Vern Taylor Movies

It's The African Queen meets Richard Pryor in this schmaltzy and salty attempt by Pryor to appeal to the family crowd. Pryor plays Joe Braxton, an inept burglar whose parole officer Donald (Robert Christian) wants to help out. Knowing that Joe is an excellent mechanic, he refers him to Vivian Perry (Cicely Tyson), the director of a school for emotionally disturbed children. The school is about to close for lack of funds, and Vivian wants to flee Philadelphia with eight of her charges and get to a farm in Washington State where the children can grow up in the fresh air and away from the urban environment. Joe is enlisted to drive the bus, which continually breaks down en route, permitting Joe plenty of time to interact with the kids -- taking them fishing, teaching them strip poker, and convincing a Vietnamese girl not to sell her body. The prim and proper Vivian holds up her nose at the vulgar and sloppy Joe, so it is inevitable that at journey's end the two will find true romance. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

As played by Jessica Lange, Frances Farmer is a rebel from the word go, winning a high school essay award by writing a piece in defense of Communism. Determining to become an actress, Frances is equally determined not to play the Hollywood game: she refuses to acquiesce to idiotic publicity stunts, and insists upon appearing on screen sans makeup. Her defiance attracts the attention of Broadway playwright Clifford Odets, who convinces Frances that her future rests with the Group Theatre. But once she leaves Hollywood for New York, Frances learns to her chagrin that the Group intends to exploit her movie fame in order to draw in customers. Her desperate attempts to restart her movie career, combined with her increasing dependence on alcohol and the pressures brought to bear by her monster mother (Kim Stanley), result in a complete mental breakdown. Even while institutionalized, Frances is abused by the powers-that-be; she is forced to undergo an injurious brain operation, is treated like a mad animal, and periodically raped by the inmates. Frances is released in the custody of her mother, who persists in browbeating her tortured daughter until Frances discovers the legal means to break away. The real-life Frances spent her last years as host of a local Indianapolis TV program, dying in 1970 at age 57; the film comes to a climax when Frances is feted on the smarmy network program This is Your Life. Other actual personages depicted herein include Clifford Odets (played by Jeffrey DeMunn), Harold Clurman (Jordan Charney) and Ralph Edwards (Donald Craig). Frances' first husband Leif Erickson is fictionalized as "Jeffrey York", and played by Lange's real-life inamorata Sam Shepard. And if you listen closely, you'll hear the voice of Kevin Costner, whose minor role was whittled down to one line when he, like Frances Farmer, had the temerity to argue with the director. The unhappy life of actress Frances Farmer was also covered in Farmer's autobiography, Will There Ever Be a Morning? While the film rights for that book were sold to a TV-movie concern, the producers of the theatrical feature Frances were able to ship their production out to the public first. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jason (Jeff Meyer) is a photographer whose career has hit a really rough patch. He wants to make the transition from commercial photography to art photography. In the meantime, he is living and dreaming (and rapidly running out of money) on a houseboat. He has been hoping that he will be able to get grant money to pursue his dream, but time is running out. He meets a really beautiful woman, Amanda (Gail Kappler Rosella), and gets to photograph her and fall in love with her. When she goes off about her business, he thinks that is the end of the story. Just as he learns he is about to be evicted from his shabby digs, Amanda shows up and reveals herself to be quite rich, with good connections in the art and publishing worlds, and his life takes a turn for the better. Except, of course, that this new world is revealed as being shallow and exploitative, and Amanda is shown to have some flaws as well. Just as we are beginning to see what the fly in the ointment is, Jason wakes up. The whole thing with Amanda was a dream. Then he meets her in real life... ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide