Robert E. Relyea Movies
- 2007
Axel Schill's non-fiction work The Man Who Shot Chinatown: The Life and Work of John A. Alonzo joins Light Keeps Me Company, Tell Them Who You Are, and other recent documentaries in paying homage to one of the world's great cinematographers. Active from the early 1960s until just before his death in early 2001, Alonzo beat the odds as a young man by migrating to the U.S. as a Mexican farmer's son and then working his way up to ultimately qualify as one of the most revered cinematographers in the American film industry. Among other accomplishments, he lit a string of contemporary classics including Harold and Maude (1971), The Bad News Bears (1976), Scarface (1983), and Steel Magnolias (1989). Schill cuts together interviews with such Alonzo collaborators as Richard Dreyfuss, Sally Field, and Michael Crichton, and illustrates many of their observations with clips from the esteemed director of photography's finest work. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sid Levin, Andy Sidaris, (more)
Arnold Schwarzenegger appears as a pumped-up Shakespearian hero while an announcer bellows, "Something is rotten in Denmark -- and Hamlet is taking out the trash!" This gag sets the stage for the post-modernist action epic The Last Action Hero. The film concerns Danny Madigan (Austin O'Brien), a lonely eleven-year-old boy who escapes from his bleak New York City reality by glorying in the action adventure movies of his favorite film character, Jack Slater (Arnold Schwarzenegger). Danny's friend is an elderly movie projectionist, Nick (Robert Prosky), who lets Danny into the shabby Times Square movie theater where he works so Danny can see Slater's new movie. He hands Danny a magic ticket given to him years ago by Houdini, and when Nick rips the ticket and gives Danny the stub, Danny finds himself catapulted from the theater into the back seat of Slater's speeding sports car in "Jack Slater IV." Danny becomes Slater's helper as Jack battles a trio of nefarious bad guys --Benedict (Charles Dance), Vivaldi (Anthony Quinn) and The Ripper (Tom Noonan). But things get out of hand when Benedict steals Danny's magic ticket stub and transports himself into Danny's reality. Benedict and The Ripper proceed to wreak havoc along Broadway, forcing Slater to cross into reality to get the villains and, in the process, learn about blood and pain. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Arnold Schwarzenegger, Austin O'Brien, (more)
- 1978
Adapted by James Lee Barrett and Liam O'Brien from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel trilogy by Conrad Richter, The Awakening Land is the story of 27 years (1790 through 1817) in the life of frontierswoman Sayward Luckett Wheeler, played by Elizabeth Montgomery. Amidst the expected hardships and setbacks, emphasis is placed upon the loves in Sayward's life: love of her family, the poverty-stricken Pennsylvania Lucketts; love of her husband, a poetic Massachussetts lawyer known as "The Solitary" (Hal Holbrook); and love and of her land in the Ohio territory. Actress/choreographer Marge Champion, the ex-wife of Awakening Land director Boris Sagal, added immeasurably to the versimilitude of the drama by instructing the actors in the proper speech patterns and body language of the region in which the story takes place. Emmy Award nominations went to actors Montgomery, Holbrook and Jeanette Nolan. This 7-hour miniseries was originally telecast in three parts, on February 19, 20 and 21, 1978. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1976
In this unsold TV-series pilot film, six former circus performers pool their individual talents for a daring daylight jewel heist. Ostensibly nothing more than common thieves, the six protagonists are actually acting from the noblest motives. If they are able to swipe a rare Latin American artifact known as "The Mask of the Sun" from a Washington D.C. embassy, they will (hopefully) be able to ransom a group of American medical missionaries who have been sentenced to a firing squad. Victor Buono stars as Sebastian, the leader of the co-ed criminal team. High Risk originally aired over ABC on May 15, 1976, in tandem with another "busted pilot," Panache. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1976
Panache, that dashing 17th century poet, swordsman and lover, is played by Rene Auberjonois. In true Alexander Dumas fashion, Panache is accompanied in his adventures by two musketeers, naive Alain (Charles Frank) and worldly Donat (David Healy). In this made for TV pilot film, Panache and his comrades protect the Queen (Amy Irving) from the machinations of Cardinal Richelieu (Joe Ruskin), whose chief lieutenant is the insidious Rochefort (Charles Siebert). Everyone obviously had a lot of fun making Panache, especially Rene Auberjonois, a consummate character actor who never received a TV role quite this colorful again. What a wonderful series this would have made...but 1976 wasn't the year of the TV swashbuckler, not with such 20th century favorites as Henry Winkler and Suzanne Somers around. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1974
- R
George C. Scott produced, directed and distributed this offbeat drama. Near the turn of the century, John (Scott), his wife Maidi (Trish VanDevere) and their young son David (Lee Montgomery) are shipwrecked on a remote island. Resigned to the fact they may never be rescued, John teaches David how to survive on his own, and instills in him a macho philosophy that the strong will always defeat the weak. As the years pass, David (now played by John Carson) grows to adulthood, and he begins formulating his own interpretation of his father's teachings -- as the stronger man, he is now ruler of the island, and that the island's only woman should rightfully be his. The Savage Is Loose was the second and last theatrical feature George C. Scott would direct, though he would later helm a made-for-TV movie about the life of baseball great Satchel Paige. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Director Mike Nichols and screenwriter Buck Henry team up again (after collaborating on The Graduate and Catch-22) for this adaptation of Robert Merle's best-selling adventure novel concerning dolphins who become pawns in a plot to kill the president. George C. Scott plays Dr. Jake Terrell, a researcher who, along with his wife Maggie (Trish Van Devere), is investigating dolphin intelligence, believing they have the capability of speech. Harold DeMilo (Fritz Weaver), in charge of a major corporation, sponsors their work. But undercover work by government agent Curtis Mahoney (Paul Sorvino) reveals that DeMilo is working with a right-wing group planning to kidnap the dolphins and use them to blow up the presidential yacht. Jake and Maggie have to race against time to save both their dolphins and the president. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George C. Scott, Trish VanDevere, (more)
Steve McQueen is ideally cast as a champion race car driver, participating in the famed 24-hour race headquartered in Le Mans, France. Though dedicated to Going for the Gold, McQueen finds time to romance widowed Elga Andersen. The dramatic angle to this plot wrinkle is that McQueen may well have been responsible for the death of Andersen's husband during a previous car pile-up. Director John Sturges, who'd previously helmed Steve McQueen's legendary motorcycle chase scenes in The Great Escape, was originally slated to direct Le Mans, but withdrew from the project; it was then taken over by Lee H. Katzin of The Phynx. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steve McQueen, Siegfried Rauch, (more)
Looking like a high-school junior, Michael Douglas plays a college professor in Adam at 6 AM. Tired of academia, Douglas opts for the supposed tranquility of rural Missouri. After working as farm hand for a few weeks, he realizes that his "normal" neighbors are as screwed up as any of his more sophisticated friends. To punch up the film's leisurely screenplay, a great deal of sex talk is injected, which may have sounded daring in 1970 but which plays like an episode of Married: With Children nowadays. Adam at 6 AM is blessed with a superb supporting cast: among the secondary actors is 1940s leading lady Anne Gwynne, making a one-time-only film comeback. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Douglas, Lee Purcell, (more)
Adapted from William Faulkner's final novel, The Reivers top-bills Steve McQueen, but the major character is feisty 11-year-old Lucius McCaslin, played by Mitch Vogel. Growing up in Mississippi in the early 1900s, Lucius finds himself (through a hectic series of circumstances) in a bordello, where he is nearly killed trying to defend the "fast lady" (Sharon Farrell) who has befriended him. He has been brought to the house of ill repute by ne'er-do-well farm hand Boon Hoggenbeck (Steve McQueen), with whom he has been tooling about the countryside in a vintage automobile, together with his very distant African-American relative Ned (Rupert Crosse). This adventure segues into the next, as the three man combine their resources to train a broken-down racehorse. Meanwhile, Vogel's grandfather (Will Geer), who owns the fancy automobile that the "reivers" hope to win back, threatens to reappear at any moment to tan Lucius's bottom. Not exactly as wholesome as a Disney film, The Reivers is nonetheless acceptable family entertainment, with Steve McQueen delivering one of his best and most laid-back performances. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steve McQueen, Sharon Farrell, (more)
Robert L. Pike's crime novel Mute Witness makes the transition to the big screen in this film from director Peter Yates. In one of his most famous roles, Steve McQueen stars as tough-guy police detective Frank Bullitt. The story begins with Bullitt assigned to a seemingly routine detail, protecting mafia informant Johnny Ross (Pat Renella), who is scheduled to testify against his Mob cronies before a Senate subcommittee in San Francisco. But when a pair of hitmen ambush their secret location, fatally wounding Ross, things don't add up for Bullitt, so he decides to investigate the case on his own. Unfortunately for him, ambitious senator Walter Chalmers (Robert Vaughn), the head of the aforementioned subcommittee, wants to shut his investigation down, hindering Bullitt's plan to not only bring the killers to justice but discover who leaked the location of the hideout. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn, (more)
Based on the 1934 play by Lillian Hellman, The Children's Hour is set at an exclusive girl's school managed by best friends Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine. When student Karen Balkin is punished for one of her many misdeeds, the mean-spirited youngster rushes to her wealthy aunt Fay Bainter, and, randomly choosing a phrase she has undoubtedly read in some magazine, accuses Hepburn and MacLaine of having an "unnatural relationship." As Balkin's lies grow in viciousness, the student's parents withdraw their children from the school. Hepburn and MacLaine sue Bainter for libel, only to lose their case when MacLaine's aunt Miriam Hopkins refuses to testify as a character witness. The trial takes its toll on the relationship between Hepburn and her boyfriend James Garner. When Bainter discovers that her niece has been lying, she tries to make amends, but it is too late. Director William Wyler had also helmed the first film version of Children's Hour, 1936's These Three, which due to censorship restrictions of the time did without the lesbian angle (the little girl's accusations involved a supposed romantic triangle between the two ladies and a male friend). Miriam Hopkins, who plays a supporting role in The Children's Hour, originally essayed the Shirley MacLaine role in These Three. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine, (more)
Romeo and Juliet is updated to the tenements of New York City in this Oscar-winning musical landmark. Adapted by Ernest Lehman from the Broadway production, the movie opens with an overhead shot of Manhattan, an effect that director Robert Wise would repeat over the Alps in The Sound of Music four years later. We are introduced to two rival street gangs: the Jets, second-generation American teens, and the Sharks, Puerto Rican immigrants. When the war between the Jets and Sharks reaches a fever pitch, Jets leader Riff (Russ Tamblyn) decides to challenge the Sharks to one last "winner take all" rumble. He decides to meet Sharks leader Bernardo (George Chakiris) for a war council at a gymnasium dance; to bolster his argument, Riff wants his old pal Tony (Richard Beymer), the cofounder of the Jets, to come along. But Tony has set his sights on vistas beyond the neighborhood and has fallen in love with Bernardo's sister, Maria (Natalie Wood), a love that, as in Romeo and Juliet, will eventually end in tragedy. In contrast to the usual slash-and-burn policy of Hollywood musical adaptations, all the songs written by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim for the original Broadway production of West Side Story were retained for the film version, although some alterations were made to appease the Hollywood censors, and the original order of two songs was reversed for stronger dramatic impact. The movie more than retains the original choreography of Jerome Robbins, which is recreated in some of the most startling and balletic dance sequences ever recorded on film. West Side Story won an almost-record ten Oscars, including Best Picture, supporting awards to Chakiris and Rita Moreno as Bernardo's girlfriend, Anita, and Best Director to Robbins and Wise. Richard Beymer's singing was dubbed by Jimmy Bryant, Natalie Wood's by Marni Nixon (who also dubbed Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady), and Rita Moreno's by Betty Wand. The film's New York tenement locations were later razed to make room for Lincoln Center. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, (more)
John Wayne's directorial debut The Alamo is set in 1836: Wayne plays Col. Davy Crockett, who, together with Colonels Jim Bowie (Richard Widmark) and William Travis (Laurence Harvey) and 184 hardy Americans and Texicans, defends the Alamo mission against the troops of Mexican general Santa Ana. There's a lot of macho byplay before the actual attack, including the famous "letter" scene in which Wayne craftily rouses the patriotic ire of his subordinates. Also appearing are Richard Boone as Sam Houston, and Chill Wills (whose somewhat tasteless Oscar campaign has since become legendary in the annals of shameless self-promotion) as Beekeeper. Wayne's production crew was compelled to reconstruct the Alamo in Bracketville, Texas, about a hundred miles from the actual site. Dimitri Tiomkin's score, including The Green Leaves of Summer, received generous airplay on the Top-40 radio outlets of America. Rumors persist that Wayne's old pal John Ford directed most of The Alamo; cut to 161 minutes for its general release, the film was restored to its original, 192-minute length in 1992. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Richard Widmark, (more)
One of the best of Elvis Presley's pre-Army films, Jailhouse Rock offers us the sensual, "dangerous" Elvis that had won the hearts of the kids and earned the animosity of their elders. Presley plays a young buck who accidentally kills a man while protecting the honor of a woman. Thrown into prison, Elvis strikes up a friendship with visionary fellow-con Mickey Shaughnessy. Shaughnessy suggests that Elvis perform in the upcoming prison show. Ol' swivel-hips scores a hit, and decides to stay in showbiz after his release. Together with pretty Judy Tyler (the former Princess Summerfall Winterspring on Howdy Doody, who would die in a horrible traffic accident shortly after completing this film), Elvis sets up his own record company. Alas, success goes to his head, and soon Elvis plans to ditch Tyler in favor of signing with a big-time label. Shaughnessy shows up long enough to punch out Elvis for his disloyalty; as a result, Elvis' vocal chords are damaged and he is unable to sing. Deserted by his flunkeys and hangers-on, Elvis learns the value of friendship and fidelity when Tyler and Shaughnessy stay by his side in his darkest hours. His voice restored, Elvis climbs back up the charts--but this time, he's a much nicer fellow, and a lot more committed to Tyler. Usually the musical numbers in a Presley picture (this one has a doozy, complete with chorus boys dressed as convicts!) are more compelling than the plot. Jailhouse Rock is a perfect balance of song and story from beginning to end; seldom would Elvis be so well showcased in the future. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elvis Presley, Judy Tyler, (more)
