Robert Beatty Movies

George Lucas produced and Jim Henson directed this gothic fantasy which pits living and breathing actors Jennifer Connelly and David Bowie (who, along with Trevor Jones, provides the film's music) against a motley collection of Muppet monsters. The film centers upon teenage Sarah (Connelly), who lives in a fantasy world of myth and magic, evil spells, and wondrous enchantment. She is baby-sitting her little brother when she cavalierly wishes that goblins would take him away. She gets her wish, and a coterie of goblins abduct him. She then encounters Jareth (David Bowie), the ruler of a mystical world one step removed from reality. He tells Sarah that the only way to get her brother back is to find her way through a M.C. Escher-like labyrinth and find the castle at the center. As she makes her way through the maze, she faces a number of horrific challenges (like the Bog of Eternal Stench) before she finds her way to the gravity-defying castle, where her brother is being held by the evil goblins. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

In a major departure from the tone of the preceding two Superman adventure films, this mix of vile deeds and fantasy heroics drops the "S" out of cosmic and goes for comic instead. Right at the starting gate, Gus Gorman (Richard Pryor) and a subsequent slapstick sequence upstage (Christopher Reeves again), who later develops an identity crisis. Gorman, newly trained as a computer whiz, starts working for a conglomerate run by the corporate nemesis Ross Webster (Robert Vaughn), intent on world domination. Gorman is sent to Superman's small town of Smallville to wipe out Columbia's coffee crop by fiddling with the computer side of a weather satellite. Clark Kent is in town for his class reunion, leading Superman to clash with Gorman, which in turn, leads Gorman to develop a hybrid red Kryptonite. Unwittingly, since Gorman's wits are always in doubt, the Red Kryptonite causes Superman to split into a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde schizophrenia -- but in two separate bodies. As the evil Superman swaggers around town, megalomaniac Ross Webster has other tricks in mind -- and in one of the more memorable action scenes (interspersed with a video game sequence), Superman is chased through the Grand Canyon by a fast-flying, very determined missile. Lana Lang (Annette O'Toole) is on hand for romantic interest (Margot Kidder only appears briefly -- she was growing tired of Lois Lane). ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

We prefer the original release title of Disney's A Spaceman in King Arthur's Court: Unidentified Flying Oddball. In this new twist on an old Mark Twain yarn, NASA scientist Dennis Dugan and his robot clone are whisked back in time to the days of King Arthur (Kenneth More). After performing several acts of "sorcery" with the state-of-the-art paraphernalia at his disposal, Dugan incurs the wrath of in-house magician Merlin (Ron Moody). Jim Dale costars as the most hyperkinetic Sir Mordred that you're ever likely too see. Previous versions of Twain's Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court were filmed in 1921, 1931 and 1948; Spaceman in King Arthur's Court would be followed by an early-1990s TV adaptation of Connecticut Yankee starring The Cosby Show's Keshia Knight Pulliam, and by Disney's 1995 theatrical feature, A Kid in King Arthur's Court. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Richard Harris dodges bullets from stem to stern in this middling thriller, based on a novel by Alistair MacLean. The plot concerns high-sea hijinks aboard the Caribbean Star, a combination cargo ship and floating casino. In the midst of the high rollers and spinning roulette wheels appears Luis Carreras (John Vernon), an amoral mercenary who hijacks the ship. Taking his marching orders from a mysterious mastermind, he installs an atomic device mid-ship, holding both the passengers and the bomb hostage, hoping to exchange them for the gold bullion of an U.S. Treasury ship. All seems to be going according to Luis's plan until First Officer John Carter (Richard Harris), the attractive Susan Beresford (Ann Turkel), and Dr. Marston (Gordon Jackson) arrive to put a crimp in Luis's escapade. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Most Inspector Clouseau fans regard The Pink Panther Strikes Again as the best of the clumsy Parisian detective's "comeback" films of the 1970s. Driven insane by the stupidities of Clouseau (Peter Sellers), ex-inspector Dreyfuss (Herbert Lom) transforms into a master criminal. Kidnapping the inventor of a death ray, Dreyfuss threatens to use the demon device indiscriminately unless Clouseau is offered as a "sacrifice." A hunted man, Clouseau is forced to adopt one transparent (but hilarious) disguise after another. He is rescued from being incinerated by Dreyfuss when Soviet spy Olga (Leslie Ann Down) falls in love with him and strives to protect him. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this western, an outlaw is wounded in battle and manages to escape to the home of two helpful runaways who help him recuperate. During this time, the outlaw regales them with thrilling tales of his adventurous exploits. His stories inspire the lads to form a gang of their own; the outlaw is more than happy to help and become their leader. They rob a few banks and have great fun until the outlaw becomes a turncoat and begins hunting them for a generous bounty. But one of the boys decides to get revenge and rootin' tootin' mayhem ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In between gigs writing two of the first films from director John Boorman and the sequel to The French Connection (1971), writer Alexander Jacobs adapted this bloody, violent drama from a pulp crime novel. Oliver Reed stars as Harry Lomart, a dangerous convict who's been planning a breakout with a fellow inmate, Birdy Williams (Ian McShane). Before the two men can abscond, word comes that Harry's wife Pat (Jill St. John) has been having an affair with another man and has become pregnant with the man's child. That brings the total number of scores that Harry's got to settle once he's on the outside up to two. After a spectacular escape, the pair of hardened criminals are supposed to lie low until it's safe for them to leave the country, but a furious Harry won't allow his wife to get away with her betrayal, and he sets out to find and kill her, as well as her lover. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

A mind-bending sci-fi symphony, Stanley Kubrick's landmark 1968 epic pushed the limits of narrative and special effects toward a meditation on technology and humanity. Based on Arthur C. Clarke's story The Sentinel, Kubrick and Clarke's screenplay is structured in four movements. At the "Dawn of Man," a group of hominids encounters a mysterious black monolith alien to their surroundings. To the strains of Strauss's 1896 Also sprach Zarathustra, a hominid invents the first weapon, using a bone to kill prey. As the hominid tosses the bone in the air, Kubrick cuts to a 21st century spacecraft hovering over the Earth, skipping ahead millions of years in technological development. U.S. scientist Dr. Heywood Floyd (William Sylvester) travels to the moon to check out the discovery of a strange object on the moon's surface: a black monolith. As the sun's rays strike the stone, however, it emits a piercing, deafening sound that fills the investigators' headphones and stops them in their path.

Cutting ahead 18 months, impassive astronauts David Bowman (Keir Dullea) and Frank Poole (Gary Lockwood) head toward Jupiter on the spaceship Discovery, their only company three hibernating astronauts and the vocal, man-made HAL 9000 computer running the entire ship. When the all-too-human HAL malfunctions, however, he tries to murder the astronauts to cover his error, forcing Bowman to defend himself the only way he can. Free of HAL, and finally informed of the voyage's purpose by a recording from Floyd, Bowman journeys to "Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite," through the psychedelic slit-scan star-gate to an 18th century room, and the completion of the monolith's evolutionary mission.

With assistance from special-effects expert Douglas Trumbull, Kubrick spent over two years meticulously creating the most "realistic" depictions of outer space ever seen, greatly advancing cinematic technology for a story expressing grave doubts about technology itself. Despite some initial critical reservations that it was too long and too dull, 2001 became one of the most popular films of 1968, underlining the generation gap between young moviegoers who wanted to see something new and challenging and oldsters who "didn't get it." Provocatively billed as "the ultimate trip," 2001 quickly caught on with a counterculture youth audience open to a contemplative (i.e. chemically enhanced) viewing experience of a film suggesting that the way to enlightenment was to free one's mind of the U.S. military-industrial-technological complex. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

In the second episode of the four-part story "The Tenth Planet," the Doctor (William Hartnell) and his companions come face to face with the Cybermen from the Earth's twin planet Mondas. In his effort to prevent the aliens from taking over the world, the Doctor begins to undergo a very profound change. Written by Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis, Doctor Who: The Tenth Planet, Episode 2 first aired on October 15, 1966. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the conclusion of the four-part story "The Tenth Planet," Ben (Michael Craze) at last figures out the Cybermen's weakness. For the moment, it appears as though the earth is saved from the alien villains. But the story isn't quite over yet, as proven when Ben and Polly (Annika Wills) come face to face with the "new" Doctor Who. Written by Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis, Doctor Who: The Tenth Planet, Episode 4 first aired on October 29, 1966. Alas, except for a few fragments of the crucial sequence in which William Hartnell relinquishes the role of the Doctor, this episode no longer exists. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Mission to Paradise is a British equivalent to those frolicsome female skinfests often seen on the USA network's Up All Night. British military officers Kieron Moore and John Baer are shipwrecked while on a reconnaissance mission. They soon discover to their delight that the island is populated by beautiful young damsels, dressed in very little indeed. These girls had themselves been shipwrecked as schoolchildren, together with their very proper headmistress (Kay Walsh). The time has now come for the lovely young things to procreate, and Moore and Baer are elected for the task. There is one catch, however; once they're finished replenishing the stock, the men will be killed. Janette Scott, who has too much grace and class to be stuck in this piece of tripe, is the most intelligent of the girls. Also in the cast is Alexander Knox, who in happier days once played Woodrow Wilson. Mission to Paradise was reissued in the US as Bikini Paradise; oh, we're so excited! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on Anthony Kimmins' stage success The Amorous Prawn, this British light comedy stars Joan Greenwood as the wife of an Army general (Cecil Parker). Having fallen upon hard times, the wife hits upon a scheme to raise some quick cash. She opens her husband's highland headquarters to visiting salmon fishermen, a circumstance that displeases the general when several of those anglers turn out to be handsome young men. On the assumption that American audiences would think The Amorous Prawn was a film about shrimp instead of salmon, the US distributor added the "Mr." to the original. When filmgoers failed to respond, the picture was re-retitled The Playgirl and the War Minister, a shameless attempt to exploit the then-current Profumo political scandal. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide