Twilight's Last Gleaming

Robert Aldrich's 1977 military drama combines the men-on-a-mission-against-long odds adventure genre the director mastered in The Dirty Dozen with the conspiracy thriller craze of the 1970s, creating a high-concept heist film with a political edge. Burt Lancaster stars as Gen. Lawrence Dell, a patriotic career soldier who leads a volatile group of misfits to take command of a military silo in Montana and ultimately hold the nation hostage. Dell wants to reveal the buried truth behind the Vietnam War, a secret that America's military brass will stop at nothing to keep hidden. By 1977, the aging Aldrich wasn't as sharp a filmmaker, and the film suffers from some sloppiness in both the action and the storytelling; but Aldrich's use of split screens during negotiations and attack scenes remains very effective. Lancaster and Charles Durning (as the President) keep the story grounded by virtue of their characters' moral foundations (both are dedicated, honest men trying to do right by their country), while the political stakes carry a prescient punch. A solid supporting cast surround Durning as cabinet members, including screen legends Melvyn Douglas, Joseph Cotten, and Paul Winfield, as well as cult actors Charles McGraw and William Marshall. Although a flop during its theatrical release, the film's reputation has since grown as a startlingly hard-edged political drama as well as one of the most interesting (and plausible) conspiracy movies of the era. Restored for DVD and Blu-ray, extras include a feature-length “making-of” documentary. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)