Arthur Hiller Movies

Credit cards and women on skates prove to be a dangerous mixture in this comedy. Frank Hopper (Jon Bon Jovi) is a former lawyer whose career has hit the skids, and he currently lives off the largesse of his more successful sister, Leona (Nora Dunn). Frank has dozens of business ideas, but has no way to finance them, until he heads out with his friend Carl (David Faustino) one evening and fills out a questionnaire in which he jokingly states his income is a million dollars a year. Suddenly Frank's mailbox is flooded with pre-approved credit cards, and with his new line of credit, Frank launches his dream project -- a women's hockey league. But it seems that the world is not yet ready for women playing professional ice hockey, and before long Frank is 300,000 dollars in debt, with a handful of credit agencies taking him to court to get back the money he's spent so far. Frank turns to his former girlfriend Jessica (Estella Warren), now a successful lawyer, to help him stay out of jail, but it seems their work is cut out for them when they learn Jessica's very competitive former beau Norman (Cary Elwes) is prosecuting Frank's case. National Lampoon's Pucked was directed by Arthur Hiller; it was his first directorial project since 1997's An Alan Smithee Film: Burn, Hollywood, Burn, for which Hiller opted not to take credit. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Leslie Jordan writes and stars in this autobiographical account of being gay and drug-addled in 1970s Atlanta. The film opens with the protagonist known only as Storyteller (Jordan) meeting his maker after a drug overdose and trying to explain the sorry state of his former life. Rewind 20 years, when our hero, styling himself as a lilliputian dandy à la Truman Capote, leaves home for Atlanta -- dubbed the "San Francisco of the South." There he meets debutante refugee and drug connoisseur "Miss Make-Do" (Erin Chandler) who introduces him to the wonderful world of chemicals and the film's titular hotel -- a low-rent Chelsea-like dive. After his benefactress kicks him out for taking up with a thuggish coke dealer, the hapless fop protagonist finds another protector in Tripper -- a roughneck junkie, ex-con, and pimp. The two form a weird platonic and dependent relationship that eventually spirals into an opiate oblivion. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

In this Canadian documentary, two young filmmakers attend the Toronto Film Festival and pitch a film concept to various celebrities. Their film idea, titled The Dawn, concerns a Mafia don who goes for a hernia operation but gets a sex change instead. During the 1996 Toronto fest, they approach Roger Ebert, Norman Jewison (at a packed press conference), Eric Stoltz (leaving a limo), Al Pacino, and others without much success. On a roll, they leave Toronto for Hollywood, getting advice from Arthur Hiller and Neil Simon and finding an agent who expresses interest. Shown at the 1997 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Directed by the acclaimed Walter Hill and narrated by actor Alec Baldwin, this documentary profiles the adventurous, contentious, and very talented director William Wellman (1896-1975). Ambulance driver for the French Foreign Legion and decorated American pilot in World War I, Wellman later became a barnstorming stunt pilot, but found his true calling directing such classic Hollywood films as Wings, Public Enemy, A Star Is Born, Beau Geste, The Ox-Bow Incident, and The High and the Mighty. Highlights include clips from his movies and interviews with or clips featuring Clint Eastwood, Robert Mitchum, Gregory Peck, Martin Scorsese, Mike Connors, Nancy Davis, James Garner, Darryl Hickman, Arthur Hiller, Tab Hunter, Richard Widmark, Robert Wise, Jane Wyman, and others. ~ Steve Blackburn, All Movie Guide

The third entry in the popular Beverly Hills Cop series finds Detroit cop Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) returning yet again to Southern California, this time on the trail of two car thieves turned murderers. As he teams up again with L.A. cop Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold), Foley's investigation leads him to Wonder World, a theme park that is also the front for a major counterfeiting ring. More action and less wit are the trademarks of this film, which features Murphy dishing out his usual wisecracks, but with less flair and freshness than in the original film. Alan Young plays the old man who runs the amusement park, an interesting setting that still adds little to the tired premise. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

John Goodman is cast as the Sultan of Swat, whose excesses -- especially drinking -- and private demons can (in this context) be excused in view of his genuine love of baseball. The facts never get in the way of a good story for screenwriter John Fusco; we're even offered the umpteenth rehash of "Little Johnny", the largely fanciful tale of the invalid boy who promises to get well if Babe hits him a homer (as in Pride of the Yankees, the cured Johnny makes return a appearance as grownup). The most amusing fabrication is the casting of narrow James Cromwell as the Babe's orphanage mentor Brother Mathias, who in real life weighed 300 pounds. Many of the characters are composites, notably Bruce Boxleitner's Jumpin' Joe Dugan. At least Ruth's two wives--Trini Alvarado as Helen, who suffers Babe's many peccadilloes and dies under strange circumstances, and Kelly McGillis as Claire, who keeps Babe on a very short leash-are depicted with a modicum of accuracy. The baseball sequences are well handled (though there could have been less slo-mo) while Elmer Bernstein's charmingly old-fashioned musical score is right in tune with the film's approach to its subject. The Babe is rated PG; had this been the whole truth and nothing but, and R rating would probably have been in order. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The third pairing of comic actors Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder was much less successful than their previous team-ups, Silver Streak(1976) and Stir Crazy (1980). Wilder plays Dave, the deaf proprietor of a newsstand and employer of blind gambler Wally (Pryor). When Wally's bookie is shot and killed at the stand, Dave and Wally are arrested for the crime. Since the deaf Dave had his back turned and didn't see the crime, while the blind Wally only heard it, the clues they have to offer the police are slim: Dave's glimpse of a shapely leg and Wally's whiff of a perfume called Shalimar. It turns out the dead man was in possession of a coin that he dropped into Dave's tip box, which Wally is now carrying. The coin contains a valuable microchip sought by crime baron Sutherland (Anthony Zerbe), for whom hired killer Eve (Joan Severance) and her British partner Kirgo (Kevin Spacey) are working. Posing as lawyers, Eve and Kirgo spring Dave and Wally from jail, leading to a series of misadventures as the coin changes hands and the two sensory-challenged pals attempt to learn who has framed them and why. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Arthur Hiller directed this satiric look at contemporary urban high schools, examining disillusioned teachers who try to regain their idealism. Nick Nolte stars as Alex, a teacher at John Fitzgerald Kennedy High School, who was once an idealistic teacher but whose main concern now is sobering up before the next class session. The high school is headed by ineffective principal Mr. Horn (William Schallert) and an imperious vice-principal named Roger (Judd Hirsch). When a recent graduate of the high school sues the school because it graduated him illiterate, Alex finds himself in conflict with the hard-nosed school superintendent Dr. Burke (Lee Grant). The high school heats up even more when Alex falls in love with Lisa (JoBeth Williams), the attractive lawyer who was once one of Alex's honor students. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Phoebe (Mary Steenburgen) and Jason (Dudley Moore) are a pair of Broadway playwrights who are partners in their chosen profession, but in spite of a definite inclination, they remain unpartnered (for a long time) in any other way. Phoebe is an aspiring playwright from the Northwoods and Jason is just getting married when the two meet for the first time and decide to collaborate. As their relationship produces first a failure and then a string of successes, their repartée remains sharp and witty -- and their unrequited interest in each other gathers energy over a nine-year period, until some resolution is finally in sight. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Successful playwright Al Pacino can't get any work done as long as he is pestered by his wacko wife Tuesday Weld. Making things worse are the couple's obstreperous children, many of them products of her previous marriages. Just as Pacino is completing his latest work, his wife walks out on him. That's the good news: the bad news is that he's saddled with a bunch of snot-nosed kids. Still and all, Pacino finds time to inaugurate an affair with his play's leading lady, played by Dyan Cannon, while attempting to juggle the stresses of opening night with the needs of the demanding, often obnoxious children. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dentist Sheldon Kornpett (Alan Arkin) is a respectable man. He has a daughter who is about to marry the son of a very suspicious character, Vince Ricardo (Peter Falk). They are practically relatives already, the wedding is so near. Certainly, Sheldon already despises Vince as if he were already a well-known relative. Nontheless, Vince calls on Sheldon and convinces him to go with him on a series of wild and hilarious adventures, claiming all the while that he is a CIA agent, and that what he is doing is in the national interest. Sheldon follows Vince to a South American country ruled by a very odd man, General Garcia (Richard Libertini), who talks to his hand (which talks back). It seems that the dictator is involved in a scheme to counterfeit and undermine U.S. currency. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

While taking a train trip from L.A. to Chicago, mild-mannered George Caldwell (Gene Wilder) makes the acquaintance of Hilly Burns (Jill Clayburgh). As they indulge in a brief bit of spooning, Hilly tells George that her boss is on the verge of exposing a group of vicious art forgers. Later that evening, George sees the body of Hilly's boss being thrown off of the train. Detective Sweet (Ned Beatty) agrees to investigate, but he too is bumped off. The instigator of these outrages is master forger Roger Devereau (Patrick McGoohan), who, with his crony Mr. Whiney (Ray Walston) is planning a particularly diabolical crime. Worse still, they take Hilly prisoner so she can't tip off the cops. When George is also targeted for elimination, he manages in slapstick fashion to elude the killers. Falling off the train, he ends up being arrested on some trumped-up charge or other by a local sheriff. He makes his escape in the company of petty thief Grover Muldoon (Richard Pryor) -- and that's only the beginning. A box-office smash, Silver Streak paved the way for the equally successful 1980 Wilder-Pryor vehicle Stir Crazy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide