Marjoe Gortner
Maverick writer-director Walter Hill's version of the famous Wild Bill Hickok legend is a dreamscape western that is told entirely in flashback. Hickok's friend Charley Prince (John Hurt) narrates the events of Wild Bill's life while sitting at Bill's graveside. Hickok is played by Jeff Bridges as a mean, high-spirited, but gallant outlaw. He wanders the West, adding to his reputation with some well-chosen gunfights, and he meets up with characters such as Calamity Jane (Ellen Barkin), who becomes his sidekick for a time. After becoming a legend, Hickok signs up for a stint with Buffalo Bill Cody's traveling variety show. Eventually, he falls in love with Susannah Moore (Diane Lane), and his love leads him to tragedy in the town of Deadwood, SD. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeff Bridges, Ellen Barkin, (more)
- 1991
- PG
When a wealthy man (Roger Moore) stages a fake death, his potential inheritors must compete in a series of athletic events in order to claim his fortune. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- 1989
This, the third issue in the American Ninja series, stars karate expert David Bradley who goes to Japan for ninja training so he'll be able to avenge his father's murder. Once trained, he enters in an international karate contest held by some no-goods who'd like to get their hands on the world's toughest fella so they can try out a new artificial disease they've created. (They figure the best way to test the disease is upon the toughest guy they can find.) Most action occurs on a Caribbean island. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Bradley, Steve James, (more)
- 1987
- R
This low-budget actioner is set in a world gone mad with the fear that WW III is imminent and centers on a survivalist who has stashed away a veritable armory of high-tech weapons to protect his family. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steve Railsback, Marjoe Gortner, (more)
- 1985
- R
It's hard to be critical of an exploitation film that revels so gleefully in its awfulness. To begin with, we're presented with dazed, glassy-eyed heroine Judy Landers, whose condition is readily explained by a bout with amnesia brought on by the brutal murder of her mother at the hands of a sleazy villain, Ray Sharkey. She is sent to the prison-like Ashland Mental Hospital for therapy, at first blissfully unaware of the diabolical mind experiments being performed on the all-female patients in the title dungeon by leering mad doctor Mary Woronov (who's done more than her share of leering in films of this type). Sharkey's not out of the picture -- he's lurking about the grounds, hoping to wring some secrets from our heroine about the documents he tried to obtain from her poor mom. The usual women-in-prison accouterments abound, from glue-sniffing lesbians to lecherous guards. The exploitation elements seem somewhat restrained (Landers doesn't even get her hair mussed) and they make the film look more like a sleazy made-for-TV movie with a few nude scenes thrown in for spice. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ray Sharkey, Judy Landers, (more)
- 1984
This routine actioner is about several models caught in a South American jungle battle between drug lords and drug busters. Cesar (Paul L. Smith) and Don Vito (John Vernon) are about to conclude a cocaine deal in Peru, and a drug enforcement agent is about to bust both men by sending a secret agent, disguised as a model, into the jungle with several other models, a photographer (Nina Van Pallandt), and their manager (Marjoe Gortner). Cesar shoots down the plane carrying the models, captures them alive and unharmed, and keeps them imprisoned where they are tortured by his evil sister (Sybil Danning). Just as everything looks the darkest, the final battle arrives at last. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul L. Smith, John Vernon, (more)
- 1983
- R
In this modest but well-wrought occult horror film, Susan Farrell (Bobbie Bresee) innocently visits her family's mausoleum at the age of 10, and, due to an ancient curse on the first-born in her family, is possessed by a blood-thirsty demon. The demon does not manifest until two decades later, when Susan begins to dispatch one victim after another -- from the gardener to the delivery boy. The maid Elsie (La Wanda Page) has some well-placed, down-to-earth comments on the weird and murderous ambience, and fortunately a good friend is a trained psychologist who, odd as it may seem, knows about demons, perhaps through a grad-level seminar. Since this film is not as graphically violent as many other '80s and '90s horror flicks, audiences hooked on unremitting gore will have to look elsewhere. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marjoe Gortner, Bobbi Bresee, (more)
- 1983
Congregating at a French restaurant, the A-Team is reunited with Lin Duk Coo (Mako), formerly the cook at the Vietnamese POW camp where they'd been imprisoned during the war. Naturally, Lin is in desperate need of the team's help, thanks to the villainous machinations of the prison camp's sadistic former commandant General Chow (John Fujioka), who, in league with traitorous ex-soldier Tom Anderson (Marjoe Gortner), is currently smuggling heroin into the country. Disguising himself as a golf caddy, Hannibal (George Peppard) is able to figure out that the drugs are being hidden in bread produced at the Angel Bakery--thereby setting up the climax in which a modified bakery truck functions as a tank! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1979
- R
When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder? has been presented often as a stage play by amateur theatrical groups. Evangelist-turned-actor Marjoe Gortner plays Teddy, a cracked Vietnam vet who holds the denizens of a Texas roadside diner hostage at gunpoint. Candy Clark plays Cheryl, his zoned-out hippie girlfriend. After nearly two hours of tension, Gortner is overpowered and things return to normal. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Candy Clark, Marjoe Gortner, (more)
- 1978
- PG
Italian schlock-master Luigi Cozzi (billed as Lewis Coates here) directed this low-budget Star Wars rip-off in 1978, right when the sci-fi craze was hitting audiences on a world-wide scale. The story begins familiarly enough, with a huge spaceship tracking through an extremely colorful space scene while under attack by some kind of unknown and deadly force resembling a lava lamp. Being no match for the '60s acid-flashback rays, they manage to jettison a few escape pods just before being blown to kingdom come. Fast forward now to the other end of the galaxy, where we find the best smugglers in town -- gorgeous Stella Star (Caroline Munro) and space-pimp Akton (Marjoe Gortner) -- outrunning a band of cops on their tail. Eventually, they're caught, taken into custody, and sentenced to intense Labor Camps, where Stella is forced to wear a skimpy Barbarella-like outfit by the extreme, merciless guards. A break-out ensues, and in the intense laser shoot-out, Stella manages to escape, only to be captured again by the semi-green-skinned Thor (Robert Tessier) and his annoying southern-drawled robot, Elle (voiced by genre veteran Hamilton Camp). Brought in front of the Emperor of the Galaxy (Christopher Plummer) and reunited with Akton, the sexy duo find themselves suddenly in charge of finding Prince Simon (David Hasselhoff). Thus begins the heroes' amazing adventure through space and time as they search for Hasselhoff and end up fighting Amazons, Cavemen, and the Evil Count Zarth Arn (Joe Spinell) along the way. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marjoe Gortner, Caroline Munro, (more)
Gordon M. Douglas' kitsch masterpiece starts as Evel Knievel (as himself) sneaks into an orphanage at midnight to distribute Evel Knievel action figures. Miraculously, one little boy casts aside his crutches and begins to walk. The plot kicks in as Evel, heading to a performance in Mexico, finds himself waylaid by nefarious drug dealers, headed by Stanley Millard (Leslie Nielsen), who plans to murder Evel in Mexico and then ship the body back across the border, loaded with drugs. Gene Kelly, of all people, is on hand as Will Atkins, Evel's sloppy-drunk sidekick. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Evel Knievel, Gene Kelly, (more)
- 1977
- PG
In this action film, motorcross racer J. W. Wyatt (Michael Parks) works to develop a high-performance motorcycle while pursuing a romance with the wealthy Chris Gentry (Susan Howard). ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marjoe Gortner, Michael Parks, (more)
Based on a novel by H. G. Wells, a group of bloodthirsty, oversized creatures (including rats, chickens, wasps, and worms) have taken over a remote island after ingesting a mysterious growth known as "Food of the Gods." It is up to an unusual group of people to put an end to this animal threat. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marjoe Gortner, Pamela Franklin, (more)
- 1976
Mayday at 40,000 Feet is a regulation crisis-in-the-air TV movie distinguished by the accomplished direction of Robert (Hill Street Blues) Butler. David Janssen pilots a 747 chock full of guest stars, battling a snowstorm in order to find his way back to the airport. The plane develops engine trouble, threatening to dump its celebrity cargo in the icy drink. Adding to Janssen's growing list of problems is a maniac who goes on a shooting rampage in the first-class section. It's doubtful that anyone on November 12, 1976 stayed tuned to Mayday at 40,000 Feet upon discovering that its competition on another network was the John Travolta vehicle The Boy in the Plastic Bubble. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1976
A young country-star wannabe takes off from her carhop career to join with a young, modern Billy the Kid wannabe for an adventure in theft, murder and mayhem. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marjoe Gortner, Lynda Carter, (more)
- 1974
Former evangelist Marjorie Gortner had a brief flurry of activity as an actor in the early 1970s. Gun and the Pulpit was a made-for-TV movie designed as the pilot for a potential Gortner series. Marjoe plays a gunslinger who disguises himself as a preacher to escape a false murder charge. He finds that his somewhat direct proselytizing technique--wielding a six-gun whenever faced with hostile nonbelievers--makes him popular throughout the west. Gun and the Pulpit was filmed on location at the Old Tucson studios, originally built in 1940 for the Columbia feature Arizona and currently a major Southwestern tourist attraction. The film's premise was workable, but not with Marjoe Gortner; Merlin Olsen came along in 1981 with a more successful variation on the theme, Father Murphy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1974
In this made-for-television drama, a trio of advertising executives take a motorcycle trip across the desert and end up in a life-threatening situation. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Los Angeles is the natural site for a film about earthquakes: they happen there frequently, and the landscape is familiar to moviegoers from thousands of films. A huge number of ongoing vignettes which include cameos from numerous celebrities and stars are tied together by the ongoing efforts of architect Graff (Charleton Heston) to rescue his estranged spoiled-rich-girl wife (Ava Gardner), while helping out with the ongoing rescue efforts taking place around him and while trying to determine what has happened to his mistress Denise (Genvieve Bujold). The rumbling sound effect designed for this film (Sensurround) won a "Best Sound" Oscar for the film in 1975. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, (more)
- 1973
A roman a clef depicting the Wylie-Hoffert murders, this is the first of the made for TV movies introducing the Kojak character and was essentially the pilot for the long-running crime series. When a black ghetto youth is accused of two bizarre murders, Kojak takes it upon himself to find the real murderer. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
This crime drama is set on the beautiful Hawaiian island of Kauai and follows the exploits of an undercover cop who involves himself in a drug-smuggling operation. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
