Eddie Jones Movies

American Blue Note concentrates on a Manhattan jazz quintet. Peter MacNichol, Carl Capotorto, Tim Guinee, Bill Christopher-Myers and Jonathan Walker play the five musicians, each with individual crosses to bear. Allotting themselves one year to get booked into a major jazz club or else they'll split, the quintet performs a lot of nickel-and-dime gigs in the meantime. But only one of the five makes it to the band's "Valhalla." Louis Guss, Zohra Lampert and Trini Alvarado appear in peripheral roles. Filmed in 1989, the independently produced American Blue Note didn't get a distributor until 1991. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Older brother Chubby (Paul Sorvino) is a combative, booze-swilling, rough-edged construction worker, following in the footsteps of his brother Tommy (Tony Lo Bianco). Macho in the extreme, these fellows have no time for the sensitive moral quandaries which are at the heart of the two younger brothers' lives. Stony (Richard Gere), has worked with his father in the construction business, but longs to work with children. Albert (Michael Hershewe), the youngest, is a sensitive lad, the butt of his father and oldest brother's rough manner, and is constantly being harassed by his stressed-out mother (Lelia Goldoni). After a few attempts to communicate with his insensitive older brother and his parents, Stony must decide for himself if the rejection he will experience from his family on leaving the construction business is worth it; and if it is, what can be done to protect his younger brother from the rest of the family? ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Robin Williams stars in this oddball comedy about a fast-talking car salesman who is down on his luck and in over his head until an extreme situation forces him to use his sales skills to save lives. Joey O'Brien (Williams) is the stereotypical car salesman: enterprising, aggressive, and desperate to make enough money to spend on his high-maintenance girlfriends. But suddenly the pressure is really on: he owes money to the mob, his ex-wife is nagging him about not spending enough time with their teenage daughter, and if he doesn't sell at least a dozen cars by the time the big sale is over on Saturday, he's going to lose his job. As Joey attempts to placate several potential buyers, his day is interrupted by Larry (Tim Robbins), the insanely jealous husband of dimwitted showroom receptionist Donna (Annabella Sciorra), who's been having an affair with someone who works at the dealership. With the police surrounding the place, his job (and life) on the line, Joey realizes that it's up to him to use his wits to persuade Larry -- who's not even sure what he wants out of the situation -- not to kill anyone. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

Now that she has started smoking again, Rebecca (Kirstie Alley) will go to any lengths to quit. Meanwhile, Gallic lothario Henri (Anthony Cistaro), working as a temporary bartender for the honeymooning Woody, challenges Sam (Ted Danson) to a heated "Ladies' Man" competition. Originally slated to air October 15, 1992, this episode was bumped to October 22 by a presidential debate. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on William Bayer's novel Switch, the made-for-TV Doubletake introduced Richard Crenna to his oft-played role of detective Frank Janek. As always, Janek is assigned to a particularly gruesome and profoundly puzzling murder case. A prim lady schoolteacher and a hooker are both killed on the same evening; their bodies are decapitated, and their heads are switched! The first installment of this two-part movie details the early stages of the investigation, as well as the growing relationship between Janek and photographer Caroline Wallace (Beverly D'Angelo), the daughter of a cop who'd died in a mob hit. Part two reveals the "dark side" of the case, exposing corruption in the highest police circles and implicating someone very close to Janek in the double murder. Doubletake was originally telecast on November 24 and 26, 1985, and has since been reissued as a single three-hour film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This red-baiting action film stars Chuck Norris as Matt Hunter, a retired CIA agent who lives in the Florida Everglades. A communist invasion of Miami brings Hunter out of retirement to fight the encroaching hordes led by everyone's favorite low-budget bad guy, Richard Lynch. The film is extremely jingoistic, presenting the evil communists staging an invasion on Christmas, demolishing a church, and attempting to blow up a school bus full of children. From the same school of thinking which produced Rambo and Red Dawn, this film at least features some convincing gore by makeup wizard Tom Savini (Friday the 13th), working on his third gig for director Joseph Zito. Zito and Savini returned with Red Scorpion. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

In this melodramatic prison flick a convicted killer makes a bad impression on his fellow inmates after he causes trouble with the leader of the prisoners. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Genre pioneer Larry Cohen, who broke new horror ground with the killer-baby hit It's Alive!, takes a stab at the giant-monster scenario with this enjoyable low-budget exercise. The title refers to the winged Aztec god Quetzalcoatl, represented here as a dragon-like flying lizard (thanks to some quaint but amusing stop-motion animation from David Allen), who decides to take up residence in the art-deco spire of the Chrysler Building, taking frequent jaunts in the midday sun to nip the heads off various hapless New Yorkers. The resulting bloody mess confounds detectives Shepard (David Carradine) and Powell (Richard Roundtree), who are already scratching their heads over a series of bizarre ritual murders linked to a secret Aztec cult. Into the picture comes the film's protagonist -- neurotic, sweaty, paranoid crook Jimmy Quinn (Michael Moriarty, in a tour-de-force performance), a two-bit wheel-man with aspirations of becoming a jazz pianist. After a botched diamond heist leads Quinn to Q's lair, his attempts to go straight take a side-turn as he decides to extort from the city an enormous sum in exchange for directions to the monster's nest. A few sneaky deals later, the location falls into Shepard's hands, and he leads a paramilitary assault on the Chrysler Building, where the creature's humongous egg is about to hatch. Rude, edgy, fast-paced, and peppered with witty dialogue (most of which can't be repeated here), Cohen's script retains the spirit of classic monster movies like The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, injecting it with tough, gangster-movie moxie. Moriarty's unbelievable performance -- one of three collaborations with Cohen -- finds him chewing acres of scenery as a contemptible, loud-mouthed goon who's too funny to hate; Moriarty also composed and performed two schizophrenic piano numbers for the film. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

For his sophomore effort, director Gary Ross re-teams with Tobey Maguire and William H. Macy, stars of his directorial debut Pleasantville, for this depression-era sports drama about the legendary racehorse, Seabiscuit. Unlike 1949's fictionalized The Story of Seabiscuit starring Shirley Temple, this version attempts to present a factual account of the story, which centers around the three men who saw the famed horse to victory. Jeff Bridges stars as Charles Howard, an entrepreneur who owns the unlikely racehorse. Howard teams with partially blind boxer-turned-jockey Red Pollard (Maguire in his first performance since annihilating the 2002 box-office in Spider-Man) and horse trainer Tom Smith (Chris Cooper fresh off his best-supporting actor Oscar for Adaptation). Together, the three work to help the famed horse to several symbolic victories that helped to inspire a downtrodden 1930s America. The supporting cast, headed by Macy, includes Elizabeth Banks (Spider-Man) and real-life jockeys Gary Stevens and Chris McCarron. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

In this tech-thriller from director Phil Alden Robinson, a group of five renegade computer hackers, led by Martin Bishop (Robert Redford), are hired by the government to steal a black box, containing a code-breaking machine, from the mathematician who invented the device. The government is able to persuade Martin to take the job by convincing him that they will drop a decades-old federal warrant for his involvement in computer fraud. Martin agrees and he takes his team on the mission, eventually taking the box. Shortly after the hackers have stolen the device, the mathematician turns up dead. Before long, the quintet realize that they've gotten themselves into more than they'd originally bargained for, as Bishop's old rival Cosmo (Ben Kingsley) enters into the fold. The eclectic ensemble also includes River Phoenix, Sidney Poitier, Dan Aykroyd, David Strathairn, Mary McDonnell, and James Earl Jones. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

A police psychologist and his school-age son become embroiled in the machinations of a mysterious cult religion in this thriller from director John Schlesinger. After his wife is electrocuted in a freak accident, Dr. Cal Jamison (Martin Sheen) and his son, Chris (Harley Cross), move back to Manhattan, where Cal went to school. When not spending time with his son and surrogate extended family -- husband-and-wife anthropologists Kate (Elizabeth Wilson) and Dennis Maslow (Lee Richardson) -- Cal settles into his new job and romances his landlady, Jessica Halliday (Helen Shaver). Soon, though, a series of brutal murders of young children begins to take over Cal's life. Through the ravings of policeman Tom Lopez (Jimmy Smits), who believes the killers have supernatural power over him after stealing his badge, Cal learns of Santeria, a voodoo-like Latin American sect that mixes elements of Christianity and pagan mysticism. Although the religion turns out to have ties to some of the richest men in the city and even Cal's well-meaning maid seems to be a practitioner, he can't get any straight answers as to whether the cult is responsible for the murders. But after a sinister African shaman (Malick Bowens) places a curse on Jessica, Cal finally begins to understand the danger that faces him -- and his son. The Believers was very loosely adapted from Nicholas Conde's 1982 novel The Religion. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide