Lisa Howard Movies

Divorce lawyer Danny De Vito warns his prospective client that the story he's about to tell isn't a pretty one, but the client listens with eager intensity -- as do the folks out there in the movie in the audience. The War of the Roses can best be described as a slapstick tragedy concerning the decline and literal fall of a marriage. After 17 years, Oliver (Michael Douglas) and Barbara (Kathleen Turner) Rose want a divorce. Not for this couple is there anything resembling a "civilized understanding": Barbara wants their opulent house, and Oliver isn't about to part with the domicile. Barbara nails the basement door shut while Oliver is downstairs, Oliver disrupts Barbara's fancy party by taking aim at the catered dinner, Barbara lays waste to Oliver's sports car....and so it goes, culminating in a disastrous showdown around, about and under the living room's fancy chandelier. DeVito and screenwriter Michael Leeson never let us forget that the couple's self-indulgent imbroglio exacts an awful price upon their children (Sean Astin and Heather Fairfield). The War of the Roses was adapted from the novel by Warren Adler. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When there's a full moon over Brooklyn, anything can happen, and everything happens in the neighborhood where widowed bookkeeper Loretta Castorini (Cher) lives. First, Loretta agrees to marry a man she does not love, Johnny Cammareri (Danny Aiello), simply because he knows how to propose properly. Before the wedding can take place, Cammareri must visit his dying mother in Sicily. In his absence, Loretta is supposed to try to patch up the differences between Johnny and his brother, bakery operator Ronny Cammareri (Nicolas Cage). Having never forgiven Johnny for indirectly causing the accident that crippled him, Ronny flies into a rage whenever his brother's name is mentioned. He does, however, fall for Loretta like a ton of bricks. After a torrid affair, Loretta tries to avoid Ronny out of respect to Johnny, but he's just too fascinating to resist. Meanwhile, Loretta's father (Vincent Gardenia) is fooling around with his mistress Mona (Anita Gillette), while Loretta's mother (Olympia Dukakis) is wooed by a college professor (John Mahoney). These brief flings are forgiven and forgotten, but there's still the delicate situation of Loretta being in love with her future brother-in-law. A now-classic romantic comedy, Moonstruck won Oscars for Cher, Olympia Dukakis, and screenwriter John Patrick Shanley. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) is once more dragged out of retirement to defend a murder suspect. This time the defendant is an obnoxious actor (Joe Penny) who was seen by an audience of millions in the act of shooting a vitriolic TV talk show host (Allan Thicke). The actor claims the shooting was a prearranged publicity stunt, and that his gun was filled with blanks. Why, then, was the host stone cold dead when the cops arrived? Production sidelight: Allan Thicke, the "murdered" talk host in this made for TV movie, was in 1983 the real host of a failed talk show--a show produced by Fred Silverman, who also happened to be the producer of Perry Mason: The Case of the Shooting Star.. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Adapted by Horton Foote from his own play, 1918 focuses on a small Texas town beset by a major flue epidemic during World War I. In this slow-paced, melancholy story of internecine family strife, Horace Robedaux (William Converse-Roberts) comes from the poor side of the town's citizenry, but he married into the landed gentry when he wed Elizabeth (Hallie Foote), a change that bothers him constantly. His father-in-law is a rigid though well-intentioned patriarch, and his mother-in-law is often at odds with Elizabeth -- the seeds of that friction undoubtedly lie in the family's opposition to Elizabeth marrying Horace. Besides, these wealthy parents treat Elizabeth and Horace as though they were still children -- and they are now the proud parents of a baby boy. Changes occur when Horace makes a sudden decision to go off to war, after assurances from his father-in-law that he will care for Elizabeth in the meantime -- and the flu epidemic strikes much closer to the family than anyone would have imagined. The film was later telecast as part of a Horton Foote trilogy on PBS' American Playhouse. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Filmed on location in India, The Hindu is an outgrowth of the "Gunga Ram" episodes originally seen on TV's Smilin' Ed's Gang (later known as Andy's Gang). Nino Marcel stars as adventurous young mahout Gunga Ram, with Vito Scotti (of all people!) as his timorous sidekick. Top billing is bestowed upon Boris Karloff as the irascible general of the Maharajah of Bakore (Lou Krugman). Though Karloff behaves in a surly fashion, the film's real villain is Victor Jory, as head of a deadly fire-worshipping cult. At the behest of British regent Reginald Denny, Gunga Ram does his best to put an end to Jory's cult for good and all. Also on hand as the cult's high priestess is June Foray, better known for her voiceover work on such cartoon series as Rocky and His Friends and George of the Jungle. Despite its lumpy continuity, The Hindu is fairly entertaining, especially for the many TV fans of "Gunga Ram." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Made in the same atmosphere and paranoia that spawned the infamous Joseph McCarthy, this is an anti-communist propaganda movie looking more at the dark side of communism than at its subject matter--the life and times of Joszef Cardinal Mindszenty of Hungary. Mindszenty was imprisoned as an enemy of the State for his outspokenness and, during his trial, it was revealed that his confession was obtained by the use of torture, hypnosis and drugs. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide