Susan Baker Movies
- 1976
- G
Here's the basic "shtick" of Bugsy Malone: it's a gangster picture enacted by children. Acted out before scaled-down sets, the film details the career of Bugsy Malone (Scott Baio), who rises to the top of the criminal ladder in 1920s New York. Whenever gunfire is called for, the kiddie crooks substitute whipped cream for bullets. Paul Williams contributes several songs, which are performed by adult singers and lip-synched by the pint-sized actors. The cast includes John Cassisi as diminutive Capone clone Fat Sam, and then-13-year-old Jodie Foster as the sultry nightclub thrush Tallulah. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Scott Baio, Jodie Foster, (more)
Tommy (Roger Daltrey) is a "deaf, dumb and blind kid" who retreats into himself after the death of his father. His mother, Nora (Ann-Margret), and stepfather Frank (Oliver Reed) take him to see a specialist (Jack Nicholson) but Tommy is apparently a hopeless case. That is, until Tommy discovers that "he sure plays a mean pinball." Tommy gains fame when he defeats the Pinball Wizard (Elton John) for the world championship. As a result, Tommy becomes such a celebrity that he even founds his own religious cult. But his fans begin to commercialize his fame, while Tommy wants to stick to the straight and narrow. When Tommy wants to end the commercialization of his message, his supporters accuse him of being hypocritical and turn on him. Ann-Margret, with a slinky red dress slit way up the side, was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar, losing out to Louise Fletcher in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ann-Margret, Oliver Reed, (more)
The Buttercup Chain, based on Janice Elliot's novel, details the intense friendship among four people that turns tragic over the course of one summer. France (Hywel Bennett) and Margaret (Jane Asher) are first cousins, born of twin sisters on the same day. As children, they were brought up as brother and sister. The two possess such a strong platonic love for each other that they are incapable of loving anyone else. When Margaret travels to London to live with France, he picks out beautiful Swedish student Fred (Sven-Bertil Taube) to be Margaret's lover. For himself, he selects American girl Manny (Leigh Taylor-Young). As they spend their holidays traveling in Spain, the countryside of England, and Sweden, the foursome communicate with each other and try to discover the meaning of love. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Hywel Bennett, Leigh Taylor-Young, (more)
- 1966
- Add A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum to QueueAdd A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum to top of Queue
Director Richard Lester uses the Burt Shevelove/Larry Gelbart/Stephen Sondheim Broadway musical hit as a launching pad for some of his wildest slapstick gaggery. Zero Mostel repeats his stage role as Pseudolus, the cunning Roman slave who'll do anything to win his freedom. The plot hinges on three Roman houses next door to each another. One is the home of Pseudolus' masters: the philandering Senex (Michael Hordern), his domineering wife, Domina (Patricia Jessell), and their handsome but empty-headed son, Hero (Michael Crawford). The second house is a brothel belonging to unctuous procurer Lycus (Phil Silvers). The third house has long been empty, in that its owner, the senile Erronius (Buster Keaton), has gone on a long journey to find his children, who were kidnapped in infancy by pirates. Other principals include Pseudolus' fellow slave, the aptly named Hysterium (Jack Gilford); vain warrior Miles Gloriosus (Leon Greene), who marches triumphantly into Rome declaring "I am a parade!"; and the virginal Philia (Annette Andre), a resident of Lycus' "domicile" who is loved by Hero but who has been promised in marriage to Miles Gloriosus. There are also acrobats, transvestites, a phony funeral, and an outsized climactic chase. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Zero Mostel, Phil Silvers, (more)
- 1965
A group of high-spirited youngsters finds friendship, love, and music together while working summer jobs at a holiday camp in this Merseybeat musical. Gerry (John Leyton) is a bartender who fantasizes about being a famous pop star. Christina (Grazina Frame) is an upper-class bird who sneaks off to be a waitress against the wishes of her Aunt Winifred (Hazel Hughes), who would rather she keep up her operatic voice lessons with the great Italian maestro Professor Bastinado (Ron Moody). Susan and Jennifer (Susan and Jennifer Baker) are boy-crazy twins who work in the nursery, and Timothy Gilben (Mike Sarne) is the arrogant nightclub singer who signs on as the camp's entertainer before realizing his audience will be a gaggle of preschoolers. The camp's annual talent show is to be televised live this season, so the gang sets aside their jockeying for each other's affections long enough to form a musical group. They need to practice in secret to keep Christina away from her meddling Aunt Winifred, but Gerry's father (Michael Ripper) recognizes the Professor as a Cockney comic from the old music hall days, and the outed Bastinado is forced to help the kids if he wants to keep his secret. British Invasion pop stars Freddie and the Dreamers appear as five musical, madcap chefs and sing two numbers, while Liverpool beat group the Mojos supply some hard teenage blues during a swinging dance club scene. ~ Fred Beldin, Rovi
- Starring:
- John Leyton, Freddy and the Dreamers, (more)
- 1964
Listed in many sources as an American film, Agent Z55-Desperate Mission was actually shot in Italy. It is another in a long line of 1960s James Bonds wannabes, complete with dinner-jacketed hero (Gianni Rizzo) and a bevy of exotic females. The titular mission involves-what else?--preventing a megalomaniac villain from laying waste to the free world. The only truly recognizable name in the cast list is Yoko Tani, leading lady of many an adventure and sci-fi endeavor. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- German Cobos, Yoko Tani, (more)
