Tony Giorgio Movies

Stage director Anthony Caldarella made his film directorial debut with this drama demonstrating the horror of heroin-addiction impacting on an Italian-American family. During the early '50s, the Casale clan leaves Sicily, arriving at NYC's Lower East Side. It's a time when young Joey Casale (Freddy Capra) is impressed by the magic tricks of older brother Jack (Marco Leonardi). By 1963, however, Jack is deep into drugs, and his heroin habit causes grief for his mother Rose (Karen Colonna Kondazian) and his three straight-arrow brothers: Joey is an industrious student, Vincent (Michael Cavalieri) is a blues musician, while Sal (Peter Alla) manages a successful local trattoria. All make efforts to steer Jack in the right direction, but Jack's self-destructive downward descent seems unstoppable. Shown at the 1997 Hamptons Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

In high dudgeon, Maddie (Cybill Shepherd) flies off to Buenos Aires to confront Ron Sawyer (Mark Lonow), the accountant who swindled her out of her fortune--and indirectly forced her to team up with wisecracking private eye David (Bruce Willis). As Maddie imagines all sorts of scenarios wherein she puts Sawyer in his place and recovers her money, David decides to head to Buenos Aires as well--not to get his cut of the loot, but because, much to his amazement, he misses the contentious Maddie. Alas, any hopes that the two detectives would consummate their relationship are dashed during a climactic poker game. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Although penned by the same screenwriter, David S. Ward, this sequel to The Sting (1973) is tarnished by comparisons to its predecessor. Jackie Gleason fills the shoes of Paul Newman as Harry Gondorff and Mac Davis slips into the Robert Redford role of Johnny Hooker, two con men pals whose latest "sting" involves Hooker pretending to be a down on his luck boxer. Their goal is the fixing of a prizefight, which will rook a tacky nightclub owner (Karl Malden) out of a fortune while simultaneously getting revenge on their old nemesis, Doyle Lonnegan (Oliver Reed). On their side is Veronica (Teri Garr), a seasoned scam artist, but what Gondorff and Hooker don't know is that Lonnegan is manipulating events behind the scenes. Director Jeremy Paul Kagan followed up this terribly unfunny and inferior sequel with the much better received The Journey of Natty Gann (1985), while Ward became a director of such comedies as Major League (1989) and King Ralph (1991). ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

TV movies dealing with Elvis Presley are always good for a few vital extra rating points, and Elvis and the Beauty Queen was no exception to this rule. The King, here played by Don Johnson, is first seen here at the age of 37. Elvis falls in love with 21-year-old Miss Universe contestant Linda Thompson (Stephanie Zimbalist), and the two stay together for five years, remaining as close as it's possible to be a world populated of managers, gophers and sycophants. Linda tries to wean Presley off drugs, but you and I and everyone in the universe knows how that turned out. There's nothing here that hasn't already been trampled to death by the tabloids, but diehard Elvis fanatics will be satisfied. Three surprises: Elvis and the Beauty Queen was not telecast on Elvis' birthday; it wasn't telecast on the anniversary of his death; and it premiered in March of 1981, several weeks after the February "sweeps". ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Kojak (Telly Savalas) is startled to learn that his nephew Johnny (Michael Mullins) has turned to drugs--and even more so that the boy may have been an accomplice in the murder of a pusher. In order to get to the truth of the matter, Kojak must subject Johnny to a grueling interrogation--which may prove impossible unless the boy goes "cold turkey." In desperation, the detective turns to an ex-addict named Sonny (Neville Brand) to scare Johnny straight. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The initials in the episode's title stand for "Grand Theft Auto", and that particular crime is what occupies the time of Officers Jim Reed (Kent McCord) and Pete Malloy (Martin Milner). Several older automobiles have been stolen over a short period of time, and the two cops figure that the solution to this crime wave may be found in a local scrap-metal yard which caters to foreign customers. Featured in the cast is veteran movie heavy Leo Gordon, who also scripted this episode. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This fast-paced Disney endeavor stars Kim Richards and Ike Eisenmann as two adolescents with acute psychic powers. The kids are actually space aliens, but suffer from amnesia and are unaware of their origins. Pursued by greedy business-mogul Ray Milland, who wants to harness their special powers for his benefit, Kim and Ike are rescued by likeable camper Eddie Albert. He and the kids escape to the mountain of the title when Albert's RV suddenly acquires the power of flight. In 1978, the film spawned the sequel Return from Witch Mountain. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The centerpiece of this tense episode is a hostage situation on the roof of a shopping center. Having bungled a robbery, two armed criminals grab a female hostage and head to the roof. In their efforts to rescue the woman, Officers Reed (Kent McCord) and Malloy (Martin Milner) finds themselves engaging in a deadly war of nerves with the desperate thieves. Ironically, the "helpless" hostage is played by Regina Parton, one of Hollywood's best and bravest stuntwomen. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The second Dirty Harry movie, Magnum Force concerns itself with a vigilante group that has targeted notorious scofflaws for extermination. When a prominent gang boss or drug-runner is set free by the airheaded liberal courts, a covert group of "avengers" is soon on hand to blow the miscreant to bits. While detective Dirty Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) is no great friend of civil liberties, he is dead set against wholesale murder as a solution to legal loopholes. Discovering that all the killings have been committed by the same weapon, Callahan reaches the conclusion that his on-the-edge partner, Charlie McCoy (Mitchell Ryan), is responsible. But the answer is less transparent than that, as Harry learns almost at the cost of his own life. Co-scripted by John Milius and Michael Cimino, Magnum Force was followed by three additional Dirty Harry installments: The Enforcer (1976), Sudden Impact (1983) and The Dead Pool (1988). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Popularly viewed as one of the best American films ever made, the multi-generational crime saga The Godfather is a touchstone of cinema: one of the most widely imitated, quoted, and lampooned movies of all time. Marlon Brando and Al Pacino star as Vito Corleone and his youngest son, Michael, respectively. It is the late 1940s in New York and Corleone is, in the parlance of organized crime, a "godfather" or "don," the head of a Mafia family. Michael, a free thinker who defied his father by enlisting in the Marines to fight in World War II, has returned a captain and a war hero. Having long ago rejected the family business, Michael shows up at the wedding of his sister, Connie (Talia Shire), with his non-Italian girlfriend, Kay (Diane Keaton), who learns for the first time about the family "business." A few months later at Christmas time, the don barely survives being shot by gunmen in the employ of a drug-trafficking rival whose request for aid from the Corleones' political connections was rejected. After saving his father from a second assassination attempt, Michael persuades his hotheaded eldest brother, Sonny (James Caan), and family advisors Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall) and Sal Tessio (Abe Vigoda) that he should be the one to exact revenge on the men responsible.

After murdering a corrupt police captain and the drug trafficker, Michael hides out in Sicily while a gang war erupts at home. Falling in love with a local girl, Michael marries her, but she is later slain by Corleone enemies in an attempt on Michael's life. Sonny is also butchered, having been betrayed by Connie's husband. As Michael returns home and convinces Kay to marry him, his father recovers and makes peace with his rivals, realizing that another powerful don was pulling the strings behind the narcotics endeavor that began the gang warfare. Once Michael has been groomed as the new don, he leads the family to a new era of prosperity, then launches a campaign of murderous revenge against those who once tried to wipe out the Corleones, consolidating his family's power and completing his own moral downfall. Nominated for 11 Academy Awards and winning for Best Picture, Best Actor (Marlon Brando), and Best Adapted Screenplay, The Godfather was followed by a pair of sequels. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

Written by Harold Livingston, "The Merchant" guest-stars George Sanders in one of his final acting roles, as illegal arms dealer Armand Andressarian. To prevent Andressarian from completing an arrangement to sale guns to unfriendly guerilla groups in Africa and the middle East, the IMF swings into action. The success of the mission hinges largely on a fixed poker game, a past speciality of IMF agent Barney Collier. Leonard Nimoy and Lesley Ann Warren make their final series appearances. "The Merchant" originally aired on March 13, 1971, as the last episode of Mission:Impossible's fifth season. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The only three-part adventure in the history of Mission: Impossible, "The Falcon" was written by series stalwart Paul Playdon. The IMF's assignment is to restore the rightful heir to a European throne. The usurping General Ramon Sabattini (John Vernon) hopes to gain control of the monarchy by marrying his cousin Francesca (Diane Baker), and to that end has threatened to kill Francesca's imprisoned fiance Prince Stefan (Joseph Reale). With the help of a falcon, not to mention the magical skills of agent Paris, the IMF endeavors to rescue Stephen and return the crown to young King Nicolai (Noel Harrision). Lee Meriwether makes her fourth appearance as IMF agent Tracey. Part One of "The Falcon" first aired January 4, 1970. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In Part Two of the three-part Mission: Impossible adventure "The Falcon", Willy poses as the Bishop who is to perform the marriage ceremony between General Sabattini (John Vernon), the pretender to a European throne, and the General's reluctant fiancee Princess Francesca (Diane Baker). Meanwhile, Paris poses as a master illusionist and mind-reader in order to rescue King Nicolai (Noel Harrison), rightful heir to the throne. Lee Meriwether again appears as IMF agent Tracey, here pretending to be Paris' stage assistant Mme. Vinski. Written by Paul Playdon, Part Two of "The Falcon" was originally telecast on January 11, 1970. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi