cult film freak: WILLIAM HURT & BRIAN DENNEHY IN 'GORKY PARK' W/ LEE MARVIN

William Hurt as Arkady Renko drawing arms in Michael Apted's GORKY PARK Year: 1983

James Horner was the laziest composer in 1983, reusing to almost exact steel drum detail his score of the previous year's 48 HRS., but mostly during particularly intense "cop movie" moments in this Cold War Russian-set Thriller about that country's edgy investigator, played by William Hurt using a brooding British accent, talking the usual working-man smack to high-end KGB the way American blue collar cops do to suit-and-tie FBI agents...

The techno-leaning music's unfitting either way, more befitting a New York City shootout than primal Russia where, to break the Cold War ice, Brian Dennehy turns up as an American cop whose brother was one of three people murdered violently in GORKY PARK...

William Hurt and Brian Dennehy play Russian and American cops in GORKY PARK

And like many deliberately complicated Neo Noirs such as CHINATOWN, ultimately dealing with something as mundane as water, everything, including head baddie Lee Marvin — nefarious mostly for being a rich American businessman — seems to be causing all the bloody havoc for live sables, or something...

Then there's gorgeous Joanna Pacula as the stock ingenue (a tempestuous yet sympathetic wishbone between Marvin and Hurt), who, while terrific to look at, doesn't add very much plot-wise...

William Hurt and Brian Dennehy play Russian and American cops in GORKY PARK Rates: **1/2

Unlike the partnered-up Russian/American lawmen Hurt and Dennehy, whose paradoxical camaraderie — teased more than developed — could have been used more throughout...

A shame because, at first, the budding investigation keeps both the audience and characters on their feet... but, unlike better crime/suspense flicks, not on their toes... entirely. Making GORKY PARK only half a Thriller with hardly any Mystery at all.