Tough Guys

1986 "They're Out To Teach A New World Some Old Tricks."
6.2| 1h44m| PG| en| More Info
Released: 03 October 1986 Released
Producted By: Bryna Productions
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
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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.

Genre

Comedy, Crime

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Director

Jeff Kanew

Production Companies

Bryna Productions

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Tough Guys Audience Reviews

Perry Kate Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
Kidskycom It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.
Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.
Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.
Vivekmaru45 I have been a longtime favorite of these actors. My favorite Kirk Douglas films: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), Lust For Life(1956) and Spartacus(1960), Burt Lancaster: On Wings of Eagles (1986) and Eli Wallach: The Good The Bad And The Ugly (1966).Watch these films if you haven't yet. Back to this film the film concerns two crooks Harry Doyle (Lancaster) and Archie Long (Douglas), have botched a hijack on Southern Pacific train called The Gold Coast Flyer, ready to collect Social Security. They get thirty years imprisonment. Upon their release, they find the world has changed from 1956 to 1986—clothing, sexual lifestyles (their favorite bar is now a gay club for men), lack of respect from the younger generation, and the advance of technology.To put matters worse, Leon B. Little (Eli Wallach), an elderly hit man with bad eyesight who still has an outstanding contract on them, immediately tries kill them on many occasions without any success. It is good to mention here that Eli Wallach's character is the comic relief of the film. Comedy has always been his forte.Harry is too old for work - he is put in a retirement home where he reconnects with an old flame named Belle (Alexis Smith), and reminisces about old times. Archie, still allowed to work at age 67, takes a job at an ice cream parlor and later a restaurant. They are told not to have further contact with each other for at least three years. Archie then embraces the contemporary scene, listening to new wave music, asking out a much younger woman, Skye (Darlanne Fluegel), and dressing in faddish clothes. Though both their relationships go well, neither Archie nor Harry seems to fit in society anymore.Tired of trying to adjust, Harry and Archie go back to their old ways. What happens next to for you to see and find out. More comedy films you may like: Ruthless People (1986), Soul Man (1986), Planes Trains & Automobiles (1987).
Michael_Elliott Tough Guys (1986) *** (out of 4) Lifelong friends Harry Doyle (Burt Lancaster) and Archie Long (Kirk Douglas) are being released from prison after thirty-years. They were in there for the last train robbery in American history but once on the outside they find that times have changed. They find it hard fitting in with the current world so that's when Archie gets the idea of robbing the train one last time.If you're looking for a hard-hitting drama or some sort of nasty comedy then TOUGH GUYS certainly won't be for you. I'm really not sure why this film has gotten so many negative reviews. Look, I'll admit that this isn't a masterpiece or a classic but at the same time it's great getting to see Lancaster and Douglas working together. It's not like they were given countless great roles later in their careers so getting to see them having some fun together makes this movie worth watching.As far as the comedy goes, I thought a lot of it was rather funny. Yes, the story is pretty simple and the basic gag is having these two old men walking around and having to deal with "young" people. A lot of these situations are quite funny thanks to the two actors being good sports about it. There's the scene where Douglas enters a gay bar not knowing it. There are a couple other scenes where Douglas has to battle people at his pathetic jobs. With Lancaster, he plays it more straight and this includes a relationship with an old fling (Alexis Smith) of his.The reason to watch this movie is for the actors. Lancaster and Douglas have a wonderful chemistry together and they have no problem fitting these roles. The two of them play well off of each other and they certainly add a lot of charm to the film. Charles Durning is the cop who originally brought him down and he too has some nice scenes with the boys. Dana Carvey is fun in his supporting role as is Smith. Eli Wallach plays a nutbag trying to kill the boys and he too adds a lot of fun.TOUGH GUYS isn't a masterpiece and there's no question that it overstays its welcome with the extended running time. With that said, if you're a fan of the veteran cast then you'll certainly get a kick out of the film.
Jonathon Dabell The teaming of stars Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas is really the only reason to watch this thin comedy caper. United on screen for the sixth time (and, let it be noted, their first movie work together since Seven Days in May in 1964), Lancaster and Douglas breeze through this nonsensical fluff with tongues firmly in cheek. You will never see Tough Guys on anybody's top-100 list, but it is a likable time filler that doesn't particularly tax the patience.Train robbers Archie Long (Douglas) and Harry Doyle (Lancaster) are released from jail after serving thirty years for their misdemeanours. They find themselves under the eye of a young parole officer called Richie Evans (Dana Carvey) who is an enthusiastic expert on their previous crimes. His job is to integrate them back into society but it is no easy task as much has changed during their time inside. Harry tries to settle into a quiet life in a retirement home, where he becomes enamoured with an old lady friend named Belle (Alexis Smith). Archie, meanwhile, takes up a job in an ice cream parlour and tries in his spare time to adapt to a party playboy lifestyle, even getting himself a sexy young mistress in the shape of Skye Foster (Darlanne Fluegel). Neither man seems truly happy playing up to a cultural ideal that doesn't really fit their personality…. and slowly but surely their minds start turning to crime, just like old times. They even find themselves hunted by a short-sighted contract killer named Leon B. Little (Eli Wallach), still desperate to bump them off to fulfil a contract he was entrusted with more than thirty years previously. Eventually, Archie and Harry decide to complete the train robbery for which they were captured all those years ago. "That's crazy" declares the train driver as his train is hijacked, "no-one robs trains any more". But rob it they do, just for the sheer thrill of it, hurtling full steam for the Mexican border with old law adversary Deke Yablonski (Charles Durning) hot on their trail.Tough Guys never amounts to anything more than harmless fun. Most of the jokes relate to the cultural alienation that greets Archie and Harry after so long cut off from the real world. They are bewildered and a little disappointed to find their old neighbourhood populated by punks with attitude; new technology, new fashion; louder music; permissive attitudes. Worst of all, their former gang members have grown old and tired, mere shells of their previous selves. The story itself doesn't hang together believably, but this barely matters - even the director and stars don't seem particularly bothered about the finer points of narrative and character logic. It's all just meant as a little nostalgic fun. And, while Tough Guys is never better nor worse than average, it remains an undemanding-to-watch slice of fun for those in the mood for something light and easy.
normlaf22 Tough Guys, for me, is a very intriguing film, you have two film greats together, and despite their ages, which are beyond their heyday so to speak,, they are still upthere..Of special interest to me was the train the train used, it is not a fictional train but one owned and currently kept up by the City of Portland,Or. -in constant us..it is considered to be the most beautiful train in the world..forerunner to Amtraks Coast Starlight..Overall, the movie is well worth watching to watch two aging guys still pull it off, and if you are a train buff you'll shudder at some of the things that happen to the train too.. See it, Shame it is only VHS

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