Erik Holland Movies
This lucrative, elephantine-budgeted sci-fi opus paved the way for director Roland Emmerich's mega-hit Independence Day (1996). The story commences in Giza, Egypt, circa 1928, where an archaeological expedition unearths an ancient ring with cryptic hieroglyphs. The film then moves to the present day, where Egyptologist Daniel Jackson (James Spader) is busily trying to convince a group of skeptics that the pyramids were not built by man, but by an extraterrestrial force. After the lecture, a military man approaches him and offers him a job translating the said ring; its inscriptions actually constitute a map to a massive stargate (or interstellar portal). The army sends over resident crackpot colonel Jack O'Neill (Kurt Russell) to travel through the stargate and see what's on the other side; Jackson accompanies him, and the two men turn up in a desert planet on the other side of the universe, with three moons in its sky. The world in question is ruled by Ra (Jaye Davidson), a hermaphroditic Egyptian sun god, who oppresses hordes of slave workers. Jackson and O'Neill then join forces to help the said workers revolt against their oppressor. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kurt Russell, James Spader, (more)
The title Article 99 refers to a fictional legal loophole which states that American veterans cannot be treated in VA hospitals unless their illnesses are related to their military service. The pinchpenny administrator of a Kansas City hospital intends to follow this proviso to the letter, while his irreverent staff does everything it can to circumvent rules and red tape. When freewheeling surgeon Ray Liotta is fired for exhibiting traces of humanity, the patients stage a revolt. Playing a new medico, Kiefer Sutherland also stars. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ray Liotta, Kiefer Sutherland, (more)
- 1989
- PG
Ivan Reitman's sequel to the phenomenally successful Ghostbusters is looser and more self-assured than the original. The film opens with a title reading "Five Years Later" and finds the ghostbusters living in hard times. A restraining order has forbidden the boys to partake in paranormal warfare, and as a result they have had to seek other lines of work. Ray (Dan Aykroyd) and Winston (Ernie Hudson) spend their time performing at children's' birthday parties, and Egon (Harold Ramis) is busy conducting experiments investigating the effect of human emotions on the environment, leaving ghostbusting behind. Venkman (Bill Murray) and Dana (Sigourney Weaver) have split up. Venkman now hosts a local cable show called "The World of the Psychic." Dana, now divorced and the mother of a little baby named Oscar, works as an art restorer in a museum -- and this is where the plot kicks in. While Dana is restoring a portrait of a 16th-century tyrant by the name of Vigo the Carpathian, the portrait becomes hexed. The evil Vigo wants to return to life by taking over the body of Dana's little child. Vigo has enlisted Dana's boss, Janosz Poha (Peter MacNicol), to compel Dana to cooperate. Soon dirty sludge and slime flow through the streets of Manhattan, and the ghostbusters have to reunite to save the city from a funky paranormal evil. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, (more)
A maniacal murderer is stalking New York City cops in this urban crime thriller. Jack Forrest (Bruce Campbell) is suspected of being the killer until Lieutenant McCrae (Tom Atkins) is found dead. Jack takes over the case after McCrae's death with help from undercover cop and sweetheart Theresa (Laurene Landon). Commissioner Pike (Richard Roundtree) is under fire to solve the case as more men in blue meet their maker much too soon. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Atkins, Bruce Campbell, (more)
American-born French film director Bob Swaim directed this sordid tale of greed, deception, machinations and murder. The darkly beautiful Meg Tilly stars as Olivia Lawrence, member of the Hamptons social elite and heiress to a vast fortune, who becomes attracted to dangerous newcomer Tim Whalen (Rob Lowe). She unwittingly falls into his web of deceit, as he and her stepfather (John Glover) plot her murder in order to gain the $3,000,000 in her trust fund. Inspired in plot by the film noir classics of the '40s, Masquerade lacks the style and originality of the originals. The film noticeably lacks suspense; there is no sustained tension, and many of the characters seem included simply for the sake of bizarreness. However, Tilly manages to carry the film all on her own with her considerable talent and natural screen presence. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide
- 1988
- PG13
Martin (William Hurt) and Jack (Timothy Hutton) are World War II soldiers who go from being army buddies to bitter enemies during the war in this uneven melodrama. Not realizing they are brothers-in-law, Martin eventually learns that Jack is married to his sister Josie (Melissa Leo). On their wedding night, Josie's father Jorge (Francisco Rabal) had abducted her in an attempt to dominate her with his old-world ideals of marriage. When Jorge drowns in a lake after the car skids off the road, black-sheep Martin returns home to learn of his father's death, vowing to avenge his father after he learns his buddy is his sworn enemy. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Hurt, Timothy Hutton, (more)
- 1987
Based on the book My 30 Years in Hoover's FBI by William G. Sullivan and William S. Brown, this made-for-cable biopic stars Treat Williams as the infamous Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
Set in Washington D.C. during the Vietnam War era, Gardens of Stone concentrates on the trials and tribulations of the Arlington National Cemetery home guard. James Caan plays career soldier Sgt. Clell Hazard, who has come to the sad conclusion that Vietnam is unwinnable and that America should withdraw as soon as possible. His attitude is contrasted to that held by Private Jackie Willow (D.B. Sweeney), who wants nothing more in life than to go into battle for his country. Though Hazard cannot officially dissuade Willow from this yearning, he pulls a few surreptitious strings to change the lad's mind, including encouraging a renewed romance between Jackie and his former girlfriend Rachel (Mary Stuart Masterton). After so many big-budgeters, Coppola determined that Gardens would be a deliberately "small" picture, concentrating on personalities rather than opulence; the director's father, Carmine Coppola, supplied the music, while Peter Masterton and Carlyn Glynn, the real-life parents of Mary Stuart Masterton, play Mary's on-screen dad and mom. Gardens of Stone was adapted by Ronald Bass from the novel by Nicholas Proffitt. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Caan, Anjelica Huston, (more)
"Gotcha!" is a puerile but popular campus game at UCLA in which students stalk one another armed with paint-spewing pellet guns. Veterinary student Anthony Edwards may not be any great shakes in the classroom, but he's a whiz at Gotcha. His skills come in handy when Edwards, on vacation in Paris, becomes acquainted with the mysterious Linda Fiorentino. She gets him mixed up in international espionage; fortunately, the well-armed spies aren't quite as adept at "Gotcha" as Edwards is. Most of the film was lensed in Paris and Berlin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1984
- R
A knife-happy young lady escapes the asylum (after being imprisoned for disembowelling her lecherous father) and soon joins forces with a sleazy pig farmer with murderous tendencies of his own. Together, the deranged duo manages to keep the piggies supplied with protein-rich vittles, thanks to the chopped-up corpses of unlucky diners from the greasy spoon down the road. This Deliverance-flavored hog pile (known merely as Pigs in many of its home-video incarnations) is practically a one-man show -- written, produced, directed by and starring character actor Marc Lawrence, a familiar face in over a hundred gangster films from the past 50 years. Katherine Ross fans take note: this is not the Katharine Ross of The Graduate but a virtual unknown, whose name was nevertheless top-billed on the video sleeve. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Toni Lawrence, Marc Lawrence, (more)
In a comedy as flat as the cardboard cut-outs of movie stars that appear in one scene, Steve Martin plays Larry Hubbard, a wild and lonely guy who has been dumped by his girlfriend. Since misery loves company, he takes up with Warren, a fellow Lonely Guy (Charles Grodin), and eventually both Warren and Larry find some surprising companions, especially after Larry writes a best-selling Lonely Guy Guide. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steve Martin, Charles Grodin, (more)
- 1984
In the first episode of a two-part story (originally telecast as a single two-hour "special"), Barry Van Dyke plays Brian Leftcourt, archaeologist boyfriend of journalist Tawnia Baker (Marla Heasley). When Brian disappears during an expedition through the Brazilian rain forest, Tawnia persuades the A-Team to go to his rescue. Despite the strong possibility that if the snakes and monkeys don't get 'em, the malaria will, the Team agrees to this assignment. In due time, our heroes (and heroine) run afoul of a fierce river pirate known as "The Coffin" (Sergio Calderon)--but he isn't the real villain of the piece! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Jon Voight stars in this David Seltzer-scripted sentimental tale about a divorced father who tries to achieve an emotional connection with his children. J.P. Tannen (Jon Voight) is a confused and childish man who, five years earlier, was divorced from his wife Kathleen (Millie Perkins). Kathleen received custody of their three children and they now all live with Kathleen's new husband Mitchell (Richard Crenna), a brilliant lawyer. But out of the blue, J.P. reappears into their lives. J.P. wants to take his three children on an ocean voyage in the Mediterranean. At first Kathleen and Mitchell are reluctant, but then they agree. At sea, J.P. begins to bond with his children --Tilde (Roxana Zal), Truman-Paul (Robby Kiger), and Trung (Son Hoang Bui). But then J.P. receives some tragic news that he tries to conceal from the children. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jon Voight, Richard Crenna, (more)
Returning from the original American Graffiti are Debbie Dunham, Steve Bolander, John Milner, Carol/Rainbow, Terry the Toad and Laurie Bolander (Candy Clark, Ron Howard, Paul LeMat, Mackenzie Phillips, Charles Martin Smith and Cindy Williams), but Richard Dreyfuss is missing and Harrison Ford shows up in a gag cameo. The sequel brings its principles into the more radical end of the 1960s, with Steve and Laurie, now married, on the fringes of the protest movement. Debbie and Carol have been lured into the flower-power milieu by rocker Newt (Scott Glenn). And John has parlayed his love of hot rods into a drag-racing career. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Candy Clark, Bo Hopkins, (more)
- 1977
Cover Girls isn't really a Charlie's Angels rip-off. Honest! Look: there are three girls in Charlie's Angels and only two girls (Jayne Kennedy and Cornelia Sharpe) in Cover Girls. Besides, the Angels are private eyes, working on behalf of boss John Forsythe; the Cover Girls are fashion models, doubling as secret agents on behalf of boss Don Galloway. Just because Cover Girls premiered on May 18, 1977, six months into Charlie's Angels' fabulous first season, doesn't mean that there was any conscious copycatting. Does it? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jayne Kennedy, Cornelia Sharpe, (more)
Clint Eastwood's fifth film as a director and eighth Western as a star (ninth if you count Paint Your Wagon), The Outlaw Josey Wales chronicles the hero's violent journey westward after the Civil War. With fresh memoris of his family's slaughter by Red Leg soldier Terrill (Bill McKinney), Confederate Josey Wales (Eastwood) refuses to join his captain Fletcher (John Vernon) and the rest of his comrades in surrender to a U.S. Army regiment. Deemed a dangerous outlaw after a bloody one-man battle with that regiment, Josey is pursued by U.S. cavalry soldiers led by the unwilling Fletcher and the murderous Terrill, as well as by bounty hunters who eventually learn how coolly lethal Wales can be. Despite his desire to remain a lone fugitive, Josey soon has a crew of travelling companions that includes Cherokee Lone Watie (Chief Dan George) and the pretty Laura Lee (Sondra Locke) and her vigorous Grandma Sarah (Paula Trueman), settlers on their way to a ranch near ghost town Santa Rio. The few Santa Rio residents welcome the group, but their peace and Josey's burgeoning romance with Laura Lee are soon interrupted by Terrill's arrival. A skillfully violent man of few, well-chosen words, Josey Wales resembles Eastwood's previous Western heroes in Sergio Leone's trilogy, A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965), and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966). However, the emphasis on friends and family served notice that, in the words of one critic, "the Man With No Name doesn't live here anymore." Indeed, Josey Wales would be Eastwood's last western before 1985's Pale Rider. Although it did not garner similar critical praise when it was released, Eastwood considers The Outlaw Josey Wales to be the equal of the Oscar-winning Unforgiven (1992). ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clint Eastwood, Chief Dan George, (more)
- 1975
Except for Me and Thee is the syndicated title of Friendly Persuasion, the pilot film for an unsold TV series based on the novel by Jessamyn West. Richard Kiley and Shirley Knight star as Quaker farmers Jess and Eliza Birdwell, whose pacificism is put to the test when the Civil War breaks out. In keeping with the humanitarian edicts of their religion, the Birdwells aid several slaves in their escape from the South. Brothers Michael and Kevin O'Keefe play the Birdwells' eldest sons (Michael continued acting into the 1990s).Friendly Persuasion was previously adapted into a popular film in 1956, starring Gary Cooper and Dorothy McGuire; Dmitri Tiomkin's theme music from that film was redeployed for Except for Me and Thee. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Kiley, Shirley Knight, (more)
- 1973
- PG
This film is based on the 1931 film, Trader Horn. In the earlier picture, explorers (including Trader Horn) who stumbled on a hostile tribe of Africans have their lives saved by a white girl whom the tribe members regard as a goddess. They discover that she is the daughter of some missing missionaries and take her back to Europe with them. In this film, Trader Horn (Rod Taylor) works to thwart the efforts of Germans to use slave laborers in Africa to mine platinum for the war effort (WWI). ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1972
- PG
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The oft-told story of the rise and fall of the James Younger gang is given the Dragnet treatment in The Great Northfield, Minnesota Raid. With meticulous attention to detail, the film recreates the outlaw gang's most infamous escapade: the September 7, 1876, robbery of "the biggest bank west of the Mississippi" in Northfield, MN. Cliff Robertson plays Cole Younger, and Robert Duvall appears as Jesse James, herein depicted as a pair of vengeance-driven sociopaths, but no worse than the greedy railroad magnates who've driven them into a life of crime. Younger is also quite the manipulator, convincing the immigrant farmers of Northfield that the bank is completely impervious to robbery, thereby increasing the deposits that he intends to steal. Duvall's Jesse James is a cold-blooded murderer, but, like Younger, not without his own personal charm. The climactic raid is filmed cinéma vérité style, looking more like a haphazard CNN news event than a well-oiled machine (this film is not, thankfully, the standard "slick" Hollywood product). Though it drags in spots, The Great Northfield, Minnesota Raid is a superb, iconoclastic reproduction of an era long past. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cliff Robertson, Robert Duvall, (more)
- 1972
Once again, Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) must take a crash course in some highly specialized skills for an undercover mission. This time, the Inspector sets about to learn both chess and braille, the better to pose as a blind chess master in order to infiltrate a spy ring. The episode's typically strong supporting cast includes veteran movie "heavies" Patrick O'Neal and Alfred Ryder, not to mention 1950s "beefcake" star George Nader. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1971
Frequent F.B.I "guest villain" Louis Jourdan returns, this time in the role of enemy spy Henry Dulac. Determined to smash Dulac's espionage ring, Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) goes undercover as another Red agent. Erskine subsquently finds himself caught in the crossfire when two warring spy factions clash over some top-secret tapes. Also in the cast is David Birney, who'd achieve TV stardom one year later in the sitcom Bridget Loves Bernie. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1971
In order to deactive a satellite armed with thermonculear bombs, the IMF must penetrate a heavily guarded island and destroy the missile's control center. Part of the plan requires Barney to arrive on the island alone via submarine. Alas, something goes wrong, placing Barney--and, by extention, the entire world--in direst jeopardy. Scripted by actor Wesley Lau from a story by Lau and Judy Burns, "The Filed" first aired on January 23, 1971. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Graves, Leonard Nimoy, (more)
- 1969
- PG
After being blacklisted from Hollywood for 21 years, writer/director Abraham Polonsky made a healthy comeback with Tell Them Willie Boy is Here. The title character, played by Robert Blake, is a Paiute Indian living in 1909 California. After several years in the White Man's world, Willie Boy returns to his reservation, hoping to renew his romance with tribeswoman Lola (Katherine Ross). Old Mike (Mike Angel), Lola's father, strongly disapproves of her relationship with Willie Boy and attacks the youth. Acting in self defense, Willie Boy kills Old Mike. Under tribal rules, Willie Boy is now permitted to claim Lola as his woman. But white lawman Christopher Cooper (Robert Redford) is forced to charge Willie Boy with murder. The Indian and his girl escape the reservation, pursued by the essentially decent Cooper and a less-than-decent crowd of white vigilantes. What begins as comparative minor incident, snowballs into a huge political crisis, with the bewildered but defiant Willie Boy as the catalyst. Tell Them Willie Boy is Here is distinguished by the fine performances of leading players Redford, Blake, Ross and Susan Clark, and by the haunting cinematography of Conrad Hall. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Redford, Katharine Ross, (more)
- 1969
- PG
Actor Don Murray wrote, produced, and starred in this drama about an alcoholic former serviceman who falls in with gangsters until he has a spiritual awakening and decides to devote his life to helping others. The supporting cast includes Linda Evans, Logan Ramsey, and Angelique Pettyjohn. Also shown under the titles Childish Things, Tale of the Cock, and Cockadoodle-Do. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don Murray, Linda Evans, (more)
