Good movie but grossly overrated

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

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).

Two years after he brought us "Revenge of the Nerds", director Jeff Kanew presented us with a film that could have been entitled "Revenge of the Elderly Ex-cons", as two senior citizens who have just completed a thirty year jail sentence find themselves at odds with the society that they have been forced to re-enter.Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas are Harry Doyle and Archie Long, the last two "Tough Guys" to rob a train, way back in 1955. When the pair hear that the Gold Coast Flyer, the very train they attempted to do over three decades earlier, is making it's final run, the temptation to try again is very strong indeed.Basically geared as a comedy, Kanew's film fails to send its audience into hysterics as everything comes off second rate. Douglas and Lancaster appear to enjoy themselves, but neither is capable of any inspiration, in a show which displays similarities to "Cocoon", with its theme of the oldies showing the young ones how its done.Fans of the two veteran actors may get the odd laugh from "Tough Guys", but don't expect too much form this B-grade comedy.Sunday, June 26, 1994 - Video

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

This is a rather light comedy, not an exceptional film, but entertaining enough. While Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster turn in engaging performances, the movie is stolen by Eli Wallach, whose character is nothing if not persistent! There are some very funny bits here. If you're looking for something light, funny and enjoyable, this one works. Worth watching.