William Lynch Movies
A young man freshly graduated from Yale (Anthony Edwards) moves to Rhode Island and finds himself with a strange power: the ability to create mild electric shocks through his hands. He begins to make friends around the community, and tries to help those around him by healing several minor sicknesses. Mr. North was the directorial debut for Danny Huston, the son of John Huston. ~ John Bush, Rovi
- Starring:
- Anthony Edwards, Robert Mitchum, (more)
- 1986
This gripping made-for-TV courtroom drama centers on a pair of hard-working lawyers who become obsessed with proving that the tactical division of the Boston Police Force made a fatal mistake when they shot the wrong man following a robbery. The plot is based on a true story. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1951
Dick Powell stars in this suspenseful melodrama, directed by Robert Parrish. Rocky Mulloy (Powell) has recently returned from prison, after being pardoned from a life sentence when new evidence clears him from a robbery conviction. Delong (Richard Erdman), a crippled Marine veteran who concocted the new evidence that got Mulloy released, thinks that Mulloy will be so grateful that he will cooperate with him and share some of the $100,000 Mulloy supposedly has hidden somewhere from the robbery. But Mulloy has other ideas -- instead he wants the use his pardon as a chance to bring the real guilty parties involved in the crime to justice and to help out a needy friend who is still in the penitentiary. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Dick Powell, Rhonda Fleming, (more)
Producer George Pal assembled an impressive roster of behind-the-camera talent -- including noted science fiction author Robert Heinlein and artist Chelsey Bonestell -- for this pioneering sci-fi adventure. Scientist Dr. Charles Cargraves (Warner Anderson), former Air Force General Thayer (Tom Powers), and industrial tycoon Jim Barnes (John Archer) believe that it's time that the U.S. blazed new trails and found new adventures. Convinced that exploration of space is the wave of the future (and that America's dominance in space is vitally important if they are to continue to dominate the Earth), the three men begin planning and constructing a spaceship called "Luna" in the Mojave Desert that will take the men to the moon and back. However, anti-American forces begin flooding the press with propaganda against the moon mission, and finally the men make their way to moon without the aid of the federal government. While the men are thrilled to succeed in their mission, it turns out that they miscalculated the amount of fuel needed to return -- and that the rocket needs to drop a lot of weight if it is to return to Earth. Destination Moon won an Academy Award for Best Special Effects of 1950; the film also features a brief appearance by cartoon favorite Woody Woodpecker, who helps explain how rockets work. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Warner Anderson, John Archer, (more)
Also known as A Miracle Can Happen, On Our Merry Way is a multipart comedy linked by inquiring reporter Burgess Meredith. It is Meredith's job to interview several people, asking them what effect children have had on their lives. First he checks with two itinerant musicians (James Stewart and Henry Fonda), who earn extra under-the-counter money by fixing a music contest so the mayor's son will win. Next he meets Hollywood extras Dorothy Lamour and Victor Moore, who are hired to work with a precocious child star. Finally, the old "Ransom of Red Chief" twist is given to the tale of hoboes Fred MacMurray and William Demarest, who find themselves at the mercy of a preteen prankster, whose wealthy uncle (Hugh Herbert) won't take the kid back unless the hoboes pay him. Meredith returns to the newspaper office with a black eye, which earns him the sympathy and affection of coworker Paulette Goddard. Though the direction is credited to Leslie Fenton, portions of On Our Merry Way were actually directed (sans credit) by George Stevens and King Vidor. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Burgess Meredith, Paulette Goddard, (more)
- 1944
Janie, adapted from the Broadway play by Josephine Bentham and Herschel Williams, was one of a 1940s cycle of stage-to-film comedies about teenagers. Joyce Reynolds stars as Janie, a typical teen whose life is turned topsy turvy by the installation of a military base near her home town. Edward Arnold and Ann Harding, exasperated and understanding respectively, play Janie's parents. Robert Hutton is the soldier and Richard Erdman the hometown boy who vie for Janie's attentions. The film is cloying at times, but survives as a reasonably accurate representation of teenage life in the war years, right down to the "coded slang" used to throw parents off the track. Janie ends with the Army marching out and the Marines marching in, leaving the door wide open for a sequel, which appeared in 1946 under the title Janie Gets Married. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Robert Hutton, Edward Arnold, (more)
