Richard St. Johns Movies
Ralph Bakshi's last stab at epic fantasy takes place shortly after the Ice Age. The evil queen Juliana (voice of Eileen O'Reill) plots to conquer the world and raises her son Nekron (Sean Hannon) as a master of sorcery and arcane mental powers. Together the two conquer the Ice Kingdom, and from their stronghold Nekron commands massive glaciers to destroy everything between them and their ultimate goal: Fire Keep, ruled by the wise and powerful King Jarol Leo Gordon. Nekron's latest advance destroys a Northern village, leaving Larn (Randy Norton) the sole survivor, bent on revenge; it also exhausts Nekron, who resorts to sending emissaries to coerce Jarol into surrendering. When words fail, they resort to kidnapping Jarol's daughter Teegra (Cynthia Leake), who escapes and accidentally hooks up with Larn. Aided by the mysterious masked warrior Darkwolf (Steve Sandor), they attempt to return to Fire Keep and mobilize their warriors to bring the fight to Nekron. ~ Emru Townsend, Rovi
- Starring:
- Susan Tyrrell, Maggie Roswell, (more)
A big black mamba snake that has gotten loose in a townhouse slithers through a kidnapping plot in this film. Based on a novel by Alan Scholefield, Venom features a big name British cast that seems to be slumming in a B-movie project. Dr. Marion Stowe (Sarah Miles) is a toxicologist who has brought the snake to London to study the properties of its deadly venom. It escapes and terrorizes the inhabitants of the townhouse, where an attempted kidnapping is in progress. Dave (Oliver Reed), Jacmel (Klaus Kinski) and Louise (Susan George) are the villains trying to hold the son of a wealthy family for ransom. Original director Tobe Hooper was replaced by Piers Haggard. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi
- Starring:
- Klaus Kinski, Oliver Reed, (more)
The rise and growth of American popular music through the 20th century is reflected in the lives of four generations of one family in this animated drama directed by Ralph Bakshi. Zalmie (voice of Jeffrey Lippa), a Russian Jew, emigrates to America, and tries to struggle along as a comic and musician in vaudeville, until an injury suffered in World War I ends his singing career. Zalmie's son Benny (voice of Richard Singer) inherits his father's love for music, and when he grows to adulthood, he joins a jazz combo as a pianist; his career is cut short, however, when he's killed while fighting in World War II. Benny's son Tony (voice of Ron Thompson) is also bitten by the music bug and is determined to make his mark as a songwriter; he becomes involved in the Beat poetry and music community in San Francisco, and later falls in with a pioneering psychedelic band. Along the way, Tony fathers an illegitimate son named Pete (voice of Eric Taslitz), and ends up becoming Pete's guardian in New York City without realizing he's the boy's father. After Tony's death, Pete supports himself by dealing drugs, while struggling to make his dream of becoming a rock star a reality. Ralph Bakshi achieved American Pop's unique look through a process called "rotoscoping" -- shooting the scenes with live actors, and then tracing their movements onto animation cells.
~ Mark Deming, Rovi
~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ron Thompson, Marya Small, (more)
Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett, the screenwriters behind the highly successful Alien, turned their attention to earthbound terrors with this creepy horror tale. Dead and Buried focuses on Dan Gillis (James Farentino), a man who has recently returned to his hometown of Potter's Bluff to be its sheriff. His job becomes difficult when a series of strangers who visit Potter's Bluff begin dying in violent and mysterious ways. To make matters worse, his wife, Janet (Melody Anderson), has begun to act strangely, taking an odd interest in voodoo and acting like she might be having an affair. As the murder victims pile up, Gillis discovers that all his troubles have an occult origin that has to do with the town's elderly mortician, Dobbs (Jack Albertson, in his final feature film role). Gillis gets to the bottom of the mystery, only to discover that the truth is much worse than he imagined. Despite effective direction and solid acting, Dead and Buried got lost in the shuffle of the early '80s horror boom and failed to click with the movie-going public. However, it later gained an audience via home video and cable and remains a minor cult favorite today thanks to its singular blend of creepy atmosphere and gruesome shocks. ~ Donald Guarisco, Rovi
- Starring:
- James Farentino, Melody Anderson, (more)
The USS Nimitz, a modern-day nuclear-powered aircraft carrier captained by Kirk Douglas, passes through a time warp and finds itself at Pearl Harbor on December 6, 1941. Douglas is all for preventing the infamous Japanese attack by unleashing the 1980s technology at his disposal. But wait--if history is inviolate, what will happen to future events if the attack doesn't come off? For nearly two hours, pros and cons are volleyed back and forth by Douglas, by ambitious senator Charles Durning, and by concerned observer Martin Sheen. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Kirk Douglas, Martin Sheen, (more)
This gorgeously shot western, filmed in the Bridger-Teton National Forest and the Shoshone National Forest, stars Charlton Heston and was written by his son Fraser Clarke Heston. The story concerns two grizzled mountain men -- Bill Tyler (Heston) and Henry Frapp (Brian Keith) -- during the dying days of the fur-trapping era. The plot begins when Running Moon (Victoria Racimo) runs away from her abusive husband Heavy Eagle (Stephen Macht) and comes across the two seedy fur trappers. The mountain men take her in, unaware that Heavy Eagle has dispatched an army of Indian braves to reclaim her. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Charlton Heston, Brian Keith, (more)
Middle-aged angst is the catalyst for this drama about an older married couple who join up with younger partners. When Karen Evans (Shirley MacLaine) discovers that her husband Adam (Anthony Hopkins) has been dallying around with young co-ed Lindsey Rutledge (Bo Derek), she is furious. She fights back by starting up an affair with young Pete Lachapelle (Michael Brandon) and pretending to tolerate her husband's pecadillos. Adam is selfish and arrogant, a typical college professor stereotype. The odd couples decide to take off for a skiing holiday in Vermont during which their relationships will be tested. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Shirley MacLaine, Anthony Hopkins, (more)
The year 1979 saw an epidemic of American street-gang films, including Phil Kaufman's hit period drama The Wanderers. Set in the Bronx in 1963, the film concerns the titular gang of Italian-American teens and their ongoing power struggle with the rival "Fordham Baldies." Richard Price, upon whose novel this film was based, drew from his own experiences to weave his tale. Essentially a series of anecdotes-some tension-filled, some amusing -- The Wanderers climaxes on the occasion of the J.F.K. assassination, which for Price and hundreds and thousands of his aimless contemporaries served as a wake-up call. Viewed from the vantage point of the 1990s, one would wish that the current street gangs be shocked into adulthood with such suddenness (though not through the same tragic means). Ken Wahl, Karen Allen, and Linda Manz are among the standout performers in this richly detailed period piece. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ken Wahl, John Friedrich, (more)
- 1979
- PG
In this chiller, a trio of heroes must enter a black Southwestern cave and destroy an entire colony of plague-bearing bats, vampire bats. The story is based on a novel by Martin Cruz Smith. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Nick Mancuso, David Warner, (more)
This symbol-laden drama explores the inner mythology of martial arts practice and is based on a Bruce Lee story idea. The original screenplay was written by Bruce Lee, with help from actor James Coburn and screenwriter Stirling Silliphant. Lee was to take on the four-in-one role of guide in his film, leaving the hero's role to someone else. Following Bruce Lee's tragic death, the film was rewritten. David Carradine stepped in to play the mysterious guides to aspiring martial arts master Cord (Jeff Cooper). Cord lives in a desert-like world where nearly everyone he meets practices or has practised a martial art. He seeks to find the place where the true inner spirit of the martial arts is being taught. In a story which is imbued with Zen maxims and Asian philosophy, when Cord finally arrives, he finds less (and more) than he hoped for. While there are many combat and fight scenes, the general tone of the film is meditative. Cameo appearances by Roddy McDowall, Eli Wallach, and Christopher Lee supply many of the film's highlights. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- David Carradine, Jeff Cooper, (more)
- 1978
- G
A novel by Paul Gallico provides the plot for this tale of a down-on-his-luck boxing promoter (Elliott Gould). In desperation, he plots a match between the heavyweight champion of the world (Larry Pennell) and a kangaroo. ~ John Bush, Rovi
- Starring:
- Elliott Gould, Robert Mitchum, (more)
- 1976
In this drama, a gentle geologist, distraught after the rape of his wife, becomes a killer. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
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