Tony Longo Movies

After scoring a best-seller with her recipe book, Mel's mom Carrie (Martha Raye) purchases the apartment building in which her son resides. Convinced that his existence will be rent-free from here on in, Mel (Vic Tayback) is sorely disappointed when Carrie actually increases his rent by an additional 50 bucks--and then evicts him when he refuses to pony up. This is the final episode of Alice's sixth season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Phoenix may not be Roswell, but try telling that to Alice (Linda Lavin) when she sees a UFO. At first, the gang at the diner laughs at Alice's supposed sighting--but when "true believers" begin showing up at the diner, Mel figures out a way to profit from his top waitress' Close Encounter. With this episode, Alice moved to a Monday-night timeslot (it was originally seen just before the now famous M*A*S*H series finale). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season Eight of Alice begins with the series' first-ever "crossover" episode. Sorrell Booke and Sonny Shroyer show up at Mel's Diner as Boss Hogg and Enos Strait, the characters they'd introduced on another Warner Bros.-produced TV series, Dukes of Hazzard. True to form, the larcenous Hogg stoops mighty low to force Mel (Vic Tayback) to relinquish the lease on his diner, the better to make room for a new establishment (owned by guess who?) called "Boar's Nest West." Will Alice (Linda Lavin put up her dukes--or maybe her "Daisy Dukes"--to save the day? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A gangland boss is killed in what seems to be a bungled holdup, but both Hunter (Fred Dryer) and the Mob suspect that a professional hit man was responsible. If he wants to avert an all-out gang war, Hunter must locate the only witness to the crime, a woman named Sandy Newton (Mary-Margaret Humes), who has completely disappeared from view. Ultimately figuring out who ordered the "hit", Hunter calls in favors from his own mob-connected family to prevent any further bloodshed--and to save Sandy in the bargain. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

On the eve of her sister's wedding, suburban teenager Samantha (Molly Ringwald) suffers silently as her family forgets her birthday. Even worse, some total dork (Anthony Michael Hall) keeps propositioning her with sophomoric innuendo when she really craves romantic attention from high-school hunk Jake (Michael Schoeffling). Moving from Samantha's family home as it's invaded by outre relatives to a high-school dance where nothing seems to go her way, this bittersweet teen comedy traces the hopes and disappointments of not only Samantha, but also a host of incidental but memorable characters, from a hapless Japanese exchange student to a prom queen and a posse of barely pubescent nerds. A climactic party scene at which these various strata of young America overcome their rigid hierarchies sets the stage for resolutions both tender and torrid. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Filmed in 1982 but unreleased until after the success of 1983's Valley Girl, this is a low-budget mix of valley-speak, trendiness, and message. In the end, it may have proved too difficult to combine dialogue such as "grody to the max," sex scenes, a bubbly teenager or two, the noble objective of saving an orphanage, and a rambling plot and still come out ahead. Saving the orphanage involves an unrealistic scheme to steal money from cocaine dealers, while other problems involve how to convince your boyfriend to have sex with you -- another stretch of reality. Flaws in this film do not include the acting on the part of the teens (Jill Carroll, Sharon Lea, and others) which is not to be faulted. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Delta Burke as glamorous team owner Diane Barrow and Reid Shelton as unglamorous coach Ernie Denardo continue to guide the destinies of the California Bulls pro football team in the second season of HBO's 1st and Ten. Added to the cast this season is O.J. Simpson -- yes, that O.J. Simpson! -- as veteran quarterback T.D. Parker. The season two episodes all bear the subtitle "Training Camp: The Bulls are Back." This should give the viewer a clue of what to expect in the season's bounty of six half-hour episodes, though the viewer will have to watch the episodes themselves in order to savor their R-rated dialogue, their ample display of female nudity, and their grimy, sweaty gridiron sequences. Episode titles this year include "The Rookies," "The Veterans," "Second Chance," "Quarterbacks Tell No Tales," "California Freeze Out," and "The Unkindest Cut." ~ 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

Season three of the racy HBO football sitcom 1st & Ten bears the subtitle "The Championship," which may or may not bode well for our heroes on the California Bulls. In addition to returning regulars Delta Burke as the Bulls' sexy owner Diane Barrow, and Reid Shelton, as bombastic team coach Ernie Denardo, special emphasis is placed upon quarterback Tom Yinessa, played by Jason Beghe; indeed, the first of the season's four episodes is titled "Yinessa's Interview" (other episodes include "Easy Come, Easy Go," "A Family Affair," and "The Big One"). In another development, quarterback T.D. Parker (played by none other than O.J. Simpson) decides that his playing days are over -- and in a twinkling, he is appointed the Bulls' assistant coach. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This romantic comedy is based on a true story that happened in California in 1944. Sonny Wisecarver (Patrick Dempsey) is 15 year old who has an affair with his older neighbor Judy (Talia Balsam). The two run off and get married, but a stern judge has the union annulled. Sonny is hauled before the same judge when he gets involved with another older woman (Beverly D'Angelo), and the publicity makes him the object of affection for millions of young women who believe Sonny has something special. Michael Constantine and Betty Jinnett play Sonny's concerned parents. Carl Reiner is the uncredited narrator, and the real-life Elliott "Sonny" Wisecarver has a cameo appearance as a mailman. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Rob Lowe stars in this screwball comedy as Richard Dice, the college dropout who comes back home to St. Augustine, Florida to get his act together. He is selected for jury duty and falls for the defendant Molly Gilbert (Colleen Camp), a young woman he later recognizes as his grade-school sweetheart. Richard tries to gather the evidence that will lead to her acquittal. He is not alone in his pursuit of an elusive audiotape that recorded the murder for which Molly is on trial. Jessica James plays Richard's mother, who is courted by Freddie Boneflecker (Rick Jason). Johnny Cash sings some tunes co-written with director Peter Bogdanovich. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

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, All Movie Guide