Robert Gordon Movies

The death of a feared and hated man leads to a conspiracy of silence in this drama. Walter Taylor (Kadeem Hardison) is an investigator from the state attorney general's office who is sent to a small Southern town to investigate an unusual murder. Ronny Roy Pritchett (W. Earl Brown) was a town bully who could intimidate just about anyone into giving him what he wanted until he was found outside a local tavern one night with 40 shots in his body and no witnesses who would say they saw or heard the attack. With the help of cheerful but ineffectual Sheriff Miller (Rus Blackwell), Taylor begins questioning citizens about Pritchett, including his two wives (Jeanetta Arnette and Alicia Lagano), who have decidedly different memories of their late husband, and Mildred (Talia Shire), the wife of a local pastor who was murdered a few weeks before Pritchett. In time, Taylor begins to piece together a picture of Pritchett's reign of terror in the town, as well as his combative relationship with former Sheriff Breen (Barry Corbin). Dunsmore was directed by Peter Spirer, who previously made several respected documentaries on hip-hop culture, including Beef, Tupac Shakur: Thug Angel -- The Life of an Outlaw, and Rhyme & Reason. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Two bad cops rise from the grave in an attempt to go straight in this offbeat comedy. Mike Mattress (Tate Donovan) and Dean Crept (William Forsythe) are a pair of stone-faced FBI agents who are not above stretching the law to their advantage; their double dealings lead to their fiery death in a booby-trapped car, and the two agents find themselves descending into Hell. After a disturbing run-in with Satan (Robert Goulet), Mattress and Crept escape and find their way back to Earth, where they hope to perform some good deeds that might allow them to escape damnation. Starting over as private eyes, Mattress and Crept are hired by millionaire Greydon Lake (Barry Newman), who believes his wife Gloria (Vanessa Angel) has been unfaithful to him. Gloria soon turns the tables by hiring the two gumshoes away from her husband, but things take a sinister turn when Greydon turns up dead. While tracking down leads in Greydon's murder, Mattress and Crept discover he was financing research by the eccentric Dr. Boifford (David Huddleston), whose bizarre talents come in handy when Buster (Bobcat Goldthwait), a leg man for the detectives, is killed while doing research; Boifford is able to transplant his brain into the body of a robot. Meanwhile, Buster's accident attracts the attention of the police, as well as FBI agents Dalton (Zach Galligan) and Langdon (Gary Busey), who are hot on the heels of the formerly dead lawmen. G-Men From Hell is based on characters from the comic book Grafik Musik, created by Michael Allred. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Kim Hunter, the woman who played the legendary Stella Kowalski in 1951's A Streetcar Named Desire, finds herself in another production revolving around madness and psychological instability, though this time from a more geriatric point-of-view. Douglas Green's feature directorial debut, based on Mitch Giannunzio's play A Smaller Place, stars Hunter as Muriel, a home-bound senior frequently tended to by her just under 50-year-old son Jack (Timothy Bottoms). She's beginning to mention her deceased husband as if her were still alive, and she frequently acts as if Jack is a young man who wants to date her. Distressed, Jack is forced to admit her to a nursing home -- something his wife Holly (Kim Greist) has wanted all along -- and as he prepares to ship Muriel and her belongings away, he's forced to face painful truths about his childhood and how it might have affected his adult life. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide

Toy Story was the first feature-length film animated entirely by computer. If this seems to be a sterile, mechanical means of moviemaking, be assured that the film is as chock-full of heart and warmth as any Disney cartoon feature. The star of the proceedings is Woody, a pull-string cowboy toy belonging to a wide-eyed youngster named Andy. Whenever Andy's out of the room, Woody revels in his status as the boy's number one toy. His supremacy is challenged by a high-tech, space-ranger action figure named Buzz Lightyear, who, unlike Woody and his pals, believes that he is real and not merely a plaything. The rivalry between Woody and Buzz hilariously intensifies during the first half of the film, but when the well-being of Andy's toys is threatened by a nasty next-door neighbor kid named Sid -- whose idea of fun is feeding stuffed dolls to his snarling dog and reconstructing his own toys into hideous mutants -- Woody and Buzz join forces to save the day. Superb though the computer animation may be, what really heightens Toy Story are the voice-over performances by such celebrities as Tom Hanks (as Woody), Tim Allen (as Buzz), and Don Rickles (as an appropriately acerbic Mr. Potato Head). Director John Lasseter earned a special achievement Academy Award, while Randy Newman landed an Oscar nomination for his evocative musical score. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this "sequel" to Roger Corman's 1971 Von Richtofen and Brown (produced by Corman himself), a toy World War I plane belonging to a young boy (Tobey Maguire) is possessed by the spirit of the deceased Red Baron. The possessed plane begins killing people with real bullets from a toy machine gun. The boy turns for help to his grandfather (Mickey Rooney) -- who just happens to be the man who actually shot down the Red Baron in World War I. ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide

A Los Angeles detective is sent to New Orleans to trace the origin of a new, heavily addictive killer drug. When he is killed in a bizarre voodoo murder, his partner (Anthony Edwards) is sent to investigate. While there, he teams up with an ex-cop (Lance Henriksen), one of the few people able to guide him through the swamps of the Louisiana Delta to the source of both the drug and the killing. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

In this adolescent-oriented, loose remake of Some Like It Hot, a lovestruck teenage boy is so desperate to be near his new beloved that he dresses up like a girl and joins the women's tennis team. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The Girl on a Swing, a haunting, mystery thriller with a supernatural twist, is the story of a desperate woman, who will do anything to be with the man she loves. Karin Foster (Meg Tilly), a lonely German secretary, falls in love with and marries Alan (Rupert Frazier) and moves with him to England. There her strange behavior and fears strain the marriage and lead Alan to mistrust his wife and begin to delve into her past. Based on the novel by Richard Adams, the film is not entirely successful due to the leisurely direction of Gordon Hessler and the lack of pace needed to create genuine suspense. But despite this flaw, the sensitive performance of Meg Tilly makes the film well worth watching and is a haunting psychological exploration of obsession, passion and guilt. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide

Shiro Tanaka (kick-boxer star, Sho Kosugi) stars as a drug agent who seeks revenge against the drug-world bad guys who've murdered his partner. He's off to Buenos Aires to catch up with the no-good murderers and set the record straight. ~ All Movie Guide

The Saroyanesque Grandview USA focuses on a sleepy Midwestern town and its younger denizens. Bored out of his gourd, recent high-school graduate Tim (C. Thomas Howell), befriends the much-older Michelle (Jamie Lee Curtis), who runs the local demolition derby. Michelle's top driver is "Slam" (Patrick Swayze), who though a star on the track is a washout when it comes to affairs of the heart. As the three characters grow closer, each does a lot of growing up. When it sticks to business, Grandview USA can be quite charming; it falters only in a couple of rock-video and fantasy sequences, reportedly tacked on at the insistence of the distributors. The highly appropriate supporting cast ranges from such TV regulars as Troy Donahue and William Windom to such stars-to-be as Jennifer Jason Leigh and John Cusack. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This 1980 version of the oft-filmed Henry Devere Stackpoole novel The Blue Lagoon was the first to be stamped with an "R" rating. The basic story remains unchanged. Two very small children, a boy and a girl, are shipwrecked on a lush tropical island. They are cared for by fellow castaway Leo McKern. When he dies, the kids, played with a minimum of clothing by Brooke Shields and Christopher Atkins, have no one but each other. When they grow into teen-hood, they also fall madly in love. Heavily reshaped and reedited before its release, The Blue Lagoon's principal attribute is the lush photography by Nestor Almendros. In 1990, a sequel was made, Return to the Blue Lagoon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When Fenton (Keenan Wynn), the preeminent citizen of Granger speaks, the town listens. The town's high-school boys' basketball team has had a losing season, and he wants the coach fired. What's more, he wants to select his replacement. After a computer search, he discovers that the Olympic track star Randy Rawlings has just the right qualifications. When Randy arrives, he discovers that this star athlete is a woman (Cathy Lee Crosby). However, she insists on her right to try and coach the boys, and she not only succeeds at that, but inspires the boys in other ways as well. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

The eponymous best friends are Jesse (Richard Hatch) and Pat (Doug Chapin). Buxom Kathy Suzanne Benton swivels into the scene, sorely testing Jesse and Pat's friendship. The film should not be confused with the 1982 Burt Reynolds vehicle of the same title. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide