Charles M. Wilborn Movies

Diane Keaton directed and starred in this comedy/drama about a family brought together by potential tragedy. In her mid-40s, Eve (Meg Ryan) minds her house, runs a business organizing parties and events for others, and looks after her father (Walter Matthau), an alcoholic former writer who has grown argumentative and increasingly difficult to handle. Eve's sisters -- Georgia (Keaton), who is a few years older and the editor of a successful fashion magazine, and Maddy (Lisa Kudrow), a few years younger and a working actress with a spot on a soap opera -- have also had to deal with Dad, but only by long distance when he makes one of his frequent telephone calls. Dad now doesn't have long to live, and the siblings must pull together and make peace with their father and each other. Sisters Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron adapted the screenplay from Delia's novel; the supporting cast includes Adam Arkin, Cloris Leachman, and Mary Steenburgen. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Benjy Taylor (D.B. Sweeney) is a rookie cop who goes undercover to nab a gang of car thieves in this routine crime drama. Taylor salivates over the lifestyle and money enjoyed by Ted Varrick (Charlie Sheen), the smooth operator who leads the Porsche pilferers, and he reports back to Lieutenant Vincent Bracey (Randy Quaid), who is convinced Ted is a cop killer but needs more proof. Taylor joins the gang and begins to justify car theft and the money it brings as gathering evidence. Soon his reasoning is clouded and the rookie cop gets in deeper when he actually begins to like Ted and the suspect's sultry sister Ann (Lara Harris). ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

When touring Italian opera star Giorgio Fini (Luciano Pavarotti in his screen debut) mysteriously loses his voice before a performance in Boston, he goes to see throat specialist Dr. Pamela Taylor (Kathryn Harrold), and the two fall madly in love. This film features a number of songs, including "If We Were in Love" and "I Left My Heart in San Francisco." ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi

Pop star Peter Frampton and the Bee Gees star in this musical, loosely based on the popular 1967 Beatles album Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. In the story, Billy Shears, who now heads the Lonely Hearts Club Band, is the grandson of the famous Sergeant Pepper. He is confronted by the need to save the magical musical instruments of the band from the bad guys, led by music tycoon B.D. Brockhurst (Donald Pleasance), who want to steal them. If they succeed, the magic which infuses "Heartland U.S.A." will disappear. Among the many Beatles' songs performed in the film by well-known popular artists are: "She's Leaving Home" (Bee Gees, Jay MacIntosh, John Wheeler), "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" (Steve Martin), "Got To Get You into My Life (Earth, Wind & Fire), "When I'm 64" (Sandy Farina), "Come Together" (Aerosmith), "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (sung by the Bee Gees, Paul Nicholas), "With a Little Help from My Friends" (Peter Frampton, the Bee Gees), "Fixing a Hole" (George Burns), and "Get Back" (Billy Preston). ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

This second-string Sam Peckinpah action film features James Caan as ex-CIA agent Mike Locken, who has retired due to injuries received at the hands of his ex-partner George Hansen (Robert Duvall). But Mike is lured out of retirement to protect Yuen Chung (Mako), an Asian political leader. There's a contract out on Yuen Chung's life -- and the killer assigned to rub out Yuen Chung is none other than Mike's former partner, George Hansen. The confrontation between the two leads to a showdown on a decaying naval vessel between Mike's forces and a group of ninja warriors. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Undoubtedly having second thoughts after turning down Dirty Harry, John Wayne showed up in 1974 in his own "maverick cop" adventure, McQ. Wayne, playing McQ, a veteran detective, turns in his badge when he's officially denied the opportunity of clearing the name of his late best friend, who has been posthumously accused of drug pushing. Investigating on his own, McQ becomes romantically involved with his friend's widow (Diana Muldaur), who unbeknownst to him is up to her neck in police corruption. Considering the usual flag-waving content of John Wayne's 1970s films, it is rather startling to discover that the real villains in McQ are a coterie of crooked cops! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Richard Fleischer directed this nightmarish science fiction vision of an over-populated world, based on the novel by Harry Harrison. In 2022, New York City is a town bursting at the seams with a 40-million-plus population. Food is in short supply, and most of the population's food source comes from synthetics manufactured in local factories -- the dinner selections being a choice between Soylent Red, Soylent Yellow, or Soylent Green. When William Simonson (Joseph Cotten), an upper-echelon executive in the Soylent Company, is found murdered, police detective Thorn (Charlton Heston) is sent in to investigate the case. Helping him out researching the case is Thorn's old friend Sol Roth (Edward G. Robinson, in his final film role). As they investigate the environs of a succession of mad-from-hunger New Yorkers and the luxuriously rich digs of the lucky few, Thorn uncovers the terrible truth about the real ingredients of Soylent Green. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

In Sam Peckinpah's version of Walter Hill's script, from Jim Thompson's novel, an ex-con and his wife go on the lam after a Texas bank heist. Denied parole after four well-behaved years, Doc McCoy (Steve McQueen) sends his wife Carol (Ali MacGraw) to dirty politician Jack Benyon (Ben Johnson) to get him out of prison. Carol secures Doc's freedom, on the condition that he does one more bank job for Benyon. Doc and his accomplices Rudy (Al Lettieri) and Jackson (Bo Hopkins) get the cash, but Doc soon discovers how Rudy intends to keep it all for himself and how Carol convinced Benyon to get him sprung. While Rudy hijacks a veterinarian and his wife (Sally Struthers) to take him to get Doc in El Paso, Doc and Carol make their own embattled way south with the money, threatening to desert each other before reaching a trash dump rapprochement after a harrowing garbage truck episode. All sides converge in El Paso for a shootout, but trust a happily married old-timer (Slim Pickens) to help Doc and Carol have a future. With violence shot in his trademark balletic style, Peckinpah does not hide the damage that Doc can do, whether to a cop car or an enemy. Still, as in such other morally relative outlaw movies as Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and Peckinpah's western The Wild Bunch (1969), Doc may be a criminal and killer when necessary, but his and Carol's loyalty to each other elevates them above their crooked milieu. With its non-traditional traditional couple played by the then hot (and notoriously adulterous) stars McQueen and MacGraw, The Getaway was a substantial hit. It was lackadaisically remade with Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger in 1994. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi