Jonna Lee Movies

This provocative drama based on the tragic life of Shauna Grant, chronicles the events that lead up to her untimely death and her change from All-American teen-ager to drug-addicted porno star. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In the final episode of Murder, She Wrote's third season, Jessica (Angela Lansbury) shows up at a studio to record one of her "Mystery Books for the Blind." Halfway through her recording session, the electricity fails and the studio is plunged into a blackout. When the lights come up again, it is revealed that the studio's co-owner has been murdered. Naturally, the "wrong person" is accused of the crime, obliging Jessica to set things right by exposing the real culprit--and this being a recording studio, rest assured that the most important clue will be aural rather than visual. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A humorous and skilful parody of the cliches and plot contrivances of 50's horror films, this monster movie is set in California, where closets can be large and quite important. The monster (Kevin Peter Hall) is straight out of Alien, if not quite as gruesome. It hides out in closets and wait for victims to unsuspectingly grab a shirt or slacks. After several closet deaths, a San Francisco obituary writer (Donald Grant) is sent to cover the story. He soon teams up with a science teacher (Denise DuBarry) and her son, a super-smart child prodigy, and they set out to solve the murders. The plot thickens when the gruff, brash Gen. Turnbull (Donald Moffat) enters the picture. It seems the monster is bullet-proof, laser-proof and bomb-proof -- a challenge to capture, kill, or subdue. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This largely autobiographical story written and directed by Michael Landon stars Timothy Patrick Murphy as Gene Orowitz (Landon's real name was Eugene Orowitz), a frail teenager with a talent for throwing the javelin and a close relationship to his father Sam (Eli Wallach), the manager of a movie theater. Sam's real love in life is writing fiction, and he pounds the keys of his typewriter well into the night as he tries to finish a major opus. One day when Gene sees Samson and Delilah (1949) at the theater where his father works, he becomes certain that whatever strength he has is due to his long hair and he refuses to cut his hair, even though long hair turns the school principal apoplectic and has to be disguised when Gene is at a sports meet. Gene's life is not a bed of roses, yet when he is dumped by his girlfriend Bonnie for Robert (Alan Hayes), an arrogant football player who has bullied him whenever the chance arose, his good friend Cathy (Hallie Todd) stays by his side. Later, he has his own revenge with Robert by connecting with a right to the jaw, shocking everyone, perhaps even himself. Gene has been working out to get ready for a big school meet and is a bit stronger in his javelin-tossing arm. As the day of the big meet approaches, life changes dramatically for him -- and the movie's climax, though it appears contrived, actually happened to Landon in real life. Landon also plays a small role in the film as a movie star visiting his hometown -- and in some ways, he was "Sam's son" because he himself took to writing -- including the script for this movie, in fact. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The time-worn clash between the rich and poor, brought out by switched identities, is the ploy used here to put a streetwise kid into an upper-crust prep school. Palmer (Dana Olsen) does not want to stay at school for his final year, but he needs to graduate in order to receive his mega-buck trust fund. Eddie (Judd Nelson) is a New Jersey native, used to the streets and handling trouble when it comes -- except Eddie's bookie is after him for a bad debt, and when Eddie jumps the prep school's fence to escape his creditor, he almost knocks down Palmer. From that serendipitous meeting, the two decide to swap identities -- or partly so. Eddie will become Palmer and get good grades in the last year of school, for the sum of $10,000 at graduation. And Palmer will go off on his own planned vacation. Eddie soon learns the ways of the rich and famous, but he is quickly back to crap games and porno movies, this time initiating his new schoolmates into that lifestyle and gaining popularity along the way. What follows is a series of misadventures as the bookie shows up at the school to demand his due from Eddie, Eddie falls in love with the daughter of the school's patron, and Palmer comes back. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide