Micky Dolenz Movies

Based upon Peter Biskind's book of the same name, this BBC-produced documentary traces the rise of a generation of Hollywood filmmakers who briefly changed the face of movies with a more personal approach that pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable onscreen. Influenced by such European directors as Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, and Federico Fellini, the movement kicked off in the mid-'60s with two films directed by Arthur Penn: Mickey One and Bonnie and Clyde. (The latter had been offered to both Godard and Truffaut before it wound up with producer/star Warren Beatty and Penn.) What really kicked it into gear was the unexpected success of Easy Rider, a biker-road movie that became that rare film phenomenon: acclaimed at the Cannes Film Festival and a huge commercial success. Film school graduates, the first generation brought up with movies as their main cultural reference, flooded the studios (whose own regimes were changing) with production chieftains such as Robert Evans of Paramount and David Picker at United Artists; they approved risky-looking projects and allowed relatively untested filmmakers like Francis Ford Coppola to take on heavyweight movies such as The Godfather or Hollywood newcomers like Britain's John Schlesinger to make quirky stories like Midnight Cowboy. Enriched by success with their TV show The Monkees, producer Bert Schneider and director Bob Rafelson formed a company that produced not only Easy Rider but seminal '70s films such as Five Easy Pieces and the Oscar-winning Vietnam War documentary Hearts and Minds. Another godfather to the new movement was producer Roger Corman, who gave early career opportunities to Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Peter Bogdanovich, and Jonathan Demme on low-budget projects that allowed them to learn their craft.

Two things brought this movement to an end: Some individual filmmakers' personal excesses (such disastrous flops as Dennis Hopper's follow-up to Easy Rider, appropriately titled The Last Movie, and Scorsese's New York, New York), and the studios growing fascination with special effects-driven B-movies. An outgrowth of two box-office and marketing juggernauts -- Jaws and Star Wars -- the resulting films became entertainments rather than personal statements of the directors. Narrated by William H. Macy, Easy Riders, Raging Bulls features vintage clips of Coppola, Scorsese, Beatty, George Lucas, Sam Peckinpah, Roman Polanski, Robert Altman, and Pauline Kael. It also includes original interview material with Penn; Corman; Bogdanovich; Hopper; Picker; writer/directors John Milius and Paul Schrader; actresses Karen Black, Cybill Shepherd, Margot Kidder, and Jennifer Salt (the latter two shared a house in Malibu, a social center for young filmmakers); actors Peter Fonda, Kris Kristofferson, and Richard Dreyfuss; producers Jerome Hellman, Michael Phillips, and Jonathan Taplin; editor Dede Allen; production designer Polly Platt; writers David Newman, Joan Tewksbury, Gloria Katz, and Willard Huyck; cinematographers Laszlo Kovacs and Vilmos Zsigmond; agent Mike Medavoy; and former production executive Peter Bart. Among the films discussed are Rosemary's Baby, The Wild Bunch, Mean Streets, American Graffiti, The Rain People, Midnight Cowboy, M*A*S*H, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, The Last Picture Show, Shampoo, Taxi Driver, and Raging Bull. (Three interviewees -- cinematographer Gordon Willis, critic Andrew Sarris, and writer-director Monte Hellman -- listed in the Variety review of this film, were not included in this version from a screening on Bravo.) ~ Tom Wiener, Rovi

By rights, Dr. Ken Garrett (Markus Flanagan) should consider himself lucky: He is the only member of a surgical team to keep his job after a child dies during an operation. Unfortunately, Garrett has been plunged into the depths of guilt and depression by the ordeal, forcing his wife Beth (Stephanie Zimbalist) to dust off her law degree and support her family by taking on medical malpractice cases. By what seems to be an amazing coincidence, Beth is hired to represent one of the nurses fired in the wake of the child's death. As the case progresses, a few unsavory facts are brought to surface suggesting that Beth's client may have an ulterior motive--and that somewhere along the line, two murders have been committed right under the noses of the authorities. The made-for-TV Malpractice was originally telecast on May 25, 2001. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A boy makes the acquaintence of a 500 pound gorilla, and the two become fast friends. ~ Rovi

The old axiom "Everything old is new again" was seldom truer than on February 17, 1997, when the Monkees, the four mop-topped Beatles clones who starred in their own popular musical-comedy series of the 1960s, were reunited in the 60-minute special Hey, Hey, It's the Monkees. Returning for more monkeyshines (albeit the middle-aged variety) were Peter Tork, Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, and Michael Nesmith, who also wrote and directed the special. The fragmentary storyline finds the Monkees re-forming the act after thirty years, then preparing to perform at a posh country club. Of the supporting cast, only Chuck Woolery, who plays the boys' manager,and footballer Joe Greene, playing a security guard, could be described as "name" performers. The musical highlights include the theme song for the original Monkees' series, as well as "You and I", "Circle Sky", "Antarctica", "Regional Girl", and a closing medley of Monkees' hits. Telecast in stereo, Hey, Hey It's the Monkees originally aired on February 17, 1997, as a lead-in to ABC's coverage of the 11th annual American Comedy Awards. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Brady Bunch Movie pays tribute to the 1970s TV show while poking gentle fun at it. The Brady family, led by father Mike (Gary Cole), still live in their suburban, split-level home and are still throwbacks to the era that spawned them. Eternally perky wife Carol (Shelley Long) is the perfect homemaker, while the kids' behavior is as wholesome as their loud, time-warp pastel clothes. Meanwhile, the greedy, selfish modern era swirls dangerously around them, embodied in next-door neighbor and real estate agent Ditmeyer (Michael McKean), who wants to buy the Bradys' property and turn the neighborhood into a giant mall. But no amount of money or prodding can persuade the Bradys to give up their home. Director Betty Thomas contrasts the overlit sitcom look of the Brady house interiors (faithfully recreated from the series) with real locations and natural grit for the modern L.A. scenes. The result is a satire that deftly spoofs the idea of staying true to old-fashioned values without ever passing judgment on those values. ~ Don Kaye, Rovi

To impress girls (is there ever any other reason?), Cory (Ben Savage) and Shawn (Rider Strong) claim to be members of a nonexistent band called "The Exits". The boys' falsehoods eventually jump up and bite them in the you-know-what when Mr. Feeny (William Daniels) books "The Exits" to play for a school dance! Highlights of this episode include a frantic rendition of the old classroom double-talk ditty "The Name Game", and a significant appearance by former "Monkee" Micky Dolenz. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This lushly photographed, contemporary film noir tries to substitute looks and unconvincing, contrived plot twists for substance, capturing the look of a film noir but lacking the depth and characterization needed to make the film work. After his father, Mike is killed, Joe Donan (Michael Biehn) finds evidence that his Uncle Lou (James Coburn) in a dual role as Mike and Lou, might have stolen money from his father. Joe hooks up with Lou and his drug-taking lackey, Eddie (Nicolas Cage). Joe also falls for Eddie's beautiful, but devious girlfriend Diane (Sarah Trigger). Joe kills Eddie and gains Lou's confidence, joining him in a diamond swindle. As the unnecessarily complicated plot concludes, Joe learns the shocking truth that he himself has been the victim of a scam. Michael Biehn while a good-looking and competent actor, fails to find the depth necessary to bring his outwardly sophisticated but surprisingly naive character to life. Sarah Trigger is too shallow to make a convincing noir femme-fatale, and her obvious deviousness would fool only the most gullible. Nicolas Cage, in a totally over-the-top performance also fails to give his character any believability or depth. Director Christopher Coppola takes a potentially interesting premise and muddles it with too many plot twists and unconvincing performances. ~ Linda Rasmussen, Rovi

Aimed at the 13-to-16-year-old demographic, the Monday-afternoon British TV series From the Top was one of the lesser-known endeavors from actor-writer Bill Oddie, whose other credits included I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again, Doctor in the House, The Goodies, and Bananaman. Oddie himself starred as William Worthington, a middle-aged bank manager who impulsively decided to cast off his middle-class complacency by enrolling in a drama school. Among the series' producers were Micky Dolenz of Monkees fame and former H.R. Pufnstuf cowriter Paul Harrison. The 12 half-hour episodes of From the Top were aired by Central Television from 1985 to 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Season Five of Adam-12 gets under way with a typical Jack Webb-style scrutinization of the community-relations activities of the LA County Police Department. While going about their goodwill rounds, Officers Jim Reed (Kent McCord) and Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) encounter some bad will from a gang of purse-snatching motorcyclists. The episode concludes with a tense cycle race between Malloy and a would-be Brando named Skinner, played by former 77 Sunset Strip costar Edd Byrnes. And yes, that is ex-"Monkee" Micky Dolenz as Skinner's toadying sidekick. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Monkees -- Micky Dolenz, Mike Nesmith, Davy Jones and Peter Tork -- didn't really enjoy being labelled the Prefab Four back when their TV series was all the rage in 1966. With the help and support of Bob Rafaelson (co-producer, co-writer and director) and Jack Nicholson (co-producer, co-writer, and, if you look closely, bit player), the Monkees expressed their displeasure over being packaged for popular consumption in the non sequitur masterpiece Head. At least, it seems that the film is an indictment of the merchandising of pop stars. It's hard to tell at times, because Head literally has no plot; it is instead a patchwork of loopy sight gags, instant parodies, "camp" cutups, musical numbers and wry inside jokes. Clips of such old movies as the 1934 Karloff-Lugosi epic The Black Cat pop up every so often, as does an impressive lineup of pop-culture icons: Victor Mature, Annette Funicello, Sonny Liston, Frank Zappa (he's the one leading a cow) and Ray Nitschke, as well as such movie-trivia "answers" as Timothy Carey, Vito Scotti, Teri Garr, Percy Helton, Logan Ramsey, Carol Doda, and pre-Divine cross-dresser T.C. Jones. The best bits include a lengthy Golden Boy parody which does double duty as a lampoon of the network's efforts to create "personalities" for the individual Monkees, and a psychedelic buck-and-wing performed by Davy Jones. One gag, in which Micky Dolenz blows up a Coca Cola machine, is usually excised from TV showings. Head did zero business when it first came out thanks to poor distribution, but it has since become a fixture of midnight-movie showings and campus cinema classes. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi