Frank London Movies
A young woman who had previously forsaken the Orthodox lifestyle attempts to make amends with her father by acquiring a couch said to have been used by many famous Jewish figures in this humorous documentary from filmmaker Pearl Gluck. As a teenager, Gluck rebelled against her Orthodox upraising by moving to Manhattan to experience life on the secular side. When Gluck's father expresses a desire for his daughter to marry and return to Brooklyn, Gluck attempts to reach a compromise with her father by traveling to Hungary and retrieving a turn-of-the-century couch from her family's past that is said to have been slept upon by a series of esteemed rabbis. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
An ordinary guy with a crooked friend discovers no good deed goes unpunished in the comedy On The Run. Albert (Michael Imperioli) is having a quiet evening at home when he gets a call from his old pal Louie (John Ventimigila), whom he hasn't heard from in years. There's a good reason for this -- Louie's been in prison. Ever since childhood, Louie has never been able to stay out of trouble, though whenever they're together, the blame for Louie's indiscretions always seems to fall on Albert's shoulders. Louie calls Albert to tell him he's just broken out of jail and would like Albert to meet him at the bus station. Albert calls the police to tell them a fugitive is due on the next bus, but he soon thinks better of it and makes a dash to the depot, hoping to warn Louie in time. Louie manages to evade the cops, but Albert soon finds himself stuck with Louie for the evening, as he's dragged along for a progressively more dangerous series of misadventures where he's always left holding the bag. Though directed by a Portuguese filmmaker and financed by French and Portuguese production companies, On the Run was filmed on location in New York City, with English dialogue and a primarily American cast. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Imperioli, John Ventimiglia, (more)
The Radical Jewish Culture movement flowered in the East Village of lower Manhattan during the early '90s, and embodied a successful attempt to link Jewish work in the creative arts (such as music, painting and sculpture) with extreme leftwing social activism. With her 1997 documentary Sabbath in Paradise, German filmmaker Claudia Heuermann pulls from several resources, including interviews with the movers and shakers in this movement and electrifying concert clips, to weave together a portrait of this exciting ethno-cultural phenomenon. Participants include: Jon Madof, Jamie Saft, Steve Bernstein, Shanir Blumenkranz and many others. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
Mick (Michael Raynor) and Lex (Nick Chinlund) are a pair of brothers who grew up in Harlem under circumstances that were difficult at best. Their mother Doreen (Cathy Moriarty) was a diabetic with a drinking problem and difficulty in saying no to men. While she wasn't a prostitute, she grew dependent on the little gifts her lovers would bring by, and as kids, Mick and Lex learned to accept this as the way things were. One night, Mick and Lex were taking a walk in the park when they were accosted by a cop who molested the younger Mick. Lex, older and strong as a grown man, attacked the cop, which led to a stay in a reform school. Years later, Mick is himself a policeman; while he's tried to bury the childhood incident in his past, he still shows emotional scars and is sexually dysfunctional. Lex, however, has taken the more dramatic slide. Since his stay in reform school, Lex has been in and out of trouble; today he has a combative relationship with Debbie (Rosie Perez), his girlfriend and the mother of his child and a going-nowhere job driving a bus. He also sells drugs for local dealer Lefty Louie (John Leguizamo), but has developed enough of a habit that his sales don't begin to compensate for the amount he uses himself. Mick tries to look out for his big brother, but it might be too late to save him. A Brother's Kiss was based on a play by writer/director Seth Zvi Rosenfeld, who grew up in the same neighborhood as actor Michael Raynor; Raynor and Nick Chinlund were also friends as children. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nick Chinlund, Michael Raynor, (more)
A group of women reunite for a weekend of fun and bittersweet reflection in this drama, which has been described as a lesbian version of The Big Chill. Katie (Stacey Nelkin) was a member of a leftist street theater and political action group in the early '70s, and 14 years later, she and her lover Victoria (Monica Bell) invite several of their old friends, some of whom they haven't seen in 14 years, to celebrate the bris of their son Daniel (Katie was artificially inseminated, using sperm donated by Victoria's brother). Maria (Olivia Negron) is dealing with losing her children in a nasty custody battle following an ill-advised marriage, while Josie (Ellen McLaughlin), who was Maria's lover for years, never fully healed after their break up. Candy (Malindi Fickle), a successful businesswoman at 23, arrives on the arm of Katie's friend Luce (Andre Weber), a hard-drinking professional stuntwoman who blames herself for the death of her ex-girlfriend. Gina (Gabriella Messina), a tough-talking former prostitute and current folk singer, is quite attracted to Luce, but she can only express it with snide jokes and playful insults. Sarah (Carol Schneider) is the lone confirmed heterosexual of the group; she loves her husband and is happy with her career, but she is frustrated by her inability to have a child. Everything Relative was the debut feature for writer/director Sharon Pollack; Harvey Fierstein makes a cameo appearance as a rabbi. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ellen McLaughlin, Olivia Negron, (more)
Containing romance, sex, and political musing spiced with generous amounts of black comedy, this non-narrative goulash from Yvonne Ranier looks at the lives, loves and concerns of post-menopausal lesbians living in conservative America. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
This unusual documentary profiles angry young filmmaker, political activist and AIDS patient Gregg Bordowitz. The ways in which the disease has affected his art are also explored. To tell his story a variety of elements from his life are woven together including his personal musings, the daily realities of AIDS, his Jewishness, family life, and the effects of political activism on his life. Also explored are the positive effects that AIDS has had on Bordowitz's life. He was diagnosed in 1988 when he was only 23. This lead him to come out about his homosexuality, quit taking drugs and drinking, and it gave him a sense of belonging. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
In this comedy, an introverted journalist for a prominent magazine is assigned to do a story on "Little America" in Antarctica. Once there he gets in all sorts of trouble with the army, a rival, and the penguin Milton Fox. He also finds himself embroiled in a plot to ship some Kiwi women to the base, and in the attempted defections of a number of Russian scientists. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Maharis, Robert Morse, (more)
By the year 1974, robots have replaced humans in the boxing ring. Travelling from one tank-town to another, fight manager Steel Kelly (Lee Marvin) hopes to squeeze one last bout out of his robot client Battling Maxo. Unable to pay for repairs when Maxo malfunctions, Steel grimly determines to win the prize money by taking the robot's place in the ring. Scripted by Richard Matheson from his own short story, "Steel" made its Twilight Zone network bow on October 4, 1963. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lee Marvin, Joe Mantell, (more)
Bart's cousin Jacqueline (Kathy Bennett) is conned out of the $10,000 she needs to square her family's debts by the inimitable Big Ed Murphy. It seems that Murphy claims he's invented a machine that can manufacture money--not counterfeit, but the genuine article. In order to get Jacqueline's cash back, Bart (Jack Kelly) must somehow beat Big Ed at his own crooked game. Originally played by John Dehner in the previous episode "Greenbacks, Unlimited", Bug Ed Murphy is herein portrayed by Andrew Duggan, who was then starring in another Warner Bros. TV series, Room for One More. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In the first episode of a two-part story, Elliot Ness (Robert Stack) is convinced that Al Capone (Neville Brand) is receiving prefential treatment while serving a sentence for tax evasion at the Federal prison in Atlanta. Pulling a few strings, Ness arranges for Big Al to be transferred to a newer, tougher penal institution called Alcatraz. While several of Capone's flunkeys take financial advantage of his absence, there are others who find it advantageous to cook up a scheme to spring "Scarface" from the prison train that is transporting him to "The Rock." The opening scenes in which Capone is seen being pampered by corrupt penitentiary officials resulted in a protest from the Bureau of Prisons, who demanded that the episode be preceded with a disclaimer insisting that it was complete work of fiction. Parts One and Two of "The Big Train" were lated combined into a feature film and released theatrically as Alcatraz Express. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Long before he costarred in Bewitched, Dick York was forced to contend with unwelcome magical powers in this Twilight Zone episode. York is cast as bank clerk Hector Poole, who suddenly finds himself gifted with the power to read other people's minds. Hoping to use this power to his advantage, Hector ends up with a heap o' trouble instead. This being a comic episode, however, there's a happy (or at least satisfying ending). Watch for Hayden Rorke, Dr. Bellows from I Dream of Jeannie, in a key supporting role. The first Twilight Zone script written by George Clayton Johnson, "A Penny for Your Thoughts" originally aired February 3, 1961. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dick York, June Dayton, (more)
Once again, Bart (Jack Kelly) wins big in a poker game. And once again, his prize is not a pile of cash but instead a piece of property--in this case, a bank. What Bart doesn't know is that the bank is about to go bust...and there are quite a few gun-toting depositors who will be sorely annoyed when their assets disappear. Featured in the cast as Blackjack Carney is Frank DeKova, who went on to play the timorous Indian chief Wild Eagle on F Troop. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Elliot Ness (Robert Stack) breathing down his neck, Mig Torrance (Mike Kellin), head of With a large and thriving prostitution racket, moves his base of operations south of the Mexican border. Though Mig refuses to dirty his hands with firearms, he has no qualms about dispatching his minions to gun down anyone who threatens his business; as a result, the hookers victimized by Torrance are unwilling to cooperate with the Feds. In the end, Ness must bank upon the courage of feisty retired madam Mrs. B (Betty Field)--and the cowardice of Torrance's sniveling kid brother Ernie (a decidedly pre-Bewitched Dick York). "The White Slavers" boasts a higher dead-body count than any other Untouchables episode...and also features the single most brutal act of violence in the series' history. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
















