Edmund Stoiber Movies
- 1988
- PG
After his mother's death, Fred P. Cheney (Bob Goldthwaith) must share the family financial business with his scheming stepfather Walter Sawyer (Dabney Coleman) in this misfired comedy. Fred also inherits Don, a talking horse who provides him with hot tips on the stock market. Don's voice is provided by John Candy, and Virginia Madsen plays Fred's romantic interest Allison Rowe. Mr. Ed and Francis the Talking Mule must be rolling over in their graves over this uneven comedy attempt. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bobcat Goldthwait, Dabney Coleman, (more)
- 1987
Raquel Welch's astonishing performance in the made-for-TV Right to Die compensates for any number of script deficiencies. Ms. Welch plays a successful psychologist with a happy home life who is suddenly stricken with the dreaded neurological affliction ALS (aka "Lou Gehrig's Disease"). At first, she is determined to fight for her life, but as her conditions deteriorates and she becomes more of a human vegetable, Ms. Welch begs her husband (Michael Gross) to help her die. The producers of Right to Die chose Raquel Welch not so much for her resemblance to the real-life person upon whom the story is based, but in the hopes that this "offbeat" piece of casting would attract a large TV audience. Ms. Welch accepted the role to counter industry accusations that she was impossible to work with. Thus the motivations behind Right to Die were more commercially oriented than the film's subject matter deserved, but this can be excused in the light of Welch's harrowingly accurate portrayal of a woman literally dying by inches before our eyes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Raquel Welch, Michael Gross, (more)
The election of Sandra Day O'Connor to the Supreme Court rendered the premise of First Monday in October anachronistic before the picture was even released; ignoring this, however, the film is supremely entertaining (no pun intended). Jill Clayburgh stars as Ruth Loomis, the first lady justice ever appointed to the Court. She's a conservative, while her principal foe on the bench, Dan Snow (Walter Matthau), is an old-line liberal. The film glides along on a predictable Tracy-Hepburn course until Snow comes to Loomis' defense when her late industrialist husband is accused of improprieties which might compromise Loomis' effectiveness. First Monday in October was adapted by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee from their own Broadway play, which starred Henry Fonda. Actress Martha Scott co-produced the film, while several other Hollywood veterans, including Herb Vigran and Ann Doran, dot the supporting case. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Walter Matthau, Jill Clayburgh, (more)
For the first (and thus far the only) time in his career, Chevy Chase plays a genuinely sympathetic character in Neil Simon's Seems Like Old Times. This time around, Chase is a divorced novelist who is abducted by crooks and set up as the fall guy in a bank robbery. Arrested, Chase manages to escape and to make his way to the home of ex-wife Goldie Hawn, now a highly respected liberal defense attorney. Chase's unexpected arrival coincides with an important dinner party on behalf of Goldie's current husband, district attorney Charles Grodin. At first making every effort to give Chase the boot, Hawn, ever the champion of the underdog finally decides to help him out of his dilemma--much to the discomfort of her politically ambitious husband. Wisely, Grodin does not play his character as an unpleasant stuffed shirt; he is as likeable as Chase and Hawn, giving the farcical plot convolutions a tinge of reality. We care about the people involved, thus the laughs spring as much from characterization as they do from the situation. If only Seems Like Old Times didn't have that lame-brained final close up..... ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Goldie Hawn, Chevy Chase, (more)
