The Iceman Cometh (1973)

At 239 minutes, spread across two discs each with an intermission, this is probably the longest movie I've ever seen. (Don't you believe any list that claims Gone with the Wind is longest.) Add in the basis on a nonmusical play for adults, which usually means mostly talking in a single room, and you know you're gonna need patience. The fame of the title, the unlikelihood of me reading or watching the play, and the desire to challenge myself gave me the courage to sit through it across two nights.

In 1912 New York, the ironically named Harry Hope (Fredric March in his final role) owns a seedy bar/boarding house whose regular patrons/residents are a miserable bunch I wouldn't care to meet. Apparently the first out-of-the-ordinary event on screen is the arrival of a new guy (young Jeff Bridges), who's run into trouble and wants help from a former comrade in the anarchist movement with a death wish, Larry Slade (Robert Ryan, who did die before the film's release). Regardless, bartender Rocky Pioggi (Tom Pedi) and the other patrons look forward to Harry's 60th birthday party that evening, not least for the semiannual visit of their pal Theodore "Hickey" Hickman (Lee Marvin), whose past purportedly funny story about his wife's infidelity with an iceman partly explains the title. But Hickey's not the same man when he arrives. He'll still buy everyone drinks, yet he doesn't feel a need for any himself. He says he's found peace and wants everyone to do the same, by giving up their pipe dreams.

Seconds (1966)

I didn't feel like filling up my entire month's worth of Netflix deliveries with outright horrors. This one gets classified as a sci-fi thriller, so I figured it was still appropriate for the lead-up to Halloween.

Fifty-something Arthur Hamilton (formerly blacklisted John Randolph) receives messages from a friend who was reported dead, pointing him to the reason for that misinformation: A special company has given him a new identity, complete with a more youthful new look. Arthur is unhappy enough that he eventually accepts the invitation to get the same sort of treatment, becoming "Antiochus Wilson" (Rock Hudson). But it's not an easy transition, and even afterward, a second chance may not be all it's cracked up to be....

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 Train (1964)

I'm a little surprised at myself for having associated John Frankenheimer only with The Manchurian Candidate when I had also seen Birdman of Alcatraz and Seven Days in May. These three movies came consecutively, followed by The Train. Quite a streak early in his directorial career. It probably helped to have Burt Lancaster in most of them.

Based loosely on a true story from near the end of World War II, TT begins with Colonel Franz von Waldheim (Paul Scofield) seizing dozens of classic paintings from a Parisian museum. The curator appeals to railroad-affiliated members of the Resistance to stop their train -- without damaging the cargo -- before it reaches Germany. Since Allied forces are expected soon, the cell of railway inspector Paul Labiche (Lancaster) decides that it only has to slow things down. But that's not as easy as it sounds when the German soldiers get increasingly suspicious that their "bad luck" is sabotage.