Val Avery Movies

Can a straight-laced woman find happiness with a scruffy hippie who has a bad habit of getting beaten up? Minnie Moore (Gena Rowlands) was a prom queen in high school but has become disillusioned with life now that she is a divorcée who has just turned 40. Her marriage ended badly, and her current relationship with her boyfriend Jim (John Cassavetes), who is inconveniently married to another woman, is hardly going any better. Jim treats Minnie with little respect, but she tries to calmly soldier on with her work as a curator at a museum. When Jim's wife threatens to commit suicide if he doesn't break off his affair with Minnie, he agrees to stop seeing her. He goes to museum where Minnie works, bringing along his two children to serve as witnesses, and he tells her that they're through. Emotionally shattered by this experience, Minnie blankly and uncomprehendingly accepts a blind date with a loud-mouthed boor named Zelmo Swift (Val Avery), who proposes marriage only an hour after they've met. Angered by her lack of enthusiasm for this proposal, Zelmo angrily follows Minnie to a nearby parking lot, where the attendant, Seymour Moskowitz (Seymour Cassel), comes to her rescue, though he hardly emerges victorious in battle. Shaggy-haired and steadfastly bohemian Seymour has just arrived in Los Angeles from New York City looking to make some changes, and after a few minutes with Minnie, he's convinced that he's met the love of his life. Minnie isn't buying it, but she eventually agrees to go out on a date with him, and before long, these two polar opposites find that they're attracted to each other after all. A typically low-budget labor of love from writer/director/actor John Cassavetes, Minnie and Moskowitz features John's wife Gena Rowlands as Minnie, his mother Katherine Cassavetes as Seymour's mom, his brother-in-law David Rowlands as a minister, and several of his children in a party sequence; John's friend and frequent collaborator Timothy Carey also appears in a small role. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this unusual black comedy, Stacy Keach plays Jonas Candide, a former carnival showman who roams the southern U.S. in 1918 with a portable electric chair. He offers his services as a freelance executioner for $100 a pop. He takes a job in a prison in Alabama, where he is supposed to execute a young woman named Gundred Herzallerliebst (Marianna Hill) and her brother. He electrocutes the brother first. On the night before she is scheduled to die, Gundred seduces Jonas and he falls for her. Jonas tries to get Doc Prittle (Graham Jarvis) to help him fake her execution, but the doctor demands a high price. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

Hank McCain (John Cassavetes) is the imprisoned gangster who gets out of jail with the help of the mob. The syndicate wants him to take part in a heist of a Las Vegas casino. The plan is discussed and soon abandoned by the mob, but Hank decides to go ahead with the robbery. Disguised as a fireman, he pulls off the daring crime with the help of his current flame Irene (Britt Ekland). The angry mobsters want him dead and they soon close in on his old girlfriend Rosemary (Gena Rowlands) for information that could lead to Hank. She would rather commit suicide than give them information about her ex-boyfriend as she obviously still carries a torch for her old flame. Even without her help, the dragnet closes in on Hank as the mobsters systematically figure out his whereabouts. This feature was the Italian entry at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival, a choice that caused controversy and questions. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Racketeer Lewis Parma (Vincent Gardenia) intends to take control of the food distribution industry and pose exorbitant consumer prices. To destroy Parma, the IMF agents must extract information from the gang leader's most trusted lieutenant, a man named Ducho (Luke Askew). The plan hinges upon a terrifyingly realistic gas-chamber execution--with Rollin as the condemned man. Written by William Read Woodfield and Allen Balter, "The Execution" originally aired November 10 1968. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In Martin Ritt's The Brotherhood, Kirk Douglas plays Frank Ginetta, an old-line Mafioso who resents the newer policies encouraged by his younger brother Vince (Alex Cord). Frank resists all attempts at modernizing his operation, whereupon Vince cajoles his father-in-law Dominick Bertolo (Luther Adler) to spearhead an inter-mob rebellion. Summing up Bertolo as a rat and a liar, Frank has the man murdered in a graphically brutal fashion. It is up to Vince to exact retribution by killing his own brother. Lewis John Carlino's screenplay includes many of the elements that would gain legendary status upon the release of The Godfather, including the dreaded "kiss of death." Star Kirk Douglas also served as producer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Yes, Paul Newman is a blue-eyed Indian in Hombre, but this apparent ethnic error is carefully justified in the body of the story. Newman plays a white man who was raised by the Apaches, and ever since has straddled two worlds, feeling truly comfortable in neither. While riding a stagecoach, Newman is subject to the racial bias of banker Fredric March and his snooty wife Barbara Rush. In truth, March is an embezzler, and has no reason to feel superior to anyone. This fact comes out when the coach is held up by murderous bandit-chief Richard Boone. When the passengers fight back, Boone takes Rush as a hostage. Newman, who by rights should be supremely satisfied that his tormentors are themselves tormented, proves himself the bravest of the passengers, sacrificing his own life to save Rush and put an end to Boone's reign of terror. Hombre is based on a novel by suspense specialist Elmore Leonard. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Determined that his grandson Ed (Buck Taylor) will attend school rather than follow family tradition and become a miner, old Tom Rule (John McIntire) decides to sabotage the New Mexico mine where Ed works. What Tom doesn't know is that the mine is located near a huge deposit of tungsten, a mineral vital to the defense of the U.S. Thus, FBI Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) arrives on the scene when the booby-trapped mine caves in --leaving Tom trapped inside with Erskine's assistant Jim Rhodes (Stephen Brooks). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This episode is set in a remote Oregon community plagued by a drought that has dragged on for over three months. A local religious sect headed by Adam MacDonald (John Anderson) has managed to incur the wrath of some bigoted townsfolk, who go out of their way to torment and persecute McDonald and his flock. But the case doesn't attract the attention of the FBI until a hate-maddened extortionist threatens to burn down the sect's settlement--an act which would also spell disaster for everyone else in the region. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Assault on a Queen is a complex, exciting crime-caper film in which a gang of clever mercenaries try to rob the famous luxury liner, the Queen Mary. Mark Brittain (Frank Sinatra) is hired by wealthy Italian adventuress Rosa Lucchesi (Verna Lisi) and her German partner-in-crime, Eric Laufftiauer (Alf Kjellin) to refurbish a WWII German U-Boat and use it to hold the entire ship hostage while it is robbed. Scriptwriter Rod Serling does his best with an interesting, but rather implausible premise, and director Jack Donohue gets above-average performances from his cast of veteran character actors, including Richard Conte and Reginald Denny, but Frank Sinatra is not particularly believable as an action hero. The true star of the show is the terrific color photography of the magnificent ocean liner by William Daniels and a musical score by Duke Ellington. While Assault on a Queen fails to generate much suspense, fans of Frank Sinatra should enjoy this, although it fails to reach the level of fun and excitement of his excellent Ocean's 11. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide

Carroll Baker, the Sharon Stone of the sixties, plays another classy-looking blonde with a sordid background in Sylvia. Millionaire Peter Lawford is about to marry the glamorous but secretive Sylvia (Baker). Before taking the plunge, he hires private eye George Maharis to do a background check on the girl. Whew, what he finds out! Apparently the only sin Sylvia doesn't commit is robbing parking meters, but we have no idea what might happen after the final fadeout. Shortly before it opened, Sylvia was the subject of several magazine articles, trumpeting the fact that Carroll Baker had conducted extensive interviews with real-life prostitutes in order to prepare herself for her role. This apparently left her no time to consult an acting coach. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season Three of The Fugitive finds Richard Kimble (David Janssen), wrongly accused of his wife's murder, still on the lam from the relentless Lt. Gerard (Barry Morse), still desperately searching for the One-Armed Man who committed the murder for which Kimble was condemned to death. Now using the alias "George Egan", Kimble becomes a local hero when he rescues Janet Kegler (Lane Bradbury), who had been taken hostage by a convict. Wounded in the melee, Kimble is taken to a prison hospital for treatment, where Janet begs Warden Malone (Lin McCarthy) to set the fugitive free before Gerard arrives. But both Kimble and prison trustee Mickey Deming (a pre-Mission: Impossible Greg Morris) are placed in harm's way by a blackmailing convict who is intent on stealing the hospital's supply of morphine. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

During a family jaunt to the beach, Herman (Fred Gwynne) goes scuba diving with full regalia. No sooner has he submerged than Herman is scooped up by a net cast from a Russian submarine. The Soviet sailors are thrilled at their "catch", believing that they've at last found the Missing Link. But a gimlet-eyed commissar (Jan Arvan) is convinced that Herman is an American espionage agent and acts accordingly--thereby nearly bringing down the fall of the USSR some 24 years ahead of schedule! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide