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That movie is great and doesn't get enough respect. I'd have to rewatch it to remember the scene you're talking about clearly though. It was quite a while back.

HELL. YES.

Don't forget the AWESOME detail of the two jacked-up meathead security guys (who seem TOTALLY legit and naturalistic) congratulating each other as they trash-talk Stamp.

Also, that hateful fat guy (from Sons of Anarchy) who needles Stamp about his daughter is fucking AWESOME.

Absolutely my favorite Soderbergh when all is said and done.

I usually come across people who throw Schizopolis into that run. Which always leaves me wondering if it's either four of five, and why no one just throws King of the Hill in there for the hell of it? Yeah it happened years earlier, but it's KING OF THE FREAKIN HILL! It's brilliant.

King of the Hill is a LOT better, in retrospect, than Brockovich. Which I liked at the time, and Finney is great in it... but I don't know that that's one that's stood the test of time.

That get any rewatch in ANYBODY's DVD collection?

Lex: I would watch Brockovich more often. If the DVD of the flick did not suffer from OLD DVD DISEASE. ODD effects hundreds of titles from 10 years ago, that have simply outdated discs. Discs with poor audio and visual transfers, and some of the more random special features available at the time. You know the special features: CAST AND CREW BIOS, TRAILER, AND INTERACTIVE MENUS! I could go on, but it depresses me too much.

King of The Hill is why I couldn't simply call Limey his first great movie... though I deeply love Out of Sight... of course, I also love The Underneath, flawed though it is... and Sex, Lies is one of the great debuts ever...

Yeah... I would rewatch Brockovich over and over... and my favorite stuff is not the driving center of the story, but all of the great work with side characters.

Erin Brockovich is still excellent and the best of that year's Best Picture nominees. It's amazing how he turned such a straight-forward story (and one we've seen so many times before) and makes it exciting and thrilling and dramatic and all the actors are superb (yes, even Roberts who didn't "steal" anybody's Oscar. Sure, I prefered Bjork and Burstyn that year too, but Roberts is fantastic) and technically it's great. People let their Roberts hating effect their memory of that great great movie.

The run wasn't Godfather, Conversation, Godfather II and Apocalypse Now... but in hindsight it's pretty amazing.

I think it's Stamp's best role. It's certainly one of the only performances where it doesn't look like he's sleepwalking or playing off his 60s icon image.

You tell him I'm comin'! You tell him I'm fucking comingggggggg!

For anyone interested:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfRV0qQ_vTk

"You tell him I'm comin'! You tell him I'm fucking comingggggggg!"

The Limey is great, Stamp is great...but the way he says the second sentence in that quote is pure "Priscilla..." camp. It always gets a wince out of me.

But don't forget that the commentary track has some of the best back and forth between a director and screenwriter you'll ever hear, too.

Soderbergh was gaining steam as my favorite director at the time I watched The Limey, and it is great, but I always felt it was a minor work. Feel like watching it again now.

If I ever run across The Limey while channel surfing -- at home, in a hotel room, whatever -- I simply have to keep watching until it's finished. And the scene you describe, David, is outstanding. The beauty part of it is, you don't actually see what Stamp does. The camera stays outside -- in this, the scene is a sly homage to a slightly similar scene in the original Public Enemy, complete with screams by bad guys -- but there is no doubt at all what is going on.

FWIW: My original review -- geez, can it already be nearly ten years old? -- from MSNBC.com:

http://www.movingpictureshow.com/archives/mpsTheLimey.htm

Oh, and here's the Public Enemy scene for comparison. (The action doesn't really start until around the 1:30 mark.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rTHTpEUd3s

Credit where credit's due, the scene was shot exactly as written. Dobbs complained on the commentary track that Soderbergh got all the attention for the shot. And yes, it's great, as is the movie.

Christ, that Public Enemy scene looks so modern.

"I think it's Stamp's best role. It's certainly one of the only performances where it doesn't look like he's sleepwalking or playing off his 60s icon image."

Yeah, he was really going for that 60s icon image in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

Something that always bothered me about this scene: why didn't they take his gun from him when they had him captured?

Wrecktum: Look carefully at the scene. They don't really bother searching him too hard for gun(s). They make the big mistake of treating him like some harmlessly cranky old man they can slam around with impunity.

Sadly, King of the Hill isn't available on Region 1 DVD. But if you have a region-free player you can get it from the UK very cheap--I think mine was under $15 after the currency conversion.

And yes, it does deserve to be ranked among Soderbergh's best films.

I'd also like to throw in with DP on the appreciation for The Underneath, and will raise you with a big shout-out for Kafka (again, not on DVD but I have a nice widescreen laserdisc), which is admittedly a mixed bag, but a pretty admirable about-face after Sex, Lies. Soderbergh is close to my heart because Sex, Lies was my personal entry into the world of independent film. The making-of book by Soderbergh is a fantastic read and pretty inspiring.

"Yeah, he was really going for that 60s icon image in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert."

What part of this, 'It's certainly one of the only performances', was difficult to understand?

This is the lead in to TGE? The home page keeps finding more stories. News: Soderbergh finds Grey's porn extreme. The language is growing: it's detached, extreme, typical Max Hardcore exploitation...

I've been on the "Limey as one of Soderbergh's best" for many years. I do truly love that movie. And this scene particularly. The audio commentary between the screenwriter and Mr. Soderbergh is a hoot.

My understanding of your statement Owsler, is that you believe that he does sleepwalk through the majority of his performances, his the words "It's certainly one of the only performances where it doesn't look like he's sleepwalking or playing off his 60s icon image."

If you meant the opposite wouldn't you have said one of the "many" performances. If I misunderstood you, then my bad, I'll buy the beer.

Also I see it, from his work in 2008, granted from more commercial fare, his work in Wanted, Yes Man, and Valkyrie, all showed great depth, a firm grasp of nuances, and an actor who truly understands when less is more. Tell me he wasn't the best thing in the otherwise funny concept but not well executed Yes Man.

I meant the former. And I guess he's such a fine exponent of 'less is more' that his presence in those movies (except for possibly Valkyrie) slipped my mind. He just seems so wooden to me. I guess I never really got the appeal, outside of his looks, until The Limey (Priscilla, felt like a showy role you had to like).

What on earth is "Max Hardcore"? T. Holly, you're becoming quite the expert.

Love this movie, love Erin Brockovich. I think they're both way better than Traffic.

Of course, my admiration for Stamp dates all the way back to The Collector -- damn, that was a scary performance! (And whatever happened to Samnatha Eggar?) But I also like his character work in movies ranging from My Wife is an Actress to an absolute mess of a movie that's nonetheless perversely fascinating, Love Walked In (with Denis Leary!). But, really, no discussion of this guy can be complete without mentioning --- The Hit.

And just think how very different Michael Caine's career might have been had Stamp -- who played the role on stage -- agreed to do Alfie.

Um, no discussion of his work is complete without the SINGLE GREATEST VILLAIN IN THE ENTIRETY OF CINEMA.

"KNEEL before ZOD!"

My four idols in life:

1) Fred Durst
2) Tom Cruise
3) Tom Leykis
4) General Zod

I love The Limey, probably one of the most underrated films of the '90's - beautifully shot, acted, and written. Luis Guzman gives a nice performance - I think it's safe to say his work wtih Soderburgh (Out of Sight, Traffic) is probably the best of his career. Stamp is great, of course - as a kid of the '80's, how could you not love him as Zod? But what really got my attention was Wall Street - the decks were stacked for Douglas to own that movie (and he did), but Stamp's few scenes with him as "Sir" Larry Wildman leave their mark, too.

As for the discussion of Erin, it's been real easy to hate that movie because of Julia Roberts and her Oscar acceptance speech was obnoxious - but the film REALLY holds up, it's on Encore cable a ton and I can never not watch it. And she's just great in it - it's funny, I used to really despise Roberts, but now that she's no longer the biggest star in the world, I think she's actually quite underrated. She's also more attractive, appealing, and sharper in her '40's than I ever found her in the '20's - just watch Duplicity and you'll see what I mean.

As for Soderburgh, when he was good, there were few better - Out of Sight, Limey, Brockovich, Traffic, and Oceans 11 (yeah, I include it, it's a great entertainment) - that's about as good a run as any one. If you think it's unfair to put it up there with the '60's/'70's runs of Coppola or Kubrick, fine.

But I would put it up there as one of the great mainstream entertainment runs - think Speilberg from Jaws to Raiders or McTiernan from Predator to Red October - I think Soderburgh's output is right up there.

Sorry, I'm a big baseball fan and I love streaks - it's so cool to see a filmmaker pull off of a steady stream of top films over a period of a few years and it's so rare. And when some one like Soderburgh does it through the "one of them, one for me" mentality, that makes it all the better.

Wow, I had no idea that my vague dislike of Erin Brockovich was (a.) once-shared and (b.) since-renounced by so many! That is, I didn't know it was quite so well-liked now or considered lame then. I remember being puzzled by all of the positive reviews, maybe because I just instinctively dislike Roberts (even when she picks good movies, she tends to be the worst thing in them), but also because the movie struck me as such a by-the-numbers bore, albeit an extremely well-made one. I know lots of people bag on whichever Ocean's movie(s), but I feel more of Soderbergh's personality in any of those than I do in Brockovich. And if you're looking for Soderbergh in mainstream entertainment mode but want more depth than Danny Ocean, Out of Sight is what does it for me. Now there is a movie that's aged well (as has The Limey); I'd go so far as to call it his very best so far. So while I can understand why Brockovich gets included in "the streak" with Sight, Limey, Traffic, and maybe Ocean's 11 (and I'm with you on that inclusion, Geoff, as well as with an appreciation for a good hot-streak), I far prefer both of his "post"-streak '02 joints, Full Frontal and Solaris. Full Frontal is uneven but everything with Nicky Katt destroys me. I've been meaning to rewatch a Soderbergh picture, probably The Limey, in anticipation of The Girlfriend Experience, which I'm waiting to see in theatrical release, so I appreciate the reminder.

OK, also, not to get off topic but if you want to talk ridiculous hot streaks with really depressing endings, can we mention Rob Reiner? Dude made This is Spinal Tap, The Sure Thing, Stand By Me, The Princess Bride, and When Harry Met Sally IN A ROW. Even if you don't love every single one of those movies (The Sure Thing is minor, but it's one of the best second-tier Cusack movies), that's a pretty crazy mix of iconic and/or beloved comedies.

"Dude made This is Spinal Tap, The Sure Thing, Stand By Me, The Princess Bride, and When Harry Met Sally IN A ROW."

Good shout, and that list makes Reiner's post 'American President' career all the more puzzling. Just how do you get from those movies to Alex & Emma, Rumor Has It, The Bucket List and The Story of Us? Has there ever been such a spectacular second-act crash of a major director? Mind you, M Night Shymalan's certainly giving him a run for his money....

"Has there ever been such a spectacular second-act crash of a major director?"

Well, not sure if this quite tops Reiner, but Bogdanovich managed to go from Last Picture Show and Paper Moon to... Tom Sizemore in a fright wig, acting and looking NOTHING like Pete Rose in the *made-for-ESPN* biopic classic "Hu$tle."

Jesse, you stopped too soon, Misery deserves to be included on that list and you can certainly make the Oceans 11 great entertainment arguement for A Few Good Men.

Reiner's talent seemed to fall off the same cliff as Kasden, Levinson and Stone. In the early nineties I thought they were going to inherit the great modern filmmakers titles from Coppola, Speilberg, and Scorsese. For all of Ron Howard's mistakes (and it seems like another one drops in a few days), he seems to have the most lasting career of his peers.

Oh, I mean no disrespect toward Misery or A Few Good Men. They're both highly entertaining changes-of-pace that don't really reach the casual brilliance of the comedies -- that's why I didn't include them in the run. If Reiner's career had stayed at that level, it would've been acceptable, if not particularly exciting. The American President can certainly stand with those two (again, not with Spinal Tap or Princess Bride -- but that's a tall order). But, as Dr. Wally lists, YIKES. I could accept the argument that A Few Good Men is middling or bland(though I find it extremely enjoyable). But those later Reiner movies (most of his output post-North, although I don't think North is even the worst of them!) are actively bad in a way that I can't really comprehend.

Those other eighties-ish directors you mention, hcat, made some serious missteps, but there isn't the same kind of inability to climb out of the pit there. Stone made good stuff on and off throughout the nineties, and I really enjoyed W. Levinson certainly made Sphere and Disclosure, but there are moments in failures like Envy or Bandits where I can see something worthwhile. I'm not sure if Kasdan works often enough to qualify in that league either, despite the pure, insane awfulness of Dreamcatcher.

But still, point taken: you could program a nightmare film festival with the post-94 abominations of those directors.

I dunno about Ron Howard. I tend to like the ideas behind his stretching/serious movies more than the movies themselves (like The Missing). I did enjoy Frost/Nixon more than anything of his in ages. For my money, his best movie is The Paper. I thought of that one often while watching the inferior State of Play.

"Reiner's talent seemed to fall off the same cliff as Kasden, Levinson and Stone."

Kasdan i'll grant you. Levinson made Wag the Dog as recently as '98 (And the first hour of the much-maligned Sphere is effectively eerie and claustrophobic). Stone for me hasn't made a fully effective film since Any Given Sunday. And he hasn't made a great one since JFK. But even when he fails, his movies are always at least interesting and ambitious. You could say that Mctiernan was another Eighties casualty, although i dig the heck out of The Thirteenth Warrior, whatever it's problems.

Yeah, strange that Ron Howard should be the member of the late Eighties club that held up the best....

As well for the streaks: The Coen Brothers. Blood Simple to Raising Arizona to Miller's Crossing to Barton Fink. That's pretty damn good (never been crazy about Fink, but it has its moments up there with the best of the Coens).

I've always associated Soderbergh with Spike Lee. Both came in around the same time (1989 Cannes film festival), both have done all genres, mix it up with film stocks, work with some of the same actors over and over, very hard to nail down a "style". And have made both great movies, and really truly awful ones. And what I love about both of them is diversity. Just the amazing scope of their work. Again, there are some misfires for sure. But they do work often and in different genres. Got give them credit there.

The Hudsucker Proxy is a lot of fun, and a visual feast. In my opinion, the Coen Bros.' streak didn't end until Intolerable Cruelty, which was funny but just not as cinematically enjoyable as everything which came before.

And as for post-2000 Soderbergh, I'm very much in agreement with Jesse. I'll take the ambition of Solaris and the left turns of Full Frontal and Ocean's 12 over Brokovich and Ocean's 11, thank you.

Out of Sight and The Limey were Soderbergh at his absolute peak. Wasn't better before, or since.

Having watched the clip on YouTube I do remember that scene. It is excellent. Love the swagger as he walks back up to the building.

In regards to Stamp playing off his '60s image, I'd say Priscilla does that for sure. Complete juxtaposition.

Talking of streaks, how about the one Almodovar is on right now? All About My Mother, Talk to Her, Bad Education, Volver and word on Broken Embraces is great. I know some don't care for Education, but I think it's a stunner. And I'm personally a bit fan of John Hughes' run from Sixteen Candles (1984) to Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1986) with The Breakfast Club, Ferris Beuller and Weird Science in between.

Kam - agreed on Hughes, but no soft spot for 'She's having a baby'? I'm man enough to admit that the Kate Bush montage at the end chokes me up every time. And talk about a change in legacy. The others mentioned have simply faded into obscurity while Hughes is responsible for influencing nearly two decades of crappy family programming.

Kami: I've somehow never gotten around to All About My Mother, but that is indeed a great run by Almodovar. Hope the streak continues.

Oxymoron allert:

"(yes, even Roberts who didn't "steal" anybody's Oscar. Sure, I prefered Bjork and Burstyn that year too, but Roberts is fantastic) "

In all seriousness, while Roberts was more than adequate and deserved recongnition as a whole, the entire movie is somewhat overrated.

I mean how come Soderbergh gets recognized for both "Traffic" and "Eric Brokovich" in the same year, while Spielberg got NOTHING for "Minority Report" and "Catch Me if You Can". Both better reviewed too (and truly superior), by the way.

Soderbergh is an immensely talented, unique and hungary director but the thing that gets me about him is his lack of taste. I cannot properly describe it but there's a streak of nihilism that's apparent in nearly all of his later films. I wonder if anyone understands what I'm talking about.

I did get a kick out of Schizopolis, though (which I've seen early in his career). That's a totally diffeirent kind of tastelessness (and much more up my alley, then what I described above).

"Reiner's talent seemed to fall off the same cliff as Kasden, Levinson and Stone."

Kasdan i'll grant you."

OK, I simply won't let this pass. First of all, let's not hold things against a filmmaker who's output slowed down over the years.

But I absolutely love Kasdan's work and consider "French Kiss" to be one of the finest and funniest romance movies of the 90s. (talk about being man enough to admit things in public)

"DreamCatcher" may have one of the most screwed up screenplays in recent memory but the movie was also well shot and the first half of the movie is pretty intense. I think Kasdan needs to return to directing ("Risk Pool" is taking way to long). I'm sure he's got more than enough talent to impress us all.

"For all of Ron Howard's mistakes (and it seems like another one drops in a few days), he seems to have the most lasting career of his peers."

I'm fighting back the urge to throw up. I will grant you that he managed to have a very commercial career but most lasting... I don't think so. Here's a man who's work is outnumbered by mistakes. I am freely admitting that I'm biased since I am not a fan.

Of all the director's mentioned above, Reiner is a toughest to explain. After a BRILLIANT run in the 80s and some good films in the first the 90s, the last decade or so has something else, and I say this as someone who sort of liked "North".

Clearly Rob needs another go at addapting Steven King.

I said Ron Howard was lasting, I didn't say good.

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