Claude Binyon, Jr. Movies
- 1985
The story of Jack The Ripper may be the cause of a small town's crime spree in this strange made-for-television thriller. David Hasselhoff stars as Don Gregory, a cop in an Arizona town whose claim to fame is being the home of the newly transplanted pieces of the original London Bridge. When the bridge is fully assembled and a murder spree begins, Gregory suspects that the bridge's historical link to Jack The Ripper and the Thames River, may have something to do with the killings. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide
Based on true incidents, this movie follows the plight of a young American girl who travels to Japan to start work as a club singer, only to discover that she has been tricked into working as a prostitute for the Yakuza. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- 1975
- PG
After sixteen years of cinematic retirement, Roy Rogers made a surprise return before the cameras in Mackintosh & T. J. Rogers plays Mackintosh, an ageing, tale-spinning ranch hand who befriends T.J., a sullen young boy (Clay O'Brien). The film is low-key, like Rogers himself, and Rogers' faithful fans were gratified to watch him thrash several younger cowpokes who goad him into a fight. Waylon Jennings provides the C&W musical score. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roy Rogers, Clay O'Brien, (more)
It's ironic that MGM, in such dire financial straits in 1974 that it was selling its fabled back lot and auctioning off artifacts from past movie triumphs, enjoyed one of its biggest box-office hits with That's Entertainment, a compilation of musical highlights from the studio's golden days. Onscreen hosts Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby, Gene Kelly, Peter Lawford, Liza Minnelli, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Mickey Rooney, James Stewart, and Elizabeth Taylor introduce the various film clips while standing on what was left of the MGM lot (Rooney delivers his comments from the Andy Hardy street). The vignettes, in both color and black-and-white, include generous slices of such classic MGM songfests as The Wizard of Oz, Meet Me in St. Louis, An American in Paris, Singin' in the Rain, and Gigi. The film includes the montage of Mickey Rooney's "Let's put on a show!" speeches, Clark Gable hoofing to "Puttin' on the Ritz" in Idiot's Delight, and James Stewart (!) serenading Eleanor Powell from Easy to Love. Assembled by Jack Haley Jr., That's Entertainment proved such a hit that the 1976 sequel, That's Entertainment II, was a foregone conclusion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby, (more)
Welcome to Westworld, where nothing can go wrong...go wrong...go wrong....Writer/director Michael Crichton has concocted a futuristic "Disneyland for adults", a remote resort island where, for a hefty fee, one can indulge in one's wildest fantasies. Businessmen James Brolin and Richard Benjamin are just crazy about the old west, thus they head to the section of Westworld populated by robot desperadoes, robot lawmen, robot dance-hall gals, and the like. Benjamin's first inkling that something is amiss occurs when, during a mock showdown with robot gunslinger Yul Brynner, Brolin is shot and killed for real. It seems that the "nerve center" of Westworld has developed several serious technical glitches: the human staff is dead, and the robots are running amok. Suddenly promoted to the film's hero, Benjamin (who seems as surprised and shocked as the audience) must first avoid, then face down the relentless Brynner. Much of Westworld was lensed on the expansive grounds of the old Harold Lloyd estate in Beverly Hills, so it's no surprise that there's something Lloydlike about Dick Benjamin's instinct for self-preservation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yul Brynner, Richard Benjamin, (more)
- 1972
- PG
This espionage thriller is based on a spy novel by Helen MacInnes and tells the tale of a Yankee lawyer who goes to the lovely little Austrian city on vacation and ends up hopelessly entangled in an international web of rival spies and neo-Nazis searching for a chest that holds the names of Nazi collaborators and war criminals. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barry Newman, Anna Karina, (more)
- 1971
- PG
This comedy is notable as the final onscreen appearance (non-speaking) of Edward Everett Horton, a staple comic supporting actor from the early '30s onward. Dick Van Dyke plays an ambitious small-town minister who rallies the whole town to meet a challenge bet by a tobacco corporation. Cooked up by the tobacco company's public relations head (Bob Newhart), the bet is an offer to pay twenty five million dollars ($25,000,000.00) to any town that can quit smoking for the required period of time. Barnard Hughes is Dr. Proctor, a heart surgeon who has to be physically restrained to prevent him from smoking. Jean Stapleton is the mayor's wife, who swells visibly as her eating replaces cigarettes. Edward Everett Horton is eloquent as the mysterious tobacco tycoon who comes to observe the chaos first-hand. There is lots of frantic action as the townsfolk try to win the prize, and the tobacco company (which has no intention of paying off the bet) works to sabotage their efforts. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pippa Scott, Bob Newhart, (more)
- 1971
B. S., I Love You is appropriately titled, as the story concerns a young adman (Peter Kastner), who not only loves his job, but enjoys success in his job due to his success in lovemaking. Especially helpful is his liaison with his boss (Joanna Barnes), but he also manages to further his career with the romantic assistance of the boss's daughter (Joanna Cameron). With enviable energy, he somehow keeps his career going, along with relationships with the boss-ladies and his regular girlfriend (Louise Sorel), while traveling between New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1971
- PG
Though it bears more than passing resemblance to his macabre hits Hush ... Hush, Sweet Charlotte and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, this lesser-known outing from screenwriter Henry Farrell takes a more satirical turn, skewering the eccentricities of the Hollywood studio system. The story opens during the advent of talking pictures, where a school for would-be child stars is opened by voice coach Helen Hill (Shelley Winters) and dance instructor Adelle Bruckner (Debbie Reynolds). Haunted by a dark secret -- each of the women's sons was convicted of murder -- Hill and Bruckner are pursued by a cloaked interloper whose incessant snooping leads to a fatal altercation. Suspicion builds between the two until the expected climax, where it is revealed that one of the two women is even more lethal than her homicidal son. Though the film's absurdist tone is a harsh about-face from the deadly deadpan camp of Farrell's Gothic 1960s thrillers, the period flavor is a nice touch, and accomplished director Curtis Harrington frequently achieves the right balance of horror and humor. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Debbie Reynolds, Shelley Winters, (more)
- 1969
This comedy was banned in Mexico and plagued by vandalism and threats of violence during film production in San Antonio, Texas. General De Santos (Peter Ustinov) organizes a ragtag group of Mexican nationals for the purpose of retaking the Alamo. Using the Washington's Birthday Parade in Laredo as a guise to enter the United States, the group continues towards San Antonio ignored and unchallenged. With the help of Sergeant Valdez (John Astin), the unlikely invaders manage to raise the Mexican flag over the old mission for 24 hours. General Billy Joe Hallson (Jonathan Winters) is a colorful redneck called on to lead the National Guard to the site of the occupied landmark. Keenan Wynn, Alice Ghostley, Pamela Tiffin and Harry Morgan also star in this film farce. During filming, one irate Texan was arrested after waving a rifle in protest over the raising of the Mexican flag over the Alamo, long a symbol of Texas' pride and history. Electric cables were cut during the filming of this production, as some Texans could not even tolerate the fictional premise of the plot. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Ustinov, Pamela Tiffin, (more)
