J. Lee Thompson Movies

Once again, Charles Bronson plays a renegade cop out for vigilante justice in the darkest heart of the urban jungle. This time, he is targeting an especially ruthless pimp who has been leading innocent young girls into prostitution. When the pimp kidnaps the beautiful daughter of a Japanese businessman, rapes her and forces her to begin streetwalking, the cop decides to let nothing, not even the law, stop him from bringing the slimeball to graphically violent justice. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Charles Bronson, weary and comatose, is trotted out again as the cocked crusader Paul Kersey in Death Wish 4: The Crackdown. Director Michael Winner has jumped ship for this installment, replaced by J. Lee Thompson (who has seen better days). Kersey is back in L.A. and dating attractive reporter Karen Sheldon (Kay Lenz). Of course, the clock is ticking, and the gong goes off when Karen's daughter overdoses on crack. Before you can say "kaboom" the drug dealer, along with a large cast of bit players, are blown to bits by the single-minded vigilante. An enterprising publisher whose own daughter has died from a drug overdose hires Kersey to wipe out the city's two rival drug dealers and their legions of flunkies. Kersey has no trouble agreeing, and using the technique limned in Yojimbo, he methodically eliminates gang members, first from one side and then the other, until one gang's paranoia about the other gang causes the two competitors to engage in a major confrontation that impacts both groups. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Firewalker stars Chuck Norris as Max Donigan, an ex-Marine, and Louis Gossett, Jr. as his buddy, Leo Porter. Both set out to help Patricia Goodwyn (Melody Anderson) find a lost Aztec city and a temple filled with gold. After a few misadventures, their nemesis "El Coyote" (Sonny Landham) comes into view for awhile to make it clear that they are not without serious competition. Barroom brawls and a capture by hostile Native Americans throw roadblocks in their path, but the fearless trio forge onward toward the temple and their destiny. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

In yet another slick, formulaic Charles Bronson vengeance film (they would continue until the actor was in his mid-70s, still playing the morally insulted friend/husband/lover), Bronson is Holland, an assassin for hire who has just come out of retirement to finish off a Guatemalan thug by the name of Moloch (Joseph Maher). Moloch tortures and terrorizes the good guys and is protected by a misguided American government agency -- though nothing can stop Holland once he starts killing his way to the chief villain. No one except the wife of one of Moloch's victims -- and perhaps a few viewers now and again -- raises any questions about Holland's trail of corpses. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Charles Bronson at 63 or so, continues his vigilante persona in this run-of-the-mill crime drama about a Richard Speck-style killer who knifes young nurses to death. There is no doubt that the film exploits both the heinous, 1966 Speck murder of eight nurses in Chicago and an audience's willingness to go along with the Bronson character, Leo Kessler, when he uses illegal means to entrap criminals. The captured killer, Warren Stacey (Gene Davis) manages to go free because of red tape and the need to wait for the outcome of his insanity plea. When he returns to his murderous predilection, Kessler takes action to permanently stop him. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Certainly the low point in Glenn Ford's acting career, this Canadian production is, nevertheless, one of the slickest-looking slasher films from that subgenre's early-'80s heyday. The plot (what one can make of it) involves an unseen killer stalking a group of college students at the prestigious Crawford Academy. The well-staged murders are mysteriously linked to the slightly off-kilter Virginia (Melissa Sue Anderson, formerly of Little House on the Prairie), whose disturbing past holds the key to the killer's identity. Though this film brought nothing new to the psycho-horror field, it did feature one of the more interesting ad campaigns of the period. One-sheets loudly boasted, "Six of the most bizarre murders you've ever seen!" and barred all late-arriving patrons from entering the theater during the final ten minutes (a promotional stunt stolen from Psycho). This hype proved less than apropos since the murders in question are not particularly bizarre or original (aside from the shish-kabob impalement depicted in the ads), and the film's climax is so painfully contrived that latecomers may be more able to comprehend it than those bemused viewers who watched the film from the beginning. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi

Director J. Lee Thompson directed this World War II adventure drama from a script by author Bruce Nicolaysen who adapted the screenplay from his novel The Perilous Passage. Anthony Quinn stars as a brave Basque mountaineer who is hired by the American military to guide Professor Bergsson (James Mason) and his family over the dangerous Pyrenees. Together the two men struggle to ensure the group's survival and elude Von Berkow a crazed Nazi played by Malcolm MacDowell. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi

J. Lee Thompson directs Charles Bronson in this strange western variation on Herman Melville's Moby Dick. Bronson plays a man named James Otis, who is disturbed by dreams of a giant white buffalo. He returns to the west under his new name --Wild Bill Hickok. Amongst his travels, he meets Chief Crazy Horse (Will Sampson), who is roaming the plains in an obsessive search for the giant white buffalo that killed his young daughter. Chief Crazy Horse wants to slay the beast in revenge for his daughter's death, and Wild Bill Hickok teams up with him to hunt down the giant white buffalo. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

In this drama, based on a story by Lynn Caine, a vulnerable widow tries to deal with her own substantial grief, that of her children, and the prospect of raising them alone with no money. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Based on a Joseph Wambaugh story, this police drama centers on tough, aging cop Bumper Morgan's search for the man who killed his partner. His investigation leads him deep into the bowels of the drug world. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The fifth and last of the original series of motion pictures based upon author Pierre Boulle's imaginative novel Monkey Planet, this science fiction film was the least-liked by the series' legion of fans. Roddy McDowall returns as Caesar, the rebellious intelligent chimp of the previous film, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972). Caesar led his brethren in a revolution against their human masters earlier, but humanity has since nearly destroyed itself in a nuclear apocalypse, and survivors are second-class citizens within ape society. Now a beneficent ruler of his people, Caesar encourages a fragile, peaceful coexistence with humans, despite the protests of militaristic gorilla leader General Aldo (Claude Akins). When Caesar learns that recordings of his murdered parents may exist in the Forbidden City, he journeys to the irradiated wasteland with the human MacDonald (Austin Stoker) and the wise orangutan Virgil (Paul Williams). Although Caesar finds what he's looking for, he also attracts unwanted attention: mutant humans who still dwell underground in the devastated war zone follow the search party back home, leading to a climactic battle and Aldo's tragic challenge of Caesar's authority. Suffering greatly due to penny-pinching studio 20th Century Fox's low budget, Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973) is most notable for a cameo by director John Huston as an ape named "The Lawgiver," who appears in a wraparound segment. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

The Great American Tragedy is a melodrama about an aerospace engineer and his family who struggle to survive after he suddenly loses his job. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

In this bitter drama that takes place in the immediate aftermath of World War II, British Major Giles Burnside (David Niven) is assigned to a Austrian refugee camp, his orders to send the masses of displaced civilians to either the Russian or the American zone. Burnside is a by-the-books commander but has trouble making himself understood in the gaggle of different languages. But one of the refugees, Janovic, (Topol), is energetic and can speak many languages and Burnside hires him as his interpreter. Janovic quickly conveys Burnsides's directives and gets the way station running efficiently. Janovic even has time to romance a lovely innkeeper, Maria (Anna Karina). But Janovic's love for Maria hits a brick wall when he finds that she is carrying on an illicit affair with Burnside. As the remaining refugees are being dispatched to the different zones of occupation, Janovic is found to be a Russian deserter who must be returned to the Russian mainland to be executed. Burnside offers to help him escape, but Janovic can't decide whether to trust Burnside or not. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi