Jon Cedar Movies

A Stealth Bomber is taken over by hijackers, and only one man -- a pilot -- may be able to get it back. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

Soviet radicals upset with the thawing of the Cold War explode a nuclear weapon in Russia, setting off a series of events that may very well trigger World War III. The president (Martin Landau) has been isolated after a helicopter accident and must outwit government and military officials who are attempting to go forward with the war. The film centers on the relationship between a pair of American pilots who have been ordered to bomb the U.S.S.R. and the attempts by some factions to bring them home before global Armageddon. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Gutsy ex-Marine Ellie DeWitt (Rebecca DeMornay) and bookish Bryn Mawr-graduate Janis Zuckerman (Mary Gross) have two things in common. Both are ardent supporters of the Reagan administration, and both aspire to a career in law enforcement. This is the unifying link that brings Ellie and Janis to the FBI training center in Quantico. Bucking male chauvinism and their own occasional loss of self-esteem, the ladies become top-notch federal agents. Except for a few cheap shots at the Republican Party, Feds is surprisingly reverent to such government institutions as the FBI. While this would be well and good in a straight drama, it's the kiss of death for a comedy -- if indeed, this is a comedy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this skewed, unreal view of a woman's choice in men, almost nothing is believable. Amy (Lucie Arnaz) is a savvy, well-educated lawyer in Santa Fe who divorces her husband, an exec in the banking business, to become involved with Will (Craig Wasson) a street musician with the same iron-clad brain as her ex when it comes to women. The musician is regularly picked up by the police for his loitering, though he seems never to fully realize why they are doing this to him. Amy drops him at last, and when she finds out she is pregnant, she goes to the hospital to have an abortion -- and is introduced to a Boris Karloff-type doctor. Before anything further happens, Will comes along and forcibly carries her off to a remote, run-down building in a ghost town where he ties her to a bed intending to keep her there until she has the baby. Hard to believe, but things only get worse from here. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Two unusual children have a unique solution to the problem of living without a father in this offbeat horror vehicle. Tom Blanchard (Fabian Forte) is the new deputy in a small town along the California coast, and during his first day on duty he gets to know Nora Dennis (Marilyn Burns), who works with the local board of education. Among Nora's chores is looking in on Professor Nicholas (Bill Randa, aka Will Rand), an eccentric widower who home schools his two children, Beth (Nell Regan) and Michael (Patrick Regan III), but when Nora is unable to get in touch with Nicholas, she wonders if something is afoot. Nora's suspicions are well founded -- a handful of renegade bikers invaded the Professor's property, and one killed him during an argument. However, we soon discover why Nicholas was raising his children on his own -- Beth and Michael possess telekinetic abilities, and are able to use their powers along with spells from their late dad's books on the occult to re-animate father's corpse and make him do their bidding. Director Patrick Regan cast his children Nell and Patrick III as the telekinetic youngsters in what proved to be their only screen roles. Kiss Daddy Goodbye has also been released as Caution, Children At Play, The Vengeful Dead and Revenge Of The Zombie. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The fourth Airport film may be the silliest of them all, as George Kennedy returns, this time co-piloting with Alain Delon. The plane is on its way to the Moscow Olympics, has a bomb on board, and gets fired upon with missiles that necessitate flying upside-down. A look at the cast list resembles a bad episode of Fantasy Island, but it's always fun to see shameless touches like casting Mercedes McCambridge (Johnny Guitar) as the coach of the Soviet team. If you don't understand the significance of that choice, you may find this film more tedious than laughable, but fans of bad movies will have a field day, as Jimmie Walker, Charo, and -- oddly enough -- Bibi Andersson rub shoulders with high-altitude disaster. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

Astronauts Charles Brubaker, John Walker, and Peter Willis (James Brolin, O.J. Simpson, and Sam Waterston, respectively) are hailed as heroes when they become the first men to be rocketed to Mars. Actually the space travelers are as phony as their mission controller, Dr. James Kelloway (Hal Holbrook); to avert a failure that might cost the space program its funding, the Mars-bound vessel has been sent up without a crew, while the helmeted astronauts sit on a movie soundstage, pretending to be in outer space for the benefit of the TV cameras. Unfortunately the Mars ship crashes on arrival, making the astronaut trio thoroughly expendable. Investigative reporter Robert Caulfield (Elliott Gould), who's smelled a rat all along, races against time to prevent NASA from "terminating" the hapless astronauts in order to cover up the conspiracy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A latter-day attempt to update the swordplay success of Errol Flynn movies, this film is part burlesque, part homage to old-fashioned pirate films. James Earl Jones and Robert Shaw play Nick Debrett and Ned Lynch, two pirates who save a noblewoman, Jane Barnet (Geneviève Bujold), and take her to Jamaica. They find that their friends have been taken captive by a ruthless dictator -- Peter Boyle plays the foppish villain Lord Durant with an over-the-top swagger. Debrett and Lynch set out to rescue their friends and overthrow the perverted tyrant. Beau Bridges plays Major Folly, a fancy-dressing Scarlet Pimpernel sort. A young Anjelica Huston has a minor part as a nameless woman. There is plenty of swordplay, blood, slapstick, and cleavage, all directed by James Goldstone in a frenzied fashion. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

The body of a murdered bookkeeper is found in a cheap motel, and a prostitute and her procurer are accused of the crime. Kojak doesn't buy this, deducing that the killing was done by a professional. Trouble is, he can't prove his theory so long as the FBI is also on the case, impeding Kojak's investigation to serve the Bureau's own ends. The guest cast ranges from Broadway veteran Robert Alda (father of M*A*S*H star Alan Alda) to B-movie stalwart Gregory Walcott (Plan 9 From Outer Space). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In 1945, private Eddie Slovik, a "born loser" who made no secret of his desire to escape the army in any way possible, became the first American to be executed for desertion since the Civil War. William Bradford Huie's chronicle of this unfortunate wartime episode, The Execution of Private Slovik, was published in 1954. Frank Sinatra optioned the movie rights for the book, intending to cast Steve McQueen as Slovik and to have blacklisted writer Albert Maltz write the screenplay. The US military reluctantly agreed to okay the film on the proviso that Slovik would not be portrayed sympathetically. Out of deference to his friend John F. Kennedy, Sinatra abandoned the project, and that was that -- until the award-winning TV-writing team of Richard Levinson and William Link became intrigued in the Huie book. After a series of convoluted negotiations, Levinson and Link were finally able to put The Execution of Private Slovik on the small screen on March 13, 1974 (Albert Maltz, upset that the pair had decided upon a strict "no villains" policy in their adaptation, washed his hands of the whole affair). Martin Sheen was selected to play Slovik, though for a while Dustin Hoffman was seriously considering taking a cut in salary to essay the role. Abandoning the linear style of Huie's book, the writers adopted a Citizen Kane approach, using flashbacks to illustrate the events leading up to the execution. It is made clear throughout the film that no one, neither the military brass nor Slovik himself, truly believed that the private would ever face a firing squad; the usual custom was to postpone the execution until after the war, then reduce the sentence to a long prison term. Thanks to an unfortunate chain of misunderstandings and snafus, Slovik ended up dying by gunfire in a lonely French courtyard -- a fact long withheld from the public (Slovik's wife Antoinette learned of her husband's true fate for the first time from author Huie). The film's most famous scene, in which Slovik nervously repeats his "Hail Marys" as the hood is being fitted over his head, was Martin Sheen's own idea. Filmed on location in California and Canada, The Execution of Private Slovik won a Peabody award for the NBC television network. Originally running a full 120 minutes, it was re-edited into a 97 minute version for theatrical release overseas. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hogan intends to use a fundraising tea party, orchestrated by the wives of several German officers, as a cover to relay penicillin to an injured Underground agent. The scheme relies heavily upon Newkirk's ability to convincingly adopt female drag as a General's wife! Alice Ghostley, who previously made a one-shot appearance as General Burkhalter's sister Gertrude, is here cast as Mrs. Mannheim. Written by Arthur Julian, "That's No Lady, That's My Spy" was originally scheduled to air on January 3, 1971, but was moved back to January 24 due to a late-breaking news special. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In a comic re-enactment of the Joe Louis/Max Schmeling heavyweight bout, Kinchloe is pitted against Luftwaffe champ Bruno (Chuck Hicks) in a boxing match. Since Hogan needs to prolong the fight as a diversion for his latest espionage height, it is imperative that Kinch "goes the distance." Real-life boxing referee Frankie Van also appears in this episode, playing (what else?) a referee. First shown on January 23, 1970, "The Softer They Fall" was written by Laurence Marks. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Allies would like to locate the new Luftwaffe headquarters of famed WWI German flying ace General Von Richter (Henry Corden), aka "the Blue Baron." To realize this goal, Hogan persuades Klink to throw a gala party in Von Richter's honor. Cynthia Lynn, who played Klink's secretary Hilda during the series' first season, is here cast as a Mata Hari-like exotic dancer, while frequent Hogan's Heroes supporting player Celeste Yarnall plays a nanny. Written by Arthur Julian, "Will the Blue Baron Strike Again?" originally aired on December 14, 1968. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide