70 From The 70’s Part II: #68

Robert Aldrich’s ‘Twilight’s Last Gleaming’ (1977) is just a hands down thrilling film. This picture has a story which could fall into a loop of painstaking repetition, but manages to keep a consistent and clever storyline going. Burt Lancaster leads the ensemble cast as he takes his fame deep into the 1970’s. With a big cast supporting him, the film fills out everything you need for a late 70’s action piece. One of the other cool things about ‘Twilight’s Last Gleaming’ (1977) is how intimate the setting is for such a loud movie, but nothing hold this back. This is a great hole in the all thriller that really brings more to the table than you might think. 

The Vietnam war had just ended, the Cold War was already ramping up, and the fear of nuclear war was all around the nation. So a film like ‘Twilight’s Last Gleaming’ (1975) is perfect then, right? The movie really played into the deep fears of what Americans were feeling at the time, and not only this, but it exploited a new fear of what attacks can come from within. It’s an interesting way to go about it, and Lancaster clearly was the best option to do this film. He was America’s actor for the last three decades, and having him turn heel is a shock for sure. All the more better this film made that bold decision, because the film wouldn’t have had the same level of interior fear as it does with Lancaster. 

The action works really well throughout this picture, even when it might seem a bit minimalist. The gunfire that is shown is beyond effective due to the loud sound design mixed with a tight location. The thrilling moment when the launch sequence commences is yet another example of the excitement this film brings. From soup to nuts this movie brings its all and delivers a fast paced and quickly edited story. Sure the run time might be daunting to some, but don’t let that hold you back. With the amount of action and thrills, the whole movie moves by at a brisk pace. 

I love the idea of making a high stakes movie like this, and setting it in one of the smallest and tightest locations possible. Then letting the two and a half hour run time take its course. The style of a stage play like film really humbles the story, and puts everything into perspective. Now as to the editing throughout the film, you either love it, or hate it. The goofy split screen that jumps back and forth often gave me a headache to focus on, and honestly, really brought some stuff down for me. It reminded me of the old 1960’s Batman TV show and movie. Which, it might work for a comic book, but an action thriller like this, makes it hard to always keep track of what’s happening. Thankfully it wasn’t the entire run time, and it didn’t bring down the film too much for me. 

As I said before, Burt Lancaster leads this ensemble of actors, which include, Richard Widmark, Roscoe Lee Browne, Joseph Cotten, Charles Durning, William Marshall, Richard Jaeckel, Burt Young, and plenty more. A loaded cast of character actors for sure, and everyone seemingly has a great time with the film. There isn’t too much range out of these old timers except for Lancaster and Durning, but that’s is what was seemingly required by them. It’s fun to see everyone show up and duke it out with one another, so if you watch this movie for anything, let it be the old timers. 

This is definitely a film I need to go back and revisit sometime in the future, because this was a whole lot of fun. I wasn’t exactly sure what I was getting into when throwing this on, but oh was I happy I did. The great cast throw together a wonderful and thrilling film that really does the trick. Sure this has a lot of elements that were a product of their time, but it still can resonate just as well today. You won’t regret putting this classic late 70’s film on and enjoying a thrill ride.