Pat Keen Movies

The starring cast of the hit A Fish Called Wanda reunited for this farcical comedy, which star and co-screenwriter John Cleese described as "not a sequel, but an equal." When London's Marwood Zoo is purchased by Octopus, Inc., the multi-national holding company run by New Zealand publishing tycoon Rod McCain (Kevin Kline), the staff is given a firm order: if the zoo is not turning at least a 20% profit soon, it will be shut down. Willa Weston (Jamie Lee Curtis), who was recently hired by McCain to oversee another firm that bit the dust, is assigned to keep a watchful eye over zoo director Rollo Lee (Cleese), who gets the idea that since people seem to enjoy aggressive, violent entertainment at the movies, the zoo should round up and execute all the cute, benign animals and replace them with more vicious specimens to boost attendance. Needless to say, talkative zookeeper Adrian "Bugsy" Malone (Michael Palin) is appalled at this suggestion and attempts to disguise the more timid beasts with fake fangs and daubings of artificial blood. Meanwhile, Rod and his son Vince (also played by Kevin Kline) want the animal displays to be more spectacular, and they hope to boost income by introducing corporate sponsorship with logos pasted on the cages, the staff uniforms, and even the animals themselves. An already complex situation is further tangled by the efforts of Vince, Rod, and Rolo to seduce Willa, whose obsession with the bottom line is compromised by her fondness for the gorillas. Fierce Creatures was originally shot in 1995, but when the original version tested poorly, producers John Cleese and Michael Shamberg opted to reshoot part of the film (most notably the ending), with director Fred Schepisi replacing Robert Young for the revised sequences. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Another of writer/director Ken Russell's D.H. Lawrence adaptations, Lady Chatterley (an amalgam of three Lawrence novels) was first shown as a British TV miniseries on BBC1 from June 6 to 27, 1993. In recounting the familiar details of young, bored Lady Chatterley (Joely Richardson), her elderly, infirm husband (James Wilby), and her hot-blooded stable-groom lover, Manners (Sean Bean), Russell took the opportunity to both celebrate and savage the British upper classes of the 1920s. One brief sequence of full frontal nudity caused a minor scandal in Britain, though by Ken Russell standards the scene was a model of taste and decorum. After its initial TV run, Lady Chatterley was edited down from 220 to 110 minutes and released theatrically in the United States. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The "endless game" is espionage, which goes on and on despite government upheavals and changing international attitudes. Albert Finney plays a retired secret agent called back to active duty. Finney is entrusted with the task of finding out why his fellow retirees are being killed off. One of the victims is a woman who'd once been Finney's lover. Anthony Quayle makes his final screen appearance in this made-for-cable suspenser. Endless Game was written and directed by Bryan Forbes--surprisingly, his first foray into the spy-film genre. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Set in sexually repressive 1950's London, We Think the World of You features actor Alan Bates as Frank, a gay middle-aged businessman whose lover Johnny (Gary Oldman) is married and in jail for burglary. While Johnny (Oldman) is behind bars, his beloved German shepard Evie becomes the center of a heated custody battle between himself, his wife (Frances Barber), his mother (Liz Smith), his stepfather (Max Wall), and finally, Frank (Bates). Frank eventually becomes more enamoured with the scene-stealing German shepard than he is with her absent master. We Think the World of You was directed by Colin Gregg and based on a semi-autobiographical novel by Joseph R. Ackerley, one of the first modern authors to come out as openly gay. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

John Cleese's knack for mining hilarity from the growing frustration of a dignified gentleman is fully exploited in the British comedy Clockwise. Cleese portrays Brian Stimpson, a perfectionist English headmaster who has been selected to make an important presentation before a group of his peers. When Stimpson sets out upon his journey, however, he finds himself facing a seemingly never-ending series of delays and inconveniences, which range from missing a train to becoming a fugitive from the police. The film goes no deeper than its farcical surface, but is nevertheless consistently entertaining, thanks to former Monty Python member Cleese's precisely tuned transitions from composure to complete collapse. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

King: The Martin Luther King Story originated as a three-part miniseries, first telecast February 12, 13 and 14, 1978. Paul Winfield is starred as Martin Luther King, with Cicely Tyson as Coretta Scott King. The film covers the years 1954 through 1968, taking Rev. King from his first peaceful protests against segregation in Montgomery to his murder in Memphis. Scenarist/director Daniel Mann came under fire in 1978 for his adaptation of King's life, and for once the critics were right. Despite Winfield's masterful and accurate portrayal of King, the rest of the 6-hour drama compromises the truth with the hokiest of fabrications. Just a few examples: Sheriff "Bull" Connor's men walk out on him en masse when he threatens to hose down black schoolchildren; Mayor Daley warns King against protesting in Chicago, saying "We have a reputation to protect; this is the home of Al Capone"; King has a friendly meeting with Malcolm X in 1966, a full year after Malcolm X was killed....and so it goes. Martin Luther King certainly deserved a superior mini-series. Perhaps some day he'll get one. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This well-wrought romance takes place in Lancashire, England in an industrial area where Vic (Alan Bates) and Ingrid (June Ritchie) work in the same factory. He is a draftsman who wants only a physical relationship with the woman of his choice (Ingrid), and she is a typist who wants true love with the man she is interested in (Vic). In carefully handled scenes throughout, Vic and Ingrid get together but with consequences neither could have foreseen. Ingrid becomes pregnant, and that one indisputable fact tests the mettle of their relationship more than anything else they could have imagined. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide