Nicholas Worth Movies
- 1994
This Southern Gothic drama of a deeply troubled family was written by leading man David Steen, who adapted the screenplay from his own play. Ma Samuals (Sharon Farrell) lives in a poor section of rural North Carolina during the 1970s. Her slightly retarded son Charlie (Steen) was the product of an incestuous relationship with her uncle, a preacher who seduced her when she was only 12; despite this experience, Ma remains a devout Fundamentalist Christian. Ma also lives with her adopted daughter, Messy (Gigi Rice), though it's obvious that Charlie is the favored child, and Messy is often the target for Ma's abuse. When Cousin Anna (Sarah Trigger) is orphaned, she comes to stay with the Samuals family, which upsets the household's already shaky emotional balance. Ma disapproves of Messy's new friendship with Anna, believing she's a poor influence on her daughter, and when Anna begins spending time with Charlie, her obsessive love for her son (which has already spilled over into incest) threatens to push her over the brink. A Gift from Heaven marked the feature debut for both screenwriter Steen and director Jack Lucarelli. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sharon Farrell, Gigi Rice, (more)
Ex-football player Carl Weathers stars in this violent action film as Detroit policeman Jericho Jackson. The dedicated but brutal cop is plunged into nefarious doings concerning a crooked industrialist (Craig T. Nelson) and his drug-addicted girlfriend (pop-singer Vanity), breaking many people's bones before solving the case. Sharon Stone stands out in a cast of genre veterans including Nicholas Worth, Sonny Landham, and Robert Davi. Heavy on the sex and violence, this film harkens back to the glory days of 1970s blaxploitation, but is a bit too mean-spirited to be as much fun. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carl Weathers, Craig T. Nelson, (more)
In Armed and Dangerous, John Candy plays a cop who has been kicked off the force on a trumped up charge. Eugene Levy costars as a disbarred lawyer. The two outcasts take low-paying jobs as security officers at a company controlled by mob boss Robert Loggia. In their own stumblebum fashion, Candy and Levy uncover a smuggling operation masterminded by Loggia. Meg Ryan also shows up in an early leading role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Candy, Eugene Levy, (more)
Set in the year 2017, Barb Wire takes place after democracy has fallen and a fascist military junta has taken over the U.S. government, plotting to wipe out the country with Red Ribbon, a laboratory-manufactured disease derived from the AIDS virus. The entire test city of Topeka has been annihilated, and only the small bastion of Steel Harbor remains the last free zone in the country, conveniently the home of the title heroine Pamela Lee. Barb, a leather-clad, silicon-stretched motorcycle mama, happens to carry antibodies for Red Ribbon in her DNA, thus making her an enemy of the state. She sets out to defend freedom and take down the evil government by posing as a stripper and seducing foolish male adversaries with her well-displayed assets. The plot thickens as she happens upon her freedom-fighter ex-lover and his wife (much in the vein of Casablanca). ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pamela Anderson, Temuera Morrison, (more)
- 1993
In Best of the Best 2, Alex Grady and his partner, Tommy Lee, turn their karate talents toward crime fighting. An illegal fighting club, headed by Wayne Newton, is a center for crime and criminals. Alex and Tommy decide to take it down but first they have to fight their way through Brakus, the big evil, and his growth protein-engorged posse. ~ Brian Whitener, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eric Roberts, Phillip Rhee, (more)
- 1990
Billy Zane stars in this direct-to-video gem as a spectacularly unsuccessful car thief. Hoping to reform by leaving LA, Zane must scare up $400 worth of exit money. He decides to pull off one last job, stealing a TV from William Bastiani. An ill-tempered criminal, Bastiani stabs Zane, who then runs off blindly into a cemetary ("Blood" and "Concrete": get it?) Weaving around the tombstones, Zane makes the acquaintance of would-be suicide Jennifer Beals. Love blooms, but it might be too late for both of them: Bastiani is found murdered, and Zane is suspect number one-forcing him to hide out from both the cops and the mob. Luxuriating in its tawdriness and cheapness, Blood & Concrete: A Love Story actually has an offbeat charm all its own. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Billy Zane, Jennifer Beals, (more)
- 1988
The second of two TV-movie attempts to revive the Dobie Gillis sitcom series of the 1950s and 1960s, Bring Me the Head of Dobie Gillis rounds up as many cast members of the old show as humanly possible. Dwayne Hickman took a break from his busy career as a CBS daytime-drama executive to recreate the role of Dobie Gillis, while Bob Denver was back as his beatnik "good buddy" Maynard G. Krebs. Also making return appearances are Sheila James as Zelda Gilroy (now Mrs. Dobie Gillis), Steve Franken as ridiculously wealthy Chatsworth Osborne Jr., and William Schallert as Dobie's college teacher Mr. Pomfritt. The plot concerns the attempts by Dobie's former high school sweetheart, the ever-mercenary Thalia Menninger, to wrest Dobie away from wife Zelda and claim him for her own. Tuesday Weld, the original Thalia, wasn't interested in reprising the character (nor was Dwayne Hickman interested in working with the troublesome Ms. Weld again), so the role was assumed by another 1950s TV icon, Connie Stevens. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Denver, Dwayne Hickman, (more)
This standard, tongue-in-cheek, gangsters and good guys saga is carried on the star power and screen presence of Clint Eastwood as Lt. Speer, a taciturn, tough, play-it-by-the-book cop, and on Burt Reynolds as Mike Murphy, Speer's old friend in the force, now turned private eye but still a captivating rogue at heart. With a sub-text of playing their well-known screen personas off each other, Eastwood and Reynolds provide more than a surface interpretation of the characters that made them famous. After Murphy's partner is murdered, he focuses on pitting one mob boss against another in an attempt to have both mobsters kill each other. In the meantime, Lt. Speer -- who has never approved of Murphy's private detective business -- does not really know if Murphy is for or against the two top gangsters. Set in the era of speakeasies and Prohibition, an added layer of "film noir" can be discerned under the complex plot, verbal repartée, and episodes of toned-down violence (a kind of parody in themselves). Although this may not be the best film either star has made, it is still interesting to see them together on screen. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clint Eastwood, Burt Reynolds, (more)
- 1994
A beautiful devil-girl tires of torturing the souls of the damned and so busts out of hell to visit the mortal plane. Finding it nearly as debauched and wicked as her home, the girl decides to take care of the villainous and evil before they get down to the Devil's domain. Soon the blood begins flowing like sacramental wine. During an accident she is seriously wounded, and a kindly young doctor helps her recover and as he does, she cannot help but fall in love with him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Neglecting Julie (Frances McDormand), his lawyer lady friend, Dr. Peyton Westlake (Liam Neeson) works feverishly to perfect his latest invention -- artificial skin that could be used to treat burn victims. Peyton himself falls victim to an explosion when one of Julie's crooked clients sends his henchmen to sniff out an incriminating document that's been left in Westlake's lab. Hideously disfigured and left for dead, the good doctor receives an experimental medical treatment that renders him super-strong, impervious to pain and prone to heightened fits of rage. Rebuilding his lab into an underground hideout, Westlake begins using his synthetic skin to impersonate various characters and engineer his revenge against those who destroyed his life. Reconnecting with Julie, however, becomes the unsightly vigilante's biggest challenge. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Liam Neeson, Frances McDormand, (more)
- 1995
- R
Sex and science fiction are again combined in this sophomoric fantasy set somewhere in the future in an unnamed US city. The tale begins as the media announces the unwelcome arrival of an alien spacecraft, from which a beautiful Asian woman disembarks. She has come to the gang-ravaged city for a little vacation. The head of the city's police regime, General Hayden, wants to catch her and get rid of the gangs simultaneously. To do so, he sounds an earthquake alarm and then orders a mass evacuation of the town. Only the police and the gangs remain, and it is lucky Officer Weed who gets to meet the toothsome alien Amelia first. Since her arrival, Amelia has changed herself into a seductive black woman in a silver metallic suit. Unable to resister her bountiful charms, Weed and she do the nasty, and he learns that among her many talents is her ability to change into any kind of woman she wants to be; he also learns that she needs sex like he needs food. Lucky her, she found a veritable banquet in the lusty Weed. Meanwhile, the gang wars rage on. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Made for television, Broken Badge originally aired as The Rape of Richard Beck. Richard Crenna plays Beck, a hard-bitten cop who has little patience for female rape victims. Then he himself is sexually assaulted by two assailants. Crenna's excellent performance notwithstanding, the teleplay by James G. Hirsch is a bit simplistic, drawn up along the lines of the old bromide "a conservative is a liberal who's been mugged" Meredith Baxter Birney is seen all too briefly as a rape counsellor. The Rape of Richard Beck premiered on May 27, 1985, as an "ABC Theatre" presentation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1987
- PG13
A clumsy hipster gets more than he bargained for when he mistakenly picks up a bag full of drug money instead of his clean laundry in this comedy. Interestingly the film features Olympic champions Greg Louganis and Carl Lewis in major roles. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leigh McCloskey, Jeanne O'Brien, (more)
- 1985
- R
This undistinguished comedy about life in prison features caricatures of inmates and law enforcement officers, as well as prison guards, in attempts at slapstick action. After Duke Jarrett (Jeff Altman) is put into prison because he had sex with the wife of a government VIP, he discovers that life in the prison is out of control -- until a disciplinarian takes charge. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeff Altman, Dey Young, (more)
This mix of drama, camp, and brutal violence is anchored by the performance of Nicholas Worth. Worth plays Kurt Smith, a sweaty, balding maniac who strangles women with a stocking, raping and mutilating them during and after death. A Vietnam veteran, Smith prowls the streets of Hollywood posing as a photographer, then sells his violent porn to sleazy smut-peddler Sam (Porky's star Chuck Mitchell). At home, Smith lifts weights and tells off his dead father, whose abuse was obviously one cause of his mania. Sometimes he calls the radio show of psychiatrist Lindsey Gale (Flo Gerrish), posing as a Puerto Rican named Ramon and asking for advice about his headaches. Dedicated cop McCabe (James Westmoreland) has no luck solving the case until Smith murders one of Dr. Gale's patients, in an unforgivably sick scene. The patient (Paula Warner) was molested by her father, which Smith overhears. When he breaks into her house that night, Smith ties her up while cooing, "Daddy loves his little girl," and pouring hot wax on her as she cries into her teddy-bear. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Westmoreland, Flo Gerrish, (more)
- 1975
Roy (Kevin Tighe) can't make up his mind about buying a house, and suffers the consequences. Back on the job, Roy and his fellow paramedics go to the rescue of a teenage epileptic trapped under a bridge on a concrete beam, and an unconcious girl on the second floor of a burning house. Elsewhere, it looks like a pair of driving-school students aren't going to pass their exam when they're involve in an accident; and the paramedics search for a lost dog on behalf of an injured youngster. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Mafia hijinks provide the basis of this violent crime drama. The trouble begins the night before an uneasy truce between the warring Malucci family and the Diamonds is to begin. A volatile gang member starts it all when he launches a dirty surprise attack upon the Maluccis, thereby breaching the code of honor. Among the dead is the fiancee of Dino Diamond's chief arm-breaker, aspiring fighter Fist Sullivan. After Sullivan is framed for the killing by a corrupt cop working for double-crossing Dino, he vows revenge. But he is in jail. One of the Maluccis busts him out. Now working for the enemy, Sullivan, and his turncoat surrogate daughter Alex, who witnessed the fiancee's murder, sets out to avenge the death of his beloved. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1966
No relation to the 1977 Barbra Streisand vehicle of the same name, the independent 1966 film For Pete's Sake top-bills none other than evangelist Billy Graham. This well-intentioned effort concerns a gas-station attendant (Robert Sampson), his wife (Pippa Scott) and son (Johnny Jensen). Barely eking out a living, the attendant must endure harassment from a local motorcycle gang. After attending a Billy Graham revival meeting, the attendant and his family decide to apply their new found religiosity in dealing with the nasty cyclists. A remarkably stellar cast -- including Sam Groom, Al Freeman Jr. and Terri Garr -- do their best to lend credibility to this farfetched fable. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1981
This 1981 sequel to the 1979 made-for-TVer Goldie and the Boxer once again stars O.J. Simpson and Melissa Michaelsen as, respectively, boxer Joe Gallegher and Joe's 10-year-old manager Goldie Kellog. When Joe incurs the wrath of an evil promoter, he and Goldie high-tail it to Hollywood. They take refuge in the home of Babe (Stubby Kaye) and Cuddles (Sheila MacRae) a pair of Tinseltown "fringies" distantly related to Joe's trainer Wally (Jack Gilford, taking over for the first film's Phil Silvers). Produced by Orenthal Productions (guess who ran that company?), Goldie and the Boxer Go to Hollywood first aired February 19, 1981. It has been rerun incessantly since June of 1994, thanks to the latter-day notoriety of star O. J. Simpson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- O.J. Simpson, Melissa Michaelsen, (more)
Having spent much of his directorial career emulating Don Siegel and John Ford, Clint Eastwood borrows a page from the catalogue of Sam Fuller in Heartbreak Ridge. Eastwood casts himself as an old-fashioned Marine Corps sergeant who is out of step with the new-fashioned military. He returns to his old outfit as a gunnery sergeant, where he runs afoul of 1980s-style superior officers to whom the words "Gung Ho" are foolish anachronisms. But through his tough tutelage, Eastwood's lackadaisical platoon is whipped into a first-rate fighting machine, favoring teamwork over such New Age gobbledygook as "self-fulfillment." Eastwood's men prove their mettle during the invasion of Grenada. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clint Eastwood, Marsha Mason, (more)
The great nuclear holocaust has come and gone, and humanity is hanging on a string. Women rule what's left, and the world is filled with giant mutant humanoid frogs who have started their own communities. Fertile human males have become one of the rarest things on Earth. This really low-budget sci-fi adventure chronicles the exploits of one of those men, the wandering loner Sam Hell (as played by former wrestler Rowdy Roddy Piper). The tale begins as Hell is caught and tried for raping a woman. Realizing that he is fertile, Medtech, the organization devoted to repopulating the world, takes him and forces him to wear high-tech underwear designed to control his lusty tendencies and to keep him from squandering his seed on infertile ladies. The organization then forces him to go deep into froggy territory to bring back the fertile women stolen by the amphibian's leader. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roddy Piper, Sandahl Bergman, (more)
- 1985
Married...With Children's Ed O'Neill guest stars as parole officer Dan Colson, an old pal of Detective Sgt. Rick Hunter (Fred Dryer). Unfortunately, the pressures of having to deal with the scum of the earth (to say nothing of enduring the murder of a close friend) have pushed Colson off the deep end, and now he is practicing his own bloody brand of vigilante justice. Grimly, Hunter sets about to stop Colson from murdering a framed parolee. Watch for a young Frances McDormand in a supporting role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This minor made-for-TV effort from horror auteur Wes Craven is one of the oddest attempts at seriously blending supernatural horror and science fiction elements, which amounts to a muddled but amusing failure. The convoluted plot involves scientist Robert Urich's experiments with a new spacesuit designed to detect non-human lifeforms for a proposed expedition to Venus. When a sultry succubus (Susan Lucci, who was born for such a role) begins exerting her demonic influence on the members of a country club -- including Urich's wife and children -- he dons the completed suit for a literal journey into hell itself to rescue them. Craven's skill manages to elevate this loopy premise slightly above the level of pure nonsense, but low production values and the constraints of TV censorship prevent it from being adequately explored. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Susan Lucci, Robert Urich, (more)
- 1982
A young Jim Belushi appears as Wheezer, the new man in Laverne's life. Unfortunately for his ego, Wheezer exhibits a cowardly streak when Laverne (Penny Marshall) and Carmine (Eddie Mekka) are harrassed by a gang of bullies. Hoping to build up Wheezer's self-esteem, Laverne arranges for him to become a "hero"--with the requisite disastrous results! This episode was directed by Paul Sills, creator of the famed improvisational "Story Theatre" troupe. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1997
A young gay man goes looking for love in at least one of the wrong places in this comedy set in Los Angeles. Kyle (Sean Tataryn) is an 18-year-old aspiring poet who has found his way out of the closet and now has left behind the stifling environment of the Valley for the more bohemian surroundings of the Silverlake district. Naive Kyle spends his days in coffee shops working on his maudlin verse and looking for love, and he thinks that he may have found it when he meets Mike (Christopher Bradley), a ruggedly handsome 30-year-old man who works in construction and has a taste for aggressive sex. Mike picks up Kyle and soon has him at home and in handcuffs; Kyle is hoping for a bit more tenderness in a relationship, but Mike is good looking enough that he doesn't complain too loudly. However, it isn't long before it becomes obvious that the two have almost nothing in common, and while Kyle wants to make their romance work, Mike can hardly be bothered and is already looking for new prospects as Kyle tries to psych himself up for his first major reading. Mink Stole, best known for her work in the films of John Waters, appears as the owner of a coffee house that Kyle frequents. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Bradley, Sean Tataryn, (more)
