Michael Goodwin Movies

A man wages a one-man war against corrupt real-estate developers in this independent comedy drama. Nat Banks (Roger Rees) is a genially eccentric gentleman farmer who minds a Virginia estate that has belonged to his family for generations. Nat is not especially good at managing his money and has fallen deep in debt, so when a pair of real-estate men from Washington, D.C., make an offer for the place, Nat agrees under the condition that the house will be maintained as it is and he will be allowed to stay there for the rest of his life. However, Nat soon finds the businessmen are not good to their word, and he's to be moved out of his home into a nearby rental house. Refusing to leave his land, Nat moves into a cave near the creek that runs near the estate, and when the new owners go South for the winter, Nat breaks into his former home and hatches a plan to win back his estate with the help of some friends. Crazy Like a Fox was the first feature film from stage director Richard Squires, and was produced through The Delphi Film Foundation, a non-profit film production house. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This adaptation of the comic novel by T. Coraghessan Boyle is the story of real-life Corn Flakes inventor Dr. John Harvey Kellogg (Anthony Hopkins), an eccentric health nut in the early 20th century. Convinced of the benefits of holistic health practices (mostly involving irrigation of the bowels and colon), Kellogg opens a spa in Battle Creek, Michigan that immediately attracts the well-to-do of his time, including Will (Matthew Broderick) and Eleanor Lightbody (Bridget Fonda). A young couple with sexual and marital problems, the Lightbodys aren't helped much by the forced separation of sexes at Kellogg's sanitarium, and the situation is further exacerbated by Will's obliging nurse (Traci Lind) and Eleanor's encounters with a group of German sex therapists. Also at the spa are Charles Ossining (John Cusack), an ambitious con man who sees a fortune in Kellogg's cereal, and the unwashed, cretinous George Kellogg (Dana Carvey), one of the doctor's several dozen adopted children. A spoof as obsessed as its protagonist with its scatological subject matter, The Road to Wellville was an unusual effort for director-composer Alan Parker, known better for darker dramatic material and musicals. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

After he is framed by his senior partner and sent to jail, Herbie Altman Robert Carradine sets up a lucrative investment company "Con Inc." with the assistance of the other convicts, sympathetic guards, and a well-intentioned prison reformer Lise Cutter. Lame, predictable story which wastes a talanted cast . ~ All Movie Guide

Detective Berzak (Robert Carradine) and his suave partner Hazeltine (Billy Dee Williams) combine forces to track down a notorious drug lord in this routine action feature. Captain Ferris (Peter Graves) monitors the progress of the decidedly different detectives. The trail leads to Dacosta (Barry Sattels) a respected member of the social elite and the community. Valerie Bertanelli plays Berzak's daughter Teresa, who is pumped for information by her father about his ex-wife (Doris Roberts). ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Elizabeth Montgomery plays a woman who awakens from a 20-year coma. Her adjustment to the new world around her is made doubly difficult by the knowledge that her long-ago sweetheart has married her sister (Karen Grassle). Worse still, Montgomery learns that her reawakening may be temporary, and that she could lapse back into a coma at any time. Matching Elizabeth Montgomery in the noble-suffering sweepstakes is Dorothy McGuire, cast as Montgomery's mother. Lori Birdsong plays the younger version of Montgomery in the flashback sequences. The made-for-TV Between the Darkness and the Dawn was first networkcast December 23, 1985. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The fighting between the Sandinista government in Nicaragua and the Contra rebels backed by U.S. money and expertise is the focus of this pro-Sandinista film by Haskell Wexler. The appropriately named Eddie Guerrero (translation Eddie "Warrior") is a Vietnam War veteran sent to help out the U.S. Special Forces as they train and abet the Contras in their forays across the border from Honduras into Nicaragua. Eddie becomes romantically involved with Marlena (Annette Cardona), and at first they see eye-to-eye on politics and the need to overthrow the Sandinistas. Then the excesses of the Contras in their raids across the border are brought home to Eddie, while Marlena sees that the new Nicaraguan society is not what Contra propaganda claims. For some viewers, the couple's eventual conversion to supporting the Nicaraguan government may seem like one more cog in an anti-Contra diatribe, which is regrettable since Wexler could have given this film enough nuances to present the subtleties of the conflict and still prove his point. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Documentarian Les Blank, who filmed Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe, trained his cameras on Herzog again, as the eccentric German filmmaker made his epic, Fitzcarraldo, in the Amazon rainforest of Peru. Herzog's production is in trouble right from the start. He begins filming with Jason Robards playing the title role, and Mick Jagger playing Fitzcarraldo's sidekick, Wilbur. With 40 percent of the film shot, Robards becomes ill and goes back to the states, where his doctor will not let him return. Because of the delay, Jagger, with album and tour commitments, is forced to quit the production. Thinking no one can fill the rock star's shoes, Herzog jettisons Jagger's role. He eventually casts his frequent collaborator Klaus Kinski as Fitzcarraldo and begins shooting again. Violent tribal disputes and unpredictable weather hinder the shoot, but the biggest obstacle is Herzog's own quixotic and dangerous determination to film one antique boat smashing down the Amazonian rapids, and the dragging of an identical boat over a mountain from one river to another. Blank interviews members of the cast and crew, including the impoverished Indian extras, and captures the troubles of the seemingly cursed production, but his interviews with Herzog are the focal point of the film. "If I abandon this project," Herzog explains at one point, "I would be a man without dreams, and I never want to live like that. I live my life or I end my life with this project." Herzog later made his own documentary about Kinski, My Best Fiend, which adds to the lore of this infamously difficult shoot. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Apparently weary of playing victim-of-the-week, Elizabeth Montgomery goes the Joan Crawford route playing a fabulously wealthy and stupendously bored matron who is about to be divorced by her wealthy husband. Hubby conveniently expires while dallying with his mistress. The upshot is that Ms. Montgomery is made executive vice president of the boat-building business that she'd helped her husband establish. Moral: Marry well, ladies, and you too can become a CEO. Basically a very slight TV movie, Jennifer: A Woman's Story is bloated way beyond its worth into a Ross Hunter-type sudser; the British TV series upon which it was based, The Foundation, was more austere, and frankly more enjoyable. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Rock 'n' Roll High School is a prime example of a 1970s movie phenomenon: a cult film that was deliberately designed to be a cult film. High-schooler Riff Randell's (P.J. Soles) efforts to meet the Ramones are continually thwarted by rock & roll-hating principal Evelyn Togar (Mary Woronov). Ms. Togar is the zealous sort who conducts experiments on laboratory rats to prove the adverse effect of rock music on innocent teenagers. Riff knows that she'll have to be twice as clever and devious as Togar to get her daily supply of Ramones -- and thereby hangs our tale. A secondary plot involves the efforts of pimply student Eaglebauer (Clint Howard) to arrange a date with the very particular Riff. A deliciously anarchistic climax caps this never-a-dull-moment spoof of 1950s rock & roll musicals. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Kojak (Telly Savalas) is both frustrated and confused when New York City is terrorized by a mad bomber. The frustration arises from the fact that the bomber's explosive devices cannot be disarmed; the confusion is sparked by the fact that the perpetrator seemingly has no motive, nor does he ask for any ransom money. The key to solving the mystery can be found in the episode's title...and that's all we'll say for now. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide