Bryan Englund Movies
The son of producer George Englund and noted character actress Cloris Leachman, actor Bryan Englund appeared in two feature films, Crazy Mama (1975) and The Prowler (1981). He also appeared in a few television films between the mid-'70s through the early '80s. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi- 1984
Physically, the gangling, long-necked Jeff Goldblum is all wrong for the role of fabled TV comedian Ernie Kovacs (1919-1962) but you tend to forget this as Goldblum expertly reenacts some of Kovacs' most famous comic bits. No Kovacs bio would be complete without such scenes as the mustachioed, cigar-chomping Ernie delivering a radio broadcast while lying on a railroad track with a train rapidly approaching, or Kovacs "celebrating" the cancellation of his TV series by smashing up the set in full view of the home audience. As the title indicates, much of the film takes place between the laughs, as Kovacs desperately struggles to reclaim his children, who have been kidnapped by his emotionally disturbed ex-wife (Madolyn Smith) in the midst of an acrimonious custody battle. Melody Anderson plays Kovacs' second wife, singer Edie Adams, while the real Edie appears in a cameo as Mae West. Cloris Leachman tears a passion to tatters in the role of Ernie's outrageous Hungarian mother. Our favorite bit: Jeff Goldblum and Melody Anderson recreating Ernie's lisping, perpetually soused poet Percy Dovetonsils. Ernie Kovacs: Between the Laughter was first telecast May 14, 1984. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1983
- R
In this undistinguished softcore film, Albert (Chris Lemmon -- Jack Lemmon's son) is an adman for a clothing company charged with recruiting five well-endowed, beautiful women to model the company's line of bras. One of the women is at work in a horror-parody film, another is a disco singer, another a wrestler, and the remaining two are a Countess, and the daughter of the president of the company. Albert carries out his assignment with good comic timing, in spite of his nemesis Lydia (Jennifer Richards). ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Chris Lemmon, Olivia Pascal, (more)
In this crime comedy, Dixie's life changes completely after the prostitution ring she runs is raided. She too is arrested and ends up sentenced to spend time in a convent. Though she is there to learn, she ends up teaching the Mother Superior and the others a thing or two about running a successful business. By the story's end, Dixie has learned to respect herself. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
In this gory (the special effects are especially well done) slice-n-dicer, the happiness and the sanity of a W.W.II vet is destroyed when he returns home and finds his girl in the arms of another at the town's annual dance. Outraged, he kills both with a pitchfork and the town does not hold the dance again for the next 35 years. The story jumps to the future and the town prepares to hold the dance again. Unfortunately, the vet hears about the dance and comes back to do a little more killing. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Vicki Dawson, Christopher Goutman, (more)
- 1978
As warm as winter's fire and sentimental as the sixth glass of wassail, this heart-tugging made-for-television holiday drama tells the Depression-era story of a gruff Minnesota grandfather and his wife who must take in their teenage grandson for Christmas. A city kid, the youth finds it difficult to adjust to the quiet of farm living. It is also difficult to deal with his grandfather who treats him cruelly. Unable to stand it, the youth runs away, forcing the grandfather to deal with the reason for his unending anger and to admit that he feels guilty for the death of his son. The teleplay is based on a novel by Glendon Swarthout, The Melodeon. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1977
- PG
This is Mel Brooks' spoof of over ten Alfred Hitchcock classics, including Psycho, Vertigo, and The Birds (Brooks actually used the bird trainer from that classic suspense movie in making his film). Brooks plays Dr. Richard H. Thorndyke, a renowned Harvard psychiatrist with a concealed fear of heights, or High Anxiety. Thorndyke takes over as the newest director of the PsychoNeurotic Institute for the Very, Very Nervous after the last director dies under suspicious circumstances. He soon finds himself to be in the company of some very strange colleagues, including longtime Brooks collaborators Cloris Leachman and Harvey Korman, with Madeline Kahn as Victoria Brisbane, the eccentric daughter of a patient at the institute and Thorndyke's love interest. Korman takes on the role of Dr. Charles Montague, a psychiatrist with a closeted habit of his own. Leachman plays Charlotte Diesel, a charge nurse with a dark sneer and tendency towards domination. As Thorndyke heads to a psychiatry conference, he is faced with saving the Institute, his reputation, and his own sanity. Although the film was not well-received by critics, it picked up a 1978 Golden Globe nomination for best picture (musical or comedy) and landed Brooks a nomination for best actor. The movie has a number of cameos, from a young Barry Levinson's spot as an unstable bellboy to a small part by Hitchcock's right-hand special effects man, Albert J. Whitlock, who plays Kahn's father. ~ Rachel Koetje, Rovi
- Starring:
- Mel Brooks, Madeline Kahn, (more)
Cloris Leachman stars as Melba, a woman with whom violence is a way of life, in Jonathan Demme's high-pitched "B"-movie Crazy Mama. The film spans three decades in the violent life of Melba, beginning in Jerusalem, Arkansas in 1932, when law enforcers kill her father (Clint Kimbrough), turning her mother Sheba (Ann Sothern) into a bitter widow. Mother and daughter take off to Long Beach, California, and the time jumps to 1958, when the two are thrown out of their beauty salon for non-payment of back rent. Melba now has an attractive (and pregnant) teenage daughter Cheryl (Linda Purl). The three generations take to the road, stealing cars and creating general mayhem across the United States, robbing a motorcycle racetrack box office and a bank. But in 1959, Melba and Cheryl are picked up again, running a Miami Beach snack bar, their lives wasted in free-living terror. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Cloris Leachman, Stuart Whitman, (more)
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