George Chisholm Movies
In a major departure from the tone of the preceding two Superman adventure films, this mix of vile deeds and fantasy heroics drops the "S" out of cosmic and goes for comic instead. Right at the starting gate, Gus Gorman (Richard Pryor) and a subsequent slapstick sequence upstage (Christopher Reeves again), who later develops an identity crisis. Gorman, newly trained as a computer whiz, starts working for a conglomerate run by the corporate nemesis Ross Webster (Robert Vaughn), intent on world domination. Gorman is sent to Superman's small town of Smallville to wipe out Columbia's coffee crop by fiddling with the computer side of a weather satellite. Clark Kent is in town for his class reunion, leading Superman to clash with Gorman, which in turn, leads Gorman to develop a hybrid red Kryptonite. Unwittingly, since Gorman's wits are always in doubt, the Red Kryptonite causes Superman to split into a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde schizophrenia -- but in two separate bodies. As the evil Superman swaggers around town, megalomaniac Ross Webster has other tricks in mind -- and in one of the more memorable action scenes (interspersed with a video game sequence), Superman is chased through the Grand Canyon by a fast-flying, very determined missile. Lana Lang (Annette O'Toole) is on hand for romantic interest (Margot Kidder only appears briefly -- she was growing tired of Lois Lane). ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Christopher Reeve, Richard Pryor, (more)
- 1965
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Colin (Michael Crawford, who much later won a Tony Award for his role in Broadway's Phantom of the Opera) is an uptight schoolteacher whose housemate, Tolen (Ray Brooks) is a consummate womanizer. Colin imagines a long line of young women in tight white sweaters on his stairwell, waiting to get into Tolen's room. Jealous of Tolen's incredible success with the ladies, Colin asks Tolen for advice on how to get a girl. When Tolen's advice doesn't seem very practical, Colin decides that his first order of business is to get a bigger bed. Colin is also trying to find a third roommate to take a spare room. Tom (Donal Donnelly), who seems compelled to paint everything in sight, happens by the house, and inserts himself in the spare room without so much as saying "hello." Nancy (Rita Tushingham of A Taste of Honey) is new in town, and wanders the streets of London in a fruitless search for the YWCA. She runs into Colin and Tom at the dump, where they are procuring a gigantic bed. They offer her a ride, and proceed to race through London on the bed. Colin seems too shy to speak much to Nancy, despite Tom's encouragement. Eventually, the trio reach Colin's house, where Tolen works his gruff magic on Nancy, and havoc ensues. Capturing late 1960s London in black-and-white, Richard Lester's The Knack. . .and How to Get It was released between the director's two successes with the Beatles, A Hard Day's Night and Help. The script, by Charles Wood (An Awfully Big Adventure) is based on a play by Ann Jellicoe. Future stars Jacqueline Bisset, Charlotte Rampling, and Jane Birkin appear briefly amid all the attractive young women in the film. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi
- Starring:
- Rita Tushingham, Ray Brooks, (more)
From Richard Lester, the director of 1980's Superman II and the 1964 A Hard Day's Night, comes this less-successful sequel to the The Mouse that Roared. The Prime Minister of the Duchy of Grand Fenwick (Ron Moody) is in a bind because he has no money to renovate his castle and there is a serious problem with his small country's main export, wine. The stuff tends to explode. So the Prime Minister asks the U.S. for aid to develop space research, knowing full well they are not going to give him money to remodel his castle. Once the U.S. grants a cool million to the country, Russia adds in a used rocket, and things start popping. Like it or not, the Duchy is suddenly involved in space research and contributing to the madness is the discovery that its unique wine makes good rocket fuel. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Margaret Rutherford, Bernard Cribbins, (more)
