Chic Murray Movies

Saigon: Year of the Cat is a low-budget drama about the fall of Saigon. The film was made for the BBC in 1983. It was one of many television projects that director Stephen Frears (High Fidelity) worked on in the early part of his career. Playwright David Hare (Plenty) wrote the script. Judi Dench plays Barbara Dean, a depressed loan officer working for a British bank in Saigon in 1974. Barbara politely wards off the advances of her Scottish co-worker, Donald (Roger Rees), who does not share her respect for the Vietnamese people. She also avoids getting involved with Frank (Wallace Shawn), an American embassy employee with whom she plays bridge. When she meets Bob (Frederic Forrest), however, she's immediately attracted to him. She soon learns that while Bob poses as a cultural attaché, he actually works for the CIA. When Bob belatedly recognizes her attraction, he opens up to her, and they become lovers. Bob hears from a reliable intelligence source that the North Vietnamese are stepping up their aggression and plan to take Saigon soon. He tries to convince his boss, Jack Ockham (Josef Sommer), and the U.S. ambassador (E.G. Marshall) to prepare for the fall of the city by evacuating the South Vietnamese citizens who have worked most closely with the U.S. government. The ambassador does not want to appear to be abandoning President Thieu's regime. He refuses to credit Bob's report. Meanwhile, as the crisis looms, Barbara is growing despondent because Bob is not spending time with her, and because there's little she can do to help her South Vietnamese friends get out of the country. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

When a brilliant doctor fathers 837 genius sons through an artificial insemination program, it seems like every woman on the planet wants to birth one of the exhausted medico's super smart babies. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Handyman Bob (Barry Stokes) and his wife Margaretta (Penny Meredith) move into a new town, and as Bob sets up shop doing odd jobs and repairs, he discovers that more than a few of his neighbors are a bit on the eccentric side, including a clumsy policeman named Knowles (Chic Murray), a sexually adventurous schoolmarm (Sue Lloyd), and Squire Bullsworthy (Bob Todd), who has more than a passing interest in corporal punishment. Handsome Bob also finds he's a fast favorite with the local housewives, who seem to have more than small repairs on their minds. This saucy British comedy was later re-released under the title Confessions of a Handyman, though it is otherwise unrelated to the popular "Confessions Of ..." comedies starring Robin Askwith. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Retired after years of international espionage, Agent 007 is lured back into action to battle the evil spy organization SMERSH in this notoriously incoherent parody of the James Bond films. David Niven portrays the aging Bond, who atypically rejects the advances of a variety of women, and agrees to battle SMERSH's hold on the lavish Casino Royale only after organization head M is murdered. Also mixed up in the affair are several other secret agents, all named James Bond, played by everyone from Peter Sellers and Woody Allen to a chimpanzee. Despite a star-studded cast, a large production budget, and a hit score by Burt Bacharach, the film was universally panned as a muddled, overlong failure, with the occasional amusing sequence lost in the unintelligible surroundings. The participation of several screenwriters and five different directors, including John Huston, only adds to the confusion. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi