Wally Rose

This shocking prison drama was inspired by a true story. In 1938, Henri Young (Kevin Bacon), sentenced to Alcatraz for stealing $5, attempted to escape from prison with three other prisoners. One of the escapees was captured, and to curry favor with Warden Glenn (Gary Oldman), he informed on the others. Young was soon brought back to custody, and was to be punished by spending 19 days in solitary confinement. Nineteen days stretched into three years, in which Young was kept in a pit with no light, no toilet, no furniture, and nothing to read. Young emerged from solitary a vengeful madman, and he quickly murdered the convict who turned him in. Young was put on trial for the killing, and assigned a first-time public defender, James Stamphill (Christian Slater). Stamphill was horrified by Young's tales of the conditions at Alcatraz, and he used them as the basis of his defense for his client, believing that anyone would be driven to madness and murder if they had been treated the same way as Young. Murder in the First also features Embeth Davidtz, William H. Macy, Brad Dourif, and R. Lee Ermey. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A teenager daydreams of getting some payback from the bullies who menace him in this hybrid of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947) and The Karate Kid (1984). Barry Gabrewski (Jonathan Brandis) is an asthmatic schoolboy who can't participate in sports, much to the delight of a bullying classmate (John Buchanan) and his sadistic gym teacher (Richard Moll). Miserably unhappy, Barry escapes into a world of fantasy, where he imagines himself the tough, karate-proficient sidekick of action movie hero Chuck Norris. Trying to turn his dreams into reality, Barry visits dojo master Kelly Stone (Joe Piscopo), but Stone only mocks his aspirations. A supportive teacher introduces Barry to her uncle, Mr. Lee (Mako), a cook and martial arts teacher who takes Barry under his wing and teaches him the secrets of karate prowess. When Barry becomes good enough to enter a tournament, he needs a fourth athlete to complete his team, and who should be in the stands making a publicity appearance but the real-life Norris, who steps in to fight side-by-side with the plucky teen. Sidekicks was directed by Norris' brother and frequent collaborator Aaron Norris. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern play a pair of lovers on the run in David Lynch's surrealist road movie Wild at Heart. Cage's Sailor Ripley is a violent ex-convict with an Elvis Presley fixation who falls in love with Dern's Lula Pace Fortune, the daughter of a rich, but mentally unstable, Southern belle named Marietta (Diane Ladd, Dern's real-life mother). Just after Sailor is released from prison, where he was jailed for brutally killing one of Marietta's thugs, he and Lula take off on a wild cross-country trip, pursued by his parole officer, her mother, criminals, bounty hunters, and detectives. Along the way, Sailor and Lula have a lot of sex, share their pasts, share their respective obsessions for Elvis and The Wizard of Oz, and meet a lot of bizarre characters, including a seedy ex-marine (Willem Dafoe) who persuades Sailor to participate in a bank robbery. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide

In his film debut, novice director John Dahl (who would later make The Last Seduction), weaves a quirky tale of love, murder and deception. Jack Andrews (Val Kilmer), a seedy private detective is hired by Fay Forrester (Joanne Whalley-Kilmer), to help her fake her own death in a clever scheme to escape from her mob pursuers, whom she double-crossed stealing money she had been sent to pick up, and are now intent on killing her. There then ensues a series of complicated plot-twists, double-crosses and surprises as Fay and Jack race each other to escape the mobsters, who have found them, and to get the money before the other does. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide

This family drama centers on an Irish brood in which the father and his two sons work as prizefighters. Both the boys are quite talented, but each has chosen a dramatically different means of exploiting their talent. With help from his father, the youngest boy is working for the Olympics. The eldest has involved himself with corrupt promoters. This naturally creates considerable conflict within the family ranks. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This made-for-TV comedy postulates that, someday, members of carpools will be selected by computer. The four so anointed herein are Harvey Korman, Peter Scolari, T.K. Carter and Stephanie Faracy. Their lives go along in their usual luckless fashion until the quarter of mismatched "poolers" find themselves in possession of a million dollars that has fallen from an armored car. But ex-cop Ernest Borgnine has his eyes on the loot as well, and the chase is on. Basically a bargain-basement It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, Carpool first aired October 5, 1983. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In The Man With Bogart's Face, an affectionate send-up of the Bogart detective films of the 1940s, Robert Sacchi plays a man who idolizes Humphrey Bogart so much he has his features altered to look exactly like his idol. He then opens up a detective agency under the name Sam Marlowe (an amalgam of the names of Bogart's characters from The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep). Sam hires the Duchess (Misty Rowe) as his secretary ("She looked like Marilyn Monroe and made about as much sense as Gracie Allen") and "Sam Marlowe, Private Eye" is in business. Sam gets a meager response until a shooting puts his picture in the paper and business starts to flourish. Particularly attracted to Marlowe's services are a collection of characters -- Gena (Michelle Phillips), an attractive Gene Tierney type; Commodore Anastas (Victor Buono), a Greek shipping tycoon and Sidney Greenstreet lookalike; and the mysterious Mr. Zebra (Herbert Lom doing a Peter Lorre imitation). They are all trying to find the famous Eyes of Alexander -- a priceless set of stones from a statue of Alexander the Great. Also on hand are old Hollywood pros George Raft, Yvonne DeCarlo and Mike Mazurki. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

This spoof of a "typical" double-feature bill of the 1930s is introduced by George Burns, who explains that we're about to see two classic films produced by the legendary Warren Brothers. The first, "Dynamite Fists," is a black-and-white takeoff of such boxing dramas as Golden Boy. Harry Hamlin plays a John Garfield-like pugilist who is brought along by a tough-but-lovable fight promoter George C. Scott. Nasty gangster Eli Wallach attempts to compromise Hamlin by offering him the delectable Trish VanDevere, but Hamlin proves loyal to Scott. When Scott is killed by Wallach, Hamlin vows to become an attorney and bring the murderer to justice -- which he does in the space of one year. Along the way, Hamlin's gangster brother-in-law secures an eye operation for his nearly blind sister Kathleen Beller (whose bump-in-the-wall myopia is good for several laughs). After "Dynamite Fists," we are treated to a coming-attractions trailer for a Dawn Patrol-style aviation epic, again starring George C. Scott. The last segment, "Blansky's Beauties of 1933," is an all-stops-out Technicolor lampoon of Busby Berkeley musicals. Told by doctor Art Carney that he is dying, Broadway impresario Blansky (George C. Scott again) determines to produce one last spectacular show before the curtain goes down for good. The highlights in "Blansky's Beauties" are too numerous to mention here: memorable bits include composer Barry Bostwick's rooftop number, and the opening dialogue exchange between Carney and Scott (told that he has a month to live, Scott philosophically replies that at least he has 30 days left -- whereupon Carney dolefully reminds his patient that it's February). An additional sequence, parodying the Republic serials of the era, was filmed for Movie, Movie but cut from the final release print. Michael Kidd, who plays "Pop Popchick" in "Dynamite Fists," handled the choreography in "Blansky's Beauties." On the videocassette version of Movie, Movie, "Dynamite Fists" has been reprocessed in color. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Day of the Locust is anything but a cheerful, light look at Hollywood in the '30s. It recreates both the town as well as the filmmaking world around which much of the town revolved with devastating accuracy. The movie tells the twin tales of talentless wannabe actress Faye Greener (Karen Black) and Homer Simpson (Donald Sutherland), a lovelorn accountant who couldn't care less about movies. Around this framework, a huge and intricate social network is tellingly revealed, until the film's gruesome and tragic ending. Not for those who prefer to hang onto their illusions about the glory days of Hollywood, The Day of the Locust, based on the novel by Nathanael West, is a must-see for serious film buffs. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

The fourth Planet of the Apes film is set in 1991, 20 years since the assassination of talking, time-traveling apes Cornelius and Zira at the end of Escape From the Planet of the Apes. The couple's infant son, Caesar (Roddy McDowall), has grown to adulthood in the care of kindly circus owner Armando (Ricardo Montalban). Meanwhile, a plague has wiped all dogs and cats from the face of the Earth; speechless primitive apes have therefore been domesticated and turned into first pets, then servants of humankind. Caesar becomes outraged at the treatment of these simian slaves and accidentally reveals his powers of speech in front of the militaristic authorities, who kill Armando when he tries to protect his friend's identity. His cover blown, Caesar kick-starts a revolution that pits chimps against humans, paving the way for eventual ape ascendency. Caesar was the second of McDowall's three Planet of the Apes characters; he also portrayed Cornelius in the first and third films and Galen in the short-lived 1974 television series. After taking over the franchise with this picture, Hollywood veteran J. Lee Thompson would become the only director to helm two Planet of the Apes films when he returned for the fifth and final installment. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

This exploitation crime drama offers a fictionalized account of John Dillinger just before he became known as one of the most ruthless mobsters of the 1930s. The tale begins as Dillinger and his girlfriend try to rob her daddy's safe and get caught red-handed. Dillinger takes the fall and goes to the joint where he encounters some of America's most infamous gangsters including Pretty Boy Floyd and Baby Face Nelson. Dillinger helps them all escape and together they become some of the most fearsome criminals ever. Because he is considered Public Enemy No. 1, Dillinger decides to undergo a total face transformation. Following the operation, he kills the surgeon, who was trying to force himself on Dillinger's moll. Later, he wrongs her and this ultimately leads to tragedy for him and for her. Keep an eye out for background people dressed in 1960s clothing, quite an anomaly for a film set in the '30s. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Spartacus (Kirk Douglas) is a rebellious slave purchased by Lentulus Batiatus (Peter Ustinov), owner of a school for gladiators. For the entertainment of corrupt Roman senator Marcus Licinius Crassus (Laurence Olivier), Batiatus' gladiators are to stage a fight to the death. On the night before the event, the enslaved trainees are "rewarded" with female companionship. Spartacus' companion for the evening is Varinia (Jean Simmons), a slave from Brittania. When Spartacus later learns that Varinia has been sold to Crassus, he leads 78 fellow gladiators in revolt. Word of the rebellion spreads like wildfire, and soon Spartacus' army numbers in the hundreds. Escaping to join his cause is Varinia, who has fallen in love with Spartacus, and another of Crassus' house slaves, the sensitive Antoninus (Tony Curtis). The revolt becomes the principal cog in the wheel of a political struggle between Crassus and a more temperate senator named Gracchus (Charles Laughton). Anthony Mann was the original director of Spartacus, eventually replaced by Stanley Kubrick, who'd previously guided Douglas through Paths of Glory. The film received 4 Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actor for Ustinov. A crucial scene between Olivier and Curtis, removed from the 1967 reissue because of its subtle homosexual implications, was restored in 1991, with a newly recorded soundtrack featuring Curtis as his younger self and Anthony Hopkins standing in for the deceased Olivier. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Milkman is a low-key variation of a theme explored in such slapstick festivals as The Fuller Brush Man and The Yellow Cab Man. Donald O'Connor plays Roger Bradley, who hopes to become a top-flight milkman to please his father (Henry O'Neill), the owner of the milk company. Jimmy Durante co-stars as Breezy Albright, the older milkman who teaches Roger the ropes. After several comic set pieces, the plot rears its ugly head in the form of John Carter (Jess Barker), the nephew of rival milk-company proprietress Mrs. Carter (Elizabeth Risdon). Carter has gotten mixed up with a nasty bunch of gamblers, led by Mike Morrel (William Conrad). This leads to an exciting, albeit chucklesome finale wherein Roger, Breezy and ingenue Chris Abbott (Piper Laurie) combine forces to rout the bad guys. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide