John R. McKee Movies

It's December of 1941, and the people of California are in varying states of unease, ranging from a sincere desire to defend the country to virtual blind panic in the wake of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Thus begin several story threads that comprise the "plot" of this strange period comedy, a sort of satirical disaster movie, from Steven Spielberg. The stories and story threads involve lusty young men, officers (Tim Matheson) and civilians (Bobby Di Cicco) alike, eager to bed the young ladies of their dreams; Wild Bill Kelso, a nutty fighter pilot (John Belushi) following what he thinks is a squadron of Japanese fighters along the California coast; a well-meaning but clumsy tank crew (including John Candy) led by straight-arrow, by-the-book Sgt. Tree (Dan Aykroyd), who doesn't recognize the thug (Treat Williams) in his command; and homeowner Ward Douglas (Ned Beatty), who is eager to do his part for the nation's defense and, despite the misgivings of his wife (Lorraine Gary), doesn't mind his front yard overlooking the ocean being chosen to house a 40 mm anti-aircraft gun. There is also a pair of grotesquely inept airplane spotters (Murray Hamilton, Eddie Deezen) who are doing their job from atop a ferris wheel at a beachfront amusement park; a paranoid army colonel (Warren Oates) positive that the Japanese are infiltrating from the hills; a big dance being held on behalf of servicemen, being attended by a lusty young woman of size (Wendie Jo Sperber) eager to land a man in uniform; and General Joseph "Vinegar Joe" Stillwell (Robert Stack), in charge of the defense of the West Coast, who can't seem to get anyone to listen to him when he says to keep calm. And, oh yes, there's also a real Japanese submarine that has gotten all the way to the California coast under the command of its captain (Toshiro Mifune) and a German officer observer (Christopher Lee), only to find itself without a working compass or usable maps. Its captain won't leave until the sub has attacked a militarily significant, honorable target, and the only one that anyone aboard ship knows of in California is Hollywood. By New Year's Eve, all of these characters are going to cross paths, directly or once-removed, in a comedy of errors and destruction strongly reminiscent of the finale to National Lampoon's Animal House (as well as several disaster movies from the same studio), but on a much larger and more impressive scale. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

An outstanding performance by LeVar Burton makes this an above-average sports biography. Based on an adaptation of his autobiography, this is the story of Ron LeFlore, who was raised in the Detroit ghetto and became a major league baseball player for the Detroit Tigers. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide

Based on the novel by William Brasher, The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings is set in the segregated south of 1939. African-American baseball pitcher Bingo Long (Billy Dee Williams), tired of being jerked around by the less-than-ethical managers of the Negro League teams, forms his own barnstorming ball club. His partner in this endeavor is black catcher Leon Carter (James Earl Jones). Though boycotted by powerful Negro League manager Sallison Porter (Ted Ross), the Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings flourish, gaining a loyal fandom with every new game and cutting into the League's profits. Finally, Porter offers Long a deal: if the Motor Kings can win one big game with the Negro All-Stars, Long's team will be allowed to join the League. Also appearing in Bingo Long is Richard Pryor as a ballplayer who tries to break through the big-league color line by pretending to be everything from a Hispanic to a Native American named "Chief Tokohama"; if Pryor seems to disappear for long periods during the film, it's because his role was written to accommodate his many nightclub appearances. The producers originally wanted young Steven Spielberg to direct, but -- inspired by the success of Jaws -- he turned this down in favor of doing Close Encounters of the Third Kind. ~ Hal Erickson, 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

John Wayne, in the last of his Civil War characterizations, portrays Cord McNally, a Union Army colonel who loses a gold shipment in a Confederate raid, during which a devoted young officer is also killed. After the end of the war, McNally bears no ill-will toward the leaders of the raid, Pierre Cordona (Jorge Rivero) and Tuscarora Phillips (Christopher Mitchum), who were acting as soldiers, but he still wants the two unknown men on the Union side who they say sold them the information about the gold shipments. A year later, McNally crosses paths with one of the men, now a deputy from Rio Lobo, who is about to take Shasta Delaney (Jennifer O'Neill), a seemingly innocent young woman, out of a neighboring town at gunpoint. A shootout ensues, in which McNally's man and three other Rio Lobo deputies are killed, with help from Cordona -- this makes McNally very interested in what's going on in Rio Lobo, and he decides to go there with Cordona and Shasta. They find a whole community under siege from their own sheriff, a sadistic ex-outlaw named Hendricks (Mike Henry). What follows is a series of confrontations and revelations that are alternately suspenseful, sadistic -- with maimings worthy of a spaghetti western and characters even getting blown to bits -- and even occasionally comical. But the pieces all tie together very neatly, despite a convoluted plot that's sort of Rio Bravo (made 11 years earlier, also starring Wayne and directed by Hawks, and scripted by Leigh Brackett) turned sideways and readjusted to a more cynical era. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

With the series' premise (a wheelchair-bound detective) already established in a two-hour TV pilot film, Ironside launches its first season with a minimum of exposition and a maximum of fast action. Now living in his third-floor office at police headquarters, former San Francisco police chief Robert T. Ironside (Raymond Burr) doggedly disregards his semi-invalid status and continues to solve crimes with an elite three-person staff, consisting of Det. Sgt. Ed Brown (Don Galloway), policewoman Eve Whitfield (Barbara Anderson) and Ironside's bodyguard-general factotum Mark Sanger (Don Mitchell). In this episode, Ironside and company try to solve a racetrack robbery that occurred virtually under their noses. With only one firm clue (a crashed car) to go on, Ironside detemines that the robbery was an inside job...but who was the inside man? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this sci-fi spy thriller, a secret agent for Espionage, Inc., is assigned to stop the Dragon, a Chinese communist organization, from detonating a nuclear bomb in Los Angeles. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In The Hallelujah Trail, Lee Remick plays temperance leader Cora Templeton Massingale, who is determined to halt a shipment of whiskey headed for Denver. The shipment is being escorted by the US cavalry, under the guidance of Col. Thadeus Gearhardt (Burt Lancaster). As the Denver miners thirstily await the precious booze, Gearhardt must fend off not only Cora and her minions, but a bibulous tribe of Sioux warriors, headed by Chief Walks-Stooped-Over (Martin Landau)-not to mention an outsized sandstorm. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this western adventure set in a Mexican border town, two prisoners Foster and Pickett (Audie Murphy and Charles Drake), who are chained to a stake, somehow escape with other prisoners. They are led by cruel outlaw Lavalle (Harold J. Stone) who steals $12,000 in securities. Later the two fugitives try to steal the securities from the gang-leader. Unfortunately, they are caught by Lavalle. He holds Foster hostage and sends Pickett to town to cash the securities. The fugitive gives the resulting loot to his ex-girlfriend Estelle (Kathleen Crowley), and returns with nothing. The enraged Lavalle then lets Foster go to get the money. He meets the newly wealthy dance-hall girl who explains that Pickett gave her the money to make up for his losing her life savings gambling. She then grudgingly hands Foster the money. But as he returns to the outlaw lair, he is unaware that Estelle pursues him. Unfortunately, Lavalle sees her, and in the ensuing scuffle Pickett dies trying to protect Foster and the girl. Later the two flee with the angry Lavalle in hot pursuit. In the end, fugitive Foster kills the gang leader. He and Estelle then settle down and lead a peaceful life. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A Gathering of Eagles stars Rock Hudson as a colonel in the peacetime Strategic Air Command. His devotion to his duty as a wing commander takes a toll on his men, his marriage, and his own well-being. It is to Hudson's credit that he was willing to put his image on the line with this essentially unsympathetic characterization, and a tribute to his underrated ability as an actor that he compels us to care for him. Popular British leading lady Mary Peach makes a rare Hollywood appearance as Hudson's English wife. An unexpected bonus to A Gathering of Eagles is a semicomic musical piece, "The SAC Song," by dilettante satirist Tom Lehrer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After an eight-year prison term for rape and assault, Max Cady (Robert Mitchum) is set free. Immediately making a beeline to Sam Bowden (Gregory Peck), the former prosecutor responsible for Cady's conviction, Cady laconically informs Sam that he intends to "pay back" the attorney for his years behind bars. Conducting a meticulous campaign of terror, Cady is careful to stay within the law. Sam, realizing that Cady intends to wreak vengeance by raping the attorney's wife (Polly Bergen) and daughter (Lori Martin), tries to put the ex-criminal behind bars, but has no grounds to do so. Chief Dutton (Martin Balsam) tries to help Sam with a few strong-arm tactics, but succeeds only in having the courts take Cady's side in the matter. Things come to a head when Sam moves his family to the "safety" of a remote houseboat on Cape Fear river. Cady shows up unannounced and is about to ravage Bowden's wife and daughter and when Sam turns the tables. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cast in his school's spring pageant, Beaver (Jerry Mathers) is assigned the role of a bunny -- complete with long-eared, fuzzy-tailed costume. It's bad enough that he has to wear his bunny outfit while Lumpy (Frank Bank) is driving him to the show, but it's even worse when the car breaks down and Beav is forced to walk the rest of the way to school. No, it gets worse -- pack of bunny-hating dogs spot the costumed Beaver, and the chase is on! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide