DeForest Covan Movies

Visiting his drug-addicted brother Roberto (Mark Adair-Rios), detective Martinez (Nicholas Turturro) finds out that Roberto's landlord is a crooked cop who is shaking down his tenants on behalf of the Mob. After one of the tenants is murdered, Martinez wants to take action against the bad cop, but Kelly (David Caruso) intervenes. Meanwhile, newly appointed ADA Laura (Sherry Stringfield) turns up the heat on Giardella (Robert Costanzo). And the 15th Precinct is bedeviled by an inveterate practical joker. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

African-American drifter Danny Glover shows up at the LA doorstep of his old pal Paul Butler. In the spirit of auld lang syne, Butler takes Glover in, though his wife (Mary Alice) is not happy with this intrusion. She already has enough on her hands contending with her grown live-in son Richard Brooks and his real-estate agent wife Sheryl Lee Ralph. Glover ingratiates himself by reminding family of their Southern roots; less positively, he drinks a great deal, brings suspicious-looking cronies into the household. When Butler suffers a stroke, Glover assumes charge of the house--whereupon his charm evaporates and disaster follows. But Glover isn't really the villain of To Sleep With Anger: everyone in the film is depicted in all-too-human shades of gray. This effort by African American writer/ director Charles Burnett was the first of his films to attract widespread critical notice, almost 13 years after he created the seminal Killer of Sheep. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Clint Eastwood put his tough-guy image on hold for this personal project, which follows a musician taking one final chance at the big time. Red Stovall (Eastwood) is a would-be country singer who has been bouncing around the margins of the music business for years. With nowhere in particular to go, Red arrives at the failing Oklahoma farm of his sister for an extended visit, where her son Whit (Kyle Eastwood) quickly bonds with his uncle. However, it's obvious that Red is in very poor health, drinking heavily and breathing with difficulty, and when Red is invited to audition for the Grand Old Opry in Nashville, Whit tags along for the road trip to keep an eye on his ailing uncle. En route, Red and Whit are joined by Whit's grandfather (John McIntire) and another hopeful vocalist, Marlene (Alexa Kenin), who like Red is chasing her own dreams of stardom on the Opry. Clint Eastwood performed his own vocals and guitar work for Honkytonk Man, and a number of Nashville legends appear in cameo roles, including Marty Robbins, Porter Wagoner, Ray Price, Merle Travis, and Johnny Gimble. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A medical student decides to enter the world of boxing and dives into a life of superficial values and corruption in this remake of the 1947 classic. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

Having completed her first play, would-be writer Thelma (BernNadette Stanis) is thrilled when her masterpiece is chosen for presentation at a local little theater. Anxious to see the work produced, Thelma agrees to a few "minor" changes at the behest of the theater's owner/director. Before long, however, it becomes obvious that what will emerge on stage will not resemble Thelma's original play in any way, shape, or form. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Essentially a seedy '70s version of The Quatermass Experiment, this painfully cheap production from writer/director William Sachs involves the horrific plight of returning astronaut Steve West (Alex Rebar), the sole survivor of a disastrous expedition to the rings of Saturn. The fatal outcome of the mission apparently involved the discovery of a space-borne virus, or radiation, or something (it's never made quite clear) that killed the rest of the crew and is causing West's flesh to melt and slough off his body. For reasons unexplained, the only relief from the pain of his condition can be found by consuming live human cells. After munching on a few bystanders, West escapes into the surrounding woods, pursued by NASA researcher Dr. Nelson (Burr DeBenning) and a disorganized posse of military monster-hunters. Unable to stop his rapid dissolution or resist his cannibalistic urges, West agonizes over his dilemma (as indicated by laughable scenes of Rebar trying to register emotional anguish through layers of goop), but he still finds time to terrorize a few locals, including the topless Rainbeaux Smith and a pair of comic-relief oldsters trying to score some lemons. The film's notorious ad campaign rallied the makeup FX work of Rick Baker, but his talents are largely wasted thanks to AIP's frantic cost-cutting and a truncated shooting schedule that forewent many of Baker's elaborate prosthetics in favor of a cheap latex mask covered with gallons of syrup. Future Silence of the Lambs director Jonathan Demme contributes a brief cameo. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Sanford and Son regular Whitman Mayo guest stars as John Rich, a ghetto father whose son is "on the junk." Witnessing the murder of the dope pusher who hooked his son, John takes credit for the killing, thereby becoming a neighborhood hero. He also becomes the next target of the pusher's real killers, obliging undercover cop Tony Baretta (Robert Blake) to come to the rescue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This Kojak episode is the first of two pilots for a projected spinoff series starring Rosey Grier) as hard-nosed California bounty hunter Salathiel Harris. Arriving in New York, Harris begins his search for a bail-jumping racketeer, while home-grown police lieutenant Kojak (Telly Savalas) embarks upon the same quest. To flush out his quarry, Harris sets himself up as the target for a hired assassin--and goes to great lengths to prevent Kojak from "rescuing" him. ~ 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

Fred Sanford (Redd Foxx) and his perennial fiancée Donna Harris (Lynn Hamilton) are finally going to get married. On the day of the big event, Fred's son Lamont invites a full complement of annoying relatives. Sure enough, a loud family quarrel ensues -- which is precisely what Lamont (who doesn't want Fred to tie the knot with Donna) has been planning all along. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In 1943, Oscar Hammerstein Jr. took Georges Bizet's opera Carmen, rewrote the lyrics, changed the characters from 19th century Spaniards to World War II-era African-Americans, switched the locale to a Southern military base, and the result was Carmen Jones. Dorothy Dandridge stars as Carmen Jones, tempestuous employee of a parachute factory. Harry Belafonte plays Joe (originally José), a young military officer engaged to marry virginal Cindy Lou (Olga James). When Carmen gets into a fight with another girl, she is placed under arrest and put in Joe's charge. Succumbing to her attractiveness, Joe accompanies Carmen to her old neighborhood, where, after killing a sergeant sent to retrieve him, he deserts the army. Carmen tries to be faithful, but fortune-telling Frankie (Pearl Bailey) warns her that she and her soldier are doomed. Enter Joe Adams in the role of boxer Husky Miller (a play on Carmen's bullfighter Escamillo), who sweeps Carmen off her feet, ultimately with tragic consequences. Alhough both Dorothy Dandridge and Harry Belafonte were singers, their opera voices were dubbed in by LeVern Hutcherson and Marilyn Horne. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Like many all-black films of the 1930s, Reform School is shabbily produced and unevenly acted, but still a rewarding experience for those patient enough to sit through the seedier passages. The magnificent Louise Beavers, so often wasted in maidservant roles, heads the cast as Mother Barton, a reform-minded matron who strives to improve conditions in a run-down reformatory. The youthful inmates at first resist her efforts, which include an Honor System, but they prove themselves to be good kids at heart by solving a robbery for which the middle-aged heroine has been arrested. The young reform-schoolers are billed as the "Harlem Tuff Kids", in obvious emulation of the Dead End Kids. The supporting cast includes Reginald Fenderson, one of the featured players in the original Broadway production of The Green Pastures, and Eugene Jackson, formerly "Pineapple" in the silent Our Gang comedies and later a member of the singing Jackson Trio. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide