James Beach Movies

This macabre, whimsical, erotic, dark, seriocomic film is a complex tale about an eccentric family and the psychological and emotional maelstroms that follow them around from New England to New York to Vienna, where the Hotel New Hampshire is located. Writer-director Tony Richardson worked from the convoluted novel by John Irving that covers most universally saleable topics -- homosexuality, death, incest, abandonment, Nazis, masochism, terrorists, rape, mental instability, and anarchists. The children in the family are the main focus: John (Rob Lowe) is a womanizing high-school student with a deep-rooted desire for his own sister; Franny (Jodie Foster) is the eldest daughter, a victim of a gang rape, now morbidly fascinated by one of the rapists, and equally attracted to her brother with incestuous desire; Frank (Paul McCrane) is the younger gay brother; and Lilly (Jennifer Dundas) is the little sister who blossoms into a famous author. Associated with the family is Suzie the Bear (Nastassja Kinski) who is not secure enough to come out of her bear suit. One friend of the family, Freud (Wallace Shawn), has been blinded by the Nazis and is running the Hotel New Hampshire in Vienna when he asks everyone to come and help him out. By this time, the plot has run out of room, and the climactic endings to several unresolved relationships happen in quick succession. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In this melodramatic story, a college professor and his family experience trauma and tears when the professor discovers that his one-time lover in France has recently died and left a son behind -- his son. When the young boy shows up on the doorstep because the shocked father can only do what is right and offer him a home, the professor (Martin Sheen), his wife (Blythe Danner), and their children -- as well as the boy -- face new issues in a crisis that threatens the once-cohesive family. Both Sheen and Danner carry their roles beyond the sappy limitations of the script, but neither can change an unsatisfactory ending meant only to bring out another handkerchief. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The plot is set in motion by a corrupt banker who has stolen several million dollars in US bonds. Also playing key roles in the intrigue are a mob fence and a professional assassin. Truly, crimefighting makes strange bedfellows: In his efforts to capture the banker and foil the other villains, NYPD lieutenant Kojak (Telly Savalas) is forced to team up with a cat burglar (Henry Darrow). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

John (Randolph Mantooth) is pushed to the brink by the bad driving habits of others, and also joins Roy (Kevin Tighe) as he teaches a CPR class formerly conducted by John's late mentor. Meanwhile, the emergency staff tries to rescue a child stuck in a hollow tree, and to determine the source of a college football star's mysterious back pains. Also on the docket is a cardiac victim, trapped on the third floor of a burning hotel. Appearing as a football coach is Dick Yarmy, the brother of comedian Don Adams. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This made-for-television feature (which premiered on the ABC Movie Of The Week) attracted slightly more interest than usual, due in part to the presence an unusually recognizable supporting cast (including several players, such as Joseph Cotten, Keenan Wynn and Dewey Martin, who'd had real film careers, going back to the 1940's), and Star Trek's Leonard Nimoy in the lead. Nimoy plays Commander Phil Kettenring, the captain of the nuclear submarine Wayne, which has been assigned a critical, top-secret mission involving a less than completely cooperative scientist (Malachi Throne). What Kettenring doesn't know is that the Eastern bloc enemy (this being the middle of the Cold War) is already on to the mission. They've not only got a fairly clever trap set for the sub in mid-ocean, but have also infiltrated the crew at key points. As the Wayne's and her commander's problems mount, the crew begins to lose confidence in Kettenring, threatening not only the mission, but the safety of the sub. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide