Whitey Hughes Movies

Since Chattahoochee is a story based on true events, it may seem absurd to suggest that the actual events of Chattahoochee are pirated from other true-life tales like Gideon's Trumpet. But it certainly seems as if true stories are just as derivative as any fictional narrative coming out of Hollywood. The Chattahoochee saga details the Emmett Foley (Gary Oldman) story. The film takes place in 1955, when Foley, a Korean war veteran depressed and shattered by continual unemployment, snaps and shoots up his neighborhood, hoping that the police will come and shoot him down like a crazed dog so that his wife Mae (Frances McDormand) can collect on the insurance money. Instead of being gunned down by the law enforcement officers, he is sent to Chattahoochee, a notorious prison for the mentally ill which makes The Snake Pit look like a vacation in Bermuda. The gruesome conditions in the jail send Foley into listlessness. But then his anger gets the better of him and, encouraged by a friend, Walker Benson (Dennis Hopper), he begins sending letters to the authorities protesting the sub-human conditions in the mental facility. Due to his efforts, a state commission is formed to investigate conditions in Chattahoochee, and Foley has a chance to tell the world of the horrible conditions. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Adapted from Paul Brodeur's novel, Richard Rush's story of a Machiavellian movie director and his accidental employee takes a darkly comic look at movie reality vs. "real" reality. Running from the law, Vietnam vet Cameron (Steve Railsback) stumbles on a movie shoot just in time to interfere with a staged accident, causing (perhaps) the stunt man's death. Rather than turn Cameron in, director Eli Cross (Oscar nominee Peter O'Toole) makes him an offer he can't refuse: replace the dead stunt man in return for safe harbor. Despite objections about Cameron's inexperience, Eli keeps him on, figuring that a vet will add an extra charge of realism to the World War I opus that he's filming. As leading lady Nina (Barbara Hershey) returns Cameron's affections, and Eli becomes ever more inscrutably mercurial, Cameron begins to wonder how far Eli will go to get the screen effects he wants, and if he would think twice about killing the stunt man. Placing a Vietnam vet in the midst of movie-making chaos, Rush adds a pointedly contemporary spin to Cameron's confusion; the war experience that makes Cameron a good stunt man wreaks havoc on his life. Rush in turn disorients the audience by seamlessly interweaving scenes from Eli's movie with scenes of its being made. Made two years before Rush found a studio to release it, The Stunt Man opened to raves for its wily narrative and O'Toole's messianic director. Its sly commentary on the blurred boundaries between movies and life became all the more striking at the dawn of the Reagan '80s. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

This low-budget expansion of the popular Tom T. Hall/Jeannie C. Riley song "Harper Valley PTA" is surprisingly good, boasting lively performances by star Barbara Eden and everybody else in the cast. Eden plays Stella Johnson, a widowed single mom whose gaudy makeup, miniskirts and tight jeans are a source of scandal for the smug, self-righteous members of the local PTA. Forced to leave town with her teenaged daughter Dee (Susan Swift), Stella gets revenge with photographic evidence revealing the sexual peccadilloes and drunken misbehavior of the oh-so-righteous PTA members. The supporting cast includes such seasoned comic pros as Nanette Fabray, Louis Nye, Pat Paulsen and Audrey Christie, all performing above and beyond the call of duty. A weekly-TV version of Harper Valley PTA, also starring Barbara Eden, soon followed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Disregarding an unsold pilot film starring Cathy Lee Crosby as the title character, William Moulton Marston's celebrated comic-book superheroine Wonder Woman made her TV bow in the formidable person of Lynda Carter. Introduced on November 7, 1975, with the two-hour opener The New Original Wonder Woman, the ABC fantasy adventure series began its semi-weekly run on April 21, 1976. Initially set during the WWII years, the series chronicled the adventures of a legendary Amazonian princess who hailed from Paradise Island, where her forebears had fled from male persecution back in the third century B.C. Like the other female residents of Paradise Island, Wonder Woman had powers far beyond those of ordinary women, and was decked out with gold bracelets and a golden belt containing the miracle metal Feminum, enabling her to deflect bullets with her wrists. She also possessed a golden lasso with which she "wrangled" various villains. Assuming the "mortal" identity of Diana Prince, Wonder Woman joined the U.S. army air corps as a yeoman, the better to be near handsome pilot Major Steve Trevor (Lyle Waggoner), whom she'd met when his plane crash-landed on Paradise Island. Since "Diana" wore glasses and dressed more modestly than her "real" self, Steve never quite caught on that she and Wonder Woman were one in the same. Most of the first-season episodes found Diana Prince helping Steve battle Nazi spies and saboteurs, with our heroine transforming herself into Wonder Woman by twirling around and around at super speed. These early episodes also featured Wonder Woman's younger sister Drusilla (aka Wonder Girl), played by no less than Debra Winger; also, Beatrice Cohen appeared as Corporal Etta Candy, Diana's best friend.

When Wonder Woman moved from ABC to CBS for its second season, quite a few changes were imposed upon its format. First, the title was altered to The New Adventures of Wonder Woman. Second, the series' time frame was moved up from the 1940s to the 1970s, with Diana/Wonder Woman fighting contemporary baddies on behalf of the IADC (Inter-Agency Defense Command), headed by Joe Atkinson (Norman Burton). Finally, Steve Trevor was replaced by his lookalike son (and W.W.'s immediate superior), Steve Trevor Jr. (played again by Lyle Waggoner), who because Wonder Woman was "immortal" appeared to be the same age as the heroine -- or, more accurately, she appeared to be the same age as he. Other additions to the property included IADC's all-purpose computer I.R.A. (voiced by Tom Kratochzil) and Steve Jr.'s secretary, Eve (Saundra Sharp). In this revised form, The New Adventures of Wonder Woman survived on CBS until September 11, 1979. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This second-string Sam Peckinpah action film features James Caan as ex-CIA agent Mike Locken, who has retired due to injuries received at the hands of his ex-partner George Hansen (Robert Duvall). But Mike is lured out of retirement to protect Yuen Chung (Mako), an Asian political leader. There's a contract out on Yuen Chung's life -- and the killer assigned to rub out Yuen Chung is none other than Mike's former partner, George Hansen. The confrontation between the two leads to a showdown on a decaying naval vessel between Mike's forces and a group of ninja warriors. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Barbara Peeters's Summer School Teachers concerns three gals from Idaho going to teach at Regency High in Southern California, where they have three interwoven adventures: gym teacher Conklin T. (Candice Rialson) battles hyper-macho coach Sam Johns (Dick Miller) to start a girls' football team; chemistry teacher Denise Carter (Rhonda Leigh Hopkins) seeks to clear the name of a misunderstood juvie; and photography teacher Sally Hansen (Pat Anderson) gets involved with a pornographer. All three girls end up suspended from teaching after a series of bizarre events: there's a big conspiracy involving payola, a porno scandal, and a kidnapping at an abandoned warehouse. It all comes to a head -- as such films must -- at the big football game, which becomes an all-out brawl as various protest groups and do-gooders clash for liberation. The closing theme is a rallying cry for activism. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

Joe (Bing Russell) is an ex-convict trying to make an honest living after his release from prison. He returns home to his long-suffering mother and his motherless son and tries to become gainfully employed. Joe faces the prejudice of the jaundiced townsfolk, who smugly refuse to hire him for any available position. After again losing a job because his employer learned of his criminal record, the con goes a little crazy and kidnaps his former employer's son. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Irish McCalla, the statuesque heroine of TV's Sheena Queen of the Jungle, heads the cast of She Demons. Shipwrecked on a volcanic island, spoiled heiress Jerrie Turner (McCalla) and explorers Fred (Tod Griffin) and Sammy (Victor Sen Yung) fall into the clutches of unreconstructed Nazi scientist Osler (Rudolph Anders). Experimenting exclusively on beautiful, busty women, Osler hopes to create a race of super-persons, infusing his subjects with a powerful element known only as Character X. Fred and Sammy race against time to save Jerrie from becoming another of Osler's hideously mutated victims. She Demons is another triumph from director Richard Cunha, whose science-fiction quickies of the 1950s are among the worst films ever made. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Son of the Renegade was the first of a short series of westerns produced and written by John Carpenter (not the horror-film specialist), who also starred. The villain, a chap named Three Fingers (Jack Ingram) frames Red River Johnny (John Carpenter) for a series of bank holdups. While trying to clear himself, Our Hero crosses the path of characters with the names Valley, Dusty, Wild Bill, Cherokee, Baby Face Bill and the Long Haired Kid, the Australian Kid, the Texas Kid. Evidently Carpenter isn't taking any chances: he wants the world to know he's making a western. John Carpenter made one more of these low-budgeters before he began billing himself as John Forbes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide