Thomas Newman Movies

In this blend of fantasy and romantic comedy, a man isn't sure if he's stuck between past and present or if his imagination is simply working overtime. Edward (Jon Voight) is a prince in Medieval Europe, where his greatest rival is his brother Roni (Armand Assante). Roni wants to declare war on neighboring kingdoms, while Edward believes in keeping the peace, and both are in love with a beautiful gypsy named Dahlin (Eileen Davidson); only the frequent intervention of their father, the King (Wilford Brimley), keeps the two from killing each other. Or at least that's how it seems until Edward wakes up. It seems that his name is really James, he's the host of a talk show in Los Angeles, and he keeps having a recurring dream in which he and his co-workers are characters in a tale of knights in shining armor. Eric, his boss, looks just like the King, and Roni is a dead ringer for Sean, a high-powered businessman who is organizing a hostile takeover of James' company. However, things really start to get interesting for James when he meets Valerie, who is directing a television commercial at James' studio. She bears a striking resemblance to Dahlin the gypsy girl, and James can't help but tell her that she's the girl of his dreams. But are they really dreams, or memories of a past life? Eternity was Jon Voight's first film in three years; he also co-wrote the screenplay with director Steven Paul and Dorothy Koster Paul. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In this early '80s send-up of venerable horror clichés, Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss star as John and Mary, an ordinary couple who inherit a mysterious house from a deceased uncle. Along with kids Debbie (Kari Michaelsen) and Billy (Kevin Brando), they move into the musty mansion, unaware that vampire Waldemar (Jeffrey Tambor) and his wife are desperately seeking an ancient book housed within its walls. Soon, Billy finds the book and learns that opening it releases an assortment of scary creatures. John and Mary, however, refuse to believe Billy's tall tales, not even after Mary ends up with puncture marks in her neck and an aversion to normal food. Soon, a mer-man is stalking Debbie in the bathtub, relatives are disappearing and monsters have taken over the house. Help arrives in the form of the wise Van Helsing (Severn Darden) -- or does it? Saturday the 14th provided the directorial debut for veteran horror screenwriter Howard R. Cohen, who would return to the same territory with 1988's Saturday the 14th Strikes Back. Benjamin, who is married to Prentiss in real life, also appeared in the horror satire Love at First Bite. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

Three's a crowd in Mike Nichols's period caper comedy -- or is it? To dodge the 1920s Mann Act barring the transport of women across state lines for "immoral purposes," not-yet-divorced Nicky (Warren Beatty) has felonious buddy Oscar (Jack Nicholson) marry Nicky's runaway heiress sweetheart Freddy (Stockard Channing) so they can all escape New York for Los Angeles. The three set up house together, but trouble starts brewing when odd man out Oscar decides to get Nicky's attention by exercising his rights as a husband to Freddy. Exasperated with being stuck in the middle of the bickering pair, Freddy threatens to donate her impending inheritance to charity, inciting Oscar and Nicky to hatch a plan to bump her off and keep the money. But Freddy just will not die, prompting the three to reconsider the whole arrangement. With a period setting and pair of stellar lead actors similar to the 1973 blockbuster The Sting, a screenplay by Five Easy Pieces author Carol Eastman (under the name Adrien Joyce), and deft comedy director Nichols, The Fortune seemed like a can't-miss proposition. But it resoundingly flopped, as audiences preferred to see Beatty in his earlier 1975 starring role as a racy L.A. hairdresser in Shampoo, and to wait for Nicholson's later 1975 incarnation as an archetypal iconoclast in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. As with other late '60s-early '70s period films like Beatty's own Bonnie and Clyde (1967), The Fortune lends an updated sensibility to its old-fashioned milieu, complete with a very modern happy ending. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi

Tom Newman plays a character named Bernard Bingbang. Bob Cresse costars in the dual role of Agatha and Townsend Bungworthy. And Virginia Gordon essays the part of Vultura. Need we add that Surftide 77 was not written by Noel Coward? The story concerns a private eye, sent to locate a missing heiress. He'll know when he's found her by the butterfly birthmark on her left breast......Also known as Call Surftide 77 and Call Girl 77, this sleazy sex farce is distinguished only by the presence of Vic Tayback in one of his earliest movie roles. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi