Norman Wexler Movies
Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Norman Wexler was not necessarily prolific, but he was responsible for the screenplays for some very popular films. Wexler began his professional career as a journalist, after having earned a degree from Harvard University. His film career began with Joe, which earned him his first Oscar nomination. From there, he added Serpico and Saturday Night Fever to his impressive resumé, the first of which earned him a second Academy Award nomination. He also managed to earn a cinematographer credit for the film The Kids Are Alright. Later in life, however, his professional career suffered due to his manic depression. To further exacerbate matters, in 1972 he was arrested by the FBI after announcing his plans to assassinate President Richard M. Nixon. He died from a heart attack in August 1999, at the age of 73. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide
A former FBI agent is recruited to root out the gangsters who killed a fellow agent's son in this Arnold Schwarzenegger action film. After being booted out of the bureau for excessive violence, Kaminski (Schwarzenegger) lives in small-town exile with his bitter wife, Amy (Blanche Baker). He gets the chance to return to the big city, however, when Chicago mobsters murder the son of his old colleague Shannon (Darren McGavin), as well as scads of prosecution witnesses against them in an impending court case. Shannon promises to reinstate Kaminski if he'll help engineer the downfall of gang leader Max (Robert Davi). Working undercover and without government sanction, Kaminski infiltrates the mob by posing as a bodyguard/assassin. Along the way, he tussles with beautiful gambling addict Monique (Kathryn Harrold), who starts off as an enemy but ends up more. The action comes to a head when Kaminski's mob bosses send him to kill none other than Shannon. Released post-Terminator and pre-Predator, Raw Deal is one of several non-science fictional action flicks that cemented Schwarzenegger's '80s box-office appeal. Director John Irvin would return the following year with the gritty Vietnam drama Hamburger Hill. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kathryn Harrold, (more)
Director Sylvester Stallone proves you really can't go home again in Staying Alive, the absurd sequel to Saturday Night Fever. The story finds Tony Manero (Travolta) six years later working as a waiter in a nightclub while he tries to realize his dreams of dancing on Broadway (what tough street kid from Brooklyn doesn't?) He eventually makes the cut as an extra for "Satan's Alley" (billed as "a musical trip through Hell") and immediately sets his sights on the show's snooty prima-donna star (Finola Hughes, decidedly unsuited for such dancing as her role requires). Meanwhile, the nice girl he's been seeing (Cynthia Rhodes) stands by her man, waiting patiently for him to come around. When the male lead can't cut it, Tony is offered the part, and tensions rise. The action culminates in the show itself and Tony's ultimate realization that he needs to please only himself. Indeed, the horrific dancing combined with Frank Stallone's inane musical score makes one wonder just how accurate the show's billing of "a musical trip through Hell" actually is. As long as one disassociates this film from its predecessor, Staying Alive is highly enjoyable for its schlock value; it may well be an inadvertent camp classic for Travolta's sweaty thongs alone. As for Stallone's direction and screenwriting abilities, he proves he is better off to remain an underdog prize-fighter/ commie-killer/mercenary cop/ double-fisted union leader/etc... ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Travolta, Cynthia Rhodes, (more)
- 1982
- PG
Marc Singer stars in this biography of Tom Sullivan, a blind singer, songwriter and actor. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marc Singer, R.H. Thomson, (more)
Lauren Bacall more or less plays herself in The Fan. Cast as famous Broadway musical comedy star Sally Ross (with an astonishing lack of temperament!), Bacall finds herself the unwilling love object of psychotic fan Douglas Breen (Michael Biehn). As security around Ross tightens, Breen vows that if he can't have Ross, no one else can. James Garner and Maureen Stapleton are underused as, respectively, Bacall's ex-husband and mother-hen secretary. Based on a good novel by Bob Randall, The Fan comes off as a slightly more expensive "stalker of the week" TV movie. Still, the film proved grimly prescient in the light of John Lennon's assassination (which occurred after the film was completed, but before its release) and the ongoing dilemma of current Broadway stars (even the lesser lights) who are forced to hire bodyguards to protect them from worshipful wackos. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lauren Bacall, James Garner, (more)
The classic rock group The Who are featured in this 1979 documentary about the career of the group. It is enhanced by rare footage of the performers, including a television interview with the later-deceased Keith Moon. Highlights include footage from many of the band's early performances. Among the many songs featured are "Magic Bus," "Won't Get Fooled Again," "My Generation," "Young Man's Blues," "Happy Jack," and excerpts from the innovative rock-opera Tommy. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey, (more)
John Travolta graduated from minor celebrity to superstar with Saturday Night Fever. Travolta plays Tony Manero, a Brooklyn paint-store clerk who'd give anything to break out of his dead-end existence. In life, Tony is a peasant; on the disco dance floor, he's a king. As the soundtrack plays one Bee Gees hit after another (including "Stayin' Alive"), we watch white-suited Tony strut his stuff amidst flashing lights and sweaty, undulating bodies. Tony's class aspirations are mirrored in his relationship with his dance partner, Stephanie (Karen Lynn Gorney), a secretary eager to move into the glamorous world of Manhattan. Saturday Night Fever's huge success grew meteorically thanks to the towering popularity of its soundtrack; during the first half of 1978, when the movie's disco songs saturated the singles charts up to four at a time, it was no longer clear whether the hit movie was feeding the hit songs or the hit songs were feeding the hit movie. This crossover between music and movies set the pace for many movies to come, as it also marked the rise and fall of 1970s disco culture. Two versions of this film exist: the original R-rated version and a PG version, edited down to more "family-friendly" fare and fed to the public with the tagline, "Because we want everyone to see John Travolta's performance." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Travolta, Karen Gorney, (more)
- 1976
- R
It is hard to get more deliriously fever-pitched than the ending of Mandingo -- in which a plantation master is shot and his main slave gets boiled in oil -- but Drum (Mandingo's mangy sequel) certainly tries. Hammond Maxwell (Warren Oates), the late slave-owner's son (from Mandingo), is trying to follow in his father's footsteps and purchases Drum (Ken Norton) and Blaise (Yaphet Kotto) from bordello hostess Marianna (Isela Vega). Marianna is actually Drum's mother, although her lesbian lover Rachel (Paula Kelly) in fact brought up the boy. Thrown into the package to Hammond is Drum's girlfriend Regine (Pam Grier), who was purchased to satisfy the carnal urges of Mr. Hammond. However, Augusta Chauvet (Fiona Lewis), setting her sites on Hammond, has other plans. Drum is such a perfect specimen of slave that neither men nor women can keep their hands off of him. Drum looks stoic until a climactic slave revolt breaks out, guaranteeing more blood and carnage than Mandingo could ever hope to provide. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Warren Oates, Isela Vega, (more)
Richard Fleischer directed this lurid historical drama based on the novel by Kyle Onstott. The story begins on a run-down plantation lorded over by Warren Maxwell (James Mason) and his son Hammond (Perry King). Hammond travels to New Orleans where he buys a top-of-the-line slave, Mede (Ken Norton), at an auction. Hammond is proud of his purchase, hoping to bring in money by training Mede to fight his other slaves. Hammond returns with Mede to the plantation, where he has to contend with his sex-crazed wife Blanche (Susan George). Hammond looks upon Blanche as damaged goods since he discovered her to not be a virgin on their wedding night. Instead, Hammond prefers erotic pursuits with his slave Ellen (Brenda Sykes). Blanche licks her lips at the sight of Mede, and seduces him to get revenge on her husband. Blanche soon becomes pregnant and gives birth to a half-black baby. Enraged, Hammond comes after Blanche, poisons her, and then the child bleed to death before going after Mede. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Mason, Susan George, (more)
Adapted by Waldo Salt and Norman Wexler from Peter Maas's book, Sidney Lumet's drama portrays the real-life struggle of an honest New York City cop against a corrupt system. Neophyte officer Frank Serpico (Al Pacino) is determined not to let his job get in the way of his individuality. Despite his colleagues' leery reactions, he keeps one foot firmly planted in the counterculture, sporting a beard and love beads and living in bohemian Greenwich Village, while he performs his police duties with dispatch. Serpico's peers genuinely ostracize him, however, when he refuses to take bribes like everybody else. Appalled by the extent of police corruption, Serpico goes to his superiors, but when he discovers that they have ignored his charges, he takes the potentially fatal step of breaking the blue wall of silence and going public with his exposé. Serpico's revelations trigger an independent investigation by the Knapp Commission, but they also make him a marked man, permanently changing his life. Shot on location with a gritty emphasis on documentary-style realism, Serpico presents a city in decay both literally and morally, as everybody is in on the take, and the cops and criminals are almost interchangeable. Released in late 1973, after months of revelations of Presidential malfeasance in the breaking Watergate scandal, Serpico's true story of bureaucratic depravity touched a cultural nerve, and the film became a hit with both critics and audiences, particularly for Pacino's complex performance as the honest, long-haired whistleblower. One year after his star-making triumph in The Godfather, Pacino was nominated for an Oscar again, and lost again; Lumet and Pacino would reunite two years later for another true New York story, Dog Day Afternoon. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Al Pacino, Tony Roberts, (more)
Peter Boyle delivers a strong and raw performance as Joe Curran, a racist factory worker who hates "hippies and niggers." The film deals with New York City advertising executive Bill Compton (Dennis Patrick), who kills Frank (Patrick McDermott), the junkie lover of his daughter Melissa (Susan Sarandon, in her film debut), when she ends up in a mental hospital after suffering an overdose of speed. Stunned by his rage, Bill goes into a bar and comes upon Joe, who discovers the murder and holds Bill in great esteem for his killing of the long-haired drug pusher, congratulating Bill on a job well done. The two begin a class-spanning friendship. When Melissa escapes from the hospital, after finding out that her father killed her boyfriend, Bill and Joe comb Greenwich Village to find her. When they come upon a hippie pot party, the two reactionaries snap, pull out their guns, and go on a killing spree. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dennis Patrick, Peter Boyle, (more)
