Margaret Wheeler Movies
- 1990
In this inspiring drama, a plucky 14-year-old boy with muscular dystrophy is abandoned in a ramshackle nursing home where he begins fighting to improve the living conditions of its residents. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred Savage, Kevin Spacey, (more)
Eddie Murphy, in addition to starring as Quick, the son of 1930s Harlem gambling-house proprietor Sugar Ray (Richard Pryor), also wrote and directed the film. The plotline details the combined efforts of Quick and Sugar Ray to prevent white gangster Bugsy Calhoune (Michael Lerner) from muscling in on their operation. The supporting players include Redd Foxx, Danny Aiello and Jasmine Guy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, (more)
- 1986
- PG13
Filmed in 1982 in New York, this comedy hinges on a tried-and-true plot device: a man has less than a day to get married or he loses a fortune (no waiting for blood tests or licenses here!). When the fabulously wealthy W.D. Westmoreland (Jonathan Winters) dies, his grandson Luke (Art Hindle) discovers that he will inherit $250 million if he marries before he is 35. Since he turns thirty-five tomorrow, that leaves him less than 24 hours to find a bride and make it legal. Everything impedes his good intentions, including his father, who stands to inherit that money if Luke remains a bachelor. There are a lot of volunteers for Luke's open position of an immediate wife, but what makes matters even more complicated is he has developed an interest in a young, average-looking woman from the countryside. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lissa Layng, Art Hindle, (more)
- 1985
Linda Lavin once again pulls double duty in the dual role of waitress Alice Hyatt and contentious oldster Debbie Walden, the former landlady of Vera and Elliot Novak (Beth Howland, Charles Levin. Now residing in a home of their own, the Novaks hope to raise a bit of extra money by renting out a room. You guessed it: the couple's new tenant is none other than their old nemesis Debbie, who if anything is even more obnoxious than ever. Featured in the cast is future Head of the Class regular Dan Frischman ("Arvid Engen") and former Green Acres recurring player Mary Grace Canfield ("Ralph Monroe"). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1985
Justine Bateman plays a young, blind teen who wishes to get out from under her overly-concerned family's control and finds support in a romantic relationship. Jason Bateman, oddly enough, plays her brother in this drama which was co-produced by their father, Kent Bateman. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
In this deplorable Howard Avedis film masquerading as a horror flic, Dianne Stevens (Sybil Danning) is an English professor who seduces one of her students (Eric Brown) and then brings him into a plot hatched by herself and her husband (Andrew Prine) to get their hands on a few million that now belong to the husband's mother and grandmother. Before the first peg is in place, a masked nutcase starts killing off the cast of characters, perhaps with the thought of putting this vapid movie out of its misery and going home early. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sybil Danning, Eric Brown, (more)
Based on the popular television series created by Rod Serling, this film of horror and the supernatural tells four separate stories--each by a different director: John Landis, Steven Spielberg, Joe Dante and George Miller. In one, a bigot is taught a lesson when he is transported to experience the lives of three different victims of prejudice and intolerance. Another takes a trip to an old-age home where the arrival of a special man turns some of the residents into youthful people once again. In the third, a woman befriends a timid young child who turns out to be a maniacal brat with bizarre powers. The final segment shows how a man with an aversion to flying has a rough time when he panics and then sees a strange creature on the wing outside his window seat. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dan Aykroyd, Jeff Bannister, (more)
- 1978
In this second episode of a two-part story, George Jefferson (Sherman Hemsley) steps up his campaign to purchase a warehouse owned by Alan Willis (Jay Hammer), the hippie son of interracial couple Tom and Helen Willis (Franklin Cover, Roxie Roker). Taking advantage of an argument between Alan and Tom, George invites the younger Willis to move into the Jefferson apartment. The plot thickens when George's wife Louise (Isabel Sanford) and Alan's mother Helen have a run-in with the landlord of the Help Center, where both women put in volunteer work. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sherman Hemsley, Isabel Sanford, (more)
- 1978
For her master's thesis, Jenny (Berlinda Tolbert) chooses to write about Harlem street gangs. She heads to the ghetto for research, with her dad Tom (Franklin Cover), and father-in-law, George (Sherman Hemsley), nervously tagging along as protection. A sobering denouement caps this final episode of The Jeffersons' fourth season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sherman Hemsley, Isabel Sanford, (more)
- 1971
Helen Hayes, Mildred Natwick, Myrna Loy and Sylvia Sidney star as four elderly pranksters devoted to practical jokes. When one of the ladies gets hold of a computer-dating questionnaire, the others invent a mythical girl and feed the falsified information into the computer. Alas, the description matches a very real young lady, who becomes the target of a murderous rapist (Vince Edwards). Attacked at the time of its release for making light of a potentially deadly situation, Do Not Fold, Spindle or Mutilate led to the casting of Helen Hayes and Mildred Natwick in the weekly detective series The Snoop Sisters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Noted character actor L.Q. Jones (who would later direct the cult classic A Boy and His Dog) produced this low-budget horror item about a small Southwestern town torn asunder by the mysterious disappearances of several of its children. Jones plays the town sheriff, who joins forces with some of the locals to find the perpetrators and uncovers a diabolical plot concocted by a coven of elderly devil-worshippers who plan to use the children's bodies as receptacles for their own souls, enabling them to live again in younger bodies. To this end, they use their supernatural abilities to slay any meddling adults by turning the kids' toys into deadly war machines. Creepy opening and closing sequences and a bravado performance from Strother Martin (as the king-daddy Warlock) are the film's strongest assets. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Strother Martin, L.Q. Jones, (more)
