Jason Hervey Movies
Best known to television viewers for his role as the bullying older brother of Kevin Arnold (Fred Savage) on The Wonder Years, actor Jason Hervey has worn many hats in the world of show business since the cancellation of that Emmy Award-winning series. While a recurring role on Diff'rent Strokes and bit parts in such films as Meatballs Part II, Back to the Future, Pee Wee's Big Adventure, Back to School, and The Monster Squad helped to increase Hervey's profile early in his acting career, it was undoubtedly his participation in The Wonder Years that left the biggest impression on viewers. Hervey's portrayal of older Arnold sibling Wayne as a bratty and terminally obnoxious teen offered the perfect contrast to co-star Savage's wide-eyed innocence, and for the large part that was precisely the kind of role for which he was known for much of his career.While post-Wonder Years acting credits were few and far between for Hervey, he did maintain his ties to the entertainment industry as the producer of various sports-themed videos and specials (a substantial number of which where related to the World Championship Wrestling organization), a handful of made-for-television movies, and a few television series. As the wave of '80s nostalgia washed over the media in the early 2000s, Hervey became a noted contributor to VH1's I Love the 80s and I Love the 80s Strikes Back and appeared as himself on such popular reality shows as Hogan Knows Best and Scott Baio Is 45... and Single. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- 2004
Wonder Woman's latest assignment is to prevent a war in the country of Kaznia between two hostile factions -- a battle fomented by the sinister Ares. In this pursuit, Wonder Woman finds herself with two unlikely allies: A pair of brothers, one warlike, the other a committed pacifist (their voices provided by former Wonder Years co-stars Fred Savage and Jason Harvey). "Hawk and Dove" was released together with two other Justice League Unlimited episodes, "Initation" and "Kid Stuff," in the 2005 DVD collection Justice League Unlimited: Saving the World. ~ Rovi
- Starring:
- Michael York, Fred Savage, (more)
- 2000
In the made-for-TV First Target, Daryl Hannah stars as feisty and combative U.S. Secret Service agent Alex McGregor, a role created by Mariel Hemingway in the earlier TV movie First Daughter. This time around, Alex finds herself attempting to prevent the assassination of the President of the United States in a "wide open" Washington State national park. Offering assistance every step of the way is Alex's fiancé, Grant Carlson (Doug Savant), who might otherwise be neglected altogether by the understandably preoccupied heroine. Boasting gorgeous scenery (it was filmed in British Columbia) and a particularly cunning villain, First Target was originally telecast over TBS on October 15, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Daryl Hannah
In this adventure story for the whole family, young Ian (Jeffrey Sharmat) has resigned himself to a boring vacation after he's told that he'll have to spend the summer with his Grandma Mimi (Eileen Brennan). After making friends with a neighborhood girl named Jules (Stephanie Sawyer), Ian and his new companion become curious about the legends surrounding the spooky old mansion at the end of their street. Upon sneaking into the house, they discover that Franklin Lyle (Ernest Borgnine), believed to have disappeared 40 years ago, is living inside, and that a con artist named Jimmy Murano (Jason Hervey) wants to lay claim to the house -- and the money he's convinced is hidden inside. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jeffrey Sharmat, Stephanie Sawyer, (more)
- 1995
Teenage spring-break hijinx highlight this made-for-TV comedy. Joyce DeWitt stars as Linda Hayden, a teacher assigned to take an all-male class on a trip to L.A. After a series of typical road trip shenanigans, the gang winds up at a hotel owned by her former boyfriend George (James Eckhouse). ~ Bernadette McCallion, Rovi
- Starring:
- James Eckhouse, Joyce DeWitt, (more)
Kirk Douglas has the starring role in this made-for-television drama which is based on the novel The Lies Boys Tell by Lamar Herrin. Douglas stars as Ed Reece, an elderly man who decides that he wants to spend his final days back in the town where he was born. He persuades his grown son to make the journey with him for a long goodbye. ~ Bernadette McCallion, Rovi
A group of adolescent monster movie enthusiasts form a club that meets in a treehouse in this pre-teen horror feature. When Dracula, The Mummy, Frankenstein, and The Wolfman are joined by Gill-Man in the search for a magic amulet, the boys form the Monster Squad to battle the forces of evil. The boys get unexpected help from Frankenstein when the monster grows tired of being continually bossed around by Dracula. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Andre Gower, Robby Kiger, (more)
- 1986
Originally telecast as a two-hour episode of ABC's Wonderful World of Disney anthology, Little Spies gets under way when a bunch of kids lose their adopted dog to the mean owner of a puppy kennel. Enter Jimmy the Hermit (Mickey Rooney), a reclusive WW2 hero who takes a shine to the youngsters. Harking back to his wartime experiences, Jimmy organizes the neighborhood kids into a "commando raid" of the kennel to rescue the pooch. The main characters are direct from the standard Disney stereotype manual, right down to the nerdish kid with glasses and the funny fat one. Little Spies first aired on October 5, 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Self-made wealthy guy Thornton Melon (Rodney Dangerfield) decides he needs a better education -- and also to spend some time away from his cheating new wife. Thornton joins his son, Jason (Keith Gordon) at college. Dad hopes to gain his son's respect (isn't that always Dangerfield's motivation?), while his son tries to fit in with his snobbish and brutish fellow students. English professor Diane Turner (Sally Kellerman) forms a strong bond with Thornton, encouraging both father and son to stick out their first year despite all odds. The finale involves some slapstick at the swimming pool diving board, and the obligatory commencement address delivered by Dangerfield, who proves that he can crack jokes without tugging at his tie. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Rodney Dangerfield, Sally Kellerman, (more)
Contemporary high schooler Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) doesn't have the most pleasant of lives. Browbeaten by his principal at school, Marty must also endure the acrimonious relationship between his nerdy father (Crispin Glover) and his lovely mother (Lea Thompson), who in turn suffer the bullying of middle-aged jerk Biff (Thomas F. Wilson), Marty's dad's supervisor. The one balm in Marty's life is his friendship with eccentric scientist Doc (Christopher Lloyd), who at present is working on a time machine. Accidentally zapped back into the 1950s, Marty inadvertently interferes with the budding romance of his now-teenaged parents. Our hero must now reunite his parents-to-be, lest he cease to exist in the 1980s. It won't be easy, especially with the loutish Biff, now also a teenager, complicating matters. Beyond its dazzling special effects, the best element of Back to the Future is the performance of Michael J. Fox, who finds himself in the quagmire of surviving the white-bread 1950s with a hip 1980s mindset. Back to the Future cemented the box-office bankability of both Fox and the film's director, Robert Zemeckis, who went on to helm two equally exhilarating sequels. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, (more)
Co-written by Paul Reubens and Phil Hartman, Pee Wee's Big Adventure marks the debut of director Tim Burton, who stamps the entire film with his quirky trademark style. The premise: Pee Wee (Reubens), an overgrown pre-pubescent boy sporting a molded Princeton cut, blush, lipstick, and a shrunken gray flannel suit, lives an idyllic life in his bizarre home (some have compared the remarkable set design to the expressionistic The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) until someone nabs his most prized possession: a fire engine-red customized bicycle. He then embarks on an epic cross-country search to find his lost love, not to mention more than a little adventure. Along the way, he makes friends with various oddball characters, visits the Alamo, endures various hallucinatory nightmares, and has a supernatural run-in with a spectral trucker. In this reprisal of his popular standup routine, Reubens is wonderful as the nerdy man child; he plays it silly, yet he manages to imbue the role with some sensitivity without ever seeming maudlin. The score by Danny Elfman is terrific -- as is the case in nearly every film Burton has directed -- and the script is fresh and inventive. Some of the most memorable moments: the opening sequence involving Pee Wee's morning activities is a stroke of genius (note the bunny slippers and talking breakfast), as are the scenes at the truck stop, and the "Hollywood" version of Pee Wee's story at the end (starring James Brolin and Morgan Fairchild in surprise cameos). In all, Pee Wee's Big Adventure is a delightful film, enjoyable for children as well as adults. ~ Jeremy Beday, Rovi
- Starring:
- Paul Reubens, Elizabeth Daily, (more)
- 1985
- PG13
- Add Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment to Queue Add Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment to top of Queue
In this weak, undistinguished sequel to the successful Police Academy, Mahoney and his cohorts have now graduated from their police training and are ready to tackle real criminals. The first assignment for the enthusiastic former cadets is to halt the graffiti-scribbling antics of a local gang of marauding toughs. The new lieutenant at the station (Art Metrano) is not anxious to see them succeed -- and begins to roadblock their efforts against the graffiti artists. Not to be easily outmaneuvered, Mahoney and friends plot an appropriate revenge. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Steve Guttenberg, Bubba Smith, (more)
- 1984
Made for cable television, The Ratings Game was directed by Danny DeVito, who co-starred in the film with his wife Rhea Perlman. DeVito plays the owner of a New Jersey trucking firm who yearns for a televison career. He offers several TV-series ideas to a receptive network programming head. On the verge of being fired, the network exec decides to have his revenge on his ex-bosses by selecting the very worst of DeVito's concepts. The "born to fail" series becomes a hit, and soon DeVito is the hottest programmer in the industry! More truthful than many of us are willing to admit, The Ratings Game premiered with astonishingly little fanfare over The Movie Channel cable service on December 15, 1984. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Danny DeVito, Rhea Perlman, (more)
- 1984
- PG
There have been almost enough Meatballs to make a plate of spaghetti, but this entry about a decisive boxing match between two youth camps is basically inedible without Bill Murray to add the necessary zest, as he did in the original Meatballs. "The Flash" (John Mengatti) is out on probation but has to serve time at Camp Sasquatch as a counselor-in-training (!) as a part of the probation terms. There, he meets the super-innocent Cheryl (Kim Richards), adding interest to his job, but none of the characters in Camp Sasquatch or its rival Camp Patton add much interest to the film. Hershey (Hamilton Camp) is the one-dimensional fascist who runs the militaristic Camp Patton and sure enough, his aide-de-camp is a closet gay (John Larroquette). (Paul Reubens) of Pee Wee Herman fame is a minor player, Richard Mulligan is Giddy (an apt name for his character) and when these oddballs are combined with a strange- looking alien and the final boxing match that will save Camp Sasquatch if only The Flash can win, the pastiche is somewhat hard to digest. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Archie Hahn III, John Mengatti, (more)
- 1984
- PG
In this black-and-white short, novice director Tim Burton tells the story of Frankenstein's monster in suburbia as a children's fable about tolerance. Loving parents Ben (Daniel Stern) and Susan Frankenstein (Shelley Duvall) encourage their son Victor's (Barret Oliver) home movies, starring their energetic bull terrier, Sparky. Following a terrible car accident, Sparky is dead and Victor is inconsolable. After an experiment with a frog in his science class, Victor gets the idea to make an electrical experiment of his own. After building a fantastic laboratory with only household items, he reanimates his beloved dog. Unfortunately, the family's nosy neighbors become fearful of the monster, even though he has done no wrong. The climactic ending acts as an homage to James Whale's original 1931 film and its sequel, The Bride of Frankenstein. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
- 1983
- PG
A cautious single mom and a frustrated writer dance around the prospect of getting together in this romantic comedy. Caustic, difficult Emily (Susan Sarandon) lives with her potty-mouthed son, Tim (Wil Wheaton), and her obnoxiously bossy mother (Jean Stapleton). Her social life consists of afternoon dalliances with a total cad. When part-time writer/inventor and full-time school security guard Joe (Richard Dreyfuss) passes up the chance to turn Tim in for not meeting the school's residency requirements, a paranoid Emily accuses him of masterminding a blackmail scheme. Unbeknownst to Emily, though, the friendless, fatherless Tim strikes up an unlikely friendship with Joe. Eventually, against her better judgement, so does Emily herself. But when one of Joe's inventions begins to take off, his sadistic ex-girlfriend, Carrie (Nancy Allen), shows up to spoil things. Directed by TV vet Glenn Jordan, The Buddy System was written by future Beaches scribe Mary Agnes Donohue. The film marked the feature debut of future Stand By Me and Star Trek: The Next Generation star Wheaton. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi
- Starring:
- Richard Dreyfuss, Susan Sarandon, (more)
- 1982
When the wife of country & western singer Shorty Rollins (Trey Wilson) dies, Shorty's daughter, Retta (Mallie Jackson), magnanimously volunteers to assume the task of raising her two younger brothers. Eventually, however, Retta comes to regret her offer, and yearns to get her own childhood back. Things come to a near-tragic head during one of the Rollins kids' clandestine midnight swims in their neighbor's pool. Daddy, I'm Their Mama Now is based on Betsy Byars' novel The Night Swimmers, which is also the title of the 30-minute VHS version of this ABC Afterschool Special. ~ Rovi
- Starring:
- Mallie Jackson, Trey Wilson, (more)
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