Cassandra Gava Movies
A handful of characters, each at emotional crossroads, find their paths leading to Atlanta in this independent drama. Agnes (Clementine Ford) is an actress currently starring in a successful television series. She was born and raised in Atlanta and has come back to town for a role in a film directed by Sean (Faye Dunaway), who is determined to convince her to do a nude scene in the movie. Also in town is Peter (Liam O'Neill), a rock singer whose band is doing a massive homecoming show after enjoying huge success with their latest album. Peter used to date Agnes and still carries a torch for her, even though he's currently occupied with his underage girlfriend, Jen (Sara Stanton), and the local television producers who want him to change his lyrics for a live broadcast of his show. Roland (Chris Rydell), meanwhile, works for Jen's father and has a terrible crush on her, but only knows her from a photo on her dad's desk. Roland also finds his attitudes and perceptions take a sudden detour when he experiences a brush with death. Last Goodbye features an unusual bit of stunt casting -- most of the leading roles are played by young actors who are related to famous stars. Clementine Ford is the daughter of Cybill Shepherd, Liam O'Neill's mother is Faye Dunaway, Susan Stanton is the niece of Harry Dean Stanton, and Chris Rydell's father is the celebrated director Mark Rydell. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clementine Ford, Chris Rydell, (more)
The traditions of the western and the gangster film meet head-on in this dark crime drama. Jericho is a small town in Texas that in the 1920s looks much like it did in the 1860s, except that two violent gangs of rival bootleggers have driven away nearly all of the citizens not involved in the booze racket. Strozzi (Ned Eisenberg) leads a gang of Italian rum-runners with the help of his right-hand-man Giorgio (Michael Imperioli), while Doyle (David Patrick Kelly) is the head of an Irish mob, with Hickey (Christopher Walken) serving as his enforcer; the town's sheriff, Ed Galt (Bruce Dern) is powerless to stop the crime in Jericho, and he mainly tries to stay out of the way and keep an uneasy peace between Strozzi and Doyle. John Smith (Bruce Willis) is a ruthless and amoral gunman on the run from the law who passes through Jericho on his way to Mexico. Sizing up the situation, Smith quickly hatches a scheme by which he'll sell his services first to one of the gangs, and then the other, eventually turning the two sides against each other while he stays in the middle and takes the profits generated by both sides. Writer and director Walter Hill based his screenplay on Akira Kurosawa's classic samurai picture Yojimbo, which also inspired Sergio Leone's ground-breaking spaghetti western A Fistful of Dollars. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Willis, Christopher Walken, (more)
Set in a busy inner-city emergency room, this made-for-cable television drama follows the struggles of a world-weary surgeon who takes on the hospital administrators whose budget-cutting is affecting his ability to adequately care for his patients. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joe Mantegna, Lynn Whitfield, (more)
- 1990
This fifth installment in the tiresome horror series is so far removed from its creatively depleted source material that one wonders why the filmmakers bothered to use the "Amityville" reference in the title. In fact, there is some question as to whether the haunted house featured here is even supposed to be the same accursed residence as established in the four prior chapters. For openers, the house doesn't look remotely similar; in addition, the scenes establishing its bloody history -- involving the murder of the house's former owner, a local priest -- seem to have eschewed any continuity with the earlier films. Disassociating this cheap production from others in the franchise doesn't help much, as the story is completely incomprehensible, dusting off the usual haunted-house cliches to little effect. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- 1990
- R
The wife of a wealthy man hatches a plan to gain his inheritance by murdering her unsuspecting husband. She is helped by the sniveling man with whom she's having an affair. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Zach Galligan, Michael Bowen, (more)
- 1988
- R
A New York cop takes on drug-smuggling Soviet agents in this action-espionage thriller. The trouble starts when the rebellious agents disobey orders and begin glutting the Big Apple black market with illegal drugs. The cops become alerted to the problem after four topless dancers die of heroin overdoses. Renegade detective Mace Douglas, who has just been demoted for his tendency to kill suspects and now finds himself teemed up with a smarmy college-educated, irritatingly straight arrow, sets about solving the case. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1987
Malcolm "Mace" Douglas (Ed Marinaro) is a vice squad detective who investigates the drug-related murders of strippers in this uneven, low-budget crime drama. The former homicide lieutenant was demoted when he earned his nickname for spraying mace down the throat of a suspect. He and Mark Cain (Darrell Larson) later become entangled in implausible international intrigue with Bulgarian diplomats, KBG agents, lowlife club owners, and blackmail. Mace loses his badge when he falls for the stripper Amber (Cassandra Gava). Isaac Hayes, Lynn Whitfield, Corbin Bernsen, and John Hancock co-star. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ed Marinaro, Darrell Larson, (more)
- 1983
O'Malley (Tom Selleck) is a heavy-drinking, tough biplane pilot flying the skies of China for fun and profit when Eve (Bess Armstrong) seeks him out to help her find her father before he is declared dead and she loses an inheritance to the evil Bentik (Robert Morley). O'Malley does not really want Eve around, but adventure and the challenge beckon. If only their journey together had been sparked by a little excitement, clever humor, snappy dialogue, and seductive romantic chemistry, this bland film would be a different trip altogether. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Selleck, Bess Armstrong, (more)
Straight-laced Henry Winkler takes a night-shift job as a morgue attendant. Winkler falls under the spell of wheeler-dealer coworker Michael Keaton, whose catchphrase "Is this a great country or what?" is the clarion call for his many get-rich-quick schemes. His latest plan is to turn the morgue into a nocturnal brothel, for the benefit of anything-goes hooker Shelley Long-and incidentally, to line their own pockets. Director Ron Howard and his frequent scripters Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel turn the potentially lurid story material of Night Shift into an endearing comedy, with winning performances from its three often miscast stars. Keep an eye out during one of the party sequences for Kevin Costner as a carousing college boy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Henry Winkler, Michael Keaton, (more)
- 1981
The growing attraction between cabbies Alex (Judd Hirsch) and Elaine (Marilu Henner) is further explored in this episode. When Elaine accompanies Alex on a vacation to Europe, Alex is worried that she will feel lonely and neglected while he wines and dines a variety of sexy foreign damsels. But as it turns out, it is Elaine who is the toast of the Continent, while Alex remains alone and ignored...at least until Elaine takes a special kind of pity on him. Originally intended as the opening episode of Taxi's fourth season, "Vienna Waits" was shown second after "Jim the Psychic." ~ All Movie Guide
As a once-famous fashion designer prepares to make her big comeback, a mysterious killer begins stalking the beautiful models who gather for the gala celebration in his made-for-television thriller starring Eleanor Parker, Clive Revill, and Jessica Walter. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
