E. Brian Dean Movies
Producer Joel Silver, director Tony Scott, and screenwriters Shane Black and Greg Hicks team up for this gridiron-set action thriller. Bruce Willis stars as Joe Hallenbeck, who was once a top-of-the-line Secret Service agent but has since become an alcoholic, flea-bag detective. While performing the chores of a two-bit shamus, he discovers his wife Sarah (Chelsea Field) is having an affair with his best friend. Joe is hired to protect Cory (Halle Berry), a stripper who has been getting death threats; Joe begins to sober up when Cory is blown to smithereens. Cory's boyfriend, Jimmy Dix (Damon Wayans), was at one time a NFL football quarterback, but was thrown out of the game for gambling and addiction to Demerol. Smelling something fishy, Joe and Jimmy begin to investigate further and discover layers of corruption in professional football circles, leading up to Sheldon Marcone (Noble Willingham), a corrupt team owner who wants to pay off legislators to legalize gambling on pro football games. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Willis, Damon Wayans, (more)
Brian Dennehy plays a Wambaugh-type cop who has flourished as a novelist. At the moment, however, Dennehy is suffering from a profound case of writer's block. Coming to the rescue, as it were, is professional hit man James Woods. Recently dumped by his boss, above-suspicion business executive Paul Shenar, Woods is anxious to tell his life story to Dennehy, in hopes of striking it rich with a tell-all bestseller. Shenar, however, takes a dim view of Woods' indiscretions, and for a while it looks as though it's curtains for both Dennehy and his teenaged daughter Allison Balson. Screenwriter Larry Cohen has claimed that Best Seller was based on Strangers on a Train. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Woods, Brian Dennehy, (more)
Timothy Hutton stars in this rabble-rousing movie in the tradition of Rocky, directed by Bob Clark. Hutton plays Jimmy Lynch, the younger brother of New York City firefighter Terry (Robert Urich). Terry is off-duty and has been drinking but rescues a young girl for a dangerous fire. When he injures himself in the fire and is hospitalized, New York City refuses to pay for his medical expenses because he was intoxicated during the rescue. Incensed that Mayor Tyler (Robert Culp) refuses to look after his brother, Jimmy decides to take them all on and mounts a series of public stunts designed to embarrass the mayor. Along the way, Jimmy becomes a folk hero, since he hides his identity behind the signature "Turk 182!" Jimmy is now a celebrity and consents to sit down for a television interview to reveal his true identity. But when the television station fails to broadcast the interview due to political pressure, Jimmy takes it upon himself to stage one final elaborate stunt to make the public aware of Terry's plight. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Timothy Hutton, Robert Urich, (more)
- 1983
Another two-part TV movie from the pen of novelist Sidney Sheldon, Rage of Angels stars Jaclyn Smith as attractive lawyer Jennifer Parker. While working as assistant D.A., Parker is targeted for persecution by organized crime, but she perseveres and emerges as one of the most successful defense attorneys in America. She is, however, not quite so lucky in matters of the heart, becoming simultaneously entangled with charismatic mob lawyer Michael Moretti (Armand Assante) and married U.S. Senate aspirant Adam Warner (Ken Howard). Serving up everything but the kitchen sink in plot complications and sinister conspiracies, Rage of Angels was telecast on February 20 and 21, 1983, garnering excellent ratings and an Emmy award for musical composer Billy Goldenberg. The film spawned a two-part sequel in 1986, Rage of Angels: The Story Continues, again with Jaclyn Smith in the lead. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1982
- PG
Manhattan cabby David Marks (Paul Perri), a widower following the hit-and-run accident that claimed his wife, is framed for murder by a fare (Claudia Cron) in this thriller also titled Revenge Squad. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Perri, Claudia Cron, (more)
Alan J. Pakula directs the political thriller Rollover, produced by leading lady Jane Fonda's production company, IPC Films. Featuring a racist plot and negative stereotypes about the Arab world, this film reflected the American fear of the Middle East prevalent in the early '80s. Fonda stars as former film star Lee Winters, who inherits a multimillion-dollar company when her corporate bigwig husband is murdered. She teams up with banker Hubbell Smith (Kris Kristofferson) in order to find her husband's killer and survive in the world of high-stakes international finance. They become lovers and travel together to Saudi Arabia to secure a loan and to guarantee Lee's spot as the company's board chairman. However, they end up discovering an Arab company's plan to withdraw money from the world's banks in order to destabilize the Western economy. Rollover also stars Hume Cronyn and Josef Sommer. This story also foreshadowed Jane Fonda's marriage to corporate bigwig Ted Turner in 1991. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jane Fonda, Kris Kristofferson, (more)
Deke DaSilva (Sylvester Stallone) and Matthew Fox (Billy Dee Williams) are New York police officers specially assigned to a special multi-national team dedicated to tracking down terrorist Wulfgar (Rutger Hauer). Wulfgar planted a bomb in a London department store, killing several children and he is now an outcast, hunted by both the police and his fellow gang members. He has extensive plastic surgery and resumes his activities aided by Shakka (Persis Khambutta), a completely psychotic fellow outcast. Soon DaSilva and Wulfgar are engaged in a violent battle of wits as Wulfgar resumes his terrorist activities and threatens New York . This very effective thriller features a chilling performance by Rutger Hauer as the handsome, ruthless cold-blooded killer who charms women into helping him and then kills them. Sylvester Stallone gives an unusually understated emotionally vulnerable performance as a man trying to save lives while he saves his own marriage. The film makes excellent use of New York locales, particularly during a terrifying hijacking of a cable car where Wulfgar coolly decides which of the hostages will live or die. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sylvester Stallone, Billy Dee Williams, (more)
Wolfen, a frightening horror movie based upon a novel by Whitley Strieber, is an absorbing update on the werewolf legend. Detective Dewey Wilson (Albert Finney) is assigned to investigate the strange murder of a millionaire and his wife in a downtown park. Wilson and his friend, city coroner Whittington (Gregory Hines), aided by criminal psychologist Rebecca Neff (Diane Venora) connect the killing to those of several others, primarily winos, drug addicts and derelicts, all of whom seem to have been mutilated by wild animals. Their search leads them to a group of Native Americans led by Edward James Olmos who tell them of a legend of a superior species that once roamed the area, but now are living and hunting in the slums of New York. The film is engrossing, frightening and intelligent, with sensational special effects. Director Michael Wadleigh uses these effects to great advantage, frequently showing the movements of the characters through the eyes of the "Wolfen." This film is also the screen debut of Gregory Hines. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Albert Finney, Diane Venora, (more)
Woody Allen's tenth film as writer/director, Stardust Memories opens with a scene reminiscent of the opening of 8 1/2 and continues to use that film for inspiration. Sandy Bates (Allen) sits in a train at a train station, the car filled with very unhappy looking people. In a train on another set of tracks, Bates sees a wonderful party going on. A beautiful woman blows him a kiss as the happy train pulls out of the station. Bates is a famous film director who has been invited to attend a festival of his work being held at the Stardust hotel. He attends the event, but is ceaselessly harassed by fans who accost him and repel him in equal measure. While consistently hearing the complaints from fans, critics, and even space aliens that his earlier comedies are superior to his dramatic work, Bates juggles a trio of women in his private life. His encounters during the course of the retrospective force Bates to take a long look at himself. Sharon Stone makes one of her first film appearances as the woman who blows Sandy a kiss. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Woody Allen, Charlotte Rampling, (more)
- 1980
Colleen Dewhurst stars as psychologist Elaine Lipton in the made-for-TV Death Penalty. A strong opponent of the eponymous punishment, Dr. Lipton struggles valiantly to rehabilitate street gang member Carlos Rivera (David Labiosa). Convicted of murdering two rival gang members, Carlos faces the gas chamber unless Lipton can prove that he's cleaned up his act. This fictional drama would make an interesting double feature with the fact-based Dead Man Walking (1996). Death Penalty originally aired January 22, 1980. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1979
- PG
Although it is far from a perfectly contrived drama, Defiance has its moments of high emotions and rising fear. Tommy (Jan Michael Vincent) takes up temporary housing in a New York neighborhood plagued by a violent gang, the Souls. Tommy is waiting for his next assignment as a seaman and though he tries to avoid the gang and his neighbors, it does not work. Soon he is single-handedly battling the Souls and not only changing their attitudes, but the attitudes of his previously intimidated neighbors as well. They quickly back him up as the one person who can make the neighborhood safe again. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jan-Michael Vincent, Theresa Saldana, (more)
