Lesley-Anne Down

Children make the mistake of getting involved in their parents' love lives in this made-for-TV comedy. A group of kids whose parents are divorced, led by Lissa (Jessica Bowman), decide that their folks could use a little romantic help and set up a dating service for single moms and dads -- which seems like a good idea at first, but soon turns out to be a lot more work than they ever expected. Young Hearts Unlimited also features Corbin Bernsen, Lesley-Anne Down, Robert Carradine, and Lisa Robin Kelly. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this family-oriented action comedy, the klutzy demeanor of a large but unassuming toy seller (wrestler Hulk Hogan) is but a facade for a highly skilled, globe-trotting secret agent working for a super-secret peacekeeping operation. His son Jeremy knows only that he doesn't get to see his dad very often as he is often away on "business trips." As his mother died years ago, this is especially difficult for the boy. One day, his father brings home a new type of laser gun he swiped from a pretty foreign arms dealer. He tells Jeremy that it's just a new kind of toy, but his secret finally comes out when the arms dealer sends her henchmen to retrieve it. His father is captured, but Jeremy escapes with the laser gun. With practice, he learns the truth about its uses and becomes an expert shot with it. To save his dad, he enlists the aid of some good friends and together they hatch an ingenious rescue. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The original 1987 Munchies was a PG-rated horror spoof about a monster with an insatiable appetite for junk food. Though public domain was not forthcoming, a sequel, titled simply Munchie, came out in 1991; this time, the title character was an invisible imp who helped unpopular kids learn how to cope. Both films were chock-full of such TV icons as Harvey Korman, Dom DeLuise, Loni Anderson and Arte Johnson. The 1994 Munchie Strikes Back, starring Lesley-Anne Down and Andrew Stevens, eschewed the "scare" elements altogether and was geared strictly for the kiddie trade. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A killer who strikes only during Mardi Gras turns out to be a supernatural demon (Michael Ironside) who has sought human sacrifices ever since the original festival began as an occultist ceremony. The New Orleans cop assigned to the case (Robert Davi) tracks the demon around the city with his partner (Mike Starr) and must save the girl he loves from being the next victim. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

In this thriller a married woman in an unhappy marriage takes off to get some time alone and finds herself entangled with professional killers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This is a TV remake of the Cary Grant/Ingrid Bergman vehicle, in which a British actress begins an affair with an American diplomat. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

Nomads is a scary, supernatural horror movie without blood and guts and gore or bouts of eroticism. Pierce Brosnan is Pommier, an anthropologist who has spent years researching the nomads in some of the coldest and hottest parts of the globe. Apparently, his research went too far, because now he is haunted by evil nomad spirits who do not look much different than some of the '90s teens with purple or green hair, chalky-white faces with dark mascara, and clothes to match. As he starts out hunting down these beings, scenes of a young female doctor (Lesley-Anne Down) fighting off an evil spirit are also shown. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Erich Maria Remarque's novel Arch of Triumph was originally adapted to film in 1948 with stars Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman under the direction of Lewis Milestone. This TV-movie remake aired May 29, 1985. Anthony Hopkins and Lesley-Anne Down play the star-crossed lovers whose prewar romance in Paris is endangered by intrigue and revenge. Hopkins, a doctor recently escaped from a concentration camp, rescues Down, the mistress of a dissipated playboy, from committing suicide. Their chance for happiness is sabotaged by Hopkins' desire to wreak vengeance on SS officer Donald Pleasence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This three-part, seven-hour TV adaptation of Edgar Bulwer-Lytton's 1834 best-seller The Last Days of Pompeii was arguably more faithful to its source than any of the earlier film versions -- and inarguably the most expensive version of all, boasting a 19,000,000-dollar budget and a truly spectacular cast. In recounting the events leading up to the cataclysmic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D., the film, like the novel, introduces a veritable coliseum full of colorful fictional characters: stalwart Athenian Glaucus (Nicholas Clay), religious-zealot Egyptian Arbaces (Franco Nero), and mighty gladiator Lydon (Duncan Regehr), all of whom vie for the affections of high-born Ione (Olivia Hussey) and lowly, sightless slave girl Nydia (Linda Purl). Also around and about are Ned Beatty as wealthy merchant Diomed, Lesley-Anne Down as belly-dancing courtesan Chloe, and a handful of theatrical stalwarts like Laurence Olivier and Anthony Quayle. Mercilessly drubbed by the critics, who chortled at such dialogue as "Turn the other cheek, Christian lover!" and "Christians. They're everywhere I go. They're spreading through the empire like a pox!," The Last Days of Pompeii nonetheless garnered healthy ratings when it aired over ABC from May 6 to 8, 1984, despite the formidable opposition of the NBC blockbuster miniseries V: The Final Battle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After a string of hits that included Planet of the Apes (1968), Patton (1970), Papillon (1973), and The Boys from Brazil (1978), director Franklin J. Schaffner stumbled badly with this expensive wannabe cousin to Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). Based on a novel by author Robin Cook, this romance-adventure stars Lesley-Anne Down as Erica Baron, a female archaeologist who is searching for a lost Egyptian tomb, hoping that she will be responsible for the next discovery along the lines of King Tut's Tomb. Erica witnesses the murder of a native, Abdu Hamdi (John Gielgud doing his best Alec Guinness impersonation) and when she attempts to solve the crime, she becomes the target of a campaign to kill her using a variety of creative methods, including bats and entombment. In the course of her adventures, Erica also falls in love with a handsome Egyptologist, Ahmed Khazzan (Frank Langella). Sphinx (1981) was a box office disaster from which Schaffner never recovered, directing only three more pictures. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Notorious international jewel thief Jack Rhodes (Burt Reynolds) is out to steal $30 million in uncut diamonds in this visually opulent, uneven comedy. Chief Inspector Cyril Willis (David Niven) is Rhodes' nemesis. He wants to retire from Scotland Yard but would like to capture Rhodes as a final, dramatic cap to his career. In order to achieve his ambition, he sets up lissome Gillian Bromley (Lesley-Anne Down) as Rhodes' erstwhile partner in crime. The unpredictable happens when Rhodes and Bromley fall for each other, leaving the best-laid plans open to unexpected amendments. Three different directors had a hand in this film though their imprints are remarkably homogenous up to but not including the ending. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Not a remake of the landmark 1903 Edwin S. Porter film, The Great Train Robbery is a dramatization of the famous first hold-up of a moving train in 1855 England. The conspirators in this undertaking are Edward Pierce (Sean Connery), Agar (Donald Sutherland) and Clean Willy (Wayne Sleep). Pierce is the brains, Clean Willy the brawn, and safecracker Agar provides the finesse. The scheme involves stealing a shipment of gold bars intended to be used in the payroll for the Army in the Crimean War. Lesley Anne Down co-stars as Miriam, the woman on the outside who arranges Connery's getaway. When released in England, this film was titled The First Great Train Robbery, so as not to be confused with Britain's embarrassing 1963 railroad heist. Director Michael Crichton adapted the story from his own, more-clinical novel on the same subject. Filmed in Ireland, The Great Train Robbery was dedicated to the memory of its director of photography, Geoffrey Unsworth, who died shortly after the production wrapped. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide