Man on Fire (1987)

Saw Man on Fire (1987) which I believe is the original film that the now-more-famous Denzel Washington movie is a remake of.  This original is set in Italy and features a much more John Rambo-ish kind of guy - a long-haired, greying man still heavily rattled from his wartime experience.  Whereas in the modern (2004) version Denzel had a drinking problem, in the 80s, the reality of Vietnam and of course WW2 were fresh enough in the collective memory that merely being in the war was a believable reason that this character would be giving up on life.

Only of course, he gets a second shot of vitality from an adorable, wise-for-her-years moppet who sulks and giggles her way in the main guy's heart.  These scenes are a little more uncomfortable than the 2004 version.  In the recent version they establish Denzel's feelings of care through sports training.  It's a sort of tough love that's not terribly tender.  In this version, the main character is much more fatherly - beatifically smiling and admiring.  They don't establish as well that the girl's real father is absent, and thus the main character feels a lot more like a usurper, or even a predator.  I'm sure it's not meant to come off that way, but I'm just reporting my experience of it here and that was one of discomfort.

Anyway, the film is less action-packed than the modern version.  There's less unstoppable action-hero stuff and more getting shot and wretchedly limping.  But what it lacks in Action it makes up for in style.  There's a lot of weird settings and flourishes.  At one point the cops are showing mugshots to the hero, projecting the images eerily and spectrally against his hospital room's curtains.  A couple of scenes are filmed in swooning slow motion and the when the characters get homicidal, they seem feral, rat-like.

This was an interesting film.  More muted than the original, but more grounded as well, more real.  The hero had more pathos but less power.  It's somewhat dated (that grainy footage) but it's an interesting contrast to the more modern film.