Freeman King Movies
- 1977
To avoid paying taxes, Fred (Redd Foxx) invests ten dollars in a "close cover before striking" divinity school headed by a clever con man. Inveigling Uncle Woodrow (Raymond Allen) and Bubba (Don Bexley) in his scheme, the "Reverend" Sanford sets up his own tax-exempt ministry, worshipping at the altar of the new religion known as "Junkism." Suffice it to say that the scheme heads down the same road paved with good intentions. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Redd Foxx, Demond Wilson, (more)
From the time he was a high-school student in Lubbock, Texas until his tragic death at age 22 in 1959, Buddy Holly ignored the condemnation by townspeople and his conservative relatives and dedicated his life to the new music he became famous for performing: rock 'n roll. Gary Busey stars as Buddy Holly in this widely acclaimed big-screen biography and sings well enough on camera for the film's adapted musical score to win an Oscar. Among the classic songs by Buddy Holly and the Crickets which can be heard are: Oh Boy, That'll Be The Day, Peggy Sue, and Not Fade Away. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gary Busey, Don Stroud, (more)
- 1981
- PG
In this comedy, a hotel becomes a chaotic place during the 1938 filming of The Wizard of Oz, when it is inundated with groups of midgets, secret agents, and Nazi and Japanese spies. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chevy Chase, Carrie Fisher, (more)
- 1984
- R
An ordinary woman is unwittingly led into California's criminal underbelly in this drama. Betty Parrish (Debra Winger) is a bank teller who is involved in a rather sporadic relationship with Mike (Mark Keyloun), a low-level tennis pro who supplements his income by dealing cocaine on the side. One night, Betty finds herself stood up by Mike and discovers that there's a good reason why he hasn't shown up -- he's been killed. It seems that Mike and his friend Pete (Darrell Larson) were acting as middlemen in a deal for one of the city's major drug suppliers. Mike and Pete made the mistake of siphoning off some of the cocaine for their own purposes (Mike wanted product to sell to his customers, while Pete needed to satisfy his growing addiction to coke), and the dealer's thugs had Mike eliminated rather than allowing him to steal from their boss. Betty and Pete want to find out the truth about how and why Mike was murdered, and their journey leads them into the darkest regions of the Los Angeles underworld. Mike's Murder went through extensive revisions between its first previews and its final release; pop singer and songwriter Joe Jackson, then at the height of his popularity, composed a score for the film, and a soundtrack album of his music appeared in stores several months before the film's belated release. However, by that time much of Jackson's music had been replaced with a new score by John Berry. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Debra Winger, Mark Keyloun, (more)
- 1985
There's a cycle-driving, gun-wielding psycho on the loose who has been forcing traffic cops into bloody western-style shootouts. Catching up with the motorized gunslinger becomes a personal matter for Rick Hunter (Fred Dryer); the outlaw uses the same calibre of armor-piercing bullets that had killed the husband of Hunter's partner DeeDee McCall (Stepfanie Kramer). The climax finds Hunter straddling a cycle himself for a "High Noon" showdown with the trigger-happy killer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1985
In his last acting assignment before his death, Orson Welles narrates this highly unusual episode of Moonlighting. While gathering evidence for their latest case, David (Bruce Willis) and Maddie (Cybill learn of the famous Flamingo Cove Murder, a 1946 case that has never been solved. It doesn't take long for the two detectives to dream up their own separate solutions to the murder--dreams filmed in glorious black and white in the manner of a classic film noir (David's scenario looks like something out of the Rita Hayworth flick Gilda, while Maddie's resembles a Tennessee Williams-style romantic melodrama!) Cybill Shepherd sings "Blue Moon" and "I Told Ya I Love Ya, Now Get Out!" ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Chevy Chase added a classic comic hero to the film landscape with Fletch, one of his few truly popular star vehicles in a famously misguided post-Saturday Night Live career. Chase plays Irwin M. Fletcher, known to everyone as Fletch, a Los Angeles Lakers-loving investigative reporter with a gleeful disdain for deadlines and a knack for pushing the buttons of his frustrated editor (Richard Libertini). He's also known for donning numerous disguises and assuming zany false identities to help gain information. While pursuing an ongoing story about a powerful drug dealer who operates from Venice Beach, he comes across an intriguing offshoot in which he becomes intimately involved. Aviation executive Alan Stanwyk (Tim Matheson) has an unusual proposition for Fletch: If Fletch agrees to an elaborate plan to kill him, for reasons Stanwyk refuses to divulge beyond explaining that he has bone cancer, Fletch will walk away with a healthy sum of money and a plane ticket to Brazil. Curious yet suspicious by profession, Fletch begins investigating Stanwyk's true motives, which leads him through numerous misadventures. Among them are a visit to a stuffy country club; a high-speed car chase with an unwitting passenger; repeat encounters with Stanwyk's wife (Dana Wheeler-Nicholson), although she may not be his only one; and a trip to Provo -- that's Utah, not Spain. Inspired by a novel of the same name by Gregory McDonald, Fletch went from thriller to comedy as it was adapted into a vehicle for Chase. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chevy Chase, Dana Wheeler-Nicholson, (more)
In this flat attempt at comedy by the director of the Police Academy series, Neal Israel, a brash Dana Cannon (John Murray, brother of Bill) lands in a crooked re-education school for delinquent drivers, run by Deputy Halik (James Keach, brother of Stacey). The objective is to lord it over the miscreant drivers sent to the school (wrongly given citations and tickets by cops out to fill a quota, according to opening sequences) and make some money in the bargain. Deputy Halik has already decided to flunk out anyone in his classes, with the objective of impounding their cars and then auctioning off the vehicles to the highest bidders. Dana, the irrepressible new student, manages to unite the other put-upon drivers at the school into a single, determined faction -- and trouble quickly brews. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Murray, Jennifer Tilly, (more)
- 1986
A terrorist group takes credit for the murder of a middle Eastern ambassador. Though Hunter (Fred Dryer) acknowledges that the group is smart enough to take another diplomat hostage (which they have), he isn't convinced that they have the technical savvy to assemble the time bomb that killed the ambassador. Assembling the clues at hand, Hunter finally deduces that the "brains" behind the murder was an exotic beauty (Persis Khambatta) with an extremely personal agenda. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1988
- PG
This direct to video, youth-oriented comedy is about Chuck (Tate Donovan) and Wally (Grant Heslov), friends in their senior year at college. Graduation is fast approaching. A wealthy industrialist (Robert Stack) offfers them jobs after graduation if they'll do him a favor and deliver a car to the his daughter in Lake Tahoe. The car, a red Porsche, gets stolen for use as the prize in a beauty pageant. The lads wind up in San Diego attempting to recover the car and their preserve their future careers. Their efforts are complicated when they become involved with the pageant contestants, exposing them to undreamed-of oceans of feminine pulchritude. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tate Donovan, Danielle von Zerneck, (more)
After his brother is badly beaten by a street gang, Jean-Claude Van Damme deserts the foreign legion in order to avenge his honor in this action film also known as A.W.O.L. and Wrong Bet. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Claude Van Damme, Harrison Page, (more)
- 1992
- R
In this whodunit, several cops are picked off one-by-one as two young investigators try to make sense of the murders. They soon find that the victims themselves were involved in some violent and less-than-honorable activity. Evidence may lead to fellow cop (C. Thomas Howell) who seems to fit the vigilante profile. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
