Stanley Clay Movies
- 1972
The action in this episode alternates between "business as usual" at the 4077th and a tacky USO Show headed by second-rate comic Jackie Flash (Joey Forman). Thing of it is, nothing that Jackie says or does is nearly as funny as the average goings-on within the M*A*S*H unit. One of the many plot strands involves one Captain Kaplan (Harvey J. Goldenberg), whose tour of duty is over, but who is convinced that disaster will befall him if he attempts to leave for home. "Showtime" was originally telecast on March 25, 1973, as the final episode of M*A*S*H's first season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1975
If you're looking for revisionism, Man Friday has it in abundance. Peter O'Toole stars as Daniel Defoe's fabled castaway Robinson Crusoe, while Richard Roundtree plays Crusoe's "man Friday". Crusoe makes it his mission in life to convert Friday to Christianity, but this pales in comparison to the marooned man's strenuous efforts to be accepted by Friday's fellow tribesmen. In fact, due to Friday's superior know-how, it is Crusoe who ends up the slave! This curious turn of events was the basis of Adrian Mitchell's stage play, which used the DeFoe work as a mere launching pad. When screened in Cannes, Man Friday included a bizarre ending in which the crazed Crusoe, failing to come up to Friday's exacting standards, kills himself (perhaps DeFoe rejected this notion back in 1712 because you couldn't have a dead narrator back then). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter O'Toole, Richard Roundtree, (more)
- 1975
It may have been a political off year when this episode originally aired in 1975, but campaign fever has seized the Evans household all the same. James (John Amos) and J.J. (Jimmie Walker) intend to vote for alderman Fred Davis (Albert Reed), a veteran (and long-winded) politico with only a tenuous grasp on the issues. But Florida (Esther Rolle), Thelma (BernNadette Stanis), and Willona (Ja'net DuBois) have deserted the Davis camp and have cast their lot with the incumbent's aggressive young opponent. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Paul Bartel rips off his own Death Race 2000 in this mindless car-crash saga, containing more twisted metal than a bombed-out steel mill. The nominal storyline concerns an illegal auto race from Los Angeles to New York that promises the winner 100,000 dollars. David Carradine is Coy "Cannonball" Buckman, the race leader who drags his girlfriend, Linda (Veronica Hamel), along for the ride. Cade Redman (Bill McKinney) tools around in a loud red Trans Am, while Cannonball's nemesis barrels along in a big, black Plymouth, trying to outsmart Cannonball at every turn and exit ramp. The pile-ups keep building, and the cameos (Roger Corman, Martin Scorsese, Sylvester Stallone, Joe Dante, Paul Bartel) keep coming, but Cannonball must make it to New York to collect his winnings. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Carradine, Bill McKinney, (more)
Conspiracy film specialist Alan J. Pakula turned journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's best-selling account of their Watergate investigation into one of the hit films of Bicentennial year 1976. While researching a story about a botched 1972 burglary of Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate apartment complex, green Washington Post reporters/rivals Woodward (Robert Redford, who also exec produced) and Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) stumble on a possible connection between the burglars and a White House staffer. With the circumspect approval of executive editor Ben Bradlee (Jason Robards), the pair digs deeper. Aided by a guilt-ridden turncoat bookkeeper (Jane Alexander) and the vital if cryptic guidance of Woodward's mystery source, Deep Throat (Hal Holbrook), Woodward and Bernstein "follow the money" all the way to the top of the Nixon administration. Despite Deep Throat's warnings that their lives are in danger, and the reluctance of older Post editors, Woodward and Bernstein are determined to get out the story of the crime and its presidential cover-up. Once Bradlee is convinced, the final teletype impassively taps out the historically explosive results. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford, (more)
- 1977
Not to be confused with a 1945 film musical of the same title, Minstrel Man is a made-for-TV chronicle of two African-American entertainers, played by Glynn E. Turman and Stanley Clay. Confined to racist show-biz tradition of the early 20th century, dancer Turman is permitted to perform only if made up in traditional blackface--white lips and all. Clay, Turman's brother, is a Scott Joplin style composer whose outspokenness brings down the wrath of white producers. But his music helps foment a revolution in black entertainment, the first step in allowing performers of his race to express themselves on their own terms, not as a reflection of Caucasian stereotypes. Enchanced throughout by genuine ragtime tunes of the era, Minstrel Man is rousing, thought-provoking entertainment. The film was originally aired as a Mobil Showcase special in March of 1977. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
