Helen Verbit Movies
- 1986
- R
Two young men hit the road to Hollywood, CA to look for money, fame, and the wild life in this youthful comedy. Tucker "Downer" Downs tires of his boring job as a clerk in a women's fashion outlet and heads West. He also hopes that he will find his father, who disappeared 24 years before. En route, Downs hooks up with wasted video addict/hustler Ben Frank. Together they have many adventures during their trek to Tinsel Town. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ben Frank, De Waldron, (more)
- 1985
It seems terribly funny when gypsy fortuneteller Madame Loretta (Erica Yohn), cited for ontempt of court, places a curse on everyone in the courtroom. But no one is laughing when Bull (Richard Bull) suddenly becomes paralyzed and Dan's accountant (Herb Gilpin) abruptly drops dead during a tax audit. Judge Harry (Harry Anderson) must revert to his street-entertainer days and come up with some magic of his own to lift the curse. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In a comedy as flat as the cardboard cut-outs of movie stars that appear in one scene, Steve Martin plays Larry Hubbard, a wild and lonely guy who has been dumped by his girlfriend. Since misery loves company, he takes up with Warren, a fellow Lonely Guy (Charles Grodin), and eventually both Warren and Larry find some surprising companions, especially after Larry writes a best-selling Lonely Guy Guide. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steve Martin, Charles Grodin, (more)
- 1977
Just before purchasing a Christmas present for her foster mother, Willona (Ja'net DuBois), Penny (Janet Jackson) is robbed of her wallet. Desperate to get Willona a gift, Penny resorts to shoplifting -- and ends up in police custody. Will this unpleasant episode lead to Willona losing her opportunity to legally adopt Penny? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1975
The second made-for-TV movie based on Charles Moulton's classy comic-strip heroine Wonder Woman, The New Original Wonder Woman was the one that "sold", resulting in a popular and durable weekly series. Replacing Cathy Lee Crosby, who'd starred in the disastrous 1974 adaptation of Wonder Woman, is the statuesque Linda Carter. Having dwelled exclusively among females on Paradise Islandsince 200 BC, immortal Amazonian princess Diana comes in contact with the real world for the first time in her life when US Army Major Steve Trevor (Lyle Waggoner) crash-lands on the island during WWII. Falling in love with Steve, the Princess assumes the identity of mousy, bespectacled Diana Prince and returns with him to the mainland. Every so often, and unbeknownst to Steve, Diana occcasionally transforms herself into the scantily clad superheroine Wonder Woman (golden lasso, magic belt and bracelets, the whole bit) in order to save the world from the Nazi menace. On this occasion, Wonder Woman does her thing in order to prevent the Nazis from destroying the prototype of a revolutionary new bombsight. First telecast on November 7, 1975, The New Original Wonder Woman was seen on ABC; by the time the Wonder Woman series proper ran its course on September 11, 1979, the property had switched networks to CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lynda Carter
- 1974
Every time Lamont (Demond Wilson) and Fred (Redd Foxx) have an argument, Fred suffers another of his famous "heart attacks"; indeed, at one point he has six such attacks in the same day. Determined to call Fred's bluff, Lamont rushes him to the hospital for a coronary exam. To keep up the pretense, Fred switches his papers with those of another patient -- and very nearly ends up undergoing an embarrassing (and embarrassingly painful) operation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Redd Foxx, Demond Wilson, (more)
- 1974
Series star Telly Savalas makes his directorial debut in this episode, which features a surprising characterization by the multitalented Paul Anka. Eschewing his established "nice guy" image, Anka is cast as Buddy Maus, a slimy police informer with mob aspirations. Throughout the episode, Maus callously exploits his main police contact, detective Sam Colucci (Richard Romanus), to climb ever upward in the criminal world. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1971
- PG13
In this semi-autobiographical romantic comedy starring Joseph Bologna and Renee Taylor (who also wrote the script together) two lonely hearts find each other in group therapy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Recounting how the West was won through the eyes of a white man raised as a Native American, Arthur Penn's 1970 adaptation of Thomas Berger's satirical novel was a comic yet stinging allegory about the bloody results of American imperialism. As a misguided 20th-century historian listens, 121-year-old Jack Crabb (Dustin Hoffman) narrates the story of being the only white survivor of Custer's Last Stand. White orphan Crabb was adopted by the Cheyenne, renamed "Little Big Man," and raised in the ways of the "Human Beings" by paternal mentor Old Lodge Skins (Chief Dan George), accepting non-conformity and living peacefully with nature. Violently thrust into the white world, Jack meets a righteous preacher (Thayer David) and his wife (Faye Dunaway), tries to be a gunfighter under the tutelage of Wild Bill Hickock (Jeff Corey), and gets married. Returned to the Cheyenne by chance, Jack prefers life as a Human Being. The carnage wreaked by the white man in the Washita massacre and the lethal fallout from the egomania of General George A. Custer (Richard Mulligan) at Little Big Horn, however, show Crabb the horrific implications of Old Lodge Skins' sage observation, "There is an endless supply of White Men, but there has always been a limited number of Human Beings." ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dustin Hoffman, Faye Dunaway, (more)
- 1967
- Add How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying to QueueAdd How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying to top of Queue
Robert Morse recreated his Tony-winning stage role in this 1967 film version of Frank Loesser's Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway musical. A humble window washer at the New York offices of World Wide Wickets, J. Pierpont Finch applies the lessons he's learned from a book called How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying to wangle his way to the top of the executive heap. Though advised by the mailroom supervisor (Sammy Smith) to keep a low profile and play things "The Company Way," Finch follows his own skewed set of rules, endearing himself to bombastic company president J. B. Biggely (Rudy Vallee) by posing as a graduate of Grand Old Ivy, Biggely's alma mater. As he climbs to the top, Finch manages to dispose of an over-amorous rival by arranging a tryst between that rival and curvaceous secretary Hedy LaRue (Maureen Arthur)--who happens to be Biggely's live-in girlfriend. Finch also gets rid of the troublesome Mr. Ovington (Murray Matheson) by exposing the latter as an alumnus of Old Ivy's hated rival university. Graduating to vice-president, Finch feels secure enough to sing the show's one genuine love song "I Believe In You"--to himself! Actually, he's really in love with true-blue secretary Rosemary (Michele Lee), but won't admit to this until he suffers a career setback. Most of Loesser's songs survived the transition from stage to screen, with the exception of "Paris Original," which is heard merely as background music. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Morse, Michele Lee, (more)
