Alan Dellay Movies
The "nature-nurture" theory that motivated so many Three Stooges comedies is the basis of John Landis's hit comedy. The fabulously wealthy but morally bankrupt Duke brothers (Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche) make a one-dollar bet over heredity vs. environment. Curious as to what might happen if different lifestyles were reversed, they arrange for impoverished street hustler Billy Ray Valentine (Eddie Murphy) to be placed in the lap of luxury and trained for a cushy career in commodities brokerage. Simultaneously, they set about to reduce aristocratic yuppie Louis Winthorpe III (Dan Aykroyd to poverty and disgrace, hiring a prostitute (Jamie Lee Curtis) to hasten his downfall. When Billy Ray figures out that the brothers intend to dump him back on the streets once their experiment is complete, he seeks out Winthorpe, and together the pauper-turned-prince and prince-turned-pauper plot an uproarious revenge. With the good-hearted prostitute and Winthorpe's faithful butler (Denholm Elliott) as their accomplices, they set about to hit the brothers where it really hurts: in the pocketbook. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd, (more)
- 1982
- R
Larry Cohen wrote the screenplay to this updating of Mickey Spillane's notorious 1947 novel. Cohen was originally engaged to direct the film as well but was pulled from the director's chair after a week's worth of shooting because he had already run up the budget by $100,000; he was replaced by television director Richard T. Heffron. In this 1982 I, the Jury, Mike Hammer (Armand Assante) is a Vietnam veteran who wears hip duds and drives around in a bronze Trans Am in much the same way as Robert Mitchum's Philip Marlowe was refurbished for Michael Winner's re-make of The Big Sleep. After a cheesy rip-off of a James Bond-style credit sequence, the story kicks in. One-armed detective Jack Williams (Frederick Downs) is murdered. Jack was Hammer's best friend, and Hammer decides that he will become a one-man vigilante squad and seek vengeance on the person responsible for his death. He enlists the aid of his vivacious secretary Velda (Laurene Landon) and is also helped and hindered by police-chief Pat Chambers (Paul Sorvino). Hammer latches on to the killer's trail, then the film veers in a radically different direction from the book, introducing government conspiracies and mind-control techniques by the CIA and the Mafia. Also introduced is Hammer's love interest Charlotte Bennett (Barbara Carrera), an administrator of a kinky sex clinic (depicted as a psychiatrist in the original novel). ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Armand Assante, Barbara Carrera, (more)
Joel M. Reed directed this notorious cult-horror comedy, which was the center of impassioned protests by Women Against Pornography. Seamus O'Brien stars as the epicene Sardu, who stages Grand Guignol torture performances at a downtown New York club. What the amazed audiences don't know is that the performances are real, using kidnapped victims who are kept in cages, mutilated, and later sold into white slavery by Sardu and his cackling dwarf assistant, Ralphus (Luis De Jesus). Sardu finally goes too far when he kidnaps a famous ballerina (Viju Krim) and a noted critic (Niles McMaster) for his demented shows, resulting in a revolt by the "Caged Sexoids." Reed pours on the gore by the bucket, as a nude victim is turned into a human dartboard, Ralphus gets oral sex from a severed head, Sardu uses human fingers to play backgammon, and a sadistic dentist sucks out a woman's brain through a straw. The fact that the film is intended as a comedy will relieve some and disgust others. Krim and De Jesus co-starred in Gerard Damiano's Let My Puppets Come the following year. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Seamus O'brien, Niles McMaster, (more)
- 1971
- R
With a storyline evocative of the previous year's smash gay-themed The Boys in the Band, this drama centers on a varied group of homosexuals who meet in a New York bar on a Christmas Eve to talk about their lives, their travails, and relationships. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1969
- R
Two versions of this lame exploitation film exist, one with 10 minutes of gratuitous sex, the other a more acceptable release for general audiences. Henry is an ambitious young executive who marries the older Louise (Jan Sterling). Her brother John (Michael Bierne) becomes jealous when Henry takes over the family business that was promised to him. When Henry tries to take over a second company, John arranges sex and money for the corruptible board members. He also sends some erotic female agents to spy on and sleep with the enemy to discover their trade secrets. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jan Sterling, Robert Rodan, (more)
- 1966
A wife-swapping ring is infiltrated by blackmailers and a reporter is out to break the story wide open in this sexploitation drama. Magazine editor Jim Bremmer (David Kirk) is roughed up by goons when he starts looking into America's swinging scene, convinced a criminal element is behind the sex tabloids who run ads for couples looking for unusual kicks. Certain he's on to something, Jim assigns his top reporter Al Gentry (Alan Dellay) to take on the story in exchange for a $5,000 bonus. Al persuades his girlfriend Janice to help him with his research, and they pose as a couple interested in the swinging scene. After sending out steamy photos to some likely couples, Al and Janice meet up with several sexually adventurous folks, including Texans interested in bondage and LSD, voyeurs who tape record their guests' lovemaking, and a sloppy suburbanite who doesn't take no for an answer. Janice is traumatized by the experiences and has to take time off from research, but before long she and Al learn Jim's hunch was correct and mobsters have infiltrated the swinging community, forcing kinky suburbanites to pay so their proclivities remain a secret. Also starring Monica Davis, Uta Erickson and Sharon Kent, Unholy Matrimony also features an appearance by the pop group the Warmest Spring. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
