Michelle Johnson Movies
Born in Alaska, blonde actress Michelle Johnson had to journey to an entirely different hemisphere to attain screen stardom. Cast as Michael Caine's topless teenaged amour in 1984's Blame it On Rio, Johnson received excellent notices, most of which forecast a long and fabulous career for the 19-year-old actress (reviewers barely paid attention to Johnson's young co-star Demi Moore). Since Rio, however, Johnson has made do with a number of forgettable potboilers, with a few scattered appearances in such A-pics as Gung Ho (1986) and Far and Away (1992). On television, Michelle Johnson was seen in the pilot for the 1987 Fox Network series Werewolf (1987), and has evinced a predilection for appearing in TV movies based on spectacular murder trials: she was cast in both films based on the Betty Broderick case, as well as the 1994 dramatization of the Mendendez Brothers imbroglio. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1988
- R
In this horror film, an evil magician creates a wax display of famous monsters and murderers and invites a group of unsuspecting young college students to view the collection. However, when the kids are trapped in the deadly displays, one-by-one they soon discover that the wax models are more than they appear to be. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Zach Galligan, Deborah Foreman, (more)
- 1987
Spanish hack Rene Cardona, Jr. (of Aztec Mummy fame) directed this gory rip-off of The Birds (not a parody as its goofy title suggests) which follows a reporter/photographer team (Michelle Johnson & Christopher Atkins) as they investigate frequent reports of lethal bird attacks on humans. They eventually conclude that the attacks -- which are increasing in size, frequency and severity -- are part of an orchestrated avian plot against mankind. They could have saved themselves a lot of trouble by screening Hitchcock's classic chiller beforehand, just as viewers expecting a spoof of that film can save themselves the grief of enduring this bloody exercise, which pulls no punches in its graphic depiction of flesh-rending bird attacks. Gore-hounds should approve, as the makeup effects are painfully convincing, but die-hard Cardona fans may be disappointed to learn that no lady wrestlers actually step in to swat at the winged tormentors. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Atkins, Michelle Johnson, (more)
- 1987
Werewolf was the pilot film for the Fox network TV series of the same name. John J. York plays Eric, a handsome young man who is bitten by a werewolf. He must find the source of the lycanthropic bloodline if he's to save himself from a lifetime of requiring sudden shaves and baying at the moon. Offering to help Eric is sea captain Chuck Connors, who turns out to be the centuries-old wolfman whom York seeks. Adding to our hero's travails is a bounty hunter by the name of Alamo Joe (Lance Le Gault). We're tipped to the fact that we shouldn't take Werewolf all that seriously by the character name given Chuck Connors: Janos Skorzeny, the same name as the vampire portrayed by Barry Atwater in the classic 1971 TV movie The Night Stalker. Werewolf premiered on July 11, 1987. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Michael Keaton stars as a wheeler-dealer who hopes to save a failing Pennsylvania automobile-assembly factory from having to close its doors. Keaton persuades a Japanese auto firm to reopen the factory, retrain its staff, and streamline the operation. It isn't long before the American-born workers grow to resent the disciplinary demands of their new Japanese bosses, setting the stage for a comic clash of cultures. The day is saved when it turns out that the poker-faced owner of the auto company possesses a really strange sense of humor. Gung Ho was later spun off into a short-lived TV sitcom, starring Scott Bakula of Quantum Leap fame. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Keaton, Gedde Watanabe, (more)
This attempt to remake the clever 1977 French farce Un Moment d'Egarement stars 50-film-a-year man Michael Caine as an executive named Matthew Hollis, who, together with friend Victor Lyons (Joseph Bologna), travels to Rio de Janeiro on business. Victor sets out on the town in search of a lambada partner, leaving Matthew to fend for himself against his friend's over-sexed teenage daughter (Michelle Johnson), who's come along for the ride. Soon, Matthew succumbs to her advances, despite his efforts to break off the affair, and finds himself a repeated statutory rapist, at least by American legal standards. The script plays out like an extended version of Three's Company, with lots of near-misses and dumb-dumb humor; critics aptly noticed Caine's apparent discomfort throughout the film. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Caine, Joseph Bologna, (more)
Set during the years when Australia was a newly established British colony reserved for prisoners, this feminist oriented drama centers upon a band of escaped female convicts who flee into the outback after killing their guard and taking a judge's daughter hostage. It doesn't take them long to learn survival skills and set up a new society in their hostile new environment. The story's climax comes when soldiers catch up to the women. A bloody, brutal battle ensues as the women fight for their freedom. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lillian Crombie, Jeune Pritchard, (more)
