A Walk in the Woods (2015)

Film version of Bill Bryson’s travel book about walking the Appalachian Trail. 

The author is played by Robert Redford and his friend (a wheezing former alcoholic) is played by Nick Nolte. Meanwhile, Emma Thompson plays Bryson’s wife left at home. 

It’s gently funny and wise, with some poignancy and melancholy. It’s probably intended for the older viewer. 

Redford is always easy to like, although his character doesn’t really develop. Nolte steals the show, with a performance that grows in depth as the film progresses. 

The scenery looks good and it makes you want to go walking, even if their bags never seemed to be heavy enough.

48 Hrs. (1982)

Directed by Walter Hill, this is a superb hybrid of cop drama, crime thriller and comedy. 

Nick Nolte plays a San Francisco policeman trying to track down two murderers. Helping him is a convict played by the endlessly charming Eddie Murphy, with his own connection to the case. It could have turned into a silly “bromance”, but the tough, witty script is thankfully devoid of sentimentality. 

The cars look fantastic. The music soundtrack by James Horner is unusual and distinctive. And the offbeat chemistry between Nolte and Murphy is absolutely spot-on.

Cape Fear (1991)

Martin Scorsese’s remake of the 1962 film creates something bigger, louder and a lot more scary than the original. This time around the psychopath Max Cady is played by Robert De Niro, who is fuelled by his own version of religion as well as a desperate craving for revenge. The plot is very similar – ex-con terrorises lawyer and his family – except that Scorsese builds in more moral ambiguity. Sam Boden (Nick Nolte) is not a squeaky-clean lawyer. Instead, he has acted unprofessionally by concealing a report relating to Cady’s case and is unfaithful to his wife Leigh (Jessica Lange) with a legal clerk called Loti (Illeana Douglas). 

The biggest difference is that the Bodens’ daughter, Danielle (a particularly superb Juliette Lewis), is a 15-year-old who is drawn into an ambiguous understanding with Cady. He exploits her dawning sexuality as well as her feelings of being misunderstood by her parents. 

In many ways it’s a film about family and – like Cady himself – it cleverly explores the threads that tie them together as well as probing into the cracks that pull them apart. 

The music, based on Bernard Herrmann’s score for the original, has a high drama, helping to drive the dynamism and the tension on screen. 

There’s also the slight novelty of cameos from three of the original cast – Robert Mitchum, Gregory Peck and Martin Balsam all appear in minor roles. 

If there’s a criticism it’s that it’s a little overwrought at times, but I like that quality: Scorsese turns up the drama and makes it almost unbearable. Then he turns it up some more.

Thin Red Line (1998)

Ensemble film about WWII adapted from the 1962 James Jones novel. It presents multiple narrative perspectives. Unlike The Longest Day, it actually works. The all-star cast includes John Cusack, George Clooney, Nick Nolte, Sean Penn, John Travolta and Woody Harrelson, although Clooney and Travolta are barely there beyond brief cameos. Jim Caviezel and Ben Chaplin are especially strong.

It can be confusing at times, as the interior monologue switches between characters depending on who’s being shown on screen. Plus, the signposting of the wheres and whens of certain scenes can seem muddled.

It’s epic and expansive, also demonstrating a strong love of nature: there are long, lingering shots of wildlife and the long grass blowing in the wind. The action sequences are harrowing. And it builds up a philosophical depth as it goes along.