Mickey Jones Movies

In 1965, Bob Dylan was the reigning king of the new folk music boom, but while he had earned a large and loyal audience playing earnest and elliptical songs of social protest and romantic puzzlement accompanied by his acoustic guitar, he was eager to strike out into new territory, and he shocked fans at that year's Newport Folk Festival by showing up with an electric guitar and a thrown-together rock & roll band. Later that year, Dylan took his joyous outrage on the road, with a tight, but hard-hitting, rock & roll combo, the Hawks, joining him for a series of shows in which the singer and his band (who would later rename themselves the Band) were often confronted by puzzled and vocally angry crowds. Hawks drummer Levon Helm, unhappy with the unfriendly reception, dropped out after a few dates, and after substitute timekeepers Bobby Gregg and Sandy Konikoff both vacated the drummer's seat, Mickey Jones -- a Texan transplanted to Los Angeles who had enjoyed successful gigs with Trini Lopez and Johnny Rivers -- landed the job of joining Dylan and the Hawks for a tour of Europe. A photography buff, Jones brought his home movie camera along with him, and Bob Dylan: World Tour 1966 -- The Home Movies compiles Jones' amateur footage of life on the road and off-stage with Dylan and the Hawks. In addition, Jones shares his memories of the tour, discusses his career before and after working with Dylan, and offers his own observations on what Dylan's music meant to him and to music fans everywhere. The Home Movies includes no musical performances from Bob Dylan; accompaniment for Jones' silent footage is provided by Highway 61 Revisited, a Bob Dylan tribute band. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Two teenagers, each dealing with a different set of emotional burdens, find love and understanding with each other in The Last Best Sunday. Lolly Ann (Angela Bettis) is a high-school student in Pickley, a small agricultural community in California where she's growing up under the thumb of her strict, deeply religious mother (Kim Darby). Joseph (Douglas Spain), on the other hand, is struggling to get along without his parents; he came to Pickley with his family as migrant workers, but opted to stay on after his folks left so he could finish his final year of high school and earn his diploma. However, Joseph finds Hispanics are not always welcome here; a pair of bullies beat him savagely, and when he tries to get revenge, he finds town's bigoted sheriff (William Lucking) is after him. On the run, Joseph breaks into what he thinks is an empty house, only to find Lolly Ann at home while her parents are away for the weekend. Once she overcomes her initial fear and distrust, Lolly Ann finds she has a lot more in common with Joseph than she thought, and a grudging respect soon grows into affection. The Last Best Sunday was directed by Don Most, who as Donny Most is best remembered for playing Ralph Malf on the sit-com Happy Days; his former co-star Marion Ross briefly appears in a supporting role. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Penelope Spheeris directed this compulsively faithful film adaptation of the popular 1960s television series. The familiar story 'bout a man named Jed Clampett (Jim Varney), a poor mountaineer who barely kept his family fed, continues to follow the TV show's format. Jed discovers oil on his Arkansas property and overnight becomes a multi-millionaire. He moves his family to Beverly Hills, wanting to turn his daughter Ellie May (Erika Eleniak) into a sophisticated woman. At his new Beverly Hills mansion, he meets Mr. Drysdale (Dabney Coleman), a kow-towing banker, and Drysdale's assistant, the repressed crone Miss Hathaway (Lily Tomlin). Jed announces that he would like to re-marry, and that leaves the door open for Drysdale's scheming lackey Woodrow Tyler (Rob Schneider) and his fortune-hunting partner Laura Jackson (Lea Thompson) to make the moves on Jed. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Michael Nouri plays a Detroit cabbie whose lifestyle is radically altered when he picks up the lovely Joanna Pacula. She turns out to be on the run from murderer Michael Ironside and now, by extension, so is Nouri. If only he hadn't stopped at the empty apartment of a powerful politician for a little nookie with Pacula. Maybe if he'd kept his libido in check, he wouldn't be forced on a perilous journey from Michigan to Seattle. It gets worse: the villainous Ironside is a government agent, so he's above suspicion. Typical USA network action fare, Black Ice premiered June 16, 1993. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Raquel Welch plays a cocktail waitress whose high-school daughter reveals that her history teacher is espousing anti-Semitic teachings. The waitress-mom takes the hateful teacher to court. The teacher's best defense is to attack the waitress's questionable past which turns this "scandal" into a Peyton Place-type affair. ~ All Movie Guide

In the first episode of a two-part story, Kip Niven returns to the series, but not in his familiar role as Vera's duplicitous ex-fiance Steve Marsh. Instead, he shows up as Steve's cousin Travis Marsh, a heavily bewhiskered country-western singer. After hearing Alice (Linda Lavin) warble a tune, Travis invites her to join his travelling band--but his interest in Alice is a bit more than professional! Linda Lavin and Kip Niven sing "Higher and Higher". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the conclusion of a two-part story, Alice (Linda Lavin) has joined the travelling band fronted by country singer Travis Marsh (Kip Niven). At Travis' insistence, a reluctant Alice performs a solo number, which enchants the audience--and entrances Travis, who has obviously fallen in love with her. The episode reaches its climax as a confused Alice finds herself torn between Travis and her old beau Nick Stone (Michael Durrell). Guest star Kip Niven sings "Sweet Honeymoon". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this actioner, good-guy ninjas save the world from bad ones. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Rosanna Arquette stars in this TV remake about a young deaf mute who is befriended by the town doctor. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

The life of country singer Tammy Wynette is chronicled in this television biopic. The story begins during her poverty-stricken childhood and ends with her on-again-off-again relationship with singer George Jones. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Steve McQueen's penultimate film deals with a fascinating western legend, founded on an insightful script by Thomas McGuane and Bud Shrake. Unfortunately, the film was done in by the five directors --Don Siegel, Elliot Silverstein, James Guercio, William Wiard, and McQueen himself-- that were, at one point or another, attached to the project. The film deals with the infamous Texas gunslinger Tom Horn. Horn gained fame for a variety of exploits; he served with Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders and was the Pinkerton detective who captured the notorious outlaw Peg Leg Watson. But as Tom Horn begins, something in Horn (Steve McQueen) has snapped. Tom quits the Pinkertons and hires himself out to rancher John Coble (Richard Farnsworth) to assist him in putting an end to his problems with the local homesteaders and rustlers. But Horn performers his job with a chilling intensity, killing so many people with such bloodthirsty rage that it is even too much for Coble and the ranchers to take. When Horn's violence cannot be stopped, Coble has to take the law into his own hands to put a halt to Horn's bloodbath. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Alternately titled Lacy and the Mississippi Queen and Kate and the Mississippi Queen, this made-for-TV Western stars Kathleen Lloyd as cowgirl Kate Lacy and Debra Feuer as Kate's half-sister, female gunslinger Queenie. After their father is murdered, Kate and Queenie team up to track down the train robbers responsible for the killing. This leads to a part-time job for the girls as they work as detectives for the Union Pacific railroad, while tending their ranch in their off hours. The pilot for an unsold TV series, Lacy and the Mississippi Queen made its NBC debut on May 17, 1978. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide