The Tom Selleck Thread

[ConchRepublican]

I just recently saw the movie RUNAWAY from 1984. What are people's thoughts on it? I thought it was pretty good. Liked the killer robots idea. Selleck was good, his female partner VERY HOT (hotter than Kirstie Alley whom he seemed to be more interested in), and Gene Simmons totally over the top in his personification of pure evil. He played the same "pure evil" character 2 years later opposite Rutger Hauer in WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE. Those killer "spider robots" gave me the creeps but did anyone else automatically flash to ALIENS with those little scurrying aliens? I wonder if James Cameron wasn't watching this movie and liked those spiders and decided to "borrow" this idea for his aliens 2 years later. That's what I kept thinking the whole time. I thought the finale atop the construction site elevator (with those spiders attacking Selleck) was really tense!! Best part of the movie!

I think this is one of Selleck's better early entries. I wasn't a fan of High Road to China nor Lassiter, I thought he was trying to hard to play a non-Magnum type character but they fell short to me. This is where I think he turned things around on the big screen leading into Three Men and a Baby, An Innocent Man, etc.

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

I just recently saw the movie RUNAWAY from 1984. What are people's thoughts on it? I thought it was pretty good. Liked the killer robots idea. Selleck was good, his female partner VERY HOT (hotter than Kirstie Alley whom he seemed to be more interested in)

Yes, exactly. I thought Cynthia Rhodes was far more attractive (both physically and character) than Kirstie Alley.

I watched this movie a couple times back in the mid 80's, then it disappeared. I searched for it for years on VHS, but couldn't find it anywhere. I don't know why it was so hard to find. It took me another couple decades before I found it - on DVD.

It's not quite as good as I remembered. The robot spiders are great, special effects are good, most of the acting is good and the basic story is fine - but the home scenes with the robot maid are cringeworthy and the kid is a bit annoying. It's pretty dumb that police officers would be sent to farms and work sites to disable runaway robots. I can understand the homicidal robots, but not just malfunctioning robots.

Maybe I'll edit the movie to remove the dumb stuff and turn it into a great movie.

Yep the robot spiders were the best part! Especially the ending where Selleck's character has vertigo and has to fight off these little mechanical monsters while hanging on for dear life. I have a thing for heights, so I can empathize. Though I did go skydiving in Hawaii at the Dillingham airfield back in 2008. Yeah, I know. Don't ask... LOL.

Yeah I didn't get why the police force would be dispatched to disable these harmless malfunctioning farm robots. Sounds like a job for some farming division. Especially if it happens regularly. Though I did like those scenes in the cornfield - it was nicely shot. Jerry Goldsmith's score is always a plus too!

[Mad Kudu Buck]

Though I did like those scenes in the cornfield - it was nicely shot.

I felt sorry for that poor slug-like caterpillar that got chewed up by the robot. That wasn't "special effects" - that poor guy died for real.

But actually... I've killed many bastard caterpillars that ate my broccoli plants last summer. So I guess I don't feel sorry for him anymore.

Jerry Goldsmith's score is always a plus too!

Oh yes, Jerry Goldsmith was awesome. He had the most varied scores of any movie composer. John Barry was great too, but a more limited range. Maurice Jarre had some great scores - and some bland ones. James Horner started off fine, but fell off and started producing absolute crap - almost a parody of his early scores. It's a pity that most good composers are dead and most modern movie scores are basically an iTunes list of the latest garbage pop/rap songs or plunky simplistic piano junk.

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

I just recently saw the movie RUNAWAY from 1984. What are people's thoughts on it? I thought it was pretty good. Liked the killer robots idea. Selleck was good, his female partner VERY HOT (hotter than Kirstie Alley whom he seemed to be more interested in), and Gene Simmons totally over the top in his personification of pure evil. He played the same "pure evil" character 2 years later opposite Rutger Hauer in WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE. Those killer "spider robots" gave me the creeps but did anyone else automatically flash to ALIENS with those little scurrying aliens? I wonder if James Cameron wasn't watching this movie and liked those spiders and decided to "borrow" this idea for his aliens 2 years later. That's what I kept thinking the whole time. I thought the finale atop the construction site elevator (with those spiders attacking Selleck) was really tense!! Best part of the movie!

I think this is one of Selleck's better early entries. I wasn't a fan of High Road to China nor Lassiter, I thought he was trying to hard to play a non-Magnum type character but they fell short to me. This is where I think he turned things around on the big screen leading into Three Men and a Baby, An Innocent Man, etc.

You know, I saw HIGH ROAD TO CHINA but it was so long ago that I remember very little. Selleck was trying to do his Indiana Jones type of adventure that he missed out on I think. Need to rewatch that one for sure. I don't remember it being great but not terrible either. I'm more familiar with its score because I've listened to it many times. John Barry is my all-time favorite film composer. His Bond output is sublime and even for crappy films he delivered fantastic scores (RAISE THE TITANIC anyone?). LASSITER is the other one I need to see. I also feel the need to check out both MEN AND BABY movies. Maybe I can get some tips from there for my baby. My two favorites of his are definitely AN INNOCENT MAN and QUIGLEY DOWN UNDER, the latter with a rousing score by Basil Poledouris! I really liked the idea of an "outback western" - very unique. Speaking of westerns, I hear that THE SACKETTS is a must too. I'll check it out one of these days!

[Mad Kudu Buck]

John Barry is my all-time favorite film composer. His Bond output is sublime and even for crappy films he delivered fantastic scores (RAISE THE TITANIC anyone?).

I like John Barry's "Somewhere in Time" and "Hanover Street". And I don't know why people don't like Barry's "The Man With the Golden Gun" score. The opening song is crap, of course, but I love the bit of music where Bond comes into the hotel suite while the girl is in the shower.

As for Tom Selleck movies, aside from "Runaway", I never could get into them. It's disappointing that he was never offered (or never accepted) the kind of movies that I'd want to see. It's the same with John Ritter - a very talented guy on "Three's Company", but all his movies are relatively awful.

[Pahonu]

I just recently saw the movie RUNAWAY from 1984. What are people's thoughts on it? I thought it was pretty good. Liked the killer robots idea. Selleck was good, his female partner VERY HOT (hotter than Kirstie Alley whom he seemed to be more interested in), and Gene Simmons totally over the top in his personification of pure evil. He played the same "pure evil" character 2 years later opposite Rutger Hauer in WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE. Those killer "spider robots" gave me the creeps but did anyone else automatically flash to ALIENS with those little scurrying aliens? I wonder if James Cameron wasn't watching this movie and liked those spiders and decided to "borrow" this idea for his aliens 2 years later. That's what I kept thinking the whole time. I thought the finale atop the construction site elevator (with those spiders attacking Selleck) was really tense!! Best part of the movie!

I think this is one of Selleck's better early entries. I wasn't a fan of High Road to China nor Lassiter, I thought he was trying to hard to play a non-Magnum type character but they fell short to me. This is where I think he turned things around on the big screen leading into Three Men and a Baby, An Innocent Man, etc.

You know, I saw HIGH ROAD TO CHINA but it was so long ago that I remember very little. Selleck was trying to do his Indiana Jones type of adventure that he missed out on I think. Need to rewatch that one for sure. I don't remember it being great but not terrible either. I'm more familiar with its score because I've listened to it many times. John Barry is my all-time favorite film composer. His Bond output is sublime and even for crappy films he delivered fantastic scores (RAISE THE TITANIC anyone?). LASSITER is the other one I need to see. I also feel the need to check out both MEN AND BABY movies. Maybe I can get some tips from there for my baby. My two favorites of his are definitely AN INNOCENT MAN and QUIGLEY DOWN UNDER, the latter with a rousing score by Basil Poledouris! I really liked the idea of an "outback western" - very unique. Speaking of westerns, I hear that THE SACKETTS is a must too. I'll check it out one of these days!

Ivan, you’re behind on your Selleck movies! Your analysis of High Road to China is accurate. Lassiter is forgettable. I didn’t care for Runaway though, so maybe you’ll like it? Your two favorites are mine too, hands down, but there’s a pretty big drop off after that, at least for dramas. Three Men and a Little Lady is a comedy and he’s pretty good at light comedy actually, though not so much in Her Alibi. The Sacketts is pretty good though the pacing is a bit slow, but I’m not really into westerns that much. Amazingly, I have The Chinese Typewriter on DVD and have seen the Bunco pilot he did with Robert Urich. I’ve even seen Daughters of Satan, his masterwork.

Terminal Island
The Washington Affair: snoozer
Bit parts in Coma, Midway, Superdome

I’ve seen them... sadly!!!
Coma was actually a good movie.

I watched a lot of his and James Garner’s stuff when I was younger. Interestingly, I watch almost none of Selleck’s newer stuff, but I keep finding Garner material I enjoy. I even have his single season show Nichols, on DVD. I can’t explain why exactly I lost interest. I know I just didn’t have the time when I started a family 20 years ago, but my kids are adults now. I have no excuses!!!

[Mad Kudu Buck]

Coma was actually a good movie.

Yes. That's probably the best "Tom Selleck movie" of them all - although he has a 10-second scene, then another brief scene as a corpse. (same director as Runaway)

[Pahonu]

Coma was actually a good movie.

Yes. That's probably the best "Tom Selleck movie" of them all - although he has a 10-second scene, then another brief scene as a corpse. (same director as Runaway)

Didn’t realize that about the director.

[Mad Kudu Buck]

Ivan, you’re behind on your Selleck movies! Your analysis of High Road to China is accurate. Lassiter is forgettable. I didn’t care for Runaway though, so maybe you’ll like it? Your two favorites are mine too, hands down, but there’s a pretty big drop off after that, at least for dramas. Three Men and a Little Lady is a comedy and he’s pretty good at light comedy actually, though not so much in Her Alibi.

For years, I thought "Her Alibi" was a foreign language film - and the foreign pronunciation was "Hair Aleebie". It's only when I later saw a TV preview and the announcer said the title that I said, "Ohhhh, it's alibi, as in murder investigations!"

I still didn't want to see it though.

[Mad Kudu Buck]

I think a movie Tom Selleck would have been perfect for is "No Way Out" (1987). Imagine Tom Selleck as the main character instead of Kevin Costner.

Of course, Tom would be playing a Navy officer and that's too similar to Magnum. I think it was a mistake for him to try so hard to avoid typecasting. He should have had many movie successes first, then worry about typecasting.

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

I like John Barry's "Somewhere in Time" and "Hanover Street". And I don't know why people don't like Barry's "The Man With the Golden Gun" score. The opening song is crap, of course, but I love the bit of music where Bond comes into the hotel suite while the girl is in the shower.

Somewhere in Time, Hanover Street, The Black Hole, The Last Valley, Raise the Titanic, Robin and Marian, King Kong (1976), Zulu, The Quiller Memorandum, High Road to China, Masquerade, Indecent Proposal, The Specialist, The Scarlet Letter, Mercury Rising, Enigma, The Deep, Game of Death, Mary Queen of Scots, The Tamarind Seed, etc. and those are just his more "obscure" or less recognized works. All deserving of high praise!! I haven't even mentioned the likes of Dances with Wolves, Out of Africa, Body Heat, The Lion in Winter, The Ipcress File, Born Free, and the Bond films! Dances, Africa, Lion, and Born Free he would win Oscars for.

My 3 favorite Bond scores are You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and The Living Daylights. Thunderball is sublime too! But all his Bond scores are excellent, even The Man With the Golden Gun which you mentioned, even though Barry himself admitted it was his least favorite one, the one he was most disappointed with. The opening song by Lulu is crap but I love the instrumental version of it, especially towards the end when Bond is flying to Scaramanga's island. It's such a sweeping lush piece. I love how Barry would always take the title song (good, bad, or ugly) and do an instrumental version of it and it was always superb! I like the title song by Duran Duran for A View to a Kill but the instrumental version of it is just sublime!! It's basically Tanya Roberts' theme in the movie. Everything Barry touched turned to.... GOLD! GOLDfiiiiiiiinger!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And you're right that all the great composers unfortunately have passed away. There's no one left except maybe Hans Zimmer and Thomas Newman who have been around for a while and have done some good scores off and on. But even Zimmer's stuff gets repetitive as he's been using that "wall of noise" signature of his for about 15 years now, since BATMAN BEGINS. I liked his 90s output much better, including GLADIATOR! Interestingly he did the score for the most recent Bond film, which we have yet to see as it's been delayed again and again due to Covid. So did Thomas Newman, whose SKYFALL score I actually liked but SPECTRE was just a rehash of his score for SKYFALL - very lazy. But that whole movie was crap so whatever. But yeah I don't even recognize any of the modern-day composers. Modern scores are so unimpressive and practically non-existent. Some ambient noise here and there and some plink-plink sounds thrown in. What the heck is that????

My top 5 composers would be:

1. John Barry
2. Jerry Goldsmith
3. John Williams
4. Miklos Rozsa
5. Ennio Morricone

Gotta throw in Bernard Herrmann as an honorable mention too. My top 3 film scores of all time would probably be BEN-HUR by Rozsa, YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE by Barry, and THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY by Morricone.

As for Tom Selleck movies, aside from "Runaway", I never could get into them. It's disappointing that he was never offered (or never accepted) the kind of movies that I'd want to see. It's the same with John Ritter - a very talented guy on "Three's Company", but all his movies are relatively awful.

Really? Not even AN INNOCENT MAN or QUIGLEY DOWN UNDER? I thought both were better than RUNAWAY.

Yes. That's probably the best "Tom Selleck movie" of them all - although he has a 10-second scene, then another brief scene as a corpse. (same director as Runaway)

COMA is a neat little suspense/mystery thriller but I wouldn't call it a great film. About on par with RUNAWAY actually. Same director, as you mentioned. Both AN INNOCENT MAN and QUIGLEY DOWN UNDER are better than COMA so it's definitely not the best "Tom Selleck movie".

I think a movie Tom Selleck would have been perfect for is "No Way Out" (1987). Imagine Tom Selleck as the main character instead of Kevin Costner.

You know, I can see that. I do like the movie quite a lot. You can make a case here that it's better than INNOCENT MAN or QUIGLEY. Good electronic/synth theme by Maurice Jarre too! Has this "DC intrigue/paranoia" feel to it. Actually he used synths effectively in WITNESS too (great Harrison Ford movie).

[Mad Kudu Buck]

There's no one left except maybe Hans Zimmer

Yes. Once again, I agree. Hans Zimmer did an awesome score for "The Last Samurai"(2003). (..except for those bits where there's cheering in the music. I think there should never be voices or non-music bits in soundtracks.)

Really? Not even AN INNOCENT MAN or QUIGLEY DOWN UNDER? I thought both were better than RUNAWAY.

I don't think I've seen "An Innocent Man". I was never interested in prison dramas - except "Papillon" (with another excellent Jerry Goldsmith score). I saw "Quigley Down Under". I thought I'd like it, but I didn't.

[Pahonu]

There's no one left except maybe Hans Zimmer

Yes. Once again, I agree. Hans Zimmer did an awesome score for "The Last Samurai"(2003). (..except for those bits where there's cheering in the music. I think there should never be voices or non-music bits in soundtracks.)

Really? Not even AN INNOCENT MAN or QUIGLEY DOWN UNDER? I thought both were better than RUNAWAY.

I don't think I've seen "An Innocent Man". I was never interested in prison dramas - except "Papillon" (with another excellent Jerry Goldsmith score). I saw "Quigley Down Under". I thought I'd like it, but I didn't.

I finally read Papillon one summer after seeing the film for probably the fourth or fifth time. I recommend it highly even if it is largely made up as most consider it to be now.

I would recommend the TV film The Jericho Mile by Michael Mann as a very good prison drama. That should really go in your obscure film thread! It even has Roger Mosley.

[Mad Kudu Buck]

I finally read Papillon one summer after seeing the film for probably the fourth or fifth time. I recommend it highly even if it is largely made up as most consider it to be now.

I would recommend the TV film The Jericho Mile by Michael Mann as a very good prison drama. That should really go in your obscure film thread! It even has Roger Mosley.

A few times I was going to read Papillon, but then decided I don't want to ruin the movie. I've ruined many movies learning the "behind the scenes" stuff or reading background in the original books. "Shōgun" is probably my all-time-favourite thing ever on TV, but I ruined it by watching the "making of" special features crap. Now that's all I can think of. After that, I decided to NEVER see, read or hear of "behind the scenes" of anything I really like.

I'll check out "The Jericho Mile" and "An Innocent Man".

[T.Q.]

I don't like many TM movies.

I really like Mr. Baseball.

Innocent Man was okay.

Runaway was okay.

3 Men was great when it came out but not clamouring to ever watch it again.

The other movies... MEH.

All I know when it comes to TM's movies... Well there will definitely NOT be a High Road to China 40th Anniversary Watch Party anywhere on this planet.

Hehe