Jim Hunter Movies
New York Nights is a boring, poorly acted adaptation of the much more successful La Ronde by Max Ophül -- ironically barred for four years by the New York State censorship board when it was first released in 1950. The story sequence is the key to the film; nine episodes each have a character from the preceding episode in a new romantic liaison, until the last character ends up with the one at the beginning. These nine scenarios are somewhere below the suds of soap-opera and above the explicit sex of porn movies. Many different directors in different countries have tried their own versions of La Ronde (based on a play by Arthur Schnitzler with much more success than this version by Simon Nuchtern. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
Nine years after the Yuletide slasher flick Black Christmas, Porky's director Bob Clark once again took on the holiday genre, switching from gasps to laughs with A Christmas Story. Adapted from a memoir by humorist Jean Shepherd (who narrates), the film centers on Ralphie Parker (Peter Billingsley), a young boy living in 1940s Indiana, desperately yearning for a Red Rider BB gun for Christmas. Despite protests from his mother (Melinda Dillon) that he'll shoot his eye out, Ralphie persists, unsuccessfully trying to enlist the assistance of both his teacher and Santa Claus. All the while, Ralphie finds himself dealing with the constant taunts of a pair of bullies and trying to not get in the middle of a feud between his mother and father (Darren McGavin) regarding a sexy lamp. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi
- Starring:
- Melinda Dillon, Darren McGavin, (more)
- 1983
This is a weak attempt by director and co-writer Romano Vanderbes to satirize middle America's standard news broadcasts with as many jokes about sex as possible. The featured station is KSEX and Doug Ballard and Lydia Mahan play the anchors in a broadcast where blue does not mean melancholy. Aside from parodies of overplayed TV commercials and stereotyped co-anchor dialogue, Vanderbes has also excerpted segments from newsreels and other real footage that take on unintended meanings when seen out of context. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Doug Ballard, Lydia Mahan, (more)
- 1976
- R
Director Bob Clark would graduate from the Canadian Breaking Point to such films as Porky's and A Christmas Story, proving beyond a doubt that it is possible to overcome a bad start. Bo Svenson stars as a mild-mannered teacher--glasses and all. He witnesses a mob murder, whereupon he is put into a witness protection program by cop (Robert Culp). When mobsters show up to rub out Svenson, the authorities are helpless, so suddenly "Mr. Peepers" becomes "Rambo". ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Bo Svenson, Robert Culp, (more)
