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 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.
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 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.