Roger Lumont Movies

At the beginning of For Better and for Worse, the wedding plans for Robert (Patrick Dempsey) and Catherine (Kelly Lynch) are moving along smoothly. Alas, Robert has entrusted the responsibility of sending out invitations to his best friend, a notorious practical joker. Thus it is that an invitation is mailed to the Pope. Surprise of surprises, His Holiness accepts! Poor Catherine: she could handle a romantic rival, but how does one resign oneself to playing second fiddle to the Pope? Originally titled RSVP, this easy-to-take comedy is pretty mild stuff, even allowing for its PG-13 rating. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The second of a long string of animated children's films based on cartoon characters created by Rene Goscinny and Alberto Uderzo, this is an entertaining adventure featuring the intrepid Asterix. The hero is accompanied by his mutt Idefix (Francophones will love that one - "fixed idea" characterizes a stubborn mutt indeed) and pal Obelix, a little lacking in the attic but full of heart. Their mission is to rescue two friends captured into slavery by the nasty Romans -- a galling thought. The trio head to North Africa where they join the Foreign Legion, apparently of a much longer history than otherwise known, and then head to Rome for a climactic confrontation with some hungry lions. For the moms and dads in the audience there are generous send-ups of biblical sagas such as Ben Hur. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

An innocent couple who were observing the "color" of a local festival begin to feel afraid because of the eerie happenings at the celebration, and they decide to get out of there before they too, are turned into a robotic shadow of their former selves. Their escape includes an interlude in a wooden coffin as they go through a cave along a subterranean river. (The film also features a lot of gorgeous scenery from the southern province of Ardeche with its photogenic Cevennes mountain range.) Winner of the Critics Prize at the 1982 Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Alfie is an incorrigible womanizer who uses his trucking job as a way to commute from tryst to tryst as he makes his way across the women of the nation. Then he meets Townsend, a magazine editor. They have a lot in common; that is, she's as callous and fond of one-night stands as he is. An unlikely relationship builds between the two. But can they stick together? And what other dangers are waiting in the shadows? This sequel to the 1966 hit Alfie is also known as Oh Alfie on video. ~ Rovi

Though his father is a collaborator, and the Germans have wrought havoc in his part of southern France, Perret (Philippe Leotard) wants nothing to do with either side in the war. In this French World War II action/adventure Perret is forced to kill a German in self-defense, so that his desire to remain neutral becomes irrelevant; by necessity he joins up with a resistance group. At first he does as little as he decently can, but gradually he transforms into a committed partisan. This, even though his new comrades are dying in great numbers around him. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Three years after cinematizing James Joyce's long-censored Ulysses, Joseph Strick mounted an adaptation of another racy literary work -- Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer. Rip Torn plays Miller, an American expatriate author living -- and loving -- in 1920s Paris. The much-vaunted sex scenes were hot enough in 1970 to earn the film an X-rating, and an NC-17 when the film was re-rated in 1992. Ellen Burstyn (then billed as Ellen MacRae) has a few effective scenes as Miller's long-suffering wife, Mona; Phil Kaufman later elaborated on her character in the 1990 film Henry & June. Henry Miller himself appears in Tropic of Cancer, billed as a "spectator." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Brain (Le Cerveau) is a tongue-in-cheek caper film with more twists and turns than a rural Oregon highway. David Niven plays The Brain, so named because it was he who mapped out the British Great Train Robbery (it says here). Now The Brain plans to lift a fortune in NATO money, which is being shipped by train from France to Belgium. Complicating matters are a pair of free-lance thugs (Jean-Paul Belmondo and Bourvil), who hope to steal The Brain's plans and claim the money for themselves. A plot device derived from The Lavender Hill Mob involves a 50-foot replica of the Statue of Liberty. An amusing closing-credits bit caps this exhilarating exercise. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In 1944, with Paris on the verge of Liberation by the allies, Adolph Hitler ordered that the City of Light be blown up and burned to the ground. General Dietrich Von Choltitz, after much rumination, decided that he didn't want to go down in history as the man who destroyed Paris. His refusal to follow Hitler's orders would make him a pariah in Germany for the rest of his life; nor was his gesture ever rewarded by the Allies. From this very human story in the midst of one of the most inhuman conflicts in history grew the screenplay (by Gore Vidal and Francis Ford Coppola) of the all-star, internationally produced Is Paris Burning? Whereas the earlier The Longest Day was able to support a castful of celebrities and brief subplot vignettes, Is Paris Burning? seems more weighted down than weighty. Still, a modern audience will have fun playing "spot the star" throughout the film, especially when those spotted stars include the likes of Gert Frobe (as Choltitz), Jean-Paul Belmondo, Alain Delon, Kirk Douglas (as Patton), Glenn Ford (as Bradley), Yves Montand, Simone Signoret, Robert Stack, and even Anthony Perkins as a wide-eyed GI. Filmed on a gargantuan scale, Is Paris Burning? was based on a book by Larry Collins and Dominique LaPierre. The film was lensed in black and white, save for the Technicolor finale (in the original road-show prints). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi