Clifton Jones Movies
China Moon is a slick noir thriller, nice to look at, well-acted and directed, but ultimately predictable, even to its "surprise" ending. Kyle Bodine (Ed Harris) falls in love with Rachel Munro (Madeleine Stowe), the unhappily married wife of a drunken Southern aristocrat Rupert (Charles Dance). One night, tired of his beatings and abuse, Rachel kills Rupert, apparently in self-defense. Kyle helps her cover-up the crime and establish an alibi. However, Kyle's young partner Lamar (Benecio Del Toro) suspects Rachel of the murder and begins an investigation. In fairly predictable plot twists reminiscent of the far superior Body Heat Kyle finds his life falling apart. While the plot is contrived, the performances are convincing, particularly that of Madeline Stowe as the treacherous Rachel. Ed Harris gives the character of Kyle depth and complexity. Cinematographer-turned-director John Bailey gives the film a great, dark, rain-slicked noir look and feel and lingers on details which take an otherwise predictable mystery/thriller and make it seem like a game of wits. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ed Harris, Madeleine Stowe, (more)
Based on the famous comic strip, Sheena chronicles the adventures of the title character (Tanya Roberts), a fair-skinned orphan taken in by a kindly Zambouli priestess (Elizabeth of Toro, a real-life African queen) in a remote African village and trained in the ancient arts of makeup and hairstyling. When American newsmen Fletcher (Donovan Scott) and Vic (Ted Wass) travel to her homeland to cover a story on Prince Otwani (Trevor Thomas), they uncover his plot to assassinate his brother, the reigning prince (a renowned field-goal kicker), and frame the priestess for the crime. Sheena joins forces with the newsmen to stop him and restore order to the country. Although Roberts looks great in a loincloth, her assets alone cannot save this turkey; one wonders where the jungle princess manages to plug in her blow-dryer. This ridiculous film was panned across the board upon its release and subsequently bombed. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tanya Roberts, Ted Wass, (more)
- 1976
Alien Attack is a jerry-built feature film comprised of two episodes from the TV sci-fi series Space: 1999. Martin Landau stars as John Koenig, commander of Moonbase Alpha, a futuristic research colony. Landau's then-wife Barbara Bain co-stars as the base's chief medical officer Dr. Helena Russell, while Barry Morse is on hand as Prof. Victor Bergman. The first half of Alien Attack consists of the inaugural Space 1999 episode "Breakaway," wherein a huge atomic-waste explosion hurls the moon-and of course Moonbase Alpha-out of the Earth's orbit (thereby establishing the series' premise). This episode is arbitrarily coupled with #22 in the series, "War Games"; in this one, Koenig and Russell plead with warmongering aliens Anthony Valentine and Isla Blair to spare Alpha from destruction. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1975
A nuclear explosion causes chaos in space, in this British made-for-television sci-fi thriller. The moon seems to be headed for disaster after a nuclear explosion sends it out of orbit and heading for a black sun. Some stranded moon-base personnel may be doomed -- unless someone comes to their rescue. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide
- 1975
That matchless British farceur Spike Milligan stars in The Great McGonagall. The story concerns indigent Scotsman William McGonagall, who aspires to become Poet Laureate of Great Britain. McGonagall might have a better chance of accomplishing this if he had any talent, but he is hilariously inept. The plot is abandoned somewhere in the middle of the film in favor of a series of virtually unrelated comic episodes. Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan's onetime Goon Show cohort, steals the show in drag as a sexually voracious Queen Victoria! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers, (more)
- 1975
Cosmic Princess is comprised of scenes from the syndicated TV series Space 1999. Most of this "TV movie" consists of the series' second-season opener, which introduced Maya (Catherine Schell), an extraterrestrial endowed with the ability to transform herself into any life form. Maya is the daughter of Mentor, an evil alien who tries to drain the minds of the Moonbase Alpha crew. Befriending the Earthlings (among them series regulars Martin Landau, Barbara Bain and Barry Morse), Maya helps them escape Mentor's clutches. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1975
This sci-fi adventure was the pilot for a television series Space: 1999. It is set in the next century just after an enormous blast from an alien ship destroys half the moon and sends the rest hurtling through space. Unfortunately, upon the chunk of speeding rock is the research station Alpha which contains 311 people helmed by cool-headed Commander Koenig. Now the Alpha castaways must not only continue to survive, they must also keep up on their research to discover what happened and why. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1973
- PG
Innocent Bystanders stars Stanley Baker as a Bondlike British secret service agent. In collaboration with fellow spies Geraldine Chaplin and Dana Andrews, Baker is sent behind the Iron Curtain to locate a Russian scientist who has escaped from Siberia. There's a likelihood that the scientist was permitted to escape so that he can spy on the Good Guys. Baker must decide if the escapee is to be rescued or eliminated. The level of sadism and bloodshed in Innocent Bystanders is such that at times it makes the James Bond films look like models of decorum. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stanley Baker, Geraldine Chaplin, (more)
- 1968
Forgotten 20th Century Fox starlet Geneviève Waïte and forgotten "trendy" director Michael Sarne teamed for the eminently forgettable Joanna. Waïte stars as the title character, a swinging London art student who uses up men like other people use Kleenex. Her carefree lifestyle comes to an end when she is impregnated by Gordon (Calvin Lockhart) -- one of the first black-white relationships in a major motion picture. Joanna frequently becomes a musical, notably in the final sequence, in which the heroine joins in a chorus with the entire cast and production crew Donald Sutherland co-stars as one of Joanna's wealthy paramours. Director Michael Sarne went from Joanna to Myra Breckinridge, then disappeared from view. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Geneviève Waïte, Christian Doermer, (more)
- 1968
Richard Attenborough, David Hemmings and Alexandra Stewart play three con artists planning a big-time scam. The object is to sell ammunition to a group of African militants -- or at least to pretend to. The trick is to keep at least one step ahead of the militants, lest the tricksters end up full of holes. A serviceable Len Deighton espionage novel was the source for Only When I Larf, which hooked up the material with "mod" gags about '60s fads and foibles. In the same spirit, the usually straightforward director Basil Dearden makes like Richard Lester, with a multitude of jump cuts, zoom-ins and hand-held shots. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Attenborough, David Hemmings, (more)
- 1968
In this feather-weight version of Evelyn Waugh's novel Decline and Fall, Paul Pennyfeather (Robin Phillips) is an Oxford divinity student who finds himself expelled after a gang of drunken freshmen remove his pants and he is accused of exposing himself to a girl. Looking for work, he retains the services of an unsavory employment agency that secures a position for him at a sleazy Welsh boarding school for boys, presided over by the colorful Dr. Fagan (Donald Wolfit). On staff at the school are an assortment of distasteful screwballs; Mr. Prendergast (Robert Harris) is a withdrawn former clergyman; Captain Grimes (Leo McKern) is a one-legged two-timer with his eye on Fagan's daughter Flossie (Patience Collier); and Soloman Philbrick (Colin Blakely) is an undercover criminal posing as Fagan's butler. All hell breaks loose during the school's annual Sports Day, but Paul manages to meet a wealthy patron of the school, Margot Beste-Chetwynde (Geneviève Page), who hires him to tutor her son. At her estate, Margot seduces Paul, and Paul proposes marriage. But before the wedding, Margot asks Paul, as a favor, to travel to Tangiers on a business trip. He agrees but is soon arrested for trafficking in prostitution. Sent to jail, he runs into Philbrick and Captain Grimes, and now Margot has to scheme to get Paul out of jail. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robin Phillips, Geneviève Page, (more)
- 1963
Terrence Rattigan, the playwright who brought us the multicharactered, multistoried Separate Tables, again offers us an episodic cross-section of humanity in The V.I.P.'s. When a heavy London fog paralyzes all air traffic, the lives of several people are profoundly affected. As indicated by the title, most of the characters in this portmanteau film are of the social and/or financial elite. Elizabeth Taylor wishes to leave her enormously wealthy husband Richard Burton in favor of playboy Louis Jourdan. Peripatetic European film producer Orson Welles is hoping to escape London with his newest protegee Elsa Martinelli in order to avoid paying his income tax. Australian businessman Rod Taylor, accompanied by his devoted (and adoring) secretary Maggie Smith, is anxious to head to New York to stave off a hostile takeover of his firm. And impoverished aristocrat Margaret Rutherford (who won an Oscar for her performance) would rather not go to Florida to accept a job as a social arbiter, but the wolf must be kept from the door. Before the fog disperses, you can be sure that at least one of the many plotlines will intersect with another. David Frost, in a tiny part as a reporter, was fond of recalling in later years that, while the major stars of The VIPS were introduced in the opening titles with animated limousines, he was consigned a tiny Volkswagen; alas, no such cartoon joke appears in the film, though on occasion the actors-particularly Mr. Welles-behave as though they were cartoons. Mercilessly skewered by the critics, The VIPS was a winner at the box-office, due in great part to the Cleopatra-inspired publicity concerning the top-billed Liz Taylor and Dick Burton. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, (more)
- 1959
This film is based on the popular British TV series Emergency Ward 10. A surgeon arrives from the U.S. with a new heart-lung machine in order to save a young boy who has a hole in his heart. The doctor is treated coolly by a jealous rival, and an old man dies while on the new life-saving machine. Controversy erupts, among his more traditional colleagues, over the American doctor's experimental methods. Character diversity is well-represented by the patients; a woman waiting to bear quadruplets, the old man, the young boy, and the neglected wife. Romance, humor and drama surround the doctors, nurses and patients, all leading to an inevitable hospital party. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Craig, Dorothy Alison, (more)
