Jerry Jenson Movies
Partly based on Charlie Chaplin's My Autobiography, this humorous and dramatic biopic features an all-star cast including Oscar nominee Robert Downey Jr., Dan Aykroyd, Anthony Hopkins, Kevin Kline, Diane Lane, and Chaplin's real-life daughter, Geraldine Chaplin, who portrays his mentally ill mother. With the use of flashback, an elderly Chaplin discusses his autobiography with his editor (Hopkins), who urges him to be more vulnerable and emotionally honest with his memoirs while journeying through his poverty-stricken childhood, closest friendships, many marriages, merciless pursuit by J. Edgar Hoover (Kevin Dunn), and ingenious invention of "The Little Tramp." Highlighted works such as The Gold Rush (1925) and The Great Dictator (1940) illustrate significant turning points in Chaplin's prolific filmography. Director Richard Attenborough's film also explores the circumstances surrounding Chaplin's exile from America and his eventual return to receive an honorary Academy Award. ~ Lisa Kropiewnicki, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Downey, Jr., Dan Aykroyd, (more)
- 1977
This dull and amateurish pseudo-documentary -- one of several such films from the mid- to late-1970s which claimed to detail true accounts of the supernatural -- focuses primarily on the tale of a young boy possessed by the vengeful spirit of a Indian medicine man and illustrates various related paranormal phenomena connected to an ancient curse. Highlights of the supernatural shenanigans include a haunted cavern and spooky demonic deadfalls which target passing motorists. Painfully slow-moving, badly shot, and edited with no sense of pacing or continuity, this backyard effort makes Sunn Classic Pictures productions like The Mysterious Monsters seem sophisticated by comparison. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
