Jerry Walter Movies

This remake of the 1956 horror classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers moves the action from small-town USA to 1970s San Francisco and replaces at least part of the original's psychological horror with special effects. Spores rain forth, unseen, from outer space, and soon strange flowers begin popping up all over the city. After bringing one of these hybrid specimens home with her one night, biologist Elizabeth Driscoll (Brooke Adams) notices that her live-in boyfriend, Geoffrey (Art Hindle), doesn't seem like himself; he's cold and distant and somehow just not quite there. When she turns to her friend Matthew Bennell (Donald Sutherland), a colleague at the Department of Public Health, he convinces her to see his friend Dr. Kibner (Leonard Nimoy), a pop psychologist who argues that the problem is all in Elizabeth's head. Soon, though, Matthew and Elizabeth begin to notice that people all over the city are changing subtly and inexplicably. When their friend Jack Bellicec (Jeff Goldblum) and his wife Nancy (Veronica Cartwright) find a lifeless, half-formed doppelganger covered with plant fibers in the mud baths they own and operate, the group of friends finally begins to understand that a sinister transformation is sweeping their city. Kevin McCarthy and Don Siegel, respectively the star and director of the original film, have small roles in the new version, as does an unbilled Robert Duvall. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Jessica Walter guest stars as Maggie Jarris, the wife of former Mob bookkeeper Ben Jarris (Harry Guardino). Slated to testify against her husband's criminal bosses, Maggie is forced to adopt several alias and move from one "safe house" to another to avoid being murdered. Placed in charge of Maggie's safety is detective Mike Stone (Karl Malden), who in so doing becomes a marked man himself! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

During a horror-film convention in San Francisco, the guests are properly aghast when they discover that one of their favorite film stars, Malakai (Jerry Walter), who plays a vampire onscreen, is the real thing off-camera. Convention guest begin succumbing to him right and left. However, it was probably a bad idea on Malakai's part to come to a horror film convention, because the attendees are unusually well versed in vampire lore, and at least some of what they know turns out to be helpful in ridding the world of the fanged menace. This affectionate spoof of horror films contains many in-jokes which are likely to make sense only to devoted fans of the genre. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Freebie (James Caan) and the Bean (Alan Arkin) are a pair of San Francisco cops. Red Meyers (Jack Kruschen) is the mobster whom Freebie and the Bean would like to see behind bars -- or, failing that, six feet under. Nothing stands in the way of the cops' pursuit of Meyers, meaning that private property is given quite a going-over in this picture. The film's most memorable scene finds Freebie and the Bean crashing their car into a poor schnook's living room. TV favorites Loretta Swit and Valerie Harper play the only female roles worth mentioning. The racist and sexist humor in Freebie and the Bean may not go over as well today as it did in the politically incorrect early '70s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide