Mike Bacarella Movies
- 1985
- PG
The serious problems in romancing young women are held up against the realities of a normal teen existence in this standard sex comedy without sex (as in graphic or nude). After meeting three new young women in one week, Danny (Kevin Anderson) ends up trying to handle all of them at once, and quite by accident. He invites Esme (Peri Kaczmarek) home while his mother is away on vacation, but Terry (Shaun Allen) and Marcy (Jessica Vitkus) come barging in, needing a place to stay. Danny only loves one of them, but his mother and everyone else has trouble believing that when they see the Arabian tent in his bedroom. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shaun Allen, Kevin Anderson, (more)
This spoof of the 1930s and '40s crime stories ranges from the ridiculous to the sublime as it tells the story of Johnny Dangerously (Byron Thames as the young Johnny, Michael Keaton as the older), a devoted son to his ailing mother (Maureen Stapleton), so ill that she needs money for several operations. Johnny has nowhere to turn, and because gangsters tend to flourish in his neighborhood he goes to work for Dundee, a benevolent godfather-gangster type, in order to cover his mother's medical bills. Johnny hides his association with Dundee from his younger brother Tommy (Griffin Dunne) and goes so far as to pay for Tommy's law school fees -- supporting him until Tommy joins the staff of the local (and corrupt) district attorney's office for Burr (Danny DeVito). When Johnny starts working for Dundee, he clashes with the evil Vermin (Joe Piscopo) right from the beginning, but things only get worse. After Dundee decides to retire, Johnny ascends to the helm, and it does not look like Vermin is going to take that sitting down. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Keaton, Joe Piscopo, (more)
In the first film of brothers Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, M. Emmett Walsh plays Visser, an unscrupulous private eye hired by Texas bar owner Marty (Dan Hedaya) to murder Marty's faithless wife Abby (Frances McDormand) and her paramour, Ray (John Getz), one of Marty's employees. But Visser is no more up-front with Marty than with anyone else; he makes some slight modifications of the original plan so that it better serves his own best interests. After a surprise double-cross and the murder of one of the important players, matters spiral out of control, and the plot gyrates through a complicated string of darkly humorous events. False assumptions, guilt, and fear all lead to a frantic attempt to conceal evidence and the heart-pounding, irony-filled denouement. Blood Simple was re-released in the summer of 2000 with a digitally-remastered soundtrack and -- at the Coens' behest -- a few minutes of dialogue trimmed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Getz, Frances McDormand, (more)
With a plot that is a cross between a teen, low-brow farce and a coming-of-age story, Class opens with scenes of two best friends -- nerdy whiz Jonathan (Andrew McCarthy) and carefree jock Skip (Rob Lowe) -- going around in lingerie; they also barf on a double date, break into a quiet meeting at a girls' school, and generally behave as emotional throwbacks. But when the nerd Jonathan is picked up in a Chicago bar by Skip's mother Ellen (Jacqueline Bisset), the tone changes completely. The affair between the student and the older woman is torrid until they rendezvous in New York and Ellen dumps Jonathan because she finds out he is not a Ph.D. candidate from Northwestern University. Meanwhile, Jonathan does not know who Ellen is until Skip brings him home for the Christmas holidays and the two clandestine, September-May ex-lovers come face to face with the truth. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rob Lowe, Jacqueline Bisset, (more)
- 1982
Robert Conrad fills the role of G. Gordon Liddy like the proverbial glove in this macho-driven biopic. Convicted in the Watergate conspiracy, Liddy serves 54 months in prison. At first laughed off by the other cons as merely a white-collar criminal, Liddy proves through various he-man methods that he's the match for any man behind bars. Every highlight of Liddy's autobiography is lovingly detailed, including the blood oath "I will kill for you, Mr.President" and the legendary hand held over the burning flame. Without descending to political partisanship, we note here that Conrad's G. Gordon Liddy is lot more exciting and charismatic than the genuine article. Will: G. Gordon Liddy was first telecast January 10, 1982. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Goofy team Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong play chauffeurs hired by a couple of Arabs (also played by the two) to make a cross-country trip with a limo which happens to contain $5 million hidden inside. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cheech Marin, Tommy Chong, (more)
To overcome his shyness, hardware store clerk Christopher Walken gets involved with his local community theatre group. Proving himself a powerful stage presence, Walken is cast as Stanley Kowalski in the group's upcoming production of A Streetcar Named Desire. Still, he remains as bashful as ever offstage-at least until he meets his "Stella", phone-company employe Susan Sarandon. Touchingly adapted from a story by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., the 60-minute Who Am I This Time? was originally an installment of PBS' American Playhouse anthology. It made its debut on February 2, 1982. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Michael Apted directed and Lawrence Kasdan wrote the screenplay for this diverting romantic comedy -- a film that attempts to recapture the spirit of an old Spencer Tracy-Katharine Hepburn vehicle. A very subdued John Belushi plays a star columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times named Ernie Souchak (but loosely based on columnist Mike Royko), who uses his column as a direct line to report on the dirty dealings at Chicago City Hall. When his political reports on a local corrupt alderman get too hot, Ernie is sent to the Rocky Mountains to do a fluff piece on reclusive ornithologist Nell Porter (Blair Brown). Ernie arrives at her mountain hideaway, but Nell is hostile and orders him to leave. Ernie informs her that his guide won't return for a few weeks and she reluctantly permits him to stay. The two first learn to put up with each other and then their aversion slowly turns into love. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Belushi, Blair Brown, (more)
- 1981
- PG
In this drama, a homeless shoeshine boy who lives in a locker at the train station finds himself quite popular after he reveals a talent for picking winners at the racetrack. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gary Coleman, Michael Lembeck, (more)
