David Miller Movies
- 1990
This cheesy exploitation outing attempts to deride phony evangelists as it tells the story of a charismatic preacher from New Orleans who ends up making a deal with the Devil. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1988
Based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Herman Wouk, this thought-provoking made-for-television drama chronicles the court martial of the lieutenant who commandeered the U.S.S. Caine during a potentially deadly storm. The only way his attorney can save him is to prove that Captain Queeg was mentally incompetent to safely run the ship. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brad Davis, Eric Bogosian, (more)
During WWII, Sobibor was a notorious Nazi death camp. This gripping, fact-based drama chronicles the courage of an inmate who managed the largest escape from such a place. Thanks to him, over 300 prisoners were freed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1986
- R
Julie Andrews delivers a virtuoso dramatic performance in Duet for One. Based on a play by Tom Kempinski, the story concerns brilliant concert violinist Stephanie Anderson (Andrews) who is slowly succumbing to the ravages of multiple sclerosis. Stephanie's problems are compounded by her cheating husband David Cornwallis (Alan Bates), and her protégé Constantine Kassanis (Rupert Everett), who shows signs of "selling out" to popular entertainment. Max von Sydow, who previously co-starred with Andrews in Hawaii, plays psychiatrist Dr. Louis Feldman, who tries to help Stephanie cope with her debilitations, but who ends up as much an albatross around her neck as David and Constantine. Critics are still divided over whether or not the mystical sequences between Andrews and the ghost of her violin teacher (Sigfrit Steiner) truly work within the context of the plotline. Duet for One was the third English-language production for Russian filmmaker Andrei Konchalovsky. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julie Andrews, Alan Bates, (more)
Emilio Estevez adapted S.E. Hinton's teen coming-of-age novel for the screen in this film adaptation directed by Christopher Cain. Estevez also takes the lead role of Mark Jennings, a troubled teenager who has been living with his best friend Byron Douglas (Craig Sheffer) and his mother (Barbara Babcock) ever since his father went to prison for murdering his mother. Byron is like a brother to Mark and the two grow very close. But as the two best pals grow into young men in high school, Byron begins to think more seriously about life after high school. He also starts to spend more time away from Mark and with the more mature Cathy (Kim Delany). Jealous of Cathy and fearful of losing Byron, Mark becomes more and more erratic and rebellious. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Emilio Estevez, Craig Sheffer, (more)
- 1984
Sir Anthony Phelps (Gordon Jackson) calls on agents Gunn (David Gilliam) and Powder (Martin Potter) in this low-budget James Bond spy film. The duo sets out to stop the efforts of an evil scientist hell-bent on taking over the world by liquefying the gold reserves. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Gilliam, Martin Potter, (more)
John Schlesinger directs the war romance Yanks, based on the story by Colin Welland. Set in England at the end of WWII, the story concerns three American GIs and their affairs with British women of varying social status. The central romance concerns Sgt. Matt Dyson (Richard Gere) and Jean Moreton (Lisa Eichhorn making her film debut), who is the daughter of shopkeepers (Rachel Roberts and Tony Melody). He falls in love with her but she is still infatuated with her boyfriend Ken (Derek Thompson). Higher up on the class scale, the officer John (William Devane) has a brief extramarital affair with socialite Helen (Vanessa Redgrave). The third pairing involves Sgt. Danny Ruffelo (Chick Vennera) in a fling with Mollie (Wendy Morgan). Eventually, the Americans and the Britains find themselves surrounded by racism at a New Year's Eve dance. Annie Ross from the vocal jazz group Lambert, Hendricks, & Ross appears briefly as a Red Cross nurse. Yanks won two BAFTA awards in 1980: to Shirley Russell for Best Costume Design and to Rachel Roberts for Best Supporting Actress. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Gere, Lisa Eichhorn, (more)
One of the first films ever to be designed specifically to become a cult movie, this silly low-budget comedy has tomatoes growing to giant size and terrorizing screaming '70s types. It's really bad on purpose, with awful effects and a dumb script, in hopes of luring fans of campy old movies like Plan 9 From Outer Space. There's a fun Jaws parody as the tomatoes attack a swimmer and a cute bit involving a military meeting in a small office with a very large table, but overall it fails to generate many laughs. The problem is that the films which this one attempts to mock -- mainly bad 1950s sci-fi pictures -- have a cult following because they are funny unintentionally, and are beloved for reasons which this somewhat cynical effort completely misses. It has its moments, granted, but it just tries too hard. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Miller, George Wilson, (more)
- 1955
Reviled in his lifetime as a lunatic insurrectionist, Chief Crazy Horse has in recent years emerged as a Native American hero. In this off-beat western, unusual for its time in that it sympathetically presented the Native American viewpoint, Victor Mature plays the misunderstood Sioux leader while the treaty-breaking villain General Crook is played by James Millican (who had earlier portrayed an equally unsympathetic General Custer in Warpath). The battle of the Little Big Horn is staged with less bravura but more authenticity than in 1941's They Died With Their Boots On (a wildly inaccurate pro-Custer opus). Chief Crazy Horse falters only in its verbose dialogue sequences, wherein the native tongue of the Sioux seems to be Fluent Cliche. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victor Mature, Suzan Ball, (more)
- 1953
Though Meet Mr. Lucifer reads rather better than it plays, the film is still good for a few healthy laughs. Stanley Holloway plays Hollingsworth, an actor who is playing Lucifer in a stage production. While being hoisted through a trap door, Hollingsworth is knocked cold. While unconscious, he is replaced by the real Lucifer. Seeking about for a new form of deviltry to inflict upon the public, Lucifer comes up with the most hellish device of all: Television! The rest of the film details the effects that the boob tube has on otherwise normal, rational British citizens (there's even time for a swipe at 3D movies). Based on a play by Arnold Ridley, Meet Mr. Lucifer is enhanced by an all-star cast, including Peggy Cummins, Kay Kendall and Ernst Thesiger. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stanley Holloway, Peggy Cummins, (more)
- 1950
A short story by Janet M. Smith was the basis for the equally short (52 minute) British programmer The Dragon of Pendragon Castle. The castle in question, a dank, foreboding affair, is owned by poverty-stricken nobleman J. Hubert Leslie. The old duffer has a pair of rambunctious grandkids, played by Robin Netscher and Hilary Rennie, who seeks a means to heat the bone-chilling castle. To that end, they invite a friendly fire-breathing sea dragon to enjoy their hospitality. Engagingly assembled, The Dragon of Pendragon Castle pleased many a British Saturday matinee audience in the early 1950s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
