Robert Brown Movies
- 1982
Loretta Swit was still appearing on a weekly basis in MASH when she starred in the made-for-TV Games Mother Never Taught You. She plays Laura Bentells, the first female executive in a traditionally "good ole boy" office. Refusing to be patronized or disregarded, Laura quickly learns the ropes of corporate gamesmanship. Sam Waterston and Eileen Heckart co-star as, respectively, Laura's husband and mother. And that's an uncredited Madlyn Rhue as the wife of skirt-chasing executive David Spielberg. Based on the "from the front lines" book by Betty Lehan Harrigan, Games Mother Never Taught You first aired November 27, 1982. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Loretta Swit, Edward Grover, (more)
- 1977
1977's Last Hurrah is a TV-movie remake of the 1958 John Ford film of the same name. Both versions are based on the Edwin O'Connor novel about the last days of flamboyant, larcenous Mayor Frank Skeffington--based upon the equally colorful, equally underhanded Boston mayor James Curley. Carroll O'Connor plays Skeffington in the 1977 version (it was Spencer Tracy back in 1958). O'Connor spends the bulk of the film trying in manners both subtle and strongarm to win re-election--and to race the clock against his own failing health. While the 1958 Last Hurrah is superior, the 1977 Hurrah has the saving grace of Carroll O'Connor's exuberant performance; O'Connor also wrote the script for this remake. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1967
While doing a routine survey of a seemingly uninhabited planet, the Enterprise is suddenly hit by an inexplicable disruption of physical laws, gravity disappearing and the mass of everything within Spock's sensors suddenly dropping to zero. Captain Kirk is informed that the phenomenon extended throughout the known galaxy and far beyond, but was centered on the planet the Enterprise is orbiting, which suddenly has a single inhabitant. Ordered to investigate, Kirk discovers the man to be Lazarus, according to him the sole survivor of his race, who claims to be in battle against a hideous monster. As he seems to be a raving lunatic much of the time and there is no evidence of any "monster," Kirk is inclined to disbelieve him, except that the same disruption in the fabric of the universe reappears, centered on Lazarus, who seems to change personalities from moment to moment. Kirk and Spock eventually sort out the truth, that Lazarus is really two different people, one from a matter universe and one from an anti-matter universe, one sane and compassionate, the other insanely violent and bent on destroying his counterpart, even if that act results in the destruction of both universes. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
This film was advertised with the slogan "See Raquel Welch In Mankind's First Bikini!" While archeologists tell us humans did not live at the same time as dinosaurs, and our prehistoric ancestors probably didn't look much like Ms. Welch and her co-stars, One Million Years B.C. is a good bit more fun than more scientifically accurate portrait of the era might have been. Tumak (John Richardson) of the Rock People is exiled from his tribe after a fight with his father, and after days of endless wandering is in sad shape before he's taken in by the more peaceable Shell People. He attracts the attention of well-proportioned cave woman Loana (Raquel Welch), but once again finds himself a man without a country after his violent nature alienates the Shell People. Along with Raquel (whose character is remarkably well-groomed given the time period), this movie's greatest selling point are the special effects; legendary stop-motion animator Ray Harryhausen created a dazzling collection of prehistoric creatures for this film that still look impressive, even in the more sophisticated era of computer generated imaging technology. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Raquel Welch, John Richardson, (more)
- 1962
Roger Corman's stripped-down remake of Universal's 1939 period classic elevates that film's supporting player Vincent Price to the starring role, essayed in the original by Basil Rathbone. Price chews scenery as hunchbacked mad monarch Richard III, who ascends the throne through murder (including the Duke of Clarence's wine-vat drowning), torture (lovely Sandra Knight gains a few inches on the rack), and elaborate deception. Bloody events and plot twists notwithstanding, this low-budget outing is painfully threadbare for a period piece, even in comparison to Corman's Edgar Allan Poe films for AIP from the same period. The film's saving grace is found in Price's manic performance, which ranks among the horror legend's most flamboyant. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vincent Price, Michael Pate, (more)
- 1958
The X-117 satellite is launched to explore an area of deep space more than 200 miles above Earth, which is bounded by what is called "the flame barrier," a deadly zone of heat and radiation that can destroy any object that comes in contact with it. The satellite reaches orbit, but nine days after launch the X-117 suddenly disappears, and is presumed to have been destroyed. Six months later, in a remote part of Mexico, Carol Dahlmann (Kathleen Crowley) arrives to search for her husband, a scientist who believed the X-117 had survived and crashed in the jungle, and who led an expedition in search for the satellite -- he has been missing ever since. She hires two brothers, Dave (Arthur Franz) and Matt Hollister (Robert Brown), to accompany her into one of the most remote parts of the jungle on her search. They find all kinds of ominous signs on their journey, including animals that have died off without explanation, Indians who are in mortal fear of a "fire god," and dying men who turn up with horrible burns on their bodies. And when they finally reach Dahlmann's camp and locate the satellite, they find with it an impending threat to the safety of the entire world. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- 1953
Ann Sheridan landed the leading role in Benedict Bogeaus Productions/RKO Radio's Appointment in Honduras as part of a legal settlement arising from Sheridan's being dropped from RKO's My Forbidden Past (1951). Set in Central America, the plotline resembles a Republic serial, with Ms. Sheridan and leading man Glenn Ford facing such perils as man-eating fish, alligators, outsized hornets and a jungle brushfire. Ford's involvement in the proceedings comes about when he is hired to make certain that a huge sum of cash reaches an ousted South American political leader. Sheridan and her husband Zachary Scott are taken hostage by Ford's crooked employers and forced to go along. Guess who survives the ordeal and who doesn't. Jacques Tourneur's gutsy direction and Joseph Biroc's vivid Technicolor photography conspire to make Appointment in Honduras seem more expensive than it was. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glenn Ford, Ann Sheridan, (more)
