Ed Van Nuys Movies
The second film to be made from Woody Allen's successful stage comedy (following a 1969 feature starring Jackie Gleason), Don't Drink the Water is a made-for-television adaptation directed by and starring Allen himself. The fish-out-of-water premise remains the same: Allen plays Walter Hollander, a caterer from New Jersey who takes his family on vacation to a fictional Eastern European country. The trip turns sour when, thanks to a series of misunderstandings involving some inopportune snapshots, they are accused of espionage. The family goes on the run, taking refuge in the American Embassy. There, with the help of a wily young diplomat, they try to figure out a way to return to America without sparking an international incident. Though this version is set 25 years later than the original film, the changes are mostly cosmetic: the visual style is hand-held and more frantic, and the script replaces numerous references to the Cold War with a few glancing nods to present-day politics. Another notable change, the addition of an opening montage parodying newsreels, was reportedly the result of network pressure after Allen's initial cut proved too short for the planned time slot. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
For all its state-of-the-art special effects, Always is essentially a remake of the 1943 Spencer Tracy-Irene Dunne fantasy vehicle A Guy Named Joe--minus the wartime context. Richard Dreyfuss stars as a reckless fire-fighting pilot who is killed in what was to have been his final mission. Ascending to Heaven, Dreyfuss is introduced to businesslike angel Audrey Hepburn (playing the equivalent of the Lionel Barrymore role in A Guy Named Joe). Hepburn instructs the spectral Dreyfuss to pass on his aviation knowhow to his young successor, Brad Johnson. Our ghostly hero also smoothes the course of romance for his earthly girl friend Holly Hunter, who after several months' worth of grieving has fallen in love with Johnson. John Goodman injects a dose of comedy relief as Dreyfuss' faithful buddy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Dreyfuss, Holly Hunter, (more)
Jonathan Fisher (Christopher Reeve) is a newspaper reporter who becomes a celebrity when he writes a fictitious exposé on prostitution. The story of the high-living pimp is too close a resemblance to real-life flesh pedlar Fast Black (Morgan Freeman), and Jonathan is jailed when he refuses to turn his papers over to the local district attorney. In jail for suspicion of murder, Black tries to silence the reporter who created the sensational fabrication. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Reeve, Morgan Freeman, (more)
A star-studded cast portrays political movers and shakers in this drama about politics and the media. Richard Gere is Pete St. John, a gilt-edged "image" advisor to the likes of powerful and often crooked politicians -- including a South American candidate for the top office in his country and, reluctantly, a conservative industrialist named Jerome Cade (J.T. Walsh). Cade is after a Senate seat vacated by Sam Hastings (E.G. Marshall), a liberal politician who fits in with the views that Pete once upheld. When things start to go wrong, it looks like Cade's gruff advisor Arnold Billings (Denzel Washington) might hold one of the keys to Pete's discovery of the truth about Cade -- and may be the reason why Hastings is leaving his job. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Gere, Julie Christie, (more)
- 1986
The CIA plays footsie with the Mob in Agent on Ice. Secret service boss Clifford David conspires with Mafia chieftan Louis Pastore in a plot to assassinate "inconvenient" political leaders. Young CIA operative Tom Ormeny, who has no inkling of David's plan, is ordered to kill Pastore-who, as it turns out, isn't killed at all. Set up as a fall guy, Ormeny is disgraced and fired from the service. His only hope for redemption is to prove that Pastore is still alive, still doing the CIA's dirty work. Though partially set in Europe, Agent on Ice was filmed entirely in New Jersey-and looks it. John Pastore, who plays the "assassinated" Mafia boss, also produced the film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Ormeny, Clifford David, (more)
- 1984
Filmed on location in France, Italy, Greece, and Egypt, Innocents Abroad was adapted by Dan Wakefield from the 1869 book by Mark Twain. The Twain original was an amusing, semi-satiric account of the author's Grand Tour of Europe and the Holy Land in 1867. Most of the humor derived from the contrast between the iconoclastic Twain and the tacked-on "reverence" of his fellow tourists. The cast includes Craig Wasson as Twain, David Ogden Stiers as a ship's doctor, Barry Morse as Captain Duncan, and-best of all--Luigi Proiette as the glib, effusive tour guide. Innocents Abroad premiered May 9, 1983 on PBS' Great Performances series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1983
Based on actual events from 1948 and made into a TV movie in 1983, this story concerns a corrupt Georgia businessman (Andy Griffith) who murders an employee and thinks he has gotten away with it. The local lawman (Johnny Cash) has other plans, but needs to gather enough evidence to prove his case. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- 1981
The final made-for-TV movie of the calendar year 1981 (it was originally telecast on December 30), Senior Trip combines music, comedy and pathos to tell the story of a group of graduates from a staid Ohio high school. Though tightly chaperoned on their titular trip to New York City, the kids intend to cut loose and go crazy, or at least to pursue their hearts' desires (in fact, the only two students who actually want to do some sightseeing before returning home are treated like social pariahs). Among the principal characters are would-be business tyro, Roger (Scott Baio); wannabe singer, David (Randy Brooks); aspiring actress, Judy (Liz Callaway); budding artist, Jon (Jeffrey Marcus); and self-styled Lothario, Fred (James Carroll). It takes a few run-ins with the seamier denizens of the Big Apple to convince the teens that maybe the old high school wasn't so bad. Part of the film is an extended plug for the then-current Broadway smash, Sugar Babies, with Mickey Rooney showing up as himself in one of the sequences. Buried among the minor players are two promising young actors named Jason Alexander and Robert Townsend. Senior Trip was a CBS presentation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1981
Made for television, The Gentleman Bandit stars Ralph Waite as a popular priest whose life is shattered by a case of mistaken identity. Waite is fingered by a witness as a holdup man; during a lineup, several other witnesses confirm this. Despite his protestations, Waite cannot account for his actions during the crime, and is vilified by the newspapers and by his own superiors. Only the priest's parishioners believe him--but that may not be enough to keep him out of prison. Based on the real-life ordeal of Baltimore priest Fr. Bernard Pagano, Gentleman Bandit was filmed under the title The Bandit Priest. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1980
This TV movie might just as well have been titled Frankenstein Takes Manhattan. Robert Vaughn stars as Doctor Franken, a dedicated Manhattan medico who becomes obsessed with the theory of artificial life. This is understandable, since the doctor is a descendant of a certain foreign gentleman named Frankenstein. He takes an arm here and an organ there from his hospital's storage bank and tries to repair the cadaver of an unclaimed accident victim. The result is a complex creature named John Doe (Robert Perrault), a reasonably friendly chap who has inherited the character traits and emotions of all those people whose body parts he has "borrowed". To their credit, everyone involved in Doctor Franken takes the script seriously--perhaps too seriously for any network or sponsor to care enough to purchase this pilot film for a weekly series berth. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
