Maury Cooper Movies
- 1989
American Blue Note concentrates on a Manhattan jazz quintet. Peter MacNichol, Carl Capotorto, Tim Guinee, Bill Christopher-Myers and Jonathan Walker play the five musicians, each with individual crosses to bear. Allotting themselves one year to get booked into a major jazz club or else they'll split, the quintet performs a lot of nickel-and-dime gigs in the meantime. But only one of the five makes it to the band's "Valhalla." Louis Guss, Zohra Lampert and Trini Alvarado appear in peripheral roles. Filmed in 1989, the independently produced American Blue Note didn't get a distributor until 1991. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter MacNicol, Carl Caportoto, (more)
A feisty, feminist intern uncovers a medical conspiracy in this icy thriller about mysterious goings-on at Boston Memorial Hospital. When her best friend and aerobics partner, Nancy Greenly (Lois Chiles), emerges in a vegetative state from a routine abortion, Dr. Susan Wheeler (Genevieve Bujold) does some digging and discovers an overabundance of anesthesia-induced comas among otherwise healthy young patients. The male authority figures who challenge Susan's technically illegal tampering with medical records include her boss, Dr. Harris (Richard Widmark); the chief anesthesiologist, Dr. George (Rip Torn); and even her boyfriend, Dr. Mark Bellows (Michael Douglas), who doesn't want Susan's shenanigans to get in the way of his shot at chief resident. As Susan continues her crusade, the paper trail leads to the Jefferson Institute, a mysterious, experimental facility in which vegetative patients are stored en masse, suspended from the ceiling by wires threaded through their long bones, in order to reduce the cost of long-term care. A shadowy assailant begins to stalk Susan just as she uncovers the link between the Jefferson Institute and the comas at Boston Memorial, setting the stage for climactic suspense scenes involving morgues, malpractice and endless institutional corridors. Writer/director Michael Crichton adapted his second feature film from Robin Cook's bestseller of the same name. Tom Selleck, who would star in Crichton's Runaway several years later, appears briefly in Coma as another victim of lethal anesthesia. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Geneviève Bujold, Michael Douglas, (more)
Based on the novel by Harold Robbins, this is the story of Loren Hardeman, Sr., a Midwestern automobile manufacturer (Lord Olivier) who pins his future on The Betsy, a "wonder car" named after his daughter (Kathleen Beller). The Betsy is designed to last practically forever, which doesn't rest well with the "planned obscolence" mindset of the auto industry. Flashbacks cover his career from his 40s to the present, when he is in his 90s. Hardeman, Sr. has a weak-willed son, Hardeman, Jr., (Robert Duvall) who is forced into taking charge of the family business. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laurence Olivier, Robert Duvall, (more)
- 1976
In this drama, a college president takes a sabbatical so he can work as a ditch-digger and a cafe cook. The story is based on John Chapman's autobiographical book, Blue Collar Journal. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
