Thomas Bellin Movies

Yet another Saturday Night Live alumnus makes his bid for big-screen success as Rob Schneider, best remembered as the "Making copies!" guy, tackles his first leading role in this broad comedy. Deuce (Rob Schneider) earns a meager living as a professional fish tank cleaner until he's asked to housesit for a gigolo. Deuce mistakenly answers the gigolo's business phone and finds himself having sex with a woman he's never met and getting paid for it (not a bad deal, since women generally avoid Deuce like the Ebola virus). It's not long before Deuce learns that there's more to selling your body than one might expect: for example, being re-styled by your pimp or having to explain your new source of income when the owner of the house gets home. Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo was the first feature film produced by Adam Sandler's production company, Happy Madison; Sandler himself makes a cameo appearance, while Oded Fehr, William Forsythe, Eddie Griffin, and Marlo Thomas highlight the supporting cast. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Failing to cure Angel (David Boreanaz) with Faith's (Eliza Dushka) blood, Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) decides to sacrifice herself. Ignoring the obvious dangers, Buffy forces Angel to feed on her blood. Although her friends are angry at her for foolishly risking her life, they all team up -- with a covert plan -- to fight the Mayor. While giving his commencement speech, the Mayor winces with pain and quickly metamorphoses into a giant demon snake. As parents flee the auditorium, students whip open their commencement gowns to reveal an array of medieval weaponry -- and some handy flame-throwers. Buffy orchestrates the attack on the Mayor, luring him into the school library while everyone else is battling with vampires. Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) sets off the pre-planted explosives and blows the demon-mayor as well as most of Sunnydale High to bits. Oz, in a comedic denouement, suggests that everyone reflect on the horror they survived -- high school that is. A minor, but important plot point revealed earlier in the episode is that Buffy quits the Watcher's Council; thus, Wesley (Alexis Denisof) returns to England. A controversial episode, this second part of the March 1999 season finale was postponed until July in sensitivity to the then-recent shootings at Columbine High School. ~ All Movie Guide

While on a double date with Will (Will Smith), Ashley (Tatyana M. Ali) begins to chafe at her cousin's overprotective, patronizing attitude. Finally, Ashley stands up and demands that Will stop treating her like a kid--and for good measure, she insists upon the same treatment from her astonished father. Meanwhile, Hilary (Karyn Parsons) makes a foredoomed effort to cook her own dinner. This Valentine's Day episode was one of several similarly-themed programs seen over NBC on February 14, 1994. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this fact-based made-for-cable docudrama, Leonard Nimoy stars as Mel Mermelstein, a Nazi death camp survivor who wages a court battle against the revisionist Institute for Historical Review over their claims that the Holocaust never occurred. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

A self-centered womanizer makes a wager that he will be able to propose to three women in a three month time and have each one accept in this romantic Philadelphia-set comedy. His three victims are an icy concert pianist, an innocent blonde receptionist for the Philadelphia Eagles, and a rich, horny hausfrau. The fellow plans to prove his success by videotaping each proposal. Sure enough he succeeds, but things quickly sour when the ladies find out that he's duped them. They then team up to get revenge and teach him a thing or two about real love. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

While researching her latest novel, Jessica (Angela Lansbury) almost becomes a casualty in the bombing of a jewelry store. It later turns out that the store's owner has been murdered and the priceless Queen of Tara tiara has been stolen. Forming an uneasy alliance with a pair of wisecracking "Cagney and Lacey"-style female cops (played by Lucie Arnaz and Patty McCormack), Jessica follows the trail of clues to the home of a famously reclusive actress named Siobhan O'Dea (played with Garboesque hauteur by Jean Peters). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When the made-for-TV The Rumor Mill first aired on May 12, 1985, it bore the title Malice in Wonderland. This joyously inaccurate biopic concerns itself with Hollywood's two foremost gossipmongers of the 1930s and 1940s: Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper. Long involved in the film industry, Parsons used her ironclad relationship with publishing mogul William Randolph Hearst and the "confidential" information gleaned by her physician husband Harry "Docky" Martin to outscoop every other columnist in Tinseltown. Parsons' awesome power remained unchallenged until 1938, when Hedda Hopper, a character actress fallen on hard times, was hired as a gossip reporter by one of Hearst's rivals. Thereafter, it was every woman for herself: the blood feud between Parsons and Hopper raged unabated until the latter's death in 1966. Jane Alexander's on-target portrayal of Hedda Hopper won her an Emmy nomination; no less impressive (though not as accurate in her characterization) is Elizabeth Taylor as Louella Parsons. Other Emmy nominations went to the costume design and sound mixing, while Philip H. Lathrop won the statuette for his '30s-style photography. The "look who that is" supporting cast includes Richard Dysart as Louis B. Mayer, Eric Purcell as Orson Welles, Tim Robbins as Joseph Cotten (who once booted Louella in the derriere), Jason Wingreen as Jack Warner, Gary Wayne as Clark Gable, Denise Crosby as Carole Lombard, and Thomas Byrd as Hedda Hopper's actor-son William. Adapted from George Eels' waspish book Hedda and Louella, Malice in Wonderland is delightful, high-class claptrap. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When a woman being treated for an ulcer by Dr. Barri Stoddard (Frances Lee McCain), a practitioner of holistic medicine, suddenly dies, an outraged Quincy (Jack Klugman) prepares to expose and denounce Stoddard as a quack. He changes his mind when he meets Barri and falls in love with her, though he is still skeptical of the woman's "all-natural" medical methods. Ultimately, Quincy ends up crusading to keep Dr. Stoddard's clinic open despite mounting public pressure to close her down--and this requires him to expose the person who was actually responsible for the ulcer patient's death. This is the final episode of Quincy, M.E.'s fourth season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An elderly Cherokee Indian, Grandfather Joseph Taskigi (Jerado DeCordovier), arrives at the Walton farm with his grandson Matthew (Ernest Esparza III) in tow. But it isn't a social call by any means: Joseph insists that the Walton barn has been built on sacred Cherokee burial ground, and he demands "return" of the land--going so far as to set the barn ablaze when he is turned down. Arrested and place on trial, Joseph finds that he has a strong and unexpected ally in the person of Elizabeth Walton (Kami Cotler). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

At the request of Rocky's old friend Peter Preli (Dabbs Greer), Jim (James Garner) agrees to deliver the ransom for Peter's kidnapped granddaughter Houston (Lane Bradbury). Soon afterward, Houston turns up safe and sound--and Peter is found murdered. Suspected of committing the crime, Jim tries to find out what really happened...and to determine if Houston, who'd been laboring under the false assumption that her grandfather was wealthy, is in some way responsible for the whole sorry affair. This episode was originally slated to air on February 6, 1976. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Adam-12 moved from a Wednesday to a Tuesday-night timeslot with this episode, in which an out-of-uniform Jim Reed (Kent McCord) drops off a deposit at a bank--only to be taken hostage by a desperate pair of robbers. When the crooks find out that Reed is a cop, they hope to use him to bargain for their freedom...even though they have no intention of letting him get out alive. It is up to Jim's partner Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) and Sgt. MacDonald (William Boyett) to defuse the crisis and rescue their colleague. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Summoning the aid of Chief Ironside (Raymond Burr) is a nervous young woman named Jane Spencer (Sian Barbara Allen), who is sure that her father's "accidental" death was actually murder. The only clue the Chief has to go on is a cryptic Japanese ideogram, which may also explain the mysterious contents of a stolen package. Meanwhile, Ironside's assistant Ed becomes attracted to the profoundly troubled Jane. This episode features a neat, menacing peformance by a pre-stardom William Devane. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

First telecast September 14, 1971, "The Priest Killer" was originally identified as the two-hour opening episode of Ironside's fifth season. In truth, it is the second pilot film for the TV cop series Sarge, starring George Kennedy as cop-turned-priest Father Samuel "Sarge" Kavanaugh. Though based in San Diego, Sarge teams with wheelchair-bound San Francisco detective Robert Ironside (Raymond Burr) to track down an unknown serial killer who has murdered two priests. Though the motive for the murders is at first unknown, given the presence of Anthony Zerbe in the supporting cast it isn't difficult to ascertain the identity of the killer. The weekly, hour-long series version of Sarge would premiere one week after "The Priest Killer", on September 21, 1971. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide