June Chadwick Movies

Backstab an erotic, mystery thriller made in Canada, and directed by Jim Kaufman, is the story of an architect Cliff Murphy (James Brolin), who spends the night with a beautiful woman only to find his murdered boss next to him in bed. Cliff is framed for the murder, and he must prove his innocence. This average thriller, with a lackluster performance by James Brolin never really takes off. The pace is too leisurely and the courtroom finale and plot twists are not convincing. The cast also includes Meg Foster who gives a convincing performance and some beautiful color photography by Rodney Gibbons. Despite some good moments and good production values, Backstab fails to either thrill or entertain. ~ Linda Rasmussen, Rovi

The sixth-season opener of Murder She Wrote takes place in Athens, where mystery writer Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) is reunited with suave but inherently untrustworthy British secret agent Michael Haggerty (Len Cariou). In order to help Haggerty rescue a kidnapped fellow spy, Jessica reluctantly agrees to pose as Haggerty's wife. Before long, our heroine finds herself up to her neck in peril, especially after the authorities find a dead body in her hotel room. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this African adventure, a boozy pilot and a US senator's sexy wife find themselves fleeing for their lives through the jungle after they witness a political assassination. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Amy (Olivia Hussey) is a widow who is held captive by her insane Aunt Margot (Piper Laurie) in this predictably routine mystery. After she believes her husband has died, Amy is comforted by a group of society women with lesbian tendencies and is drugged when she goes to live with her aunt who tries to convince her she is insane. Amy begins to have nightmarish hallucinations and believes she sees the decayed remains of her late husband. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Season Four of The A-Team begins with part one of a two-part story (originally telecast as a single two-hour episode). Despite increasing threats of capture by their old nemesis Col. Decker (Lance LeGault), the A-Team agrees to help Judge Mordente (Dana Elcar), whose daughter Lori (LaGena Hart) is being held hostage so that Mordente will render a "not guilty" verdict upon mob boss Joe Scarlett (Robert Miranda). The plan involves Hannibal (George Peppard) posing as a gangster in order to infiltrate Scarlett's gang, as well as the "borrowing" of a mob limo for an escape vehicle. Ultimately, both the Team and the kidnapped girl wind up in Italy, where things really begin to percolate! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In the first episode of Magnum, P.I's two-part Season Five opener, Magnum (Tom Selleck) is hired by socialite Diane Dupres (a pre-Basic Instinct Sharon Stone) to protect her from her evil twin sister Deidre. Magnum's client claims that Deidre has been a psychotic ever since she was kidnapped as a child, and now she intends to "purge" herself by murdering Diane. Meanwhile, a flustered Higgins likewise has "double trouble" when he ends up engaged to two women: his old friend Agatha Chumley (Gillian Dobb) and his former flame Lady Ashley (Carolyn Seymour). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Largely improvised by director Rob Reiner and his cast, This Is Spinal Tap looks and sounds like a "real" documentary, with Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, and Christopher Guest as David St. Hubbins, Derek Smalls, and Nigel Tufnel, the key members of a going-nowhere British heavy metal band called Spinal Tap. The "group" started as an informal skiffle band, eventually maturing into an R&B act called the Thamesmen (their hit was "Gimme Some Money"). After going through a psychedelic period with "Listen to the Flower People," the band mutated into Spinal Tap, a hard rock outfit responsible for such albums as "Intravenous DeMilo," "The Sun Never Sweats," and "Bent for the Rent." This Is Spinal Tap finds them in the midst of their first American tour in years as they support their new LP Smell the Glove, with filmmaker Marty DiBergi (Rob Reiner), who specializes in TV commercials, on hand to document the occasion. Just about anything that can go wrong does: shows get canceled, stage props go wrong, wireless guitar pickups start broadcasting air-traffic reports, no one shows up for in-store appearances, David's girlfriend tries to take over the band, they wind up billed second to a puppet show at an amusement park, and the group teeters on the verge of breakup. After the film's initial release, McKean, Guest, and Shearer did a short club tour as Spinal Tap; the "band" reunited in 1992 for a new album, Break Like the Wind, followed by a full-fledged tour and TV special, The Return of Spinal Tap. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In this slice-n-dicer, a cabbie becomes obsessed with a lovely movie scream queen and decides to follow her to the Cannes Film Festival. Though she is a cult favorite, few take the horror-movie actress seriously. The taxi driver does and is sure that with a little of his expert direction she could become an excellent dramatic actress. Unfortunately, before he can help her, he must first get her attention. He first approaches her while she is taking a shower in her suite. Naturally she attempts to throw him out. A scuffle ensues and he ends up threatening to slit her throat. She escapes and dressed only in a towel runs through a crowd. The taxi driver is right behind her and the other festival-goers, thinking it all a clever promotional gimmick, applaud. He stops to take a bow and she makes it to safety. This bad start does not stop the cabbie from trying to reach her and before the story ends, many people die horrible deaths, leading to the film's surprising ending. Much of the story was shot on location at the 1981 Cannes Film Festival and features shots of several famous actors and filmmakers. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Jackie Collins screenplay falters in this so-so melodrama about a soccer player and his road to fame and fortune. Rod Turner (Ian McShane) is a has-been soccer whiz who one day gets a second chance to reach for the brass ring. He joins a team owned by a playboy rock star (Paul Nicholas) and managed by Jake (Adam Faith), a vicious, mean-spirited devil. In spite of the manager and a suddenly complex personal life as he gets involved with the rock star's girlfriend (Suzanne Somers), Rod is determined to make this second chance work. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

British sado-exploitation guru Pete Walker directed this mundane horror-mystery about an American pop star (Jack Jones) who, after a long hiatus, decides to return to England in an attempt to jump-start his career and finds himself immersed in a supernatural mystery involving the grisly murder of his estranged wife at their London flat. Through revelations provided by his wife's ghost, he attempts to solve the murder -- which may have been committed by something not entirely human. Although nowhere near as bloody as Walker's notorious cult classics Schizo or The Confessional, this is still rather gruesome stuff, enlivened somewhat by the presence of Pamela Stephenson as the latest object of Jones' affection. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi