John Stewart Movies

Pretty young Barri Murphy witnesses a gangland rubout, compelling her to head for the hills. The killers want to silence Barri for keeps, not only because of what she's seen but because of possible retaliation. You see, the victim was Barri's boyfriend. The fox-and-hounds pursuit ends up in Texas, allowing for mucho car chases and smashups. No doubt about it: Action USA delivers what the title promises. PS: Are you surprised that Cameron Mitchell and William Smith are in the cast? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, defense lawyer Vic Scalia (Andrew Stevens) teams up with the criminals he defends in order to pull off a lucrative robbery. However, Scalia's accomplices are less-than-honorable as they backstab and steal from each other on the way to deliver the loot. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Ellen Carlyle is exhausted and looks forward to her upcoming vacation alone in the woods, but somehow things don't turn out as planned for the hard-working television news anchor, and instead of resting she ends up fighting for her life. The ordeal begins at work the night before her vacation when a madman bursts into her studio and holds her at gunpoint while her cameraman tries to talk him down. Later her pal Joey offers to take her to her cabin. As she settles in, a homicidal maniac escapes from prison, and unknown to Carlyle, whose investigations helped convict him, she is at the top of his revenge list. Though Joey shows up the next day to warn her and beg her to help him with his new report, she refuses because she has a hot date with the town deputy. Eventually the fugitive killer is captured and Carlyle believes she is finally safe. Unfortunately, that is not the end of the her problems. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Exposure to a chemically-contaminated water supply turns scientists into raving lunatics who begin terrorizing a tiny desert burg in this violent actioner. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Adapted by Waldo Salt and Norman Wexler from Peter Maas's book, Sidney Lumet's drama portrays the real-life struggle of an honest New York City cop against a corrupt system. Neophyte officer Frank Serpico (Al Pacino) is determined not to let his job get in the way of his individuality. Despite his colleagues' leery reactions, he keeps one foot firmly planted in the counterculture, sporting a beard and love beads and living in bohemian Greenwich Village, while he performs his police duties with dispatch. Serpico's peers genuinely ostracize him, however, when he refuses to take bribes like everybody else. Appalled by the extent of police corruption, Serpico goes to his superiors, but when he discovers that they have ignored his charges, he takes the potentially fatal step of breaking the blue wall of silence and going public with his exposé. Serpico's revelations trigger an independent investigation by the Knapp Commission, but they also make him a marked man, permanently changing his life. Shot on location with a gritty emphasis on documentary-style realism, Serpico presents a city in decay both literally and morally, as everybody is in on the take, and the cops and criminals are almost interchangeable. Released in late 1973, after months of revelations of Presidential malfeasance in the breaking Watergate scandal, Serpico's true story of bureaucratic depravity touched a cultural nerve, and the film became a hit with both critics and audiences, particularly for Pacino's complex performance as the honest, long-haired whistleblower. One year after his star-making triumph in The Godfather, Pacino was nominated for an Oscar again, and lost again; Lumet and Pacino would reunite two years later for another true New York story, Dog Day Afternoon. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

Music video director Jamie Thraves made his feature debut with this cinema verite look at a group of bohemian Londoners straddling the line between apathy and ambition. Aidan Gillen (of the popular British TV series Queer As Folk) plays Frank, a prop artist who spends his free time chain-smoking, drinking, pontificating, and chain-smoking some more. He's at a crossroads, however: Unable to tolerate his loud, drug-dealing neighbors, he considers buying a flat of his own. At the realtors, he meets the fetching Ruby (Kate Ashfield), who shows him a variety of dismal real estate opportunities, barely veiling her contempt for the offerings. Charmed, Frank begins to go out with Kate, and as their relationship heats up, Frank notices changes in his group of laterally mobile friends. Mike (Dean Lennox Kelly) begins to take on more responsibility, both at the prop shop and in his personal life, as he proposes marriage to his longtime girlfriend -- putting him at odds with the more lackadaisical John (Tobias Menzies), a chronically tardy co-worker who's beginning to reconsider his career track. Frank finds himself mediating between the two, and unable to make any definitive choices in his own life. The Low Down made its North American Premiere at the 2000 Toronto International Film Festival. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide

Also released under the title Angel of Vengeance, this film follows the struggle of a young woman as she draws upon her father's experience as a Green Beret to fight off the attacks of an evil gang. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide