Maxine Hicks Movies

A magic-obsessed New York waitress (Rosanna Arquette) is persuaded by a colorful group of characters to help her rob the restaurant where she works. Along the way, she falls in love with the eatery's bartender (David Bowie), who just so happens to be looking for someone who will make him a permanent resident of the U.S. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi

Albert Brooks wrote, directed, and stars in this philosophical comedy about a man having a hard time making a case for himself in the afterlife. When advertising executive Daniel Miller (Albert Brooks) finds himself in a fatal car crash minutes after taking delivery on a new BMW, he's whisked away to Judgment City, where the recently dead are put on a sort of trial to decide their fate. If in your time on Earth you were able to face your fears and learn from your mistakes, you get to move on to a life in a better world. However, if you didn't, you have to go back to Earth and try again. As he spends the next several days watching various episodes from his life, Daniel gets the impression he doesn't stand much of a chance of moving on -- and his representative, Bob Diamond (Rip Torn), seems to have little confidence in his case. In the meantime, he frequents Judgment City's many restaurants (where the food is delicious and you can eat all you want without gaining an ounce), pays a visit to the Past Life Pavilion, and meets Julia (Meryl Streep), who seems so kind, sweet, and noble that her advancement is practically assured. Daniel and Julia fall in love, but what's going to happen if they don't end up in the same place? Albert Brooks and Meryl Streep make a witty and engaging romantic team in Defending Your Life, and Shirley MacLaine appears in a highly appropriate cameo. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In yet another mindless teen sex comedy, a young man gets a job repairing hot tubs for the rich and famous in Tinseltown, thanks to his parents. As he moves from one bubbly tub to the next, sexual situations change accordingly, but a romance between the young man and a co-worker at the hot tub establishment heats up as they get into hot water together. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Starving artist Robert Montgomery could care less if his paintings sell, so long as he's happy. Montgomery falls in love with Rosalind Russell, an heiress who's gone "slumming" in Greenwich Village. Russell becomes Montgomery's patroness as well as his wife, urging him to make his paintings more commercial. He becomes a success following her advice, but popularity goes to his head and soon Russell realizes she's created a monster. She walks out, he gets his act together, she comes back, and they return to their blissful hand-to-mouth existence. Live, Love and Learn scores its biggest laughs unintentionally with MGM's prettified concept of what a "run down" Greenwich village apartment looks like. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Radio baritone Joe Morrison was being groomed for stardom by Paramount when he was top-billed in One Hour Late. Morrison is cast as shipping clerk Eddie Blake, whose girlfriend Betty Dunn (Helen Twelvetrees) is secretary to big boss Stephen Barclay (Conrad Nagel). A trusting soul, Betty sees nothing wrong in accepting Barclay's invitation to visit his home for the weekend. But Eddie suspects the worst and tags along to make sure that Betty's virtue remains intact. As it happens, Eddie's fears are groundless -- as are those of Barclay's wife Ellen (Gail Patrick), who was poised to walk out on her husband at the first sign of extramarital hanky-panky. The script contrives to have a radio station located in the building where Eddie works, permitting Joe Morrison to croon a medley of his hit "The Last Roundup." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

MGM house director Clarence Brown's first all-talkie, this pleasantly innocuous comedy drama stars William Haines as Jack Kelly, a carefree sailor picking up innocent Alice Brown (Anita Page) at a Ladies' Uplift Society Dance. Their whirlwind romance, however, ends abruptly when the girl's mother (Edythe Chapman) throws the sailor out of her home because of his profession. Alice, who has had enough of her mother's tyranny, follows him and, before shipping out, Jack helpfully secures her a room for the night by pawning her fox stole. Returning after a tour of duty, the chastened sailor finds his girl working as a taxi dancer and physically forces her to return to home and hearth. With her parents' wholehearted approval, Alice suggests that Jack marry her -- "a second time," as she fibs -- before a preacher. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Zane Grey's 1925 story of the great Buffalo hunts became a sprawling silent Western produced by Paramount and starring the studio's stalwart Jack Holt as a trader who uncovers a scheme to blame the Indians for a Buffalo massacre. The film's highlight, a breathtaking shot of wagons careening across a frozen lake, was used again in the studio's equally fine 1933 remake. To match the old footage, director Henry Hathaway employed some of the same actors and stunt performers. The original Thundering Herd has gained the reputation, along with the same year's Wild Horse Mesa (also starring Holt), as the finest Grey adaptation ever produced. Both Tim McCoy and Gary Cooper earned bit parts in this epic Western filmed on locations at Lone Pine, California. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

This first movie version of Sinclair Lewis' Babbitt stars the corpulent Willard Louis in the title role. A middle-aged businessman/blowhard in the small town of Zenith, Babbitt is somewhat naïve in the ways of the world. He allows himself to stray from his long-standing marriage to wife Myra (Mary Alden) when he succumbs to the charms of avaricious Tanis Judique (Carmel Myers). Before he comes to his senses, Babbitt nearly ruins the reputation he has spent a lifetime judiciously building up. Warner Bros. remade Babbitt in 1934, with Guy Kibbee typecast to perfection in the leading role. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This old-fashioned melodrama based on the play by J. W. Harkins Jr. was packed with fun and thrills. Silas Carrington (Joseph Kilgour) murders Thornton shortly after being made executor of his estate. He then tries to woo the widow, but Mrs. Thornton (Alice Calhoun) will have nothing to do with him. Finally, to get away from his attention, Mrs. Thornton takes her little girl and tries to flee, but she dies in an auto accident. The child is rescued but disappears. Her maternal grandparents, the Tilwells (George Pierce and Kittie Bradbury), spend years searching for her, as does Carrington. She turns up under the name of Sparkle (also played by Calhoun), a waif who runs a newsstand with the help of a crippled orphan, Aggie (Maxine Elliot Hicks). Carrington's attempt to destroy the papers, which identify Sparkle as the heir to the Thornton estate, are foiled by handsome fireman Harry Westmore (Percy Marmont). Carrington falls to his death while trying to escape a fire, the Tilwells reunite with their granddaughter, and Sparkle falls in love with Westmore. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Carmel Myers plays an incorrigible fortune hunter in The Gilded Dream. With the help of her godmother (Elsa Lorimar), the girl intends to land a millionaire husband. When our heroine forgets her purpose and falls for a poor but handsome man (Thomas Chatterton), the godmother tries to break up the romance by spreading scurrilous lies. The godmother's motives are not entirely mercenary: It seems that she herself has set her cap for her goddaughters handsome man. On the rebound, the girl promises to wed a wealthy older man, but it takes a near-fatal crisis for her to come to her senses and try to win back her true love. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Mary Pickford stars as Gwendolyn, the daughter of a wealthy family who has everything she could ever want--except the attention of her parents. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi