Joe Black Movies
- 1993
- R
- Add A Bronx Tale to Queue
Robert De Niro made his directorial debut with this expanded adaptation of Chazz Palminteri's one-character play. DeNiro's role of Lorenzo Anello, an Italian-America bus driver, is secondary to the part of his son Calogero, played by young Francis Capra. The top dog in Calogero's Bronx neighborhood is flashy "wiseguy" Sonny (Chazz Palminteri). When the boy witnesses Sonny commit a murder, he honors the code of the streets and refuses to tell the cops. Sonny befriends him and introduces the impressionable youngster to the creature comforts that mob connections can bring. But though he idolizes Sonny, the boy loves and respects his decent, honest father. It takes a major tragedy for the 17-year-old boy (now played by Lillo Brancato) to decide his true course in life. Though titled A Bronx Tale and set in the Bronx of the 1960s, the film was actually shot in the somewhat safer environs of Brooklyn and Queens. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert De Niro, Chazz Palminteri, (more)
- 1991
Cliff (Bill Cosby), Russell (Earle Hyman) and a pair of Negro Baseball League veterans named Frank (played by real life Major League hall-of-famer Frank Robinson) and Joe (Joe Black) spend a delightful afternoon swapping baseball stories. Miffed by this plebian conviviality, Cliff doctor friend Jim (Sullivan Walker) and his snobbish cohort Carleton (Norman Beaton) begin trading stories about the "gentleman's" game of cricket. One thing leads to another, and ere the sun sets Jim has challenged Cliff to a winner-take-all cricket match--in the Huxtable living room. Sportscaster Ahmad Rashad, the husband of series costar Phylicia Rashad, appears as a TV game-show host in a subplot involving a suddenly "brilliant" Olivia (Raven-Symone). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1984
Vacillating between the suspense of a thriller and the absurdity of a farce, this uneven story about a demonized telephone company intent on controlling everyone's lives ends up in cinematic limbo -- neither farce nor thriller. When Mavis (Julie Walters) leaves her gay husband to go live in an apartment with her daughter, she receives a call from him saying he is about to come over for a visit. Nothing happens. Then the telephone does other strange things, and as she sets out to discover why, the people she meets are as odd as her phone. She comes across a dwarf with a giant libido and an expert in conspiracy theories who holds his own views (not created jointly with others). The woman would have been better off getting an answering machine, much needed to resolve the plot holes in this story. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julie Walters, David Rappaport, (more)
- 1980
An old-fashioned drama about old-fashioned values in an old-fashioned town called Shillingbury, this conventional film may not be quite the ticket for a more cynical, demanding audience (whatever their age). Pop musician Peter (Robin Nedwell) and his wife Sally (Diane Keen) take refuge in Shillingbury when their mod, mad life in the Big City gets more than they can handle. The problem is that the small town's band assaults the senses, especially the musical senses, every time the group gathers to play. They can empty out a room quicker than a fire alarm. So Peter agrees to take them on, coach them, and bring back an audience. As a result, the band members rebel because they love their old leader, Saltie (Trevor Howard) and resent his being shoved aside. Their rebellion, it turns out, produces exactly the opposite of what everyone in the town had expected, including themselves. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Trevor Howard, Robin Nedwell, (more)
- 1976
Blackballed by his peers, crackpot conservationist Zacardi (Vladek Sheybal) intends to get even with his highly trained birds, which swoop down and kill on his orders. Steed (Patrick MacNee), Purdey (Joanna Lumley) and Gambit (Gareth Hunt) endeavor to stop Zacardi in his plan to take over the world with his feathered friends. The climax of this episode (the top-rated installment of The New Avengers' first season) finds Purdey in perilous predicament that would even make Alfred Hitchcock nervous. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Macnee, Gareth Hunt, (more)
