Emily Banks Movies
- 1985
- R
In an unusual comedy by Joan Darling, Brian Dennehy and Anne Archer star as the Richard, a druggist, and his wife Peggy, a pair of debt-ridden parents who rebel against the system. Nothing goes right while they try to uphold the system, then things get even worse when they leave it. Richard decides to pull the plug on modernity when he cannot meet his utility bills and creditors are at his door like wolves. He shuts off the electricity and sets up candles, buys a goat, and digs a well in the back yard. He finally does hit water, but it happens to be the city's water main. Peggy is not quite as crazed as her husband so she goes to see a shrink -- who promptly dies on her. If anything can go wrong for Richard and Peggy, it will. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Brian Dennehy, Anne Archer, (more)
- 1982
Made for television, When Hell Was in Session is the true story of Navy commander Jonathan Denton Jr., here played by Hal Holbrook. Shot down during a bombing mission over Vietnam in 1965, Denton endured nearly eight horrendous years as a POW. The plot details Denton's efforts to organize a resistance movement among his fellow prisoners. The film concludes with a powerful re-enactment of Denton's homecoming, as originally seen by millions of American televiewers in 1973. Based on the book by Denton and Ed Brandt, When Hell Was in Session debuted October 8, 1979 ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1972
Endora casts a spell on a unicorn-shaped pin, causing all mortals who come within the pin's vicinity to speak nothing but the truth. Not unexpectedly, this hex wreaks havoc on Samantha and Darrin's dinner party for Darrin's new client, Ed Franklin (Parley Baer) and Ed's wife, Cora Mae (Sara Seegar). Written by Ed Jurist, "The Truth, Nothing but the Truth, So Help Me" was originally telecast on March 25, 1972, as the 252nd and final episode of Bewitched. Even if this once-popular series had not fallen victim to the usual attrition of eight seasons on the air, it would have been killed by ABC's boneheaded decision to reschedule Bewitched opposite CBS' Saturday-night blockbuster All in the Family. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick Sargent, (more)
Bikers, Nazis, Mafiosi, and the FBI all clash in this wild and wooly exploitation picture from director Al Adamson. Mark Adams (John Gabriel) is an FBI agent who has been assigned to infiltrate an organized crime ring that has obtained a set of printing plates that will allow them to produce nearly perfect counterfeit 20-dollar bills. The plates were made in Germany during World War II, and were discovered by a radical right-wing group hoping to restore the Nazi Party to power. The American gangsters are in cahoots with a group of wealthy American neo-Nazis sympathetic to the new German cause, led by fugitive war criminal Count von Delberg (Kent Taylor); the count has in turn recruited a vicious motorcycle gang, the Bloody Devils, to do his dirty work. Also featuring Broderick Crawford, John Carradine, and Col. Harland Sanders (the latter in a shameless plug for Kentucky Fried Chicken), Hell's Bloody Devils was produced under the titles The Fakers and Operation M as a straightforward espionage thriller; when distributors balked at the finished product, Al Adamson and producer Samuel M. Sherman added the biker subplot, and gave the product a more exploitive title. Shorn of the motorcycle gang footage, the film was also released as Smashing the Crime Syndicate. Nelson Riddle co-wrote the film's theme song, and Laszlo Kovacs and Gary Graver were among the cameramen. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- John Gabriel, Kent Taylor, (more)
Singing stars from two very different generations appear in Live A Little, Love A Little. Elvis Presley plays Greg, a photographer who divides his time working for a skin magazine and a conservative newspaper. Rudy Valle plays Penlow, the veteran newspaper publisher. Lansdown (Don Porter) is the publisher of a girly magazine as Greg tries to work for both without the other finding out. Greg falls in love with a fashion model (Michele Carey) in this situation comedy that even die-hard Elvis fans have a hard time swallowing. By this time, Elvis planned to fulfil his remaining movie obligations and return to the stage, as his 1960s film career had failed to take on the dramatic seriousness he desperately sought. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Elvis Presley, Michele Carey, (more)
- 1967
Never once does Bobby Darin sing "Mack the Knife" or "Splish Splash" in Gunfight in Abilene. Instead, he plays a peaceable western sheriff, determined to stave off an outlaw invasion. The head outlaw is Leslie Nielsen, which makes this film very hard to watch with a straight face these days. The Universal City backlot gets a good workout in the blood-spattered finale of Gunfight in Abilene, which barely made the theatrical rounds before entrenching itself on late night television. The film should not be confused with Gunfighters of Abilene, a 1960 oater starring Buster Crabbe. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Bobby Darin, Emily Banks, (more)
- 1966
The Plainsman was a Technicolor remake of the 1936 Cecil B. DeMille film, all about the fictional romantic triangle of Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane and Buffalo Bill. DeMille had the advantage of a topnotch cast: Gary Cooper as Hickok, Jean Arthur as Calamity (complete with a Wally Westmore cosmetic job!) and James Ellison as Buffalo Bill. David Lowell Rich, director of the 1966 The Plainsman, had to make do with Universal contractees Don Murray, Abby Dalton and Guy Stockwell. Denied DeMille's budget, Rich turned out a cut-rate western, wherein the "big" Indian attacks look more like Disneyland exhibits. The usually reliable Abby Dalton further weakens the film with a Southern accent that wouldn't convince a prairie dog. Originally made for television, The Plainsman was instead released theatrically--then went promptly to the small screen. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1966
Penned by noted science-fiction author Theodore Sturgeon, this episode of the famed science-fiction television series depicts the crew of the starship Enterprise relaxing and enjoying time off -- until, that is, their vacation spot provides them with some unexpected surprises. When Dr. McCoy suggests a brief vacation for the crew to relieve stress, Kirk agrees, having found what seems to be the perfect place: a pristine, Earth-like planet without any dangerous animal life. However, once the crew lands, bizarre events begin to occur. On this supposedly uninhabited planet, Sulu finds an ancient gun, Kirk meets an old school rival, and McCoy spots the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland. While initially benevolent, these appearances become increasingly strange -- and dangerous. Soon the vacationers appear to be in mortal danger, and Kirk, Spock, and the others must solve the mystery behind these curious encounters before anyone is harmed. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi
