Diana Davidson Movies
- 1986
Australian Allan Penney must not only endure the encroaching exigencies of old age, but also the indignities perpetrated by his unfeeling wife Diana Davidson and his bragadoccio ex-business partner Rob Steele. Davidson bundles Penney off to a nursing home while she embarks on an around-the-world tour. Hoping to ferret out Penney's secret bank account, his avaricious sons Philip Quast and Kelly Dingwell bring the doddering, all-but-blind old man home, feign concern for his well-being, and stage a "world cruise" in Penney's backyard! Their charade extends to a shopping mall, which stands in as both an airport and Las Vegas. Though in the early stages of senility, Penney eventually figures out he's being hoodwinked, but decides to keep mum, seeing just how far his sons are willing to go for his "benefit." Entering into the spirit of things, he demands geisha girls upon "arriving" in Japan. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Philip Quast, Allan Penney, (more)
- 1984
Amateur acting on the part of newcomer Svet Kovich as the deranged son of a philandering doctor, and the inexperience of first-time director Paul Harmon are partly balanced by the excellent cinematography of Paul Onorato in this unexceptional melodrama, never released theatrically. Dr. Ray Sangster (Alan Cassell) is having an affair with Nicky (Anna Jamison), a fashion designer. Sangster is unknowingly followed about and photographed by his son. The son's objective is not to blackmail the illicit couple but to bed down Nicky himself. When he finally manages to achieve that objective, under an assumed identity, he is overcome by impotence -- which sets him off into completely irrational acts. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Cassell, Svet Kovich, (more)
- 1980
- R
When a DNA experiment screws up, a mutant is created which turns into a people-devouring menace. It kills people by sucking spinal fluid from their spinal columns. A genetics student and an ex-cop team up to locate the awful creature. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Stinson, Diana Davidson, (more)
"You've got to ask yourself a question: 'do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?" Dirty Harry provoked a critical uproar in 1971 for its "fascist" message about the power of one, as it also elevated Clint Eastwood to superstar status through his most enduring screen persona. Harry Callahan (Eastwood, in a role meant for Frank Sinatra) is a sardonic, hard-working San Francisco cop who can't finish his lunch without having to foil a bank robbery with his 44 Magnum, "the most powerful handgun in the world." When hippie-esque psycho Scorpio (Andy Robinson) goes on a killing spree, Harry and new partner Chico (Reni Santoni) are assigned to hunt him down, but not before the Mayor (John Vernon) and Lt. Bressler (Harry Guardino) admonish Callahan about his heavy-handed tactics. Racing against a deadline to save a kidnap victim from suffocating to death and unbothered by the niceties of Miranda rights and search warrants, Callahan brings in Scorpio, only to see him released on technicalities. "The law's crazy," opines Harry in disgust, before taking it upon himself to ensure that Scorpio doesn't kill again. Directed in violent and efficient fashion by Don Siegel, with a propulsive score by Lalo Schifrin, Dirty Harry was the fourth Siegel-Eastwood collaboration after Coogan's Bluff (1968), Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970), and The Beguiled (1970). Critics at the time strongly objected to the heroic image of a cop's violations of a suspect's Miranda rights, forcing Siegel and Eastwood to deny that they were right-wing reactionaries. All the same, Dirty Harry proved to be highly popular and spawned four sequels: Magnum Force (1973), The Enforcer (1976), Sudden Impact (1983), and The Dead Pool (1988). ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clint Eastwood, Harry Guardino, (more)
