Jack May Movies

The self-destructive spiral of a young woman's life provides the basis of this provocative drama shot in the rundown quarters of Memphis, TN. The story is based on the former life of Lauri Crook, who plays the lead, Shay. As the film opens, Shay is seen hitchhiking and fending off a horny driver. Later she has an argument with "Radio," her boyfriend, in their grimy apartment. Radio is a depressive sort, and together they shoot up and feel sorry for themselves. Shay earns a little money dancing in a strip club late at night. But for Harry, a black trumpeter, she has no real friends. Following work, she and another dancer take a drug dealer back to a motel to exchange sex for drugs. Radio wanders the streets looking for her. When she finally comes home, an argument ensues; after much yelling and many tears, they make up and Shay's day begins again. It is exactly the same as the last. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This British Merchant-Ivory look-alike was adapted from a novel by Isabel Colgate. In the summer before World War I, British nobleman James Mason invites an assorted group of acquaintances for a weekend shooting party on his huge estate. Among the participants are longtime rivals Edward Fox and Rupert Frazer, Fox's occasionally unfaithful wife Cheryl Campbell, and staunch anti-hunting advocate John Gielgud. The film unfolds in a carefully calculated but seemingly spontaneous fashion, in the manner of its 1938 ancestor Rules of the Game. Also like the earlier film, The Shooting Party casts a jaundiced eye towards class consciousness--and ends with a sudden, senseless but not altogether unexpected tragedy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The returning soldier is amnesia victim Alan Bates, who remembers nothing of his life before suffering shell-shock--not even his long-term marriage to snooty Julie Christie. Spinsterish Ann-Margret, who has long harbored a fondness for Bates, hopes to take advantage of his memory loss. But both Christie and Ann-Margret are challenged by a third woman, Bates' childhood sweetheart Glenda Jackson. Poor Bates deals with all of this by not dealing with it. A fairly faithful rendition of the Rebecca West novel on which it is based, Return of the Soldier ambles along at its own languid pace to a inconclusive conclusion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Nicholas Meyer based his screenplay for the "retro" Sherlock Holmes adventure The Seven Percent Solution on his own best-selling novel. As any Baker Street Irregular will tell you, the title refers to the dosage of cocaine taken by Sherlock Holmes (Nicol Williamson). The Great Detective's friend and chronicler Doctor Watson (Robert Duvall), concerned that Holmes' drug dependency is getting out of hand, suggests a cure under the auspices of Viennese psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud (top-billed Alan Arkin). While undergoing treatment, Holmes comes to the realization that his archival Professor Moriarty (Laurence Olivier) is not the Napoleon of Crime, but instead a somewhat pathetic philanderer. Not yet completely cured, Holmes recharges his deductive batteries by undertaking a tricky conspiracy case involving another ex-addict, beautiful actress Lola Devereaux (Vanessa Redgrave). The traditional Holmesian sleuthing and split-second rescues of the film's second half are not as innovative as the Holmes-Freud scenes at the beginning of The Seven Percent Solution, but they provide this largely cerebral effort with a rousing climax. A success with both critics and filmgoers, The Seven Percent Solution opened the floodgates for subsequent TV and movie "reprises" of Conan Doyle's immortal literary figure. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Big Zapper is based on the popular British comic strip of the same name. Linda Marlowe plays a lady private eye, while Gary Hope co-stars as her long-suffering sidekick. They go from one life-threatening adventure to another, Modesty Blaise style. As in the original comic strip, the adventure content is overridden by humor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Anthropologist Dr. Brockton (Joan Crawford) believes she has discovered the missing link in this flat science fiction drama. The creature is found in a cave and brought to her laboratory to undergo tests for her research. The hairy beast with the face of a monkey loves classical music and hates rock & roll. When one of the slack-jawed yokels opens his cage, he escapes and goes on a killing rampage as he tries to return to his cave. In a gentle moment with a little girl, the beast shows a tender side that recalls a scene from Frankenstein. Soon troops are called in, despite Brockton's protest to entomb the creature by dynamiting the entrance to the cave. This was the last film for Joan Crawford, an inglorious way to end a legendary film career. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

A serial killer is keeping Chief Inspector Rowan (Gilbert Wynne) busy late at night, much to the frustration of his young wife, Jenny (Linda Marlowe). After being picked at random in a police lineup, self-styled lothario Pete Laver (Donald Sumpter) is arrogant and disdainful to Rowan, and he even makes crude remarks about Jenny when she stops by her husband's office. Pete is released for lack of evidence, and that evening, Jenny is slashed to death by the killer while showering. Choked with rage, Rowan shadows Pete relentlessly, hounding him night and day until he can catch him in a mistake. The maniac strikes again, murdering a prostitute, and Pete is stuck without an alibi, so it appears that the crime has been solved. Judge Lomax (Jack May), long known to be tough on crime and social decay, presides over the case, but in the preceding weeks, his wife and colleagues have noticed a change in his behavior. His temper is short, his demeanor is cold, and he sometimes appears disoriented. Soon it becomes apparent that the judge has been the culprit all along, donning a black leather suit and an ill-fitting wig to commit his crimes. Stoked on pornography and willing to resort to transvestism to elude capture, the judge falls completely under the spell of his dementia and is confronted by the police on the waterfront, pleading for help and waving a pistol. Also available under the titles He Kills Night After Night After Night, Night After Night, and Night Slasher. ~ Fred Beldin, All Movie Guide

In the conclusion of the six-part story "The Space Pirates," Argonite pirate chieftain Craven (Dudley Foster) draws up plans to destroy the Space Corps -- and the entire planet Ta -- with a super bomb. It is up to the Doctor (Patrick Troughton), his friends Zoe (Wendy Padbury) and Jamie (Frazer Hines), eccentric miner Milo Clancey (Gordon Gostelow), and reformed pirate-girl Madeleine (Lisa Danniely) to prevent this catastrophe. Written by Robert Holmes, "The Space Pirates, Part 6" originally aired on April 12, 1969. This episode apparently no longer exists. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the fourth episode of the six-part story "The Space Pirates," the Doctor (Patrick Troughton) and his companions have become enmeshed in a series of intrigues involving the Instellar Mining Corps, a band of renegade Argonite pirates, and eccentric mining expert Milo Clancey (Gordon Gostelow). Captured by the pirates, the Doctor, Jamie (Frazer Hines), and Zoe (Wendy Padbury) are aided in their escape by the enigmatic Clancey. Unfortunately, the foursome runs right into a trap set by pirate chieftain Craven (Dudley Foster). Written by Robert Holmes, "The Space Pirates, Part 4" originally aired on March 29, 1969. This episode apparently no longer exists. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the second episode of the six-part story "The Space Pirates," the renegade Argonites have captured the TARDIS and abandoned the Doctor (Patrick Troughton), Jamie (Frazier Hines), and Zoe (Wendy Padbury) in Deep Space. Though without a ship to his name, the Doctor concocts a scheme to save himself and his marooned companions. Meanwhile, a second plot line develops, involving a long-standing conflict between the Interstellar Mining Corps and eccentric engineer Milo Clancey (Gordon Gostelow). Written by Robert Holmes, "The Space Pirates, Part 2" originally aired on March 15, 1969. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Among the first of the late 60s anti-war films that reflected growing concern over the Vietnam War, How I Won the War takes a cold, dark look at the Good War, World War II. In adapting Patrick Ryan's 1963 novel, screenwriter Charles Wood and director Richard Lester offered a narrative fractured by characters making side comments to the camera, stylized cinematography, inserts of newsreel war footage, and plenty of absurdist humor and slapstick. Ernest Goodbody (Michael Crawford) is a bumbling British officer who manages to get most of his small company of musketeers killed while on a mission in North Africa to set up a cricket pitch behind enemy lines for officers of the advancing British army. The rest of the company dies in an ensuing campaign in Europe near the war's end, but all of the men continue to march along, appearing as monochromatic ghosts. (Original prints of the film intercut real battle footage tinted to match the color of the soon-to-be ghost soldier. Some prints of the film, including one shown on Turner Classic Movies, present the newsreel shots in black and white, undercutting the stylized touch.) The story is framed as a flashback, with Goodbody relating his version of events to a German officer (Karl Michael Vogler), while the real version of events, demonstrating Goodbody's ineptitude, plays out on screen. Among the supporting players are John Lennon, who had worked with Lester on A Hard Day's Night and Help; Roy Kinnear, a Lester regular, as a fat soldier who is certain his wife is cheating on him; Jack MacGowran as the troop's designated fool, and Michael Hordern as a general almost as oblivious to his suffering men as Goodbody. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide

In this British crime drama a small-town detective gets tired of Scotland Yard's constant meddling and takes a leave-of-absence from his regular duties to start his own detective agency. It is there that he solves the puzzling jewelry store heist that caused the death of the owner's wife who worked there. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this suspenseful espionage film a British agent and a man from NATO attempt to bust a communist spy ring. Following the discovery of a roll of top secret microfilm following a plane crash, the two finds themselves embroiled in a complex web of treachery and double agents. Fortunately, they survive all and bring the rogue spies to justice. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide