Tough Guys

"They're Out To Teach A New World Some Old Tricks."

1986 1h 44m EN

😐

6.0

MID

★6.0TMDB · 157

ComedyCrime

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Harry Doyle and Archie Lang are two old-time train robbers, who held up a train in 1956 and have been incarcerated for thirty years. After serving their time, they are released from jail and have to adjust to a new life of freedom. and soon realize that they still have the pizzazz when, picking up their prison checks at a bank, they foil a robbery attempt.

“They're Out To Teach A New World Some Old Tricks.”

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Cast

Burt Lancaster
Harry Doyle
Kirk Douglas
Archie Long
Charles Durning
Deke Yablonski
Alexis Smith
Belle
Dana Carvey
Richie Evans
Eli Wallach
Leon B. Little
Billy Barty
Philly
Darlanne Fluegel
Skye

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Jeff Kanew
Writers: Jim Cruickshank, James Orr
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

ERA

Did you know

40 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Jeff Kanew, shot by King Baggot. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by James Newton Howard. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Kaja Fehr shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

CAST

Did you know

Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas and Charles Durning carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

ERA

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "They're Out To Teach A New World Some Old Tricks.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0092105 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Jeff Kanew directs. King Baggot behind the camera. James Newton Howard scores. Kaja Fehr cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

140 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
2Directed by Jeff Kanew, shot by King Baggot. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by James Newton Howard. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor Kaja Fehr shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas and Charles Durning carry the top of the cast.
6Marketing tagline: "They're Out To Teach A New World Some Old Tricks.".
7IMDB entry: tt0092105 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: King Baggot
Original score: James Newton Howard
Editing: Kaja Fehr
Production design: Todd Hallowell
Costume design: Erica Edell Phillips
Makeup / hair: Michael F. Blake
Sound: B. Tennyson Sebastian II
Stunt coordinator: Conrad E. Palmisano
Runtime: 104 min · 1h 44m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $10,000,000
Box office: $21,458,229
Return: 215% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: Tough Guys (1986)

Also by

Jeff Kanew

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Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2019-08-30
★ 6/10
I'm Peter Pan. I've come to take you to Never-Never Land, okay? But you won't be comin' back! Tough Guys is directed by Jeff Kanew and written by James Orr and Jim Cruickshank. It stars Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Charles Durning, Eli Wallach, Dana Carvey, Darlanne Fluegel, Alexis Smith and Monty Ash. Music is by James Newton Howard and cinematography is by King Baggot. Two elderly gangsters are released from prison only to find they have trouble fitting in as old men in a world that has changed considerably - but they still aren't going to take no crap from anyone! "Couldn't take it anymore. People treating me like dirt ever since I got out of jail. Sweeping out toilets, scraping crud off dishes, my girlfriend tryin' to kill me with sex - and I'm dressing like Bozo the Clown, just to fit in! I don't want to fit in anymore" You have to know the actors on show to fully get the glint they have in their eyes, Douglas, Lancaster and Wallach are having a grand time of things. As they exude machismo and world weary knowing in old bodies, turning quips and exasperation into a filmic art form, there's much fun mined out of this particular fish out of water piece. It's all very nostalgic and fanciful of course, and some of the more weightier themes such as treatment of senior citizens struggles to make a bigger mark, but it is charming. How can you not like the good old boys turning the tables on would be muggers and robbers? Rejoice as myopic hitman Wallach tries to enact a "hit" he was hired to do 30 years earlier! Maybe better use could have been made of the talent on show? Maybe? But this is no disaster and fans of the stars can get much from watching these good old boys go about entertaining for our pleasure. 6/10

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