Walter Gorney Movies
The PBS series Great Performances first presented the made-for-TV feature Seize the Day. The time is the success-driven '50s; Robin Williams plays Tommy Wilhelm, a middle-ager who has just lost his salesman's job. Margaret, his wife (Katherine Borowitz), is on the verge of divorce and fully intends to take him to the cleaners whether he has an income or not. Doctor Adler (Joseph Wiseman), Tommy's judgmental father, cannot abide having a failure in the family and refuses to lend his son a single penny. In desperation, Tommy heads to New York City, where his old wheeler-dealer pal Dr. Tamkin (Jerry Stiller) has promised him a job. Even there, however, Tommy is defeated by the cold-shoulder treatment afforded him by the people whose opinions he values most. Seize the Day was adapted by Ronald Ribman from the novel by Saul Bellow. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robin Williams, Jerry Stiller, (more)

- 1984
- R
- Add Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter to QueueAdd Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter to top of Queue
Hockey-masked killer Jason Vorhees returns to terrorize a lakeside family and their rowdy teen neighbors in this fourth installment of the long-running slasher series. After the events of Friday the 13th, Part 3, Jason's seemingly lifeless body is brought to the morgue, where horny attendant Axel (Bruce Mahler) is trying to score with foxy Nurse Morgan (Lisa Freeman). The pair quickly meet a grisly end. Meanwhile, at Crystal Lake, estranged wife Mrs. Jarvis (Joan Freeman) and her kids -- young Tommy (Corey Feldman) and teenaged Trish (Kimberly Beck) -- find their quiet invaded by a group of hard-partying kids moving into the rental house next door. The youngsters include curious virgin Sara (Barbara Howard), hot-to-trot Samantha (Judie Aronson), and nebbish Jimmy (Crispin Glover). Tommy, a monster makeup enthusiast, enjoys watching the scantily clad young ladies through his window, while Trish toys with the idea of joining in their revelries. Also lurking around the area is Rob (Erich Anderson), who claims to be hunting bear but actually has mysterious ties to the events of Friday the 13th, Part 2. As the house full of teens begins to pair off -- aided by the addition of local twins Tina (Camilla More) and Terri (Carey More) to the mix -- an unseen killer begins to pick them off one by one. The bloodshed climaxes with a tense showdown in which Tommy disguises himself as a bald, lumpy boyhood version of Jason in hopes of distracting the relentless psychopath who hunts him. Feldman would return for a cameo in Friday the 13th, Part V: A New Beginning, only to be replaced by another actor in a grown-up version of the role. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Crispin Glover, Kimberly Beck, (more)
Ideally tailored to the talents of Rodney Dangerfield, Easy Money casts Rapid Rodney as Monty Capoletti, the black sheep of a prominent family. Nothing can curb Monty's drinking, gluttony, gambling, smoking, or general carousing. Nothing, that is, except the possibility of inheriting millions from mother-in-law Mrs. Monahan (Geraldine Fitzgerald). For one whole year, Monty must toe the line and clean up his act. Can he do it? And will viewers laugh uproariously? The answer to the second question: Yes, they will! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rodney Dangerfield, Joe Pesci, (more)
The "nature-nurture" theory that motivated so many Three Stooges comedies is the basis of John Landis's hit comedy. The fabulously wealthy but morally bankrupt Duke brothers (Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche) make a one-dollar bet over heredity vs. environment. Curious as to what might happen if different lifestyles were reversed, they arrange for impoverished street hustler Billy Ray Valentine (Eddie Murphy) to be placed in the lap of luxury and trained for a cushy career in commodities brokerage. Simultaneously, they set about to reduce aristocratic yuppie Louis Winthorpe III (Dan Aykroyd to poverty and disgrace, hiring a prostitute (Jamie Lee Curtis) to hasten his downfall. When Billy Ray figures out that the brothers intend to dump him back on the streets once their experiment is complete, he seeks out Winthorpe, and together the pauper-turned-prince and prince-turned-pauper plot an uproarious revenge. With the good-hearted prostitute and Winthorpe's faithful butler (Denholm Elliott) as their accomplices, they set about to hit the brothers where it really hurts: in the pocketbook. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd, (more)
Based on a novel by Scott Spencer, Endless Love details the doomed romance between 17-year-old David (Martin Hewitt) and 15-year-old Jade (Brooke Shields). Banished from Jade's home by her daddy Hugh (Don Murray), David obsessively cooks up a scheme to get back into the family's good graces. Since this plan involves setting Jade's house on fire, one can easily predict that the puppy-love romance is in for a bumpy ride. Jailed for arson, David heads directly to Jade the moment that he's released, with tragic results. Posting respectable earnings thanks to the popularity of Brooke Shields, Endless Love was also the film debut of Tom Cruise, billed 18th in the cast list. A young James Spader lends a supporting role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brooke Shields, Martin Hewitt, (more)
Two months after the events of the original Friday the 13th, Alice (Adrienne King), the lone survivor or Mrs. Vorhees' killing spree, meets a grisly end in her city apartment. Five years later, a new group of co-eds converges near Camp Crystal Lake, scene of the original massacre and the drowning of Jason Vorhees that preceded it. This time around, the horny collegians attend a nearby training school for camp counselors. As half the group parties in town, an unseen assailant picks off the other half one by one. Only when camp leader Paul (John Furey) and his girlfriend, Ginny (Amy Steel), return to camp do they uncover the identity of their stalker -- none other than Jason (Warrington Gillette) himself, alive but grotesquely deformed as a result of his childhood drowning. Flashbacks chronicle Jason's behind-the-scenes activities in the first film (perhaps explaining how his mother was able to throw the dead bodies of muscular youths through windows with such apparent ease). The young couple's only hope to defeat the fiend lies in psych major Ginny's insights in Jason's mental state. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Amy Steel, John Furey, (more)
One of the longest-running horror film series began with this gory shocker from director Sean S. Cunningham, who had previously produced Wes Craven's classic Last House on the Left. Entrepreneur Steve Christie (Peter Brouwer) re-opens Camp Crystal Lake after many years during which it has been cursed by murders and bad luck. The young and nubile counselors all begin to die extremely bloody deaths at the hands of an unseen killer during a rainstorm which isolates the camp. A woman is chopped in the face with an axe, another has her throat sliced in amazingly gruesome fashion, a male counselor (Harry Crosby) is pinned to a door with arrows, and a young Kevin Bacon has an arrow shoved through his throat from below a bed. Victor Miller's script is not particularly impressive, but Cunningham's tense direction, and some remarkable special-effects by acclaimed makeup artist Tom Savini are enough to make it worthwhile. 1950s quiz show regular Betsy Palmer appears as the cook whose son, Jason (Ari Lehman), drowned 25 years earlier while neglected by romancing counselors. Palmer was reportedly cast because she was willing to drive her own car to and from the set. Trivia buffs should note the decapitation scene near the end, in which the female killer exhibits rather hirsute hands clutching at the air. The hands belong to Savini's assistant, Taso N. Stavrakis. Friday the 13th made over 20 million dollars at the box office and spawned numerous sequels. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Betsy Palmer, Adrienne King, (more)
In this touching tale, an amiable retarded delivery boy from Brooklyn works to help support his mother. Meanwhile his older brother keeps him safe from local punks; this sometimes creates turmoil for him as he must maintain a strong exterior to mask his love. While delivering his groceries, the young man often fantasizes about being Superman and marrying the young woman who works in a neighboring bakery. When he saves a child from a burning building, his fantasy becomes reality. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Proval, James Andronica, (more)
In this comedy from director Aram Avakian, New York police officers Cliff Gorman and Joe Bologna turn crooked. Their plan is to steal $10 million worth of investment certificates, using a Manhattan parade as their "cover". Gorman and Bologna display an amazing degree of dexterity and foresightedness in breaking down the investment firm's sophisticated security system. Too bad they didn't take fate into consideration. Cops and Robbers was based on a novel by Donald Westlake (The Hot Rock). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cliff Gorman, Joseph Bologna, (more)

















