James J. Casino Movies
- 1989
- Add Manhunt: Search for the Night Stalker to QueueAdd Manhunt: Search for the Night Stalker to top of Queue
Manhunt: Search for the Night Stalker was a made-for-TV factual drama about the elusive killer who terrorized Southern California in the summer of 1985. Richard Jordan and A. Martinez star as the two LA detectives heading up the investigation. So much time is taken up with police procedure that the Night Stalker himself is virtually a bit player in his own movie. The suspect, one Richard Ramirez (watch the film to find out who plays him), makes up for his long absences with a bravura closing scene. The film utilizes the clever (and tasteful) approach of showing the victims going about their everyday activities just before the murderer strikes, without resorting to re-enacting the murders themselves. By accident or design, Manhunt: Search for the Night Stalker was telecast November 12, 1989--the very day that Richard Ramirez was sentenced to the gas chamber. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1980
- R
The Island, a turgid action drama directed by Michael Ritchie, revolves around the adventures of Maynard (Michael Caine), a newspaper reporter who tries to solve the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle. Maynard, and his son crash-land on a remote island ruled by a gang of pirates who kill anyone who intrudes there. From beginning to end, The Island is slow, uninvolving and very bloody. The terrible script by Peter Benchley, who also wrote Jaws, is jagged and the dialogue is cliched. The film was an economic disaster and is only of interest because of a good score by Ennio Morricone. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Caine, David Warner, (more)
By concentrating on character development with this first of several sequels to his Oscar-winning smash Rocky (1976), writer/director Sylvester Stallone earned critical praise that would desert him with the boxing saga's shallower subsequent chapters. Stallone returns as Rocky Balboa, a Philadelphia prize fighter enjoying his brief fame after nearly defeating world heavyweight champion Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers). When Rocky is offered lucrative product endorsement opportunities, his limited education and lack of sophistication quickly become an impediment to his future success, causing him embarrassment and his pregnant wife, Adrian (Talia Shire), a great deal of financial concern. Meanwhile, Creed is brooding over his near loss to a fighter he considers an amateur far beneath him and decides to goad a reluctant Rocky into a high-profile rematch. With the family resources dwindling and his pride wounded, Rocky decides that fighting is all he knows and makes the fateful decision to climb back into the ring once more with Creed to vie for the championship belt, despite assurances from all concerned that he will blind himself irreparably. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, (more)
Film auteur Sylvester Stallone wrote, directed, and stars in this re-working of Rocky to fit an old-fashioned Hollywood formula, depicting three brothers from New York's Hell's Kitchen of the 1940s who want to claw their way out of poverty. Lee Canalito is the muscle-brained iceman Victor, and Armand Assante is the embittered, crippled war veteran Lenny. But the smooth-talking con man brother Cosmo (Sylvester Stallone), sees beef-cake Victor's fists as their ticket out of the slums. Cosmo, ever the manipulator, convinces the dull-witted Victor to participate in a series of bone-crunching wrestling matches as Kid Salami. Cosmo and Lenny exploit Victor's brute strength to grab the fast money on the wrestling circuit. But their climb to success is halted when the local gangster Stitch (Kevin Conway) puts up his malicious and dangerous wrestler Frankie the Thumper (Terry Funk) to fight against Kid Salami in a 22-round meat-pounder. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sylvester Stallone, Kevin Conway, (more)
- 1978
The irrepressible Pinky (Eugene Roche) plays another practical joke on Archie while attending an out-of-town VFW convention. Thus, when Archie awakens from a drunken stupor, he finds that he is sharing his motel bed with an attractive black woman named Marabel (Jonelle Allen), who insists that the two of them had engaged in an evening of unbridled passion. Both amused and touched by Archie's flustered efforts to apologize, Marabel reveals the joke, and agrees to help Archie get even with Pinky. Written by Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf, "Archie's Other Wife" first aired on November 5, 1978. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carroll O'Connor, Jonelle Allen, (more)
- 1978
- PG
This spoof of a "typical" double-feature bill of the 1930s is introduced by George Burns, who explains that we're about to see two classic films produced by the legendary Warren Brothers. The first, "Dynamite Fists," is a black-and-white takeoff of such boxing dramas as Golden Boy. Harry Hamlin plays a John Garfield-like pugilist who is brought along by a tough-but-lovable fight promoter George C. Scott. Nasty gangster Eli Wallach attempts to compromise Hamlin by offering him the delectable Trish VanDevere, but Hamlin proves loyal to Scott. When Scott is killed by Wallach, Hamlin vows to become an attorney and bring the murderer to justice -- which he does in the space of one year. Along the way, Hamlin's gangster brother-in-law secures an eye operation for his nearly blind sister Kathleen Beller (whose bump-in-the-wall myopia is good for several laughs). After "Dynamite Fists," we are treated to a coming-attractions trailer for a Dawn Patrol-style aviation epic, again starring George C. Scott. The last segment, "Blansky's Beauties of 1933," is an all-stops-out Technicolor lampoon of Busby Berkeley musicals. Told by doctor Art Carney that he is dying, Broadway impresario Blansky (George C. Scott again) determines to produce one last spectacular show before the curtain goes down for good. The highlights in "Blansky's Beauties" are too numerous to mention here: memorable bits include composer Barry Bostwick's rooftop number, and the opening dialogue exchange between Carney and Scott (told that he has a month to live, Scott philosophically replies that at least he has 30 days left -- whereupon Carney dolefully reminds his patient that it's February). An additional sequence, parodying the Republic serials of the era, was filmed for Movie, Movie but cut from the final release print. Michael Kidd, who plays "Pop Popchick" in "Dynamite Fists," handled the choreography in "Blansky's Beauties." On the videocassette version of Movie, Movie, "Dynamite Fists" has been reprocessed in color. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George C. Scott, Barbara Harris, (more)
- 1955
For full appreciation of the culture-clash drama Foxfire, it is crucial that the viewer accept Jeff Chandler as a Native American--not much of a stretch, since he'd previously been thoroughly convincing as Cochise in Broken Arrow. Chandler plays Jonathan Dartland, a half-breed Apache mining engineer working in his native Arizona. On a whim, Eastern socialite Amanda (Jane Russell) marries Jonathan. Disdaining "society", Dartland insists that the flighty Amanda remain in Arizona as a "typical" housewife. The rest of the film deals with the problematic period of adjustment for the seemingly mismatched couple. Foxfire earned a footnote in history as the film which was being screened on the Andrea Doria on the day that the ill-fated luxury liner went down. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jane Russell, Jeff Chandler, (more)
