Ray Walston Movies
Raised in New Orleans' French Quarter, Ray Walston relocated to Houston, where he first set foot on stage in a community production of High Tor. Walston went on to spend six years at the Houston Civic Theater then three more at the Cleveland Playhouse. Moving to New York, he worked as linotype operator at the New York Times before landing small parts in theatrical productions ranging from Maurice Evans' G.I. Hamlet to The Insect Comedy. He won Theater World's "Most Promising Newcomer" award for his portrayal of Mr. Kramer in the original 1948 production of Summer and Smoke. In 1950, he was cast as "big dealer" Luther Billis in the touring and London companies of South Pacific, and it was this that led to a major role in Rodgers & Hammerstein's 1953 Broadway musical Me and Juliet. Two years later, he was cast in his breakthrough role: the puckish Mr. Applegate, aka The Devil, in the Adler-Ross musical smash Damn Yankees. He won a Tony Award for his performance, as well as the opportunity to repeat the role of Applegate in the 1958 film version of Yankees; prior to this triumph, he'd made his film debut in Kiss Them for Me (1957) and recreated Luther Billis in the 1958 filmization of South Pacific. A favorite of director Billy Wilder, Walston was cast as philandering executive Dobisch in The Apartment (1960) and replaced an ailing Peter Sellers as would-be songwriter Orville J. Spooner in Kiss Me, Stupid (1960). Having first appeared on television in 1950, Walston resisted all entreaties to star in a weekly series until he was offered the title role in My Favorite Martian (1963-1966). While he was gratified at the adulation he received for his work on this series (he was particularly pleased by the response from his kiddie fans), Walston later insisted that Martian had "ruined" him in Hollywood, forever typecasting him as an erudite eccentric. By the 1970s, however, Walston was popping up in a wide variety of roles in films like The Sting (1974) and Silver Streak (1977). For the past two decades or so, he has been one of moviedom's favorite curmudgeons, playing such roles as Poopdeck Pappy in Popeye (1980) and officious high school teacher Mr. Hand, who reacts with smoldering rage as his class is interrupted by a pizza delivery in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982). He would re-create this last-named role in the weekly sitcom Fast Times (1985), one of several TV assignments of the 1970s and 1980s. In 1995, Ray Walston reacted with schoolboy enthusiasm upon winning an Emmy award for his portrayal of irascible Wisconsin judge Henry Bone on the cult-fave TVer Picket Fences. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This spoof of the 1930s and '40s crime stories ranges from the ridiculous to the sublime as it tells the story of Johnny Dangerously (Byron Thames as the young Johnny, Michael Keaton as the older), a devoted son to his ailing mother (Maureen Stapleton), so ill that she needs money for several operations. Johnny has nowhere to turn, and because gangsters tend to flourish in his neighborhood he goes to work for Dundee, a benevolent godfather-gangster type, in order to cover his mother's medical bills. Johnny hides his association with Dundee from his younger brother Tommy (Griffin Dunne) and goes so far as to pay for Tommy's law school fees -- supporting him until Tommy joins the staff of the local (and corrupt) district attorney's office for Burr (Danny DeVito). When Johnny starts working for Dundee, he clashes with the evil Vermin (Joe Piscopo) right from the beginning, but things only get worse. After Dundee decides to retire, Johnny ascends to the helm, and it does not look like Vermin is going to take that sitting down. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Keaton, Joe Piscopo, (more)
The Catholic League of Decency gave Billy Wilder's Kiss Me, Stupid! a "condemned" rating. The Moral Majority charged the picture with debauchery and movie theaters across the nation discontinued its run. The bed-trick comedy had America's panties tied in a knot; one could not imagine a story so distasteful. Dean Martin is Dino, a Las Vegas crooner, alcoholic, and celebrity playboy. Dino requires women like oxygen -- a companionless night leaves him with a headache. Ray Walston is Orville, a provincial piano teacher, aspiring songwriter, and jealous husband. Orville violently obsesses over his wife Zelda's (Felicia Farr) fidelity -- any man she encounters becomes his sworn enemy. When a chance detour brings Dino to Orville's hometown of Climax, NV, it is the perfect opportunity for the piano teacher and his songwriting partner, Barney (Cliff Osmond), to pitch their tunes. Yet, Orville predictably fears the possible combination of Dino's libido with Zelda's childhood crush on the singer. Before the two can meet, Orville deceitfully bullies Zelda out of their house and Barney hires local roadhouse prostitute Polly the Pistol (Kim Novak) to pose as Orville's wife. Zelda turns to drink for solace, ending up at the exact bar where Polly plies her trade and, eventually, in the call girl's empty trailer. By the next morning, Orville is with Polly and Dino (looking for a prostitute) finds his way to Zelda -- and husband, wife, hooker, and Barney will all reap the benefits of infidelity. This tale may be tasteless, but Kiss Me, Stupid! is now a cable favorite. Its modern rating? PG. ~ Aubry Anne D'Arminio, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dean Martin, Kim Novak, (more)
Luther Davis' racy wartime comedy Kiss Them for Me was expurgated a bit for the 1957 film version. Cary Grant, Ray Walston and Larry Blyden portray three navy war heroes who've been booked on a morale-building "vacation" in San Francisco. Eluding their ulcerated public relations officer (Werner Klemperer), the trio arranges a wild party with plenty of pretty girls. Cary Grant is paired with knockout Suzy Parker, an icy socialite who eventually thaws under his charms. Also on hand is Jayne Mansfield, playing a "good time girl" whose profession was a bit more explicit in the original play; the role was originated by Judy Holliday, who brought a wistfulness to the character that Ms. Mansfield couldn't quite manage. TV sitcom fans will get a kick out of the supporting cast of Kiss Them For Me: Ray Walston, later star of My Favorite Martian plays a libertine navy officer; Werner Klemperer, shorn of the accent he'd use as Colonel Klink in Hogan's Heroes, is hilarious as the flustered p.r. man; and Richard Deacon (Leave It to Beaver, The Dick Van Dyke Show) pops up unbilled as a dour businessman who can't understand the war-hero mystique. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cary Grant, Suzy Parker, (more)
- 1979
A slick sports promoter (Ray Walston) convinces Jonathan Garvey (Merlin Olsen) that he has genuine talent as a wrestler. It is all part of a scheme to bilk the citizens of Walnut Grove by staging a rigged wrestling match. Things get really sticky when, consumed by gambling fever, Mrs. Oleson (Katherine MacGregor) bets the church funds on the outcome of the match. It is up to the crooked promoter's henchman (played by B-movie favorite Leo Gordon) to unexpectedly save the day. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Landon, Karen Grassle, (more)
- 1972
The title of this Mission:Impossible episode refers to a potentially devastating new biological weapon. Traitorous government scientist Paul Morse (Ross Elliot) intends to sell TOD-5 to Gordon Holt (Peter Haskell), special representative of a terrorist organization known as the Alpha Group. With time rapidly running out, the IMF must locate the Alpha's headquarters and neutralize the weapon. Ray Walston guest-stars as Dr. Flory, while Barbara Anderson makes her third series appearance as erstwhile IMF agent Mimi Davis. First telecast on October 14, 1972, "TOD-5" was written by James D. Buchanan and Ronald Austin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Graves, Greg Morris, (more)
- 1987
Cornell Wilde guest stars as Duncan Barnett, the ruthless founder-CEO of Barnett Industries. Gathering his board of directors (and their wives and loved ones) to his lavish New York estage, Barnett seems poised to name his successor. Instead, he is killed in an accident--or, at least, it looks like an accident. Among the board members is a certain Maine-based mystery writer named Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury), who begins to suspect that there's dirty work afoot as she watches Barnett's employees wheel, deal, bicker and backstab incessantly throughout the balance of the episode. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
My Favorite Martian stars Jeff Daniels as Tim O'Hara, once a newspaper man and now a struggling television producer in Santa Barbara. Tim has a crush on vapid news reporter Brace Channing (Elizabeth Hurley) while overlooking his feelings for Lizzie (Daryl Hannah), a technician working at the station. Driving home one night, Tim wanders upon the crash landing of a spaceship from Mars. The Martian inside (Christopher Lloyd) has come to Earth searching for a fellow Martian who had been lost here 35 years ago. After the crash, he hides on the beach and shrinks his spaceship to the size of a toy to avoid detection; Tim finds the ship anyway, and takes it home. With little choice, the Martian, aided by his sentient and very neurotic spacesuit, follows Tim home and reveals himself. Tim sees the alien as his ticket to the big time, but the Martian, now masquerading as Tim's Uncle Martin (thanks to some Martian gum that transforms his appearance to that of a human) thwarts Tim at every turn. Just as he gets the video he needs for his story, O'Hara develops a friendship with his planetary neighbor and new "Uncle." The two suddenly find they are racing against the the clock -- a government team, led by a wacky scientist (Wallace Shawn), hunts Martin down, and the spaceship (a rental) is on a timed sequence to self-destruct if it cannot be repaired in time. Along the way, Tim loses his infatuation with Brace and finds his true feelings for the loyal Lizzie. Martin might also find his lost friend on Earth, just as he has found new ones. ~ Ron Wells, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeff Daniels, Christopher Lloyd, (more)
- 1963
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Making its CBS network debut on September 29, 1963, in the same Sunday night time slot previously held down by Dennis the Menace, My Favorite Martian starred Ray Walston as the title character, an affable, hyper-intelligent and extremely resourceful space alien whose one-man flying saucer crash-landed on a lonely stretch of California highway. Rescued by Tim O'Hara (Bill Bixby), a reporter for "The Los Angeles Sun," the martian is taken to Tim's house to recover from his injuries. At first intending to capitalize on his house guest by turning in the news scoop to end all news scoops, Tim was persuaded not to give away the martian's true identity. Thus, the space visitor would ever after be passed off as Tim's "Uncle Martin," consigned to remain on earth until he was able to repair his damaged vessel. Although human in virtually every respect -- he spoke even better English than Tim -- Uncle Martin had all sorts of remarkable powers, including the ability to teleport himself from one place (or time) to another; to telekinetically move objects through the air; and to make himself invisible. The viewer was always tipped off that Uncle Martin was about to make Martian magic when his tiny retractable antennae emerged from his head. Inasmuch as this was a sitcom, it should not be surprising that Uncle Martin usually exercised his powers to get the hapless Tim out of a jam. Also in the cast was Pamela Britton as Tim's widowed landlady, Mrs. Lorelei Brown, who had a bit of a crush on the likeable Uncle Martin; Alan Hewitt as Detective Bill Brennan, Lorelei's erstwhile boyfriend, who had a sneaking suspicion (which he could never verify) that there was something very odd about Uncle Martin; and during the first season only, Anne O. Marshall as Lorelei's teenaged daughter, Angela, and J. Pat O'Malley as Tim's editor, Mr. Burns. Filmed in black-and-white during its first two seasons and in color for its third and final year on the air, My Favorite Martian ended its network run on September 4, 1966. A Saturday morning cartoon spin-off, My Favorite Martians, was seen on CBS from 1973 to 1975. In 1999 there appeared a theatrical feature adaptation of the original series, with Christopher Lloyd as Uncle Martin, Jeff Daniels as Tim O'Hara, and Ray Walston in a key supporting role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ray Walston, Bill Bixby, (more)
- 1964
The Martian "defense mechanism" for exhaustion is to split into two different personalities: one for work, the other for play. Thus, as the worn-out Martin (Ray Walston) sleeps, his swinging alter ego Pierre (also Ray Walston) materializes, and immediately heads out on the town to make whoopee. The trouble begins when "Pierre" proposes marriage to a girl named Flossie (Joyce Jameson)--whose musclebound brother Harold (Hal Baylor) is determined that the wedding take place immediately, or else! (Trivia note: In the original TV Guide listings, Martin's alternate personality was identified as "Ricardo"). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Filmed in black-and-white, season one of My Favorite Martian begins literally at the beginning, when Tim O'Hara (Bill Bixby), young reporter for the "Los Angeles Sun," slows down his snazzy sports car long enough to investigate a strange object that has crashed on the side of the highway. Out pops what looks like an ordinary middle-aged man (Ray Walston), dressed in a silver lamé spacesuit. When the stranger looks up and barks petulantly, "What do you expect me to say, take me to your leader?" Tim realizes that he has stumbled upon a visitor from Mars, and that the wreckage next to him is that of a one-person spaceship. Taking the martian to his home to recuperate, Tim envisions a Pulitzer Prize for filing a story about meeting an extraterrestrial being, but the martian persuades Tim to keep his true identity a secret, at least until he can repair his spaceship and return to his own planet. Tim's landlady, Mrs. Lorelei Brown (Pamela Britton), is told that Tim's house guest is his "Uncle Martin" -- and Uncle Martin he will remain for the duration of the series. The rest of the first season is devoted to various demonstrations of Uncle Martin's awesome powers, and of Tim's strenuous efforts to prevent the authorities from finding out he has a martian in his bedroom. Two characters appear throughout season one, never to be seen in any subsequent season: Mrs. Brown's teenaged daughter, Angela (Anne O. Marshall), and Tim's dyspeptic editor Harry Burns (J. Pat O'Malley). Despite its somewhat awkward early Sunday evening time slot (smack dab opposite the popular Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color), My Favorite Martian closed out its inaugural season as America's tenth most popular program. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bill Bixby, Ray Walston, (more)
As My Favorite Martian enters its second season, young newspaper reporter Tim O'Hara (Bill Bixby) has become quite accustomed to having a martian as his house guest. He has also come to take for granted the fact that his "Uncle Martin" (Ray Walston) has a super-genius I.Q., is able to travel through time and space by means of teleportation, can move objects through the air by simply pointing his finger, and can turn invisible at the drop of a hat (or in his case, the raising of an antenna). As for Uncle Martin, he regards Tim as a good friend and excellent company, but he is still rather impatient with his forced stay on the primitive planet Earth, and continues to try to repair his damaged spaceship, which is kept hidden in Tim's garage. Meanwhile, Tim's landlady Mrs. Lorelei Brown (Pamela Britton) has developed something of a crush on Uncle Martin, never suspecting that her tenant is from another planet. Indeed, no one suspects that there is something amiss about Uncle Martin except for a new character introduced in season two, Mrs. Brown's erstwhile boyfriend Detective Bill Brennan (Alan Hewitt). Like Gladys Kravitz on Bewitched, Brennan suspects that Uncle Martin isn't quite who he claims to be, and goes to great lengths to uncover his secret -- and, like Gladys Kravitz, Brennan is invariably foiled and humiliated by the resourceful extraterrestrial. After climbing to tenth place in the ratings during its first season, My Favorite Martian didn't even crack the Top 30 during season two, which may explain why the producers altered the format a bit for its third season, and also hyped its audience appeal by switching from black-and-white to color. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bill Bixby, Ray Walston, (more)
- 1965
The third and final season of My Favorite Martian found the series switching from black-and-white to color, and also making a few adjustments in its format. The basic premise remains the same: a misplaced martian (Ray Walston) has crash-landed on Earth and has moved in with young newspaper reporter Tim O'Hara (Bill Bixby). While the martian endeavors to repair his damaged spaceship, Tim protects the visitor from the authorities by passing him off as his "Uncle Martin." This charade is swallowed hook, line, and sinker by Tim's landlady Mrs. Lorelei Brown (Pamela Britton), who has a bit of a crush on Uncle Martin. Lorelei's detective ex-boyfriend Bill Brennan (Alan Hewitt) can't help but notice that strange and magical things happen whenever Martin is around, thus arousing Brennan's suspicions big time. During season three, Brennan would continually try to alert his police chief boss Roy Engle to Martin's curious behavior, only to be repeatedly made a fool of by the clever and resourceful extraterrestial. What is radically different about the third season is that Uncle Martin has begun transporting himself and Tim through various historical periods, by means of a time machine of his own invention. In the two-part season opener, Martin and Tim are hurtled back to the Old West, where they meet Bill Brennan's grandfather (also played by Alan Hewitt) and embark upon a search for gold, an ore needed for Martin's crippled space vehicle. In later episodes, the two time travelers land in Hollywood during the silent movie era, attempt to solve one of history's most baffling jewel robberies, have a dangerously close encounter with Frank and Jesse James, bring a nonplussed Leonardo Da Vinci back to the 20th century, and, in the series' final episode, inadvertently talk the Indians out of selling Manhattan Island to Peter Minuit, thereby doing considerable damage to the time-space continuum! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bill Bixby, Ray Walston, (more)
- 1984
Thanks to the machinations of his nemesis Judge Willard (Jason Bernard), Harry (Harry Anderson) is summoned before a judicial review board. Led by the decidedly off-base Judge Landis (Ray Walton) the board must decide if Harry's bizarre and flippant courtroom behavior constitutes sufficient grounds for dismissal. Episode highlights include the G. Gordon Liddy-ish character testimony provided by overzealous Night Court bailiff Bull (Richard Moll). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This ghostly made-for-television romance tells the story of a struggling widower who finds that life becomes easier once his beloved comes back from the grave to assist him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ed Asner, Mariette Hartley, (more)
In what can only be described as a dramatic change of pace, Robert Altman directed this raunchy teen comedy based on the antics of two characters featured in a series of stories published in the National Lampoon. Oliver Cromwell Ogilvie (Daniel Jenkins), aka O.C., and his buddy Mark Stiggs (Neil Barry), are a pair of misfit teenagers whose greatest joy in life is making those around them miserable. O.C.'s ancient grandfather (Ray Walston) has just had his insurance cancelled, and when he discovers that suburbanite salesman Randall Schwabb (Paul Dooley) is responsible, O.C. and Stiggs swing into a summer-long campaign to get revenge on Schwabb and his family. While it received some of the most brutally negative reviews of Altman's career, O.C. and Stiggs is worth a quick look for its cast, which includes fellow outcast auteurs Dennis Hopper and Melvin Van Peebles, comics Louis Nye and Jane Curtain, the one-time glamour girl of the Clifford Irving scandal Nina Van Pallandt, and Thomas Hal Phillips, reprising his role as Hal Phillip Walker from Nashville. World music superstars King Sunny Ade and his African Beats appear and provide the musical score. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Jenkins, Neil Barry, (more)
Gary Sinese directed this respectful re-telling of John Steinbeck's classic novel, with Sinese as the wily George and John Malkovich as the brutish, simple-minded Lennie. Set during the Depression era, the film opens as George and Lennie are running from a woman with a torn dress, who has sent a gang of ruffians to chase the two out of the county. After a long bus ride and a ten-mile walk, George and Lennie arrive at a migrant farm in California's San Joaquin Valley, where they seek work. George dreams of putting together enough money to buy a small piece of land where he and Lennie can build a home; he hopes that in California the two can realize their dream. Unfortunately, the foreman of the ranch, Curley (Casey Siemaszko), enjoys tormenting Lennie, while Curley's frustrated wife (Sherilyn Fenn) entices Lennie with her sexual allure. George warns Lennie to steer clear of Curley's wife, but Lennie follows her to a barn where a tragedy occurs and George and Lennie's dreams are shattered. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Malkovich, Gary Sinise, (more)
- 1991
When a self-involved real estate agent is given fifty hours of community service to do by a judge, he becomes the coach for a basketball team of developmentally challenged adults. In trying to teach them, he learns. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Larroquette, Kathy Baker, (more)
After a debut on Broadway in 1951, Paramount spent an estimated 17 to 20 million dollars in production costs for this Lerner and Loewe musical. With Loewe's permission, Lerner wrote five additional tunes for the film with Andre Previn. Ben Rumson (Lee Marvin) is the grizzled prospector trying his luck panning for gold in California. Pardner (Clint Eastwood) is his companion. When Ben buys a woman from a Mormon, Elizabeth (Jean Seberg) expects equal rights for her gender and chooses to live with both men. Ben and Pardner tunnel under the boomtown to gather the fallen gold dust that has filtered through the cracks of the saloon and other places. The musical comedy features 13 songs, the most recognizable being "They Call The Wind Maria". The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band helps out on the song "Hand Me Down That Can O' Beans". Both Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin are given a chance to show their vocal ability (or lack of it) in several songs. The initial release fell far short of regaining the millions put into the production, and most critics dipped their pens in poison to pan the picture -- though the film plays better than the critics would lead anyone to believe. Many jumped on the Paint Your Wagon smear campaign after the film proved to be not nearly as successful as other musicals. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood, (more)
- 1988
- PG
Uptown (George Newbern) and Mad Mike (Christopher McDonald) are paramedic partners assigned to the tough South Central section of the city by their irate boss Captain Prescott (John P. Ryan). The duo uncovers a fiendish conspiracy that deals in harvesting internal organs from unwilling donors. They encounter street gangs and a female with a killer sex drive. This spoofing parody contains explicate language and brief nudity. Watch for veteran actor Ray Walston as the first patient suffering a heart attack. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Newbern, Christopher McDonald, (more)
- 1991
Pink Lightning is a 1991 Fox Network TV movie set in the California of 1962. Five typically blinkered 60s ladies come of age in a male-dominated society. As sarcastically pointed out by TV critics in 1991, the five girls are conveniently compartmentalized into stereotypes: Nice Girl, Beautiful Girl, Bright Girl, Hot-to-Trot Girl and Married Girl; the marriage of the last one is the centerpiece of the film. The girls are portrayed (in no particular order) by Sarah Buxton, Martha Byrne, Jennifer Blanc, Jennifer Guthrie and Rainbow Harvest. Pink Lightning concludes with a pointed put-down of male superiority, which is supposed to make the silly proceedings leading up to the event (including a Thelma and Louise style drive down a deserted highway) seem profound. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sarah Buxton, Martha Byrne, (more)
In this off-beat horror outing, a band of film students decide to scare up some cash by holding a film festival celebrating horror films from the '50s. Its all great fun until they discover that the projectionist is a homicidal maniac. Gory violence ensues as audience members begin dying in horrible ways. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jill Schoelen, Tom Villard, (more)
Based on the long-running comic strip created by E.C. Segar (and less on the animated cartoons created by Max Fleischer, which were decidedly different in tone and approach), Popeye follows the sailor man with the mighty arms (played by Robin Williams in his first major film role) as he arrives in the seaside community of Sweethaven in search of his long-lost father. Popeye meets and quickly falls for the slender Olive Oyl (Shelley Duvall, in the role she was born to play), but Olive's hand has already been promised to the hulking Bluto (Paul Smith), of whom Olive can say little except, well, he's large. Eventually, Popeye and Olive are brought together by Swee' Pea (Wesley Ivan Hurt), an adorable foundling, and Popeye finally meets his dad, Poopdeck Pappy (Ray Walston). Director Robert Altman in no way tempered his trademark style for this big-budget family opus, crowding the screen with a variety of characters and allowing his cast to overlap as much dialogue as they want. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robin Williams, Shelley Duvall, (more)
- 1960
Wanting to be free of her crippled husband but not his enormous fortune, a glamorous wife talks her lover, who is also her spouse's personal physician, into injecting poison into the ailing industrialist. This crime melodrama chronicles the chain of events that leads to the murderous lovers' downfall. Though they successfully offed the husband, the two are not allowed to enjoy their new wealth and happiness for a letter sent to the wife reveals that someone knows about the crime. Believing that the anonymous author is her late-husbands investment advisor, the wife and her lover quickly dispatch him. When his body later turns up, another is blamed with the crime. Unfortunately, the villainous twosome, the accused is to marry the granddaughter of the deceased tycoon. Matters don't improve when the doctor/lover's conscience flares up and he decides to confess. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lana Turner, Anthony Quinn, (more)
Three of the hallmarks of education in America -- nudity, teenage sex, and big, destructive gags -- are on plentiful display in this teen comedy. Christine (Phoebe Cates), a student at an exclusive all-girls private school, is in love with Jim (Matthew Modine), who attends an academy for boys nearby. Christine's archrival Jordan (Betsy Russell) also has her eye on Jim, and she is willing to do whatever she can to steal him away. Jim's über-slob buddy Bubba (Michael Zorek) is going with Betsy (Kathleen Wilhoite), Christine's cynical friend, though he would probably be unfaithful if any other woman were willing to get near him. Bubba and his pals sneak into the girls' school dressed in drag in hopes of reaching the Promised Land (better known as the women's shower room), while Christine and Jim run away together for the weekend, though their escapade isn't as romantic as they had hoped. Among the adults observing the chaos are Ray Walston, Fran Ryan, Martin Mull, and Sylvia Kristel; one of the sexy students on display is future scream queen Brinke Stevens. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Phoebe Cates, Betsy Russell, (more)
- 1996
This made-for-television comedy picks up where the popular alien TV-series ALF left off. Captured by the military on his way back home, ALF is forced to undergo experiments at the hands of the unsympathetic Col. Gilbert Milfoil (Martin Sheen). Two military officers take pity on poor ALF and decide to free him from his captors. They escape and set out on a road trip that takes them on some bizarre adventures -- but ALF isn't out of the woods just yet. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Martin Sheen, Jensen Daggett, (more)
