Gene Lebell Movies

Jimmy Nickerson, fight coordinator on such films as Raging Bull and Rocky, takes the directorial reins for this tale of a self-destructive amateur boxer seeking to follow in his father's footsteps by making a name for himself in the ring. Hector Villa (Kuno Becker) may have the spirit of a winner, but his better judgment is consistently clouded by his anger. Though Hector picks fruit on the Texas ranch of Big Al Stevens during the daylight hours, nightfall finds the migrant laborer earning more than a day's pay by fighting for cash in local bars and converted barns. When Hector's mother, Rosa, falls ill, her loyal son takes as many fights as possible in order to pay for her expensive heart medication. But Big Al's son Robert is the undefeated champ of the local boxing scene, and when Big Al learns that Hector may be capable of delivering the blow that could dethrone his son, he has his henchmen beat Hector and leave him for dead in the Mexican desert. Now homeless and penniless on the desolate streets of Mexico, Hector is forced to literally fight for his life. When Hector learns that his mother has died, he seeks out local fighting legend Billy Jenkins in hopes that the grizzled former boxer and trainer will help him develop the skills needed to settle the score with Big Al and Robert. The man who once served as Robert's coach before learning that the unscrupulous young fighter was "on the juice," Billy knows that there is no way Hector could beat an opponent with such an unfair advantage. Upon learning that Big Al has accepted Hector's challenge to take on his son Robert thanks to the persuasive efforts of the migrant community, Hector and Billy begin training for the fight that could make or break Hector's future career in the ring. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The bumbling cops of Comedy Central's hit television series take a trip to Miami Beach for a national police convention. After the trip there turns out to be much more difficult than anticipated, the bumbling crew must leap into action when the convention center becomes the target of a biological terrorist attack. Lieutenant Jim Dangle (Thomas Lennon) must keep together his motley and inept crew in order to save everyone from the disaster, and keep peace on the streets of the popular Florida city. The film features the same cast from the popular Comedy Central series of the same name. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

After a bad day at work, a man suddenly gets a new job -- as the world's new Heavenly Father -- in this comedy. Bruce Nolan (Jim Carrey) is a television reporter working in Buffalo, NY, who has been growing increasingly dissatisfied with his existence, and after an especially bad day, he flies into a rage and curses God for making his life miserable. To Bruce's great surprise, the Supreme Being Himself (Morgan Freeman) appears, and tries to convince Bruce of the enormity of his task. Bruce, however, isn't buying it, so God gives him a chance to find out what he's up against; God bestows all of his powers on Bruce for a week, to see how he'd handle things. At first, Bruce has a great time bending the world around him to his will, much to the puzzlement of his girlfriend, Grace (Jennifer Aniston), but after six days God stops by to remind Bruce he hasn't done much to make the Earth a better place. Disappointed, God presents Bruce with an ultimatum -- he has one day to improve the world in a concrete way, or God will toss the planet back into the void. Bruce Almighty was directed by Tom Shadyac, who previously teamed with Jim Carrey for Liar, Liar and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Former Evening Shade costars Burt Reynolds and Charles Durning are reunited in this made-for-TV action thriller, the first entry in a three-picture deal between star-director Reynolds and the TNT cable network. Framed for murder after a botch stakeout, maverick cop Logan McQueen (Reynolds) escapes from maximum security and heads to Miami in search of the man who set him up. He is hotly pursued by the minions of a politically ambitious DA (Billy Dee Williams), who sees McQueen's capture as a stepping-stone to the governor's mansion. The film is so spectacularly violent that the cameo appearance by pro wrestler Rowdy Roddy Piper seems a model of decorum in comparison. And Durning? He plays McQueen's ageing partner, as fast with a quip as with a gun. Originally telecast on December 13, 1998, Hard Time was followed by a brace of sequels. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hollywood visionary Tim Burton pays homage to another Hollywood visionary, albeit a less successful one, in this unusual fictionalized biography. The film follows Wood (Johnny Depp) in his quest for film greatness as he writes and directs turkey after turkey, cross-dresses, and surrounds himself with a motley crew of Hollywood misfits, outcasts, has-beens, and never-weres. The real story, however, is his friendship with aging, morphine-addicted Bela Lugosi (Martin Landau), whom he tries to help stage a comeback. Landau's unforgettable Oscar-winning performance must be seen to be believed, as must Rick Baker's Oscar-winning makeup. While it would have been easy to make a film simply ridiculing the bumbling director, Burton instead focuses on his driving passion for filmmaking and his unwavering persistence in the face of ridicule and failure. Possibly the most surprising aspect of the film is the genuine sentiment with which Burton treats the relationship between Wood and Lugosi; his devotion to Lugosi is touching, as is Lugosi's final soliloquy -- an inane bit of dialogue from the hilariously bad Bride of the Monster that grows into a poignant metaphor for the actor's life and ultimate triumph of his spirit. Even the look of the film is right; it manages to preserve the air of one of Wood's own films while retaining a sense of artistry in much of the composition on screen (note the scene at the drug rehab where Lugosi endures a horrifying night of detox). In all, Ed Wood is a unique film -- at times side-splittingly funny; at others, tragic or even frightening -- and a heartfelt tribute to the love of movies, good and bad alike. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide

An escaped convict fights for his rights while hiding out from the law in this action drama. Sam Gillen (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is a thief who, despite his criminal past, is an essentially decent man; he ended up behind bars after taking a murder rap for his partner. Sam escapes from prison in a daring jailbreak, and he hides out on a remote farm while on the run from police. A young boy named Mookie (Kieran Culkin) finds the fugitive and takes him in; it seems that the farm belongs to his mother Clydie (Roseanna Arquette), and soon Mookie and his sister Bree (Tiffany Taubman) have become friends with Sam, and Clydie and Sam fall in love. However, Franklin Hale (Joss Ackland), an unscrupulous land developer, wants to buy Clydie's farm and isn't taking no for an answer. When Hale's thug Dunston (Ted Levine) tries to use force to drive Clydie off her property, Sam is ready to fight fire with fire. Nowhere to Run was co-authored by noted screenwriter Joe Eszterhas; Richard Marquand received his story credit posthumously. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In the conclusion of a two part story, Al (Ed O'Neill) shows up in Las Vegas to bail out Peg (Katey Sagal) and Marcy (Amanda Bearse), who have dropped $5000 at the gambling tables. Seeing the opportunity to re-earn the money and make a $15,000 profit in the bargain, Al agrees to spend three minutes in the ring with The Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling's "Big Bad Momma" (aka Lynn Braxton). Billed in the original ads as "A Wrestling Spectacular", this episode may not quite live up to the hype, but at least it does feature former Playboy centerfold Ava Fabian. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This sequel to the popular Jean-Claude Van Damme vehicle centers on the exploits of David Sloan (Sasha Mitchell) the younger brother of the two fighters (Van Damme and Dennis Alexio) who died in the first installment. As this episode begins, David has given up competition and is running a kickboxing school for underprivileged urban kids. His life changes abruptly when the villainous fight manager who murdered his brother shows up and forces him back into the ring. Fortunately, David's Zen master shows up for spiritual and moral support. The ensuing fight scenes are quite bloody and violent. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

12-year-old Bud Bundy (David Faustino) undergoes an astonishing personality change when he falls in love with a 21-year-old art student named Tiffany (Dawn Merrick). Before long, Tiffany has moved in with the Bundys, charming one and all--except neighbor Marcy (Amanda Bearse), who has ample reason to hate the girl's guts. This episode marks one of the few times that any classical music is ever heard on Married. . .With Children. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this hit '80s hybrid of the horror movie and the teen flick, a single mom and her two sons become involved with a pack of vampires when they move into an offbeat Northern California town. Lucy (Dianne Wiest) and her sons, Michael (Jason Patric) and Sam (Corey Haim), move to Santa Carla to live with Lucy's lovable but curmudgeonly father (Barnard Hughes). Lucy gets a job from video store-owner Max (Edward Herrmann), then begins dating him, while Sam hangs out with Edward and Alan Frog (Corey Feldman and Jamison Newlander), a pair of vampire-obsessed comic-shop clerks. Soon Michael falls in with some actual vampires after becoming enamored of one of their victims: Star (Jami Gertz), a gypsy-like vixen who is trying to hold onto her humanity even though vampire leader David (Kiefer Sutherland) wants to play Peter Pan to her Wendy. When Michael visits the cavernous hangout of David and his cronies and unwittingly drinks from a wine bottle full of vampiric blood, he becomes an unwilling member of the bloodsucker biker gang. Soon, it's up to Sam and the Frog brothers to destroy David and his ilk without killing Michael and Star. Shot on location in the coastal California town of Santa Cruz and directed by Hollywood pro Joel Schumacher, The Lost Boys became a pop-culture phenomenon thanks to its attractive young stars, offbeat soundtrack, and hip, clever marketing campaign; the film's tagline -- "Sleep all day. Party all night. Never grow old. Never die. It's fun to be a vampire." -- perfectly captured its knowing mixture of attitude and gore. The effects team who transformed Sutherland and company into snarling blood-suckers would go on to provide equally gruesome effects for Blade, another revisionist vampire flick, more than a decade later. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

These bad guys are a couple of inept cops who, when kicked off the force, decide to make their living as professional wrestlers. They become "The Boston Bad Guys" and as such, are pitted against a wrestling team managed by their manager's arch rival. To add intrigue to this wrestling fan's release (who else would watch it?) -- are appearances by several big-name professional wrestlers. ~ All Movie Guide

This bleak post-apocalyptic science fiction actioner substitutes a plague instead of a bomb as the reason for civilization's demise but the result is the same -- grizzly motorcycle gangs with a ton of gasoline to burn. In City Limits the older generation has been wiped out by the plague, and the younger generation lives in a state of anarchy in a world controlled by biker gangs. The gangs live by rules discovered in pre-apocalyptic comic books. Two rival biker gangs, the Clippers and the DAs, have taken to dividing up a city amongst themselves and live under a fragile truce. Utilizing a comic-strip version of medieval times, a code has been established for violations of the pact between the gangs -- competitive jousting or acts of reciprocal retaliation. When a person dies, like a post-Holocaust Viking funeral, he is cremated along with his motorcycle. But this shaky peace between the bike gangs is threatened when the fascistic Sunya Corporation attempts to take over the city with the cooperation of the DA bike gang. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

"Gotcha!" is a puerile but popular campus game at UCLA in which students stalk one another armed with paint-spewing pellet guns. Veterinary student Anthony Edwards may not be any great shakes in the classroom, but he's a whiz at Gotcha. His skills come in handy when Edwards, on vacation in Paris, becomes acquainted with the mysterious Linda Fiorentino. She gets him mixed up in international espionage; fortunately, the well-armed spies aren't quite as adept at "Gotcha" as Edwards is. Most of the film was lensed in Paris and Berlin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide