. With a long, elegant overcoat and cane he gives an enthusiastic performance as a bad guy with no redeeming features really. You can probably guess what happens to him, but he does it with style. Some wonderful expressions, some interesting lines, lots of action. Not the best film ever made but worth watching for Lance. POWDER: This film should come with a health warning - I cried so much I got a headache! I suppose the premise is a little far-fetched - but isn't a film all about suspension of disbelief anyway?? And certainly 'yer ordinry evrday scientist' would verify that we currently only use a tiny % of our brains. But regardless of whether you find the story line appealing, Lance is great in this. He plays the sheriff with a sub plot that his wife is dying of cancer, running parallel to the main story of the discovery of an albino boy genius in a remote farmhouse. The boy touches the sheriff's, and the other characters, lives deeply. It's a very moving film about human potential. Lance gives a strong emotional performance, playing a cop whose life is changed forever. And he made me cry - a lot! Sue GUNFIGHTER'S MOON: Lance stars as gunfighter Frank Morgan in this great Western. He's the best in the West but has grown weary of all the violence. He heeds the call for help of the love of his life and rides to her rescue, only to get caught in a violent gunfight when a group of outlaws ride into town. I can't recommend strongly enought that if you are into Lance and like horses/riding you MUST watch this film! If only to see the mind boggling way the man gets on and off a horse. You can also tell that he is a good rider. And the film is a very enjoyable Western. Lance plays a butch role very sensitively. You see a lot of his body (good for us girls!!). And if you love Westerns it's a must see. sue DOG DAY AFTERNOON: LH plays an FBI agent who is chosen to drive Al Pacino's limo to the airport. Talk about Lance the invisible-he purposefully kept a straight face all through his stint on screen. The way they worked him subtlely into our(the audience's) consciousness was to have him stand in the background during the conversation between Al and Chris Sarandon's character(if I remember correctly) barely visible. Then, with each appearance, become more apparent yet still in the background until finally he is pulled right into the thick of things when Sonny choses him to drive. LH's character does this mind control thing to Sonny's partner that just blows me away after irritating the heck out of me. Scarey. In addition to Murphy, earlier in the movie,LH does a very short stint as a uniformed cop who pushes Maria's boy friend into the police car. Rochelle The Hatchet Man (Nature of the Beast): This film is simply one of the best Psycho killer movie ever made. Lance is superb and Eric Roberts is unfallable as the druggie hitchhiker. The twist was excellent despite the reports to the contrary on other sites. (Jackasses). I've watched the film through again and think it could be re- enacted on stage with just two actors. One playing Lance And one Eric. Interesting I think and a real credit to both mens performance (and the director) At least one of them is on screen at any time i think. (almost). Charlie Coles
NEAR DARK
HARD TARGET
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