Robert Dillon Movies

A man finds his melancholy turning to madness in this thriller. Young lawyer Fielding Pierce (Billy Crudup) has just thrown his hat in the ring for an upcoming congressional election. He has also been haunted by the memory of his girlfriend Sarah (Jennifer Connelly), who recently died in a car bombing -- and haunted not just figuratively but literally: he's seeing apparitions of Sarah everywhere, and he's starting to wonder if she's really there or if he's going mad. Waking the Dead is based on a novel by Scott Spencer, who also wrote Endless Love, and directed by actor-turned-filmmaker Keith Gordon. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Two pilots go against the rule book in a bid to win the war in Viet Nam in this speculative military drama. Lieutenant Jake Grafton (Brad Johnson) is a U.S. Navy pilot stationed aboard an aircraft carrier after the death of his one-time flying partner Morgan McPherson (Christopher Rich), who perished during a recent, ill-advised mission. Lt. Grafton, who has become cynical about the current state of military affairs, is convinced that if the war were left to the soldiers rather than the politicians overseeing the Pentagon, United States victory would be swift and assured. Grafton shares this opinion with Virgil Cole (Willem Dafoe), a supremely confident new pilot under his command, and together they commandeer an A-6 Bomber, known as The Intruder, for an unauthorized bombing raid against Hanoi. The city had been declared off-limits because it was believed that it would have a negative impact on the Paris peace talks, so the raid lands Grafton and Cole in hot water. However, when the talks break down, President Richard Nixon authorizes the pilots to lead a new strike against Hanoi with everything they've got. Ving Rhames and David Schwimmer both appear in small roles that predated their respective rises to fame (in fact, this was Schwimmer's first movie). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This socially conscious family farm drama from director Mark Rydell was his follow up to the Oscar-winning On Golden Pond (1981). Mel Gibson and Sissy Spacek star as Tom and Mae Garvey, struggling Tennessee farmers constantly one step away from foreclosing. Their farm sits next to a river that both nourishes their land and constantly threatens to overflow its banks and destroy their crops. The Garveys sell some of their equipment for obscenely low prices at a foreclosure auction, at which some of their neighbors are forced to give up everything they own. The stoic Tom takes a job as a scab at a mill where the union workers are striking. Meanwhile, Mae has a platonic flirtation with local bank manager Joe (Scott Glenn), who saves her life when she's trapped under a heavy piece of farm equipment. Tom's homecoming is cut short by a flood, but the raging waters allow him to become a hero to his family again. The River was the third in a trio of dramas depicting the plight of the American family farmer released that same year. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

John Frankenheimer's bizarre, satirical gangster film is not for all tastes but has acquired a minor cult following. Elderly mobster Edmond O'Brien hires a hitman (Richard Harris) to eliminate his rival (Bradford Dillman) in a dystopic setting of not-quite reality. There are albino alligators, skillful chase scenes, and Chuck Connors as a one-handed psycho who can fit various deadly weapons on his stumpy arm. None of it makes much sense, and mainstream viewers may end up scratching their heads in bewilderment, but fans of more esoteric films should find it a lot of fun. It would likely have ended up as a big hit on the drive-in circuit if it hadn't been directed by Frankenheimer, from whom most people expect better. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

Bruce Dern guest stars as Hutch, the vicious leader of a motorcycle gang known as The Devil's Disciples. Abducting Richard Kimble (David Janssen), Hutch plans to use the fugitive as a fall guy in a scheme to murder the old man who was indirectly responsible for the death of a gang member. Kimble's only hope for escape is in the hands of cyclist Don (Lou Antonio) and his girlfriend Penny (Diana Hyland), who are slightly less sociopathic than Hutch. In addition to its "Hell's Angels" trappings, this 1960s time capsule also manages to weave the Vietnam War into the storyline. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Beach Party Gang meets a coterie of muscle-men who try to take over their spot on the beach in Muscle Beach Party. Surfing sensations Frankie (Frankie Avalon) and Dee Dee (Annette Funicello) have their security threatened when Flex Martian (Rock Stevens) and a collection of well-oiled weight-lifters invade their turf. While tensions heat up on the beach, wealthy contessa Julie (Luciana Paluzzi) arranges for her business manager S.Z. Matts (Buddy Hackett) to entice Flex into becoming the latest in her long line of boyfriends. Julie's feelings change when she meets Frankie, who, honored by Julie's amorous attentions, returns her affections, causing a rift not only between Dee Dee and himself, but a further collapse in relations between the surfers and the body-builders, which is assuaged only by the music of Dick Dale and the Del Tones and Little Stevie Wonder. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Dr. James Xavier (Ray Milland) is a brilliant but unorthodox researcher whose work with human sight has yielded an experimental chemical that may vastly increase the range of what we can see. Despite the misgivings and warnings of the two people closest to him, Dr. Diane Fairfax (Diana Van Der Vlis) and Dr. Sam Brant (Harold J. Stone), he uses it on himself and finds that he is able to look inside the human body in real-time. This gives him the ability to save the life of a patient in surgery, but in the process, he offends a top physician and calls his own judgement into question. He won't stop or even slow his experiments, however, and when Sam is accidentally killed trying to stop him, he is forced to flee. Soon he is living the life of a hunted man, and is protected and exploited by Crane (Don Rickles), a larcenous carny-man who sets him up as a "healer" on skid row, taking peoples' pennies while Xavier makes his diagnoses. After getting away from Crane, Xavier is found by Diane, who joins him on the run, and by now his own worst nature is coming to the surface. They head to Las Vegas, where his ability to see through objects allows him to win at most of the games in front of him, but he is discovered because of the attention that his "streak" draws to him. Pursued out of town, he heads out to the desert, and by now his ability to see transcends the boundaries of earthly space, leading him to a terrible quandry and a hideous solution to his plight, inspired by an encounter with a preacher. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Released in April of 1962 to take advantage of the new baseball season and the enthusiasm surrounding some of its better-known players, this sports-oriented children's story by Walter Doniger centers around some ill-advised bragging by a young Little Leaguer. Hutch Lawton (Brian Russell) has just told his friends that he and his Dad are good buddies with all-time baseball greats Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle. This fib soon gets him in plenty of hot water as he is forced to search out his heroes at spring training in Florida and make a plea for help. Along with appearances by the Yankee's two top players are pitcher Whitey Ford and coach Ralph Houk. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Released in 12 chapters, two reels each, this Universal serial starred the veteran William Desmond as Phineas Fogg III, the equally enterprising grandson of Jules Verne's famous circumnavigator. Veteran character player Alfred Hollingsworth played Phineas Fogg II. A child of the industrial age, the younger Fogg pledges to circle the globe in no less than 18 days in an effort to consolidate a company producing synthetic fuel. But while Phineas III endeavors to use the groundbreaking fuel for the benefit of all mankind, a nasty vice president (Wade Boteler) attempts to steal the invention for his own nefarious purposes. Chased by the villain around the globe, Phineas is aided in his quest by lovely Laura La Plante, a rising Universal ingénue with a bright future in light comedy. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide