The Spanish Prisoner (1997)

I had seen several movies written by David Mamet but none directed by him. This one was probably recommended to me because more than one reviewer found it Hitchcockian. I welcome an intelligent thriller.

Joe Ross (Campbell Scott) has devised a new and potentially super-profitable corporate strategy, a MacGuffin cryptically known only as "the Process." To celebrate, his boss (Ben Gazzara) invites him to a Caribbean retreat, where he meets affectionate new secretary Susan (Rebecca Pidgeon) and apparently rich and friendly tourist Jimmy (Steve Martin in a rare non-comedic role). Upon hearing of the Process, Jimmy advises Joe to contact a non-company lawyer so the executives don't stiff him on dividends. But Joe has no idea what lengths some people will go to for theft. Pretty soon, he starts to look and sound like a lying thief....

Ronin (1998)

No, it's not set in Japan. The title features in dialog for exactly one scene, when a minor character summarizes the legend of the 47 ronin, simplified for those who don't know about seppuku. The point is an implicit parallel: Where the ronin were samurai who lost their honor upon losing their lords, the main characters herein are post-Cold War laid-off secret agents, similarly inclined to become mercenaries if not thugs.

A multinational team of such mercs—Sam (Robert De Niro), Vincent (Jean Reno), Gregor (Stellan Skarsgård), Seamus (Jonathan Pryce), Larry (Skipp Sudduth), and Spence (Sean Bean)—assembles in Paris. Deirdre (Natascha McElhone), from an Irish mob, assigns them to grab a heavily guarded suitcase before a Russian mob acquires it. Unfortunately for them, they don't know each other or their employer well, and when dealing with ex-spies...

The Verdict (1982)

On the rare occasions that I watch a movie again, I usually don't bother to review it here. But this was a still rarer occasion: I had basically no memory of it. Only the ending even remotely rang a bell. Good thing I remembered enjoying it years ago.

Frank Galvin (late-middle-aged Paul Newman), a discredited lawyer who spends more time on drinking and pinball than cases, finally gets a good opportunity via a friend (Jack Warden). A hospital has left a woman comatose, allegedly through an anesthetic procedure botched by negligence. Everyone, including Frank, expects him to accept on the family's behalf a pretty generous settlement; but after seeing the patient himself, he decides he'd rather try to expose their malpractice. This is not easy, because the doctors and their lawyers are far more renowned -- and can fight dirty.

Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)

I'd seen a few movies written by David Mamet before, but not based on a play of his. Oddly enough, the most oft-cited moment does not occur in the play: One-scene wonder Alec Baldwin features as a company-hired motivational speaker with the attitude of a prototypical drill sergeant (Baldwin did look to Patton for inspiration). In truth, he seems to be channeling Al Pacino, for whom he was something of an understudy herein. I had seen this part already, and it didn't exactly make me eager for more, but I value my cinematic education.

That early scene helps establish the plot. At a super-shady real estate agency that cold-calls individuals to sell them overpriced land, business has not been good lately. The agency offers prizes for the two salesmen who accomplish the most in the near future but will fire the other two. It feels unfair to the less successful, because they've done well in the past and have just fallen on bad luck with regard to sales leads, if "luck" is the right word. In desperation, two conspire to steal the good leads and make it look like a plain burglary.