Esmond Chung Movies

After making a deathbed promise to his mother that he would never marry, Jack Singer (Nicolas Cage) finds that resolve challenged when his girlfriend, Betsy (Sarah Jessica Parker), begins making noise about wanting to start a family. Worried he might lose her, Jack makes the rash decision that they should fly to Las Vegas that weekend to tie the knot. Feet still cold, Jack spurns Betsy's idea to get married the moment they step off the plane, preferring to procrastinate for a few hours over a game of poker arranged by notorious gambler Tommy Korman (James Caan). Peddling the game as a get-to-know-you thrown by the hotel, Korman steadily raises the stakes on Jack until the novice is in for 65,000 dollars of the house's money on a hand he's sure he'll win -- a straight flush to the jack. When he loses the fixed hand, the flabbergasted Jack has a major problem on his hands. Korman offers an unusual solution: If Betsy, whom Korman spotted in the lobby because of her resemblance to his late wife, will spend the weekend with him, Jack's debt will be forgiven. Betsy initially refuses, considering it a ploy by Jack to postpone the wedding, but soon agrees to fly to Hawaii with Korman, in part because it will teach Jack a lesson. When she finds herself charmed by Korman's smooth and sensitive shtick, her desperate fiancé goes to incredible lengths to win her back, including jumping from a plane with a troop of skydiving Elvises. ~ Derek Armstrong, Rovi

This episode was clearly inspired by the movie megahit Raiders of the Lost Ark -- and as such constitutes an elaborate inside joke, referencing the fact that series star Tom Selleck had been forced to relinquish the role of Indiana Jones to Harrison Ford. The plot begins to snowball when Higgins (John Hillerman) dispatches Magnum (Selleck) to locate the "Lost Art of the Ancients" before the scroll's secrets can be put to bad use. Along the way, our hero has a few close (and strangely familiar) encounters with a feisty former girlfirend (Margaret Colin, who later co-starred with Selleck in Three Men and a Baby), a sinister foreigner, and a longtime enemy (what, no Sherpa warrior?) ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Already laid up with a sprained ankle, Magnum (Tom Selleck) braces himself for more pain when call girl Leslie Emory (Candy Clark), who'd given him plenty of trouble during a previous assignment, sashays back into his life. Insisting that she's given up her former profession and gone straight, Leslie asks Magnum to locate her missing sister Patty (Cindy Fisher), who is still a "working girl." Before long, Magnum finds out that his injured ankle is the least of his problems! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Samantha Eggar guest stars as psychic Laura Bennett, who has been experiencing eerie visions of her own murder. Though skeptical about Laura's ability to foretell the future, Magnum agrees to provide protection to the woman, while simultaneously attempting to collect his fee from a shifty previous client (Kenneth Mars). Need we add that both of Magnum's seemingly unconnected missions are inextricably linked together by episode's end? Meanwhile, Higgins (John Hillerman) becomes more insufferable than usual as he tries to put together a fundraising variety show. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Cindy Lewellyn (Anne Bloom) hires Magnum (Tom Selleck) to locate her father Floyd (Noah Beery Jr., who has been missing for ten years, but who has suddenly begun trying to reconnect with her. It turns out that Floyd is a small-time crook who insists he has a lot of good reasons for remaining out of circulation. This, of course, does not satisfy Magnum--especially since there's a mysterious character out there who is determined to put Floyd away for keeps! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

After producer Irwin Allen highlighted the dangers of fire in the Towering Inferno and the dangers of water in the Poseidon Adventure, he is back to fire again but this time it is within the earth, at least for awhile. This fairly routine disaster film is set on a resort island with a volcano that is beginning to rumble. Stars include a long list of names: Paul Newman is Hank, the savvy oil driller who gets people to safety even against their will, Jacqueline Bisset is the woman he is interested in, William Holden, Eddie Albert, Barbara Carrera, Veronica Hamel and several others play individuals trapped on the island. Hank convinces some people to follow him to the highest part of the island as the volcano gets set to blow its top. They encounter several dangerous situations after the dormant volcano wakes up but nothing quite like the non-stop, action filled, death-defying scenes from the explosion of volcano movies that hit the screens in 1997: Dante's Peak, Volcano, Eruption, Volcano: Fire in the Mountain, and a few more from around the world. They formed a virtual 1997 "ring of fire." ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

In this third episode of a four-part story, George Jefferson (Sherman Hemsley) starts making secret land investments so that he can remain in Hawaii for the rest of his life. Only one hitch: George still hasn't revealed his plans to wife Louise (Isabel Sanford). Well, actually, there are two hitches: While on a sailing trip around the islands, George and Tom Willis (Franklin Cover) become hopelessly lost. Originally, parts two and three of "The Jeffersons Go to Hawaii" were telecast in a single one-hour slot; since that time, the two episodes have been divided into separate half-hour segments for syndication. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi