Arlene Duncan Movies
In this campy, nostalgic comedy based on a popular TV series from the early '60s, the two bungling cops Toody and Muldoon are assigned to guard a key witness who is planning to testify against a crime lord. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Johansen, John C. McGinley, (more)
In F/X2: The Deadly Art of Illusion, Bryan Brown returns as movie special effects designer Rollie Tyler. Having barely escaped with his life after being duped and exploited by the villains in the first F/X, he isn't too eager to channel his talents into police work again. He'd much rather design harmless playthings for the kiddies. Still, detective Mike Brandon (Tom Mason) manages to convince Rollie to help the cops trap a dangerous voyeur. When Brandon is killed, Rollie suspects there's more to the story than meets the eye. With the aid of his old buddy Leo McCarthy (Brian Dennehy, likewise a veteran of the first F/X), Rollie uncovers a vast conspiracy involving both the police and organized crime. Of course, this compels Rollie to come up with a series of dazzling live-action special effects to confound the bad guys. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bryan Brown, Brian Dennehy, (more)
When prison psychiatrist Bill Chrushank (Jeff Fahey) loses an arm in a car accident, he receives a revolutionary new transplant from an unknown donor, who is later discovered to have been a recently-executed psycho-killer. During his recovery, Bill is tormented by violent nightmares and aggressive new impulses -- and his limb seems to have developed a malevolent will of its own, acting independently and lashing out beyond his control. He eventually discovers that an artist named Remo Lacey (Brad Dourif) -- whose work is influenced by the same nightmares -- is the recipient of the killer's other arm. Before long, the same donor's legs turn up on yet another man, who harbors the same violent mood swings... and the inevitable "reunion" culminates in a violent, gory finale. Written and directed by Eric Red (based on the novel Choice Cuts by Pierre Boileau & Thomas Narcejac), this is a stylish and tightly-paced film (the harrowing car chase is a definite nail-biter), but the ball is sadly dropped by a weak script that discards the twisted potential of its premise (is the donor arm influencing Chrushank's mind, or vice versa?), lapsing instead into standard slasher-think. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeff Fahey, Lindsay Duncan, (more)
Made up to look like a septuagenarian, Henry Winkler plays Benedict Slade, a Scrooge-like miser living in a tiny New England town during the Depression. Slade goes Scrooge one further by repossessing items from a poor farm couple and an orphanage on Christmas eve. While reading a copy of Dickens' The Christmas Carol in his home, Slade is visited by his own set of Spirits Past, Present and Future, including his Hell-dwelling late business partner (Kenneth Pogue). Lensed in Canada, this made-for-TV film premiered the week before Christmas of 1979. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide















