Eddie Macon’s Run

It begins where Poitier’s Stir Crazy ends, with a prison break during a rodeo, and this was insufficiently strong a clue for the critics, notably Ebert, who thought Jeff shoulda Kanew better, despite the pursuing Kirk Douglas outfitted à la Madigan, to give a picture of East meeting West. Flashbacks are integral to this framework, interspersed with an homage to Cool Hand Luke on the run.

The pair of yahoos who string up the escapee for a time, and are later distracted by video games, are part of the Texas landscape. The overall motion of the film is toward Peckinpah’s The Getaway.

The conclusion, which the critic of the Sun-Times boasts to have received telegraphically, only figures as a delay out of Cornelius’ Genevieve.

Kirk Douglas
Before I Forget

The actor’s autobiography arranged for the stage by himself and performed as a one-man show at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, which sets up one of many excellent jokes.

College wrestling, the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Hollywood and so forth.

The dramatic contrivance handily involves material from the films, a pat on the back from Seaton’s The Hook, for example.

A fine stage technique, well represented by the director’s tapings, a tour de force.