Tony Longo Movies

An ex-football star takes in his young nephew after the child's parents are killed in an accident, and convinces the fragile boy that his parents are convalescing in the hospital. Johnny Dunn (Richard Tyson) is a former gridiron giant who left the game behind to purchase a small desert town. He calls the place Jake's Corner, and despite the barren surroundings, the few people that live their flourish. They're a small, eccentric group, but for what it's worth, they're family. After the accident, Johnny's nephew Spence comes to live in Jake's Corner. Uncertain of how to raise a child, Johnny reveals to his friends that Spence still doesn't know that his parents are dead, and that it's their job to help him maintain the ruse. Their spirits lifted by the presence and energy of the curious young boy, the residents of the secluded town take the opportunity to share their homespun wisdom with Spence, and try to prepare him for the hard truth he's about to face. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Writer/director Wayne Kramer offers a glimpse into the aging Las Vegas casino world with the romantic drama The Cooler. Bernie Lootz (William H. Macy) is extremely unlucky at gambling, and he owes the Shangri-La casino over 100,000 dollars. He is so unlucky that he is hired as a "cooler," someone to gamble next to high rollers and give them some of his bad luck to stop them from winning. This arrangement works out for awhile, until Bernie has almost paid off his debt and meets cocktail waitress Natalie Belisario (Maria Bello). The two start to fall in love and Bernie's luck begins to change. However, the old-fashioned mob boss Shelly Kaplow (Alec Baldwin) isn't going to let Bernie go so easily. Meanwhile, Larry Sokolov (Ron Livingston) arrives on the scene to help update the business management of the old mobster-run casino. Also starring Joey Fatone and Paul Sorvino as lounge singers. The Cooler was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize in the dramatic competition at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

A woman in need of a miracle finds one in an unexpected manner in this inspirational comedy-drama. Amanda (Julie Condra) works as a secretary for Sully (Leo Rossi), a mid-level mobster working out of Las Vegas. Amanda, who seems to be perpetually at the end of her rope, and her spineless live-in boyfriend Alan (Jay Underwood), have a habit of living beyond their means, and they find themselves deep in debt. Unable to pay their bills, Amanda gets the bright idea of "borrowing" $250,000 from Sully without telling him, and putting it on a "sure thing" at the racetrack. However, the horse that couldn't lose does just that, and Amanda has to come up with a quarter-million dollars before Sully gets wind of her embezzlement. Amanda learns she has a grandfather that she's never met, Nathan (Pat Hingle), and it seems Grandfather is a multi-millionaire. Amanda tracks Nathan down, and to her relief, he agrees to lend her the money. But there's a string attached -- Nathan, who is in a convalescent home, wants to visit his favorite fishing hole in Redemption, MT, one last time before he dies, and he'll give Amanda the money only if she'll escort him there. Amanda and Nathan soon hit the highway, with Sully's men following close behind, and as Amanda finds herself in the middle of a series of unexpected adventures, she also learns something about her grandfather's deep and abiding Christian faith. Road to Redemption was produced by World Wide Pictures, a media outlet of the Billy Graham Crusade (excerpts from Mr. Graham's radio broadcasts can be heard in the film, though he does not appear on camera). ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In his zeal to prove his value to the ER and impress Harper (Christine Elise), Carter (Noah Wyle) loses his first patient, a barfly named Ed. Meanwhile, Carol (Julianna Margulies) and Shep (Ron Eldard) work together to subdue a drug-crazed patient, and Ross (George Clooney) copes with a four-year-old Asian child suffering from AIDS. And perhaps inevitably, the ongoing conflict between Lewis (Sherry Stringfield) and Weaver (Laura Innes) reaches another crisis point, compelling Lewis to go over Weaver's head and file a complaint with Greene (Anthony Edwards). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Inasmuch as National Lampoon magazine was on its last legs in 1994, the title National Lampoon's Last Resort was all too prophetic. The film takes place at, yes, a summer resort, which is threatened with extinction by (in unison, please) Evil Land Developers. Can the Corey boys -- Haim and Feldman -- save the camp? You might get some incidental fun by predicting precisely when the first bathroom joke is about to occur (it doesn't take long). Unlike previous National Lampoon features, Last Resort went direct to video. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This lively children's comedy centers upon a 13-year-old electronic whiz with a knack for building clever remote control gadgets. Young Randy gets into big trouble after one of his inventions destroys his buddy's science project. Afterward, his parents attempt to get him to find other interests. Its a good thing they fail because when burglars come to call, it is Randy and his fabulous "toys" that save the day. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Brandon Lee (son of famed martial-arts film star, Bruce Lee) stars as a young art student who happens to witness a drug murder and is placed in protective custody by federal agents. It's not too long before he realizes that the only real protection he can count on is his own martial-arts training. ~ Rovi

The Banks mansion is visited by British royalty in the form of Lady Penelope (Sherrie Krenn), the daughter of Philip's old friend Lord Fowler (Will Glover). Despite her proud lineage and haughty demeanor, Lady P. turns out to be a party animal at heart, and wants to sneak away from her daddy and entourage for a wild night on the town. Amazingly, it is the normally rambunctious Will (Will Smith) who must curb Penelope's enthusiasm! The episode's highlight is a dance performance backed up by The Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Higher Ground". ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Producer Joel Silver, director Tony Scott, and screenwriters Shane Black and Greg Hicks team up for this gridiron-set action thriller. Bruce Willis stars as Joe Hallenbeck, who was once a top-of-the-line Secret Service agent but has since become an alcoholic, flea-bag detective. While performing the chores of a two-bit shamus, he discovers his wife Sarah (Chelsea Field) is having an affair with his best friend. Joe is hired to protect Cory (Halle Berry), a stripper who has been getting death threats; Joe begins to sober up when Cory is blown to smithereens. Cory's boyfriend, Jimmy Dix (Damon Wayans), was at one time a NFL football quarterback, but was thrown out of the game for gambling and addiction to Demerol. Smelling something fishy, Joe and Jimmy begin to investigate further and discover layers of corruption in professional football circles, leading up to Sheldon Marcone (Noble Willingham), a corrupt team owner who wants to pay off legislators to legalize gambling on pro football games. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Neil Simon forgoes his typical urban East Coast kvetchers and replaces them with sunny Californian kvetchers in The Marrying Man, a film which became a beacon of gossip in 1991 due to the alleged shenanigans of stars Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger, who fell in love during production. Simon based his script on a true story concerning the love affair between shoe tycoon Harry Karl and actress Marie (The Body) McDonald during the 1950s. Married to each other four times, McDonald still managed to carry on an affair with mobster Bugsy Siegel. In this Simon-ized version, Baldwin plays Charley Pearl, a sharp and handsome Hollywood millionaire, engaged to Adele Horner (Elisabeth Shue), the daughter of dyspeptic movie studio executive Lew Horner (Robert Loggia). The day before their wedding, Charley heads off to Las Vegas for a bachelor party, and in a sleazy casino on the outskirts of town, he sets his eyes on sexy singer Vicki Anderson (Basinger) and falls for her hard. He wants her immediately and even though she warns him she's the property of Bugsy Siegel (Armand Assante), he crawls into her bedroom window to be with her. Caught with his pants down by Siegel, Bugsy, instead of killing him, forces him to marry Vicki ("I was about to dump her anyway," he says). But after their marriage, Charley and Vicki discover they're more attracted to the danger of their relationship than in each other. Charley's friends -- Phil (Paul Reiser), Sammy (Fisher Stevens), Tony (Peter Dobson), and George (Steve Hytner) -- form a Greek chorus commenting on the crazed love affair and are reportedly inspired by Phil Silvers, Sammy Cahn, Tony Martin, and Leo Durocher. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Businessman Larry Burrows (James Belushi) has a wife who ignores him, a screwball friend who won't leave him alone, and a car that continually breaks down. All that and more is enough to give him a mid-life crisis. After his car stalls once more, he enters a bar looking for help and encounters a bartender (Michael Caine) who shows him what his life would have been like, if he hadn't struck out in a baseball game back in high school. ~ John Bush, Rovi

Having lost the Championship and two of their best players, John Manzak (John Matuszak) and Johnny Gunn (Christopher Meloni), the California Bulls bind their wounds, grit the teeth they have left, and hope for the best as the sexy, profane HBO football sitcom 1st & Ten begins its seventh and final season. The series' subtitle this year is "In Your Face!," and that pretty much sums up the attitude of the battered gridiron vets under the aegis of tough team coach Ernie Denardo (Reid Shelton) and buxom team owner Kristy Fulbright (Shannon Tweed). New to the team is receiver "Miracle Miles" Coolidge (Keith Amos), who just might have the right stuff to guide the Bulls to another Championship. Without giving anything away, we can observe here that "Miracle Miles" figures prominently in the season's best-remembered episode, involving a surprise cameo from a most unlikely guest star. Episode titles this season include "Opening Night," "Old Dogs, New Tricks," "She's Ba-ack," "Altared States," "Going in Style," "Don't Powderburst My Bubble," "The Squeeze," "Take My Wives Please, "Bull Day Afternoon," "Sex, Bulls, and Videotape," "Irma Za-Greb," "If I Didn't Play Football," "A Roast is a Roast," "Close Encounters of the Third Down," "Flashbacks," and "Championship Game." The director for all but one of the above-mentioned episodes was Peter Bonerz of The Bob Newhart Show fame. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Peter Gunn was a one-shot TV movie revival of the classic detective series (1958-61) created by Blake Edwards. Edwards wrote and directed this pilot for a potential Gunn revival, with Peter Strauss stepping into Craig Stevens' gumshoes as private eye Peter Gunn. Peter Jurasik assumes Herschel Bernardi's old role as Lt. Jacobi, while Barbara Williams takes over for Lola Albright as saloon singer Edie ("Mother's", the night spot where Edie vocalizes, is operated by "special guest star" Pearl Bailey). The film is not updated to the present time, but is set in 1964. Gunn finds himself between gangsters and rogue cops when he agrees to get to the bottom of a mob hit. A lot more verbose than the old, visually dynamic TV series, Peter Gunn (1989) has the saving grace of Henry Mancini's original progressive-jazz theme song and musical score. Blake Edwards' daughter Jennifer is featured as Gunn's ditsy secretary, a character (thankfully) missing from the earlier series. This actually represented Edwards's second attempt to revive the Peter Gunn character in a movie format; he first did so with the 1967 big-screen feature Gunn. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi