“Tell ’im I’m coming.” Who could have expected that the great Great British actor Terrence Stamp’s last truly great performance would come in an American movie? Yet by transplanting the last of the Angry Young Men to California, Steven Soderbergh gave him a new context in which to stand out. Stamp’s masterful as the enraged London gangster seeking revenge against the L.A. crime boss who killed his daughter, his performance given extra poignancy through the use of clips from his career-defining early role in Poor Cow. His final showdown with the evil Valentine is a clash of crime cultures played out between two of the best, most fascinating performers of their generation, as Stamp and Peter Fonda circle each other like tigers. – Richard Whittaker
Sept. 20-21
