Martin C. Schute Movies
- 1984
- PG
In this superficial interpretation of an intended suspense story and comedy, Robert Hays plays a TV anchor man on a flight to London who is duped by his attractive co-passenger (Pamela Stephenson) into thinking he is onto secret spying activities. After the plane lands, the newsman is unexpectedly accused of murdering his own wife. By the time Inspector Anthony Crisp (Jim Dale) gets into the picture, events have traveled a little farther into the bizarre (John Gielgud in black leather), too far to be saved by the good acting of the leads. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Hays, John Gielgud, (more)
Stepping into the role made famous on Broadway by Tom Conti, Richard Dreyfuss stars as a profoundly handicapped sculptor in Whose Life is it Anyway? Left a quadraplegic after an auto accident, the embittered Dreyfuss feels utterly useless, as both an artist and a human being. He doesn't want his family's love, or his doctor's care, or his nurse's ministrations. Dreyfuss simply wants to die-but this is impossible, given the legal state of things in the 1970s. Whose Life is It Anyway? may be the only film in which a person's right to self-destruction is regarded as a happy ending. Not as depressing as it sounds, Whose Life Is It Anyway is perversely hilarious at times, with Dreyfuss at his acerbic best. The film was scripted by Reginald Rose and Brian Clark from Clark's stage play. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Dreyfuss, John Cassavetes, (more)
Retrograde even at the time of its 1980 release, this filmed version of the mid-'70s play by the same title stars Tom Smothers as Timothy Westerby, the bumbling father of the bride, and his imaginary dance partner, Polly (Twiggy). Events of the chaotic wedding day are told in flashback as Westerby is shown sweating over an advertising assignment from a bra company and hoping that a photo of Polly from the bygone '20s will inspire him. Instead, Westerby bangs into a door and Polly comes fuzzily to life, but only he can see her, causing all sorts of havoc at the wedding and among the guests. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Smothers, Twiggy, (more)
- 1977
- PG
Director Ivan Passer and screenwriter Peter Stone adapted Paul Erdman's novel concerning a group of con men who arrive in Switzerland and end up conning each other. Michael Caine stars as Doc Fletcher, a lackey for gangster Joe Fiore (Martin Balsam), who is sent to Switzerland to purchase a bank for his boss. Prince di Siracusa (Louis Jourdan) is aiding Doc in his purchase but is working on his own scam. They both meet Shireen Firdausi (Stephane Audran) and Agha Firdausi (David Warner), who are working on their own deal concerning an Iranian silver mine. Also arriving in town is Donald Luckman (Tom Smothers) and his wife Debbie (Cybil Shepherd), sent by banker Henry Foreman (Joss Ackland) to buy a bank as a front for Charles Cook (Charles D. Gray), a billionaire who is looking for a way to disguise his profits. With all these schemers in tow, various confidence games play out and characters switch alliances and obligations, while some wind up in jail. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Caine, Cybill Shepherd, (more)
- 1975
Lewis Flander and Carol Hawkins star in the hectic British farce Not Now Comrade. Flander plays a Russian ballet dancer who decides to defect. Unable to reach the British embassy, Flander hides out with London stripteaser Hawkins. There's an abundance of female flesh in this one, a fact that necessitated numerous snips in the TV version that made the UHF rounds in the 1980s. Watch for Not Now Comrade codirector Ray Cooney and veteran British funster Roy Kinnear in cameo roles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
Based upon the play by August Strindberg, Miss Julie is concerned with the torturous relationship between the aristocratic title character and Jean (Donal McCann), a mere servant of her father's house. As the play opens, most of the servants are outside celebrating midsummer's eve with dancing, singing, and laughter. Christine (Heather Canning), a cook, is waiting for Jean to arrive so that they may join the revelers, but the imperious Miss Julie (Helen Mirren) comes between them and uses her power and status to change their plans. Julie delights in humiliating Jean, treating him with disdain and mocking his dreams; she even goes so far as ask that he kiss her shoe. Because she is technically his employer, Jean cannot directly express his anger, but he does begin playing a manipulative game of his own that results in an exchange of secrets. They disappear into a secluded room of the house, and when they re-emerge, Jean has gained the upper hand, and they find themselves in an untenable situation which they must still somehow resolve. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
- 1971
Here Are Ladies could easily be amended to say "Here are some famous Irish women" -- made famous by Samuel Beckett, George Bernard Shaw, James Joyce, and other Irish writers who have brought the country and its culture to the heights of literary attainment. The one-woman show of stand-up actress Siobhan McKenna has been taken like a nomad to several appropriate settings as the talented McKenna brings the women to life. She interprets Shaw's "St. Joan" while in an Irish jail cell, Beckett's "Winnie" under a mound of sand at the beach, or women washing clothes in a river from "Finnegan's Wake." An excerpt from "Drama at Inish" by Lennox Robinson -- in which a broadly overacted version of Russian drama is put on for two nonplused Irish spectators -- is particularly funny. McKenna's interpretations will entertain most viewers quite adequately, even if they are not Irish. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Siobhan McKenna, Niall Buggy, (more)
- 1970
- R
This violent western tale finds Macho (David Janssen) as a Union Army regular in a Confederate prison. He escapes by planting dynamite in the coffin of an executed officer, making his move when the coffin is being carried outside the gate. He returns to a small town where he waits for Duffy (Lee J. Cobb), who put Macho in jail years before. Newlyweds Alexandra (Jean Seberg) and David (Carradine) arrive in town, and David heads to the saloon. The drunken one armed Confederate Army veteran is killed by Macho when he becomes drunk and belligerent. Alexandra puts a price on Macho's head, hiring two killers to finish him off. Macho kills them both and rapes a beaten up Alexandra, who falls in love with her attacker. He also gets revenge of Duffy by stringing him up by the neck on the windmill in the town square. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Janssen, Jean Seberg, (more)
Based on the mystery novel by Marryam Modell (using the pseudonym Evelyn Piper), Bunny Lake Is Missing is a bizarre study in motherhood, kindness, enigma, and insanity. Ann Lake (Carol Lynley), an American freshly relocated to England, wishes to drop off her daughter Bunny for the girl's first day at a new nursery school. Oddly, Ann cannot locate any teachers or administrators, only the school's disgruntled cook (Lucie Mannheim). She is forced to leave Bunny unsupervised in the building's "first day" room, under the reassurance that the cook will be responsible for the child. When Ann returns in the afternoon, the cook has quit and Bunny Lake is missing. The school's remaining employees vehemently deny ever seeing the child, and Ann desperately calls her older brother Stephen (Keir Dullea) for help. Ann was raised fatherless and never married; she and Bunny have lived under Stephen's care and protection for the majority of both their lives. Stephen is enraged by the irresponsibility of the staff, but as Scotland Yard begins its investigation, it comes to light that he had never officially enrolled a child at the school. When Police Superintendent Newhouse (Laurence Olivier) begins to unravel the Lakes' lives and search their belongings, he discovers that not only did Ann once have an imaginary childhood daughter named "Bunny," but that the young Bunny seemed to have no tangible possessions at the Lake apartment. Bunny Lake (whom we have yet to see onscreen) may not be missing: she may not even be real. Terrified that Newhouse will now abandon the search for the girl, the hysterical Ann sets out to prove her sanity and, in the process, surprisingly uncovers the true psychosis behind the disappearance of her little Bunny Lake. ~ Aubry Anne D'Arminio, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carol Lynley, Keir Dullea, (more)
