Arthur Taxier Movies

When her adoptive mother Joan Crawford died in 1977, erstwhile actress/author Christina Crawford and her brother Christopher were left out of Joan Crawford's will, "for reasons which are well known to them." Industryites have suggested that it may have been this posthumous act of rejection rather than an alleged lifetime of parental abuse that inspired Christina Crawford to pen her scathing autobiography Mommie Dearest. The 1981 film version of this tome was evidently meant to be taken seriously, but the operatic direction by Frank Perry and the over-the-top portrayal of Joan Crawford by Faye Dunaway (whose makeup is remarkable) has always seemed to inspire loud laughter whenever and where-ever the film is shown. According to the film (and the book that preceded it), Joan Crawford was a licentious, child-beating behemoth, who stalked and postured through life as though it was one of her own pictures-more Strait-jacket than Mildred Pierce. This is the film with the notorious "wire coat hanger" scene, just in case you need a reminder. Surprisingly, one emerges from Mommie Dearest with more sympathy for the monstrous but intensely vulnerable Crawford than for her whining daughter (played as an adult by Diana Scarwid, and as a child by Mara Hobel). Our favorite scene: Joan Crawford dazedly replacing her ailing daughter in the cast of a daytime TV soap opera. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This fun, silly thriller written and directed by Michael Crichton manages to combine the dramatic murders of beautiful models, a secret conspiracy to use TV commercials for mind-control, and an unusual seeing-eye device which makes the wearer invisible. Plastic surgeon Larry Roberts (Albert Finney) becomes the prime suspect after two models on whom he operated are killed. Larry becomes suspicious because both of the women came into his office asking for very precise and seemingly unnecessary physical alterations. Agreeing to operate, because the women's jobs depended on the surgery, Larry must now clear his own name and save his life and career. With the aid of a friend and model Cindy (Susan Dey), Larry discovers and foils the plot led by corporation-head John Reston (James Coburn). Larry must then fight for his life against Reston's thugs who are equipped with the devices, called "Lookers." This is good, if silly fun and Albert Finney does his best with a somewhat implausible script. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide

The fact that he is unable to read does not bother high-school basketball star Freddie Ellis (Eric D. Wallace). He is confident in the knowledge that his friends will cover for him in the classroom -- and besides, who needs to be literate in the pros? It takes the persistence of teacher Mr. Simpson (Clarence Williams III), and a near-tragedy in his home, to make Freddie realize that "reading is fun-damental." Kareem Abdul-Jabbar makes a cameo appearance in this ABC Afterschool Special. ~ All Movie Guide

No sooner has the A-Team rescued Face's model girlfriend Rina (Markie Post) from gangster John Turian (Richard Lynch) than she betrays them--to Turian. No, Rina isn't the villain of the piece, but merely an innocent cog in the wheel of a master plan to steal the newest creations of A-list fashion designer Jason Burnett (played by John Moscitta, the phenominal "fast talker" in all those 1980s TV commercials). The best scene finds the team trying to smoke out the mobsters and save the heroine by recruiting dozens of little old ladies from Westside Senior Center to sew a veritable warehouse full of "original" designs. Benji Gregory, later to play little Brian Tanner on Alf, appears as Rina's imperiled son Eric. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hannibal (George Peppard) is reunited with his old flame Dana (played by Toni Hudson, real-life wife of A-Team costar Toni Hudson), who is the mother of race-car driver Kid Harmon (Ken Clandt). Naturally, Harmon is in dire need of assistant from Hannibal and the rest of the A-Team; one of his racetrack rivals, Kyle Ludwig (Wings Hauser), is the nephew of a vicious gangster, and as such will resort to any means necessary to win an upcoming race. In his efforts to thwart Ludwig, Hannibal becomes a hero to Dana's son--which arouses the jealousy of Dana's current husband Jack (Stuart Whitman), whose anger nearly scuttles the Team's mission. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Alfred Hitchcock Presents is the portmanteau pilot film for the subsequent TV revival of Hitchcock's celebrated anthology series of the 1950s and '60s. Four short tales are presented, each of them remakes of earlier Alfred Hitchcock programs. "Incident in a Small Jail," originally presented in 1961 with John Fiedler in the lead, stars Ned Beatty as a traveling salesman who finds himself sharing a jail cell with an accused rapist -- the target of an angry, indiscriminate lynch mob. "Man from the South," based on an oft-adapted Roald Dahl piece, stars John Huston as a cagey gambler who makes a grisly wager with novice Steven Bauer. The original 1959 Hitchcock version of this tale starred Peter Lorre and Steve McQueen; featured in the cast of the remake are former Hitchcock movie leading ladies Kim Novak and Tippi Hedren, as well as Hedren's daughter Melanie Griffith. "Bang, You're Dead" is a taut, tension-filled tale of a child who wanders around town with a loaded gun. The child is a little girl (Bianca Rose), but in the initial 1961 version the protagonist was a boy, played by Billy Mumy (who appears in this remake in a small role). The final playlet, "The Unlocked Window," is an abbreviated version of a story first shown on The Alfred Hitchcock Hour in 1965. Bruce Davidson is featured in a virtual reprise of that beloved old Hitchcock protagonist Norman Bates. Each of the four stories in Alfred Hitchcock Presents had its own director -- in order of appearance, they are Joel Oliansky, Steve De Jarnatt, Randa Haines, and Fred Walton -- and all were narrated by co-star John Huston. The late Alfred Hitchcock opens and closes each playlet via colorized footage from the original series -- a bizarre touch that "The Master" might have approved of. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Murder: By Reason of Insanity was inspired by a disastrous series of events occurring in New York State in 1979. Candice Bergen portrays a Polish immigrant housewife whose husband Jurgen Prochnow has subjected her to years of physical abuse. At first, she tells herself that he is acting out of frustration over his business failures, but the attacks become increasingly life-threatening. Adjudged mentally unbalanced, Prochnow cannot be sent to prison, but instead is checked into a hospital. Thanks to bureaucratic oversights and sheer laxity, Prochnow walks out of the hospital, fully intending to carry out his death threat against his wife. Despite her frenzied phone calls to the authorities, and the many empty restraining orders issued by the courts, Ms. Bergen's ultimate fate is inexorable. Made for television, Murder: By Reason of Insanity has been released to videocassette under the irresponsibly antiseptic title My Sweet Victim. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this entry in the long-running mystery series, Perry Mason must prove that the man whose murder conviction he upheld when he was an Appellate Court judge is really innocent. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Based upon Patty Duke's bestselling autobiography, Call Me Anna details the Academy Award-winning actress's rise to stardom and her lifelong struggle with manic depression. Born Anna Marie Duke, the youngster from Queens embarked upon an acting career at an early age. Her manager, John Ross, essentially removes her from her family (including a depressed mother and alcoholic father) at the age of seven and tyrannically manages her career. While this effectively aids her professionally, his abuse takes a toll upon the sensitive young girl. She makes a name for herself when she lands the part of Helen Keller in the Broadway smash The Miracle Worker and gains national fame when her work in the film version earns her a coveted Oscar. She goes on to star in her own television series, and embarks upon a number of relationships, including ones with Desi Arnaz Jr. and John Astin (whom she marries). Eventually, Duke shows signs of mental illness, brought about both by her parents and her managers, and enters into therapy with a doctor, who is able to give her the help she desperately needs. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide

The scene is a remote tropical island, where several top swimsuit models converge for a magazine photo shoot, orchestrated by publisher Lee Majors. The girls are lovely, the scenery gorgeous, the weather couldn't be pleasanter. Only one hitch: one by one, the models fall victim to mysterious fatal accidents. You know by now that these are no accidents. You've also probably guessed that Cover Girl Murders is a USA Cable Network movie (world premiere: October 28, 1993). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An actress takes a dangerous detour on the road to success in this suspense drama. Jamie (Jennifer Rubin) is a struggling starlet who is trying to win a role in an upcoming film called Playmaker. Eager to gain advantage on the competition, Jamie's pal Eddie (John Getz) says that he can arrange an introduction with Ross Talbert (Colin Firth), an acting teacher with a reputation for grooming top talent. Ross agrees to tutor Jamie for $5,000; she scrapes up the money, only to discover that his lessons are mainly exercises in psychological abuse. Jamie learns that a number of Ross' students who didn't respond to his techniques have turned up dead, and she spies an "F" next to her name in his grade book shortly before he attacks her with a knife; she grabs a gun and kills him. The police determine that Jamie acted in self-defense -- but the man who she's been taking lessons with wasn't the real Ross Talbert. Playmaker features an original score by Mark Snow. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide