Norman Bush Movies
Jim Henson's Muppets find themselves in Manhattan yearning to get a musical on Broadway in this charming film that also chides show business and its foibles. Kermit the Frog has just put together a successful variety show at Danhurst college (probably somewhere between Amherst and Dartmouth), and although he would like to mount it on Broadway so he would have a hit and be able to marry Miss Piggy, he cannot find backers. The Muppets are then forced to take jobs to support themselves, and it is while working as a waiter that Kermit meets the friendly Jennie (Juliana Donald). Jennie is the daughter of the owner of the restaurant and a source of great jealousy for Miss Piggy, who does not like competition. With stunning musical numbers involving a hundred or so Muppets and on-scene locations in New York City, the film is impressive in its merging of technical achievements and acting. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jim Henson, Frank Oz, (more)
"His code name is Condor. In the next 24 hours, everyone he trusts will try to kill him." As the ads ominously announced, a low-level spook confronts the unfathomable in Sydney Pollack's 1975 political thriller, adapted from the James Grady novel Six Days of the Condor. CIA researcher Joe Turner (Robert Redford) returns from lunch to find the entire staff of his small New York office assassinated. When he meets his boss (Cliff Robertson) at another location to tell him what happened, someone tries to shoot Turner as well. On the run from the cops and his agency, a desperate Turner resorts to holing up with innocent civilian Kathy (Faye Dunaway), who becomes his only ally. Joe decides to save himself the only way possible: by going to The New York Times. But will it work? One of a cycle of conspiracy films from the 1970s that also included The Parallax View (1974) and Redford's All the President's Men (1976), Three Days of the Condor pits a working Everyman (albeit a CIA everyman) against a far-reaching conspiracy, as it also criticizes the CIA during a period of increasing publicity about federal wrongdoing, from the Pentagon Papers through Watergate and other congressional investigations; the challenge of negotiating New York City, shot on location, becomes one more sign of the forces that Joe must face. With its timely subject matter, taut suspense, and sympathetic Redford hero, Three Days of the Condor became a substantial hit. Balancing the conspiracy cycle's pessimism with a margin of attenuated hope, Three Days of the Condor suggests that one man can still discover the truth, but whether it helps him remains to be seen. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Redford, Faye Dunaway, (more)
- 1974
- R
"Batman and Robin" are the principal characters in the fact-based The Super Cops. Well, not the real Batman and Robin; these just happen to be the nicknames of two irrepressible New York City cops, Dave Greenberg (Ron Leibman) and Bob Hantz (David Selby). Flying in the face of departmental procedure and protocol, Greenberg and Hantz use bizarre (and often amusing) extreme methods to rid the streets of drug merchants. The two gonzo cops find an unexpected ally in the form of a prostitute named Sara (Sheila E. Frazer). Adapted by Lorenzo Semple Jr. (who coincidentally wrote the Batman TV pilot episode) from the best-selling book by L. H. Whitemore, The Super Cops features the genuine Dave Greenberg and Bob Hantz in minor roles...as cops, naturally. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ron Leibman, David Selby, (more)
