Carmen Argenziano Movies

An amoral film student will stop at nothing to gain a movie contract in this pretentious effort. Tony Hall (Robert Forster) insults his cinema professor (Reegis Toomey), degrades his girlfriend Sondra Locke), and alienates his agent. Ken Kerchival and Sam Waterston also appear in this dreary film. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

While Peter Watkins' films of the 1960s reflected the political turmoil and tumult of that decade, 1971's Punishment Park offered a disturbing look at the backlash against leftist activism which emerged in the wake of such events as the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago and the shootings at Kent State University. Set at some unspecified point in the near future, Punishment Park was inspired by a provision of the 1950 McCarran Internal Security Act, which gives the President of the United States the right to suspend the traditional judicial system in favor of tribunals to deal with people believed to be "a risk to internal security" in the event of what the Chief Executive deems a national emergency. As the McCarran Act also enabled political prisoners to be held in concentration camps rather than conventional penal facilities, Punishment Park follows a group of left-wing dissidents (Black Power activists, antiwar protesters, and a politically oriented folksinger, among others) as they're given a perfunctory hearing by a panel of military officers and ordinary citizens. They are then offered a choice: they can either serve long stays in prison (seven years is the shortest sentence mentioned), or spend 72 hours in Punishment Park, a section of the Southern California desert. The prisoners are to travel 53 miles on foot in three days, with only minimal provisions of water or food under 110-degree heat, while they are followed by National Guard troops who are permitted to shoot if provoked. If they can complete the hike in the allotted time, they'll be allowed to go free, though it soon becomes obvious that despite the fact the odds have been stacked against them, the prisoners are being dealt an unfair hand along the trail. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Co-written and produced by Jonathan Demme, this women-in-prison outing focuses on a group of escapees who ignite a revolution. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) poses as a caterer for a Syndicate wedding. In this capacity, Erskine hopes to gather information about a bloody internal power play instigated by Mob functionary Ed Haynes (Alex Cord). But the wedding may never come off--certainly not if Haynes is able to pull off his plan to murder the father of the bride, Boss Faber (Frank DeKova), just before the exchange of vows! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In a disturbing turn of events, Lt. Theo Kojak (Telly Savalas) appears to be on the take, living extravagantly, spending lavishly and gambling heavily. Only a handful of intimates are aware that Kojak's "corruption" is actually part of a scheme to trap a heroin dealer who has repeatedly eluded the authorities. Complicating (and possibly compromising) this carefully calculated sting is the vengeful widow of a murdered mob courier, played by future Jaws costar Lorraine Gary. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ben Gazzara stars in this low-level depiction of legendary gangster Al Capone, who rose to command the mob underworld in 1920's Chicago. Born in Brooklyn, Capone joins his first gang at the age of 11. From there, he graduates to the infamous "Five Points Gang" run by Johnny Torrio (Harry Guardino). After moving to Chicago a few years later and wiping out Torrio's crimeboss uncle, Capone becomes Torrio's right hand man. Capone becomes head of the area's prostitution and racketeering business, but, as his mind deteriorates from syphillis, so does his empire. There's not much to recommend here, aside from a surprisingly good appearance by Sylvester Stallone as fellow gangster Frank Nitti. Gazzara is frankly awful in the title role and producer Roger Corman uses stock shootout footage from other gangster films, including footage of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre from his own, earlier movie on the subject. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

Three intrepid archeologists head into Pueblo country in New Mexico in search of Mankind's origins. The group hopes to locate an ancient medallion, which may or may not prove that the Earth was once a stopping-off point for extraterrestrial beings. But just finding the medallion turns out to be the easy part; complicating matters is a fierce struggle over possession of the artifact, with several would-be possessors indicating that they're willing to kill to get what they want. Filmed on location in Taos, New Mexico as the pilot for a proposed (but unsold) weekly series, Search for the Gods made its ABC network bow on March 9, 1975--where it was handily trounced in the ratings by a competing Barbra Streisand special. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jim (James Garner) tries to help his friend Charly Blaylock (Eddie Firestone) turn over a new leaf by returning the $650,000 that Charly had stolen years earlier from the Seawell Oil company. But when Charly's daughter (and Jim's ex-fiancee) Sandra (Susan Howard) is kidnapped, he must use the money to pay the ransom. Facing some hard time behind bars if he doesn't recover the cash and return it to its rightful owners, Charly must rely upon the ingenuity of his pal Jim--who has problems of his own in the form of a "dirty" cop. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Larry Peerce directed this tired disaster movie about a mad sniper loose in a football stadium. At the beginning, the sniper picks off a cyclist for practice and then takes roost in the top tower of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Sent in to stop the terror is Captain Peter Holly (Charlton Heston), who wants to get his hands on the sniper without endangering the lives of the people in the stadium. Unfortunately, there is a second group of law enforcement officers, a tactical commando group, who want to go into the stadium and rush the sniper -- regardless of the danger such an action would cause to the crowd watching the game. The sniper plans to start blasting at the two-minute warning signal of the football game. Holly has to find the sniper before the two-minute warning is given -- not merely to prevent the killings threatened by the sniper but to head off the tactical force before any other unnecessary deaths are incurred by the force's bulldog techniques. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

A casual glance at the cast list for the made-for-TV 3000 Mile Chase might lead one to conclude that stars Cliff De Young and Glenn Ford play dual roles. In fact, De Young is a bonded courier, and Ford is a government witness. Both men are obliged to assume false identities while en route to a murder trial, lest they be shot full of holes by syndicate henchmen. Produced by Roy Huggins, 3,000 Mile Chase was a revamping of his earlier busted pilot film Target Risk (1974). Originally telecast June 16, 1977, Chase likewise failed to graduate to a weekly series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The new, pro-American president of the island nation of San Christos is on the verge of breaking off diplomatic relations with the U.S. At the core of the crisis is a new Diptheria vaccine produced in American and sent to the children of San Christos. It appears as though the vaccine is tainted, and has caused several deaths. Quincy (Jack Klugman) and Sam (Robert Ito) are dispatched to San Christos in hopes of learning all the facts--and, in the process, avoiding a devastating international incident that would greatly benefit the new president's political enemies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this thriller, a baby-sitter is terrorized by an anonymous telephone caller who turns out to be a particularly persistent serial killer. When a stranger calls to ask, "Have you checked the children lately?" teenaged sitter Jill Johnson (Carol Kane) is understandably spooked. After a series of increasingly creepy calls culminates in a request for "your blood...all over me," Jill learns from the police operator that the man is calling from inside the house. One narrow escape and two dead children later, the police capture British maniac Curt Duncan (Tony Beckley). Several years later, the killer escapes from a mental institution and plagues Tracy (Colleen Dewhurst), a hard-drinking New Yorker. Foiled by John Clifford (Charles Durning), the same cop who investigated the original case, Duncan sets his sights back on his original victim, Jill Johnson, who, now married and out to dinner with her husband, has left her own young children at home -- with a baby-sitter. When a Stranger Calls helped inspire Drew Barrymore's famous opening scene in Wes Craven's Scream. Kane, Durning, and director Fred Walton would return for 1993's TV-movie sequel, When a Stranger Calls Back. Beckley died a year after the original film's release. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

A powerful alien sorceress from outer space tries again to commandeer the Earth in this sci-fi adventure. This time she can breath fire, change into a giant, and has a magic fan capable of producing tidal waves. Fortunately, a brave super-hero is there to oppose her and her legion of laser-toting monsters. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide