Philip Levien Movies
In this offbeat comedy set in the 1950s, Patrick Swayze plays Jack McCloud, a drifter and beatnik who enters the conservative suburban life of the Holman family after Jeanne Holman (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) accidentally hits him with her car. Jeanne takes Jack into her home while he recovers from his injuries. McCloud offends the neighbors and friends of the Holmans with his unorthodox behavior, including nude sunbathing and Buddhism. He tells the children, Tom (Joseph Mazzello) and Gunny (Seth Mumy), stories of a genie who has taken the form of a dog. Jeanne and her kids come under his sway as Jack's mystical powers help the kids' Little League team win a big game. Martha Coolidge directed the film from a script by Elizabeth Anderson, based on a short story by Ellen Green. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Swayze, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, (more)
The third entry in the popular Beverly Hills Cop series finds Detroit cop Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) returning yet again to Southern California, this time on the trail of two car thieves turned murderers. As he teams up again with L.A. cop Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold), Foley's investigation leads him to Wonder World, a theme park that is also the front for a major counterfeiting ring. More action and less wit are the trademarks of this film, which features Murphy dishing out his usual wisecracks, but with less flair and freshness than in the original film. Alan Young plays the old man who runs the amusement park, an interesting setting that still adds little to the tired premise. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, (more)
In Patriot Games, Harrison Ford plays former CIA agent Jack Ryan, taking over from Alec Baldwin, who had played author Tom Clancy's brainy protagonist in Hunt for Red October. This time around, Ryan foils an attempted assassination, thereby incurring the wrath of a maniacal Irish radical (Sean Bean). After seemingly neutralizing the villains, and deciding to celebrate the occasion with his wife (Anne Archer) and daughter (Thora Birch), everything appears to be back to normal; then all hell breaks loose. Author Tom Clancy himself bemoaned the liberties taken with his novel in the final sequences; the picture scored with audiences, however, and soon inspired a followup, A Clear and Present Danger (1994), also starring Ford. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harrison Ford, Anne Archer, (more)
- 1992
After winning her class spelling bee, Steph (Jodie Sweetin) is entered in the school finals, only to be eliminated from the competition by a single letter. Down but not out, Steph challenges the winner, "human dictionary" Davey Chu (Jared Leong), to an intensely personal rematch. Elsewhere, Uncle Jesse (John Stamos) unexpectedly turns out to have the solution when Michelle (played by the Olsen twins) encounters difficulty learning to read. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1991
The fifth-season opener of Full House finds Jesse (John Stamos) returning from his band tour, Becky (Lisa Loughlin) awaiting the birth of her baby, Michelle (played by the Olsen twins) preparing to start kindergarten, and DJ (Candace Cameron) on the threshold of beginning high school. When Becky ( finds out she is going to have twins, Jesse reacts to the news in a surprisingly negative fashion. Meanwhile, Steph develops a crush on her first male teacher, Mr. Lowry (Philip Levien). With this episode, former recurring actor Andrea Barber becomes a regular in the role of Kimmy, and Tahj Mowry makes his first appearance as Michelle's new best friend Teddy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1988
In June of 1985, TWA Athens-to-Rome flight 847 was seized by two fanatical, grenade-wielding Hezbollah Moslems. The hijacking was dragged out for 17 days, during which time several of the terrified passengers were beaten and one was killed. Written by Norman Morrill, the made-for-TV The Taking of Flight 847: The Uli Derickson stars Lindsay Wagner as courageous American purser Uli Derickson, whose knowledge of German enables her to communicate with the chief hijacker, a Shiite Lebanese who calls himself Castro (Eli Danker). When the ordeal was over, Derickson was credited with saving many lives and preventing the crisis from becoming far worse than it already was. It is a tribute to Lindsay Wagner's acting talent that, although most of the film's dialogue is spoken in German, the audience never has any difficulty following the story. The Taking of Flight 847 first aired May 2, 1988. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lindsay Wagner, Eli Danker, (more)
- 1986
- PG
In this spy caper, KGB agent Peter Hubbard (Michael Billington) has stolen some classified information on the U.S. government's aerospace program and is ready to pass the material on to the KGB. The trouble is that the KGB suddenly try to kill him before he can deliver. The U.S. then comes after him for the names of his contacts, and Hubbard finds himself in jeopardy on all sides. Hide-and-seek games follow, with the usual chases and action scenes. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Billington, Denise Du Barry, (more)
What's that wisecracking young black guy (Eddie Murphy) in that beat-up Chevy Nova doing in lily-white Beverly Hills? He's Axel Foley, a Detroit detective who's been sent on involuntary vacation because he refuses to drop his intention of avenging his friend's murder. Warned by Beverly Hills police chief Ronny Cox to stay out of trouble, Foley nonetheless dogs the trail of above-the-law Steven Berkoff, the British crime czar who was responsible for the murder of Foley's friend. With the help of sympathetic local cops Judge Reinhold and John Ashton and lady friend Lisa Eilbacher, Foley attempts to corner Berkoff in his mansion, which leads to a wild slapsticky shootout. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, (more)
- 1983
Cheryl Ladd seemed bound and determined in the early 1980s to prove that she was a "Charlie's Angel" no more; we probably would have taken her word for it even if she hadn't tried so hard and stridently. Made for television, Kentucky Woman found Ladd as a poverty-stricken waitress who becomes a coal miner, despite male opposition, damp boots and squealing rats. She does this to support her fatherless son and her miner dad (Ned Beatty), who is incapacitated by black lung disease. She does sixteen tons, and what does she get? Another bunch of lukewarm reviews and deeper in...well, that word doesn't rhyme with "get." Kentucky Woman was filmed on location in Paintsville, Kentucky. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1980
The made-for-TV Escape was inspired by the true story of Dwight Worker, an American imprisoned in Mexico for smuggling hashish. Given the country's stringent anti-drug laws, Worker's chances of release are slim to none (a situation similar to the protagonist's plight in Midnight Express). Against all odds, Worker plans a daring getaway from the notoriously impenetrable Lecumberri Prison (for obvious reasons, the film was not shot on location). Timothy Bottoms stars as Worker, with Kay Lenz as Barbara Chilcoate, the woman who became his wife; Colleen Dewhurst co-stars as the sympathetic "Mother Jones" type who helped engineer the escape. Adapted from Dwight and Barbara Worker's autobiography, Escape debuted February 20, 1980. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Paul Aaron directed this early exploration of homosexuality, starring Meg Foster and Perry King. King plays Albert, an illegal alien dumped by his filthy-rich boyfriend, who makes a home for himself as a squatter in an empty mansion. Foster plays Stella, a lesbian real estate agent who comes upon Albert as she is showing the house to a prospective buyer. Taking a shine to Albert, Stella takes him home to stay with her until he gets back on his feet. Hanging out with Stella, one thing leads to another, and soon they end up in the master bedroom, making mad, passionate love to each other, and they both discover that heterosexuality is not as bad as they thought. So much so, in fact, that Stella and Albert agree to marry, and they become a nice, cute middle-class couple. But then, as the two love birds settle into married life, Albert's ex suddenly returns to reek havoc upon their staid existence ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Perry King, Meg Foster, (more)
