Tony Longo Movies
An actor of imposing stature, Tony Longo has played many roles that utilized his substantial frame. Born in New Jersey, Longo began his acting career by making appearances on TV shows like Laverne & Shirley and CHiPS, a plan that would prove extremely fruitful as the actor would wrack up countless such appearances over the coming decades. Additionally, Longo extended his efforts toward movies, as well, playing roles in films like The Cooler and The Violent Kind. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide- 1989
In this "crossover" episode, Florence Stanley appears as Judge Margaret W. Wilbur, a character she'd introduced on the concurrently-produced NBC sitcom My Two Dads. In her capacity as temporary replacement for Judge Harry T. Stone (Harry Anderson), Judge Wilbur immediately makes an impression by jailing Dan (John Larroquette) for contempt. All this, however, is incidental to the main plot, in which Bull (Richard Moll) hopes to raise money for a boy's home by appearing as a contestant on the popular game show "What Am I?" First, however, he must undergo hypnosis to get over his fear of being on live television. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Joe Pytka's comedy stars Richard Dreyfuss as Trotter, a cab driver who gets a hot tip on a horse race and soon finds himself on the gambling hot streak of his life. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Dreyfuss, David Johansen, (more)
Produced for theatrical released by PBS' American Playhouse, Bloodhounds of Broadway is not exactly a remake of the 1952 film of the same name, though both pictures use the same Damon Runyon stories as inspiration. The scene is Broadway: the time is New Year's Eve, 1928. Madonna plays small town girl-turned-hoofer Hortense Hathaway, who loves gambler Feet Samuels (Randy Quaid) more than somewhat. Since it is known far and wide that Feet has not a penny to his name, he must find some way to pay off his debts in a hurry. So he offers to sell his huge feet to a demented-an operation which will, alas, cost Feet the use of his life. Upon waking up to the fact that Hortense loves him, Feet decides that he prefers breathing to pushing up daisies. Meanwhile, a society doll named Harriet MacKyle (Julie Hagerty) turns on the spigots when her pet parrot is laid low by a clumsy gunman. And while all this is transpiring, high-roller Regret (Matt Dillon) has to beat a murder rap. Even while Regret is sweating it out, "The Brain" (Rutger Hauer), who is bleeding profusely after confronting the business end of a shiv, searches high and low for someone willing to donate blood to save his life. If you can, keep an eye out for author William Burroughs as a butler. Bloodhounds of Broadway was the first non-documentary effort of filmmaker Howard Brookner-and the last, since he died before the film was released. To gloss over the film's plot holes, the distributors added a Winchell-like narrator to the proceedings, courtesy of actor Joseph Sommer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julie Hagerty, Randy Quaid, (more)
- 1989
"The Bulls Mean Business' is the new subtitle for 1st & Ten as the raunchy HBO sitcom enters its fifth season. This refers to the fact that the members of the California Bulls football team now all have a financial stake in the franchise. As for sexy team owner Diane Barrows, she has flown the coop (actress Delta Burke left to devote all her time to her other starring sitcom Designing Women). Replacing Diane in the owner's box is the even sexier Kristy Fulbright, played by Shannon Tweed, the famous softcore movie diva. (Given this series' propensity for feminine nudity, it is somewhat disheartening to report that Ms. Tweed remains fully clothed throughout her tenure on the program!) Titles of the season's 14 episodes include "The Bulls Own Up," "The Inmates Buy the Asylum," "Caught in the Draft," "Down and Out in Bulls Stadium," "The Clock Runs Out," "The Dark Side," "Saturday Bloody Saturday," "Injustice for All," "Team Picture,"Out of the Past," "Final Bow," "Duty Calls," "The High and the Mighty," and "The Irreducible Bottom Line." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shannon Tweed, Reid Shelton, (more)
- 1989
Season six of the raunchy HBO football sitcom 1st & Ten is subtitled "Do it Again" -- meaning that the California Bulls are championship-bound again after a three-year dry spell. Sexy team owner Kristy Fulbright (Shannon Tweed) and foul-mouth coach Ernie Denardo (Reid Shelton) have placed their championship homes on their new star player, Vito Del Greco, alias Johnny Gunn -- played by a decidedly pre-Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Christopher Meloni. Episode titles this season include: "The Book According to Zagreb," "The Con," "False Start," "Mind Games," "Love and Marriage," "Clean and Sober," "Blood Money," "Vindication" "Gunn and Bullette," "Heaven Help Me," "Surprise Surprise," "All is Fair in Love and Football," "Earn This One for Ernie," and "Who Stole Johnny Gunn?". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shannon Tweed, Reid Shelton, (more)
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
- Starring:
- Rob Lowe, Colleen Camp, (more)
- 1988
- PG13
Gutsy ex-Marine Ellie DeWitt (Rebecca DeMornay) and bookish Bryn Mawr-graduate Janis Zuckerman (Mary Gross) have two things in common. Both are ardent supporters of the Reagan administration, and both aspire to a career in law enforcement. This is the unifying link that brings Ellie and Janis to the FBI training center in Quantico. Bucking male chauvinism and their own occasional loss of self-esteem, the ladies become top-notch federal agents. Except for a few cheap shots at the Republican Party, Feds is surprisingly reverent to such government institutions as the FBI. While this would be well and good in a straight drama, it's the kiss of death for a comedy -- if indeed, this is a comedy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rebecca De Mornay, Mary Gross, (more)
After Billy Robinson (Robert Krantz) finds success as a professional motorcycle racer, he returns to his hometown where he faces adulation and jealousy as a result of his success. When a local motorcycle race is put together, Billy must compete against his best friend (Don Michael Paul) for the prize. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don Michael Paul, Kathleen York, (more)
- 1987
- PG13
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
- Starring:
- Patrick Dempsey, Beverly D'Angelo, (more)
- 1987
After two "short" seasons of six and four episodes each, the raunchy HBO football sitcom 1st and Ten offers a full complement of 13 half-hour installments as the series enters season four. This year, the series' subtitle is "Going for Broke," indicating not only the game plan of the California Bulls, but also their perilous financial status. As ever, the three main characters are Delta Burke as voluptuous team owner Diane Barrow, Reid Sheltonas profanity-spewing coach Ernie Denardo, and O.J. Simpson (still a celebrity by accomplishment rather than notoriety during this period) as former quarterback T.D. Parker, now the team's general manager. Episode titles this season include "Ernie's Last Quarter," "A Second Chance Once Removed," "A Loaded Gun," "The Comeback Trail," "Illegal Use of Love," "The Bulls Change Hands," "A Mutiny on the Bull Team," "The Brink of Death," "Call for the Hall," "Blood on the Moon," "Land of the Free (Agent)," "Of Scalpers and Superstars," and "Championship Game Jinx." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Delta Burke, Reid Shelton, (more)
- 1986
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
- Starring:
- Delta Burke, Reid Shelton, (more)
- 1985
- R
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
- Starring:
- Jill Carroll, Michelle Laurita, (more)
- 1985
This made-for-TV movie was edited from several episodes of the short-lived television series Hell Town, in which Robert Blake starred as Father Noah "Hardstep" Rivers, a tough but giving Catholic priest trying to do good works in a rough ghetto neighborhood. Also appearing in Father of Hell Town are Jeff Corey and James Gammon. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Blake, Jeff Corey, (more)
- 1985
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
- Starring:
- Delta Burke, Reid Shelton, (more)
- 1985
- R
Goofy medical students have all kinds of rip roaring fun pulling crazy pranks such as scaring first year students by pretending to be cadavers. When the hijinks accelerate, the dean of the school tries to stop them. Filled with vulgarity, sexist and bathroom humor, the film's director Rod Holcomb, not wanting to take responsibility for the film, billed himself as "Allen Smithee," the official pseudonym of the Directors Guild. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Parker Stevenson, Geoffrey Lewis, (more)
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)
- 1985
A trio of rich ex-cops begin to investigate a murder involving baseball and gangsters. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ted Wass, Markie Post, (more)
- 1984
Having acquired ownership of the California Bulls pro football team in a divorce settlement (her husband had run off with a lineman!), curvaceous Diane Barrow (Delta Burke) takes charge of the franchise -- and raises the temperatures of all the players in the process -- in the first season of the raunchy HBO sitcom 1st & Ten. Keeping the Bulls in line (and out of reach of the delectable Diane) is dyspeptic coach Ernie Denardo (Reid Shelton). The series' first 13 episodes deftly combine comedy, drama, dirty words, female mammaries, grungy locker-room conferences, tete-a-tetes with questionable-looking characters (most of them friends of Diane's mob-connected nephew) and down-and-dirty gridiron scenes. Episode titles include "By the Bulls," "The Opener," "All Roads Lead to Dayton," "The Slump," "Play Me or Trade Me," "You Are Who You Eat,"Uneasy Lies the Head," "The Sins of the Quarterback," "I Only Read Defenses," "Wine Time," "Rona's Fling,"Not Quite Mr. Right" and "Super Bull Sunday." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Delta Burke, Reid Shelton, (more)
- 1984
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
- 1984
Newly married Vera (Beth Howland) and Elliot (Charles Levin) receive a brand-new piano as a wedding gift. Once the piano arrives, Elliot is unable to leave it alone, and as he plays the days away Vera pines away. Or, as it was so delicately phrased in the original TV Guide ad for this episode, "Why is Vera's husband tickling the ivories instead of her?" ~ 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
- Starring:
- Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, (more)
"I'm in love with a mermaid!" read the opening line of Leonard Maltin's original review for Splash. And with the delightful Darryl Hannah in the lead, who could fault Maltin for his public declaration of ardor? The story begins in 1959, when a young boy is rescued from a watery grave by an adolescent mermaid. Twenty-five years later, the boy has grown up--and lo and behold, it's Tom Hanks. Meanwhile, the mermaid, likewise grown up, has surfaced in search of Hanks, her long-lost love. On dry land, the mermaid is able to walk about on legs; any contact with salt water, and she reverts to her half-fish form. Adopting the name of Madison from a New York street sign, the girl manages to win Hanks' heart. Alas, a secret government lab, populated by such smarmy types as Richard B. Shull and Eugene Levy, captures Madison for research purposes--and possible vivisection. Egged on by his brother John Candy, Hanks rescues his beloved, joining her in the ocean depths as a mer-man (mer-fellow? mer-guy?) A captivating confection from the peerless creative team of director Ron Howard and screenwriters Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel, Splash was a winner all the way--especially at the box office, where the $11 million film racked up a huge profit. Historical sidebar: Splash was the first release from Disney's Touchstone Pictures division. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Hanks, Daryl Hannah, (more)
- 1983
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
- 1983
Don Gibb appears in this episode as a musclebound night watchman named Moose (his best buddies are, appropriately enough, "Ox", "Bull" and "Aardvark"). After saving the life of waitress Jolene (Celia Weston), Moose regards her as "his girl". Jolene doesn't reciprocate Moose's affections, but she is afraid to tell him how she really feels; after all, Moose's ego may not be the only thing that will end up bruised. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1983
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
