John Blythe Barrymore Movies
Although he worked steadily from the mid-'70s into the late '90s, the acting career of John Blythe Barrymore never reached the heights of those of his grandfather John Barrymore or of his half sister Drew Barrymore. Appearing both on stage and in film, he also performed occasional television work, including voiceovers. In the late '90s, he left acting to become a software developer. John Blythe Barrymore's great-grandfather, Maurice Costello, was a silent movie actor, as was his grandmother Dolores Costello and her sister Helene Costello. His father, John Drew Barrymore, and mother, Cara Williams, were also actors. ~ All Movie Guide
A handful of people who think they've survived it all are faced with a challenge they never counted on in this futuristic sci-fi story. After much of the Earth is devastated in a nuclear war, a hardy band of survivors -- including scientific and Marine Corps Colonel Paul Hamilton (John Blyth Barrymore), medic Leslie Morgan (Brinke Stevens), computer expert Milo Tyrell (Ted Monte), USMC Sgt. Frank Blaine (Peter Spellos), communications technician Carla Ferguson (J.J. North), and McQueen (Tim Abell), a straggler looking for his lost son -- roam the wastelands in search of food and shelter. Looking for a place to stay, they happen upon an abandoned military facility and break in. However, they soon discover they're not alone; a large and very bloodthirsty creature, created by intelligence agents as a possible weapon, was left behind, and these weary warriors quickly find themselves in the most desperate battle of their lives. Hybrid was directed by B-movie cult hero Fred Olen Ray. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
In this sci-fi/horror outing a polluted pool of water spawns a deadly strain of gigantic mosquitoes eager to quaff human blood. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1993
- R
A House in the Hills, is an offbeat, unusual film which can't decide if it is a love story or a thriller and ends up being neither. Waitress and aspiring actress Alex (Helen Slater) spends the weekend in a lavish house to study her role for a day-time soap opera. Alex is house-sitting for a family who wants to get away for the weekend to forget a murder that happened in the house next door. After a series of plot twists involving mistaken identities, deception and diamond theft, Alex and minor-league criminal Mickey (Michael Masden) fall in love just in time to confront the killer of the neighbor and solve the crime. All this could have been both romantic and exciting, but the overly complicated plot and the cliched, unconvincing dialogue makes the film both confusing and unbelievable from beginning to end. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Madsen, Helen Slater, (more)
- 1993
- R
Bud Cort's directorial debut is a dark comedy about a romantic obsession that leads to tragedy, featuring a wide array of cameo performances including James Brolin, Carol Kane, Rhea Perlman, Martin Mull, Andrea Martin, Woody Harrelson, Timothy Leary, and Gena Rowlands. Cort is Ted Whitley, a local poet celebrity in Venice Beach, California, who spends his time drifting along the boardwalk and delivering his beat poetry inspirations at a local dive. As he sits on a pier composing his latest art work, a vision of incredible beauty --Linda Turner (Kim Adams)-- strolls by in a bikini and Ted is immediately smitten. Linda turns out to be the manager of the agency that Ted has used to try to find a new apartment. He flatters her with his attentions and his poetic rambles. For her part, she likes Ted but doesn't consider him romantic material. Ted misinterprets Linda's friendliness for amorousness and when Linda tries to back off from Ted, Ted cannot be stopped. His out-of-control obsession for Linda turns Linda's once-friendly demeanor into one of terror. But Ted continues stalking her until tragedy strikes. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bud Cort, James Brolin, (more)
- 1993
- R
From the evidence at hand, it seems apparent that the inexpensive Mind Twister was the last cinematic stand for the late Telly Savalas. There's a wacko killer at large, murdering at random. A courageous cop offers himself as bait to stop the murderer. This proves difficult, as who knows where the killer will strike next? Richard Roundtree and Suzanne Slater also show up in this garish Fred Olen Ray concoction. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1993
- R
Brenda Bakke may play a character named "Alison McKenzie", but the independently produced Twogether is no Peyton Place. Bakke and Nick Cassavetes (son of John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands) play a couple of well-buffed Californians who spend virtually all their time at Venice Beach. Brenda and Nick fight a whole lot, and make love a whole lot more. A pregnancy results, forcing the couple to move in together-and to find out that lust and love are two separate commodities. If there's any more plot than that, it was evidently washed away with the shifting sands. Even the sight of naked, gleaming young bodies begins to pall after a while, especially since Twogether crawls along for 122 minutes. If you feel like dozing, just close your eyes and luxuriate in the film's pulsating rock-music score. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nick Cassavetes, Brenda Bakke, (more)
- 1992
- R
Love Crimes, an erotic thriller directed by Lizzie Borden, explores the psychology of a con man posing as a photographer, who seduces women and then blackmails them using humiliating, revealing pictures he has taken of them. David Hanover (Patrick Bergin) preys on the hopes of women by offering them love and a possible career as fashion models. When some of the women complain, but refuse to aid in Hanover's prosecution, DA Dana Greenway (Sean Young) becomes obsessed with catching Hanover, to the point where she tracks him down and spys on him in his secluded home, making herself a potential victim. He catches her and holds her captive. Feminist filmmaker Borden, who also directed the remarkable, low-budget film Working Girls, raises interesting questions regarding sex, humiliation and male-female relationships, but the film is spoiled by the ambiguity of her central character, Dana. An abused child herself, she has the same self-loathing that the other woman who are preyed upon by Hanover possess, but her motivations for her actions remain murky. Despite these flaws, Borden, always an interesting filmmaker, raises important issues which perhaps can't be adequately resolved using the restrictions of the thriller genre. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sean Young, Patrick Bergin, (more)
The Indian Runner, Sean Penn's debut film as director (he also wrote the script, based on the Bruce Springsteen song "Highway Patrolman") is a brooding tale of two brothers -- one peaceful and sedate, the other violent and aggressive -- whose natures, left unchecked since they were children, are set to the boiling point as they head toward middle-age. David Morse is the quiet brother, Joe Roberts, who is a deputy sheriff in a small town. His older brother Frank (Viggo Mortensen) shows up on Joe's doorsteps, after a recent run-in with the police. Frank tells Joe that he is coming back home to stay and that he has given up his criminal life. His wife Maria (Valeria Golino) is skeptical, but Joe tells her that he is prepared to help Frank get his life back together. Frank has almost convinced himself that his future holds real promise and he's ready to start a new life with his pregnant girlfriend Dorothy (Patricia Arquette). But, once again, Frank's violent temper explodes, and everyone's plans for Frank's future crumble into rubble. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Morse, Viggo Mortensen, (more)
Brian De Palma's Hollywood sanitization of Tom Wolfe's scabrous satire stars Tom Hanks as Sherman McCoy, the "master of the universe," a shallow Wall Street investor who makes millions while enjoying the good life and the sexual favors of Maria Ruskin (Melanie Griffith), a Southern belle golddigger. Sherman and Maria are driving back to Maria's apartment from the airport when Maria takes a wrong turn on the expressway and the two find themselves in the South Bronx. She sees a black youth approaching Sherman's car and Maria, frightened, guns the engine, running over the teenager and killing him. The two drive away and decide not to report the accident to the police. Meanwhile, indigent alcoholic journalist Peter Fallow (Bruce Willis), anxious for a story to make good with his editor, comes upon the hit-and-run tale through local black community activist, Reverend Bacon (John Hancock). Bacon plans to use the hit-and-run case as a rallying point for the black community, while Fallow recognizes the press coverage inherent in prosecuting the callow Sherman. As Sherman is brought to his knees, the New York community fragments into different factions who use the case to suit their own cynical political purposes. Finally, Sherman is left without any allies to support him except for the sympathetic Judge White (Morgan Freeman) and the remorseful Fallow. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis, (more)
A group of scientists are sent to the sun in 2050 to stop a giant solar flare from destroying the Earth. As the team nears the sun, some members of the team begin to suspect that someone is trying to sabotage their mission. Solar Crisis has very strong special effects and fine acting, making it an excellent sci-fi thriller. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim Matheson, Charlton Heston, (more)
John Waters does a quirky spin on '50s nostalgia in Cry-Baby, his musical homage to Rebel Without a Cause and Romeo and Juliet. Set in Baltimore in 1954 at the birth of rock & roll, the film features Johnny Depp as Wade "Cry-Baby" Walker. Depp is pure charisma as a juvenile delinquent with a permanent tear slithering down his cheek, a reminder of his state-executed parents. In the depths of his despair appears goody-goody girl Allison (Amy Locane), who has a sexual crush on Cry-Baby. But Allison's Pat Boone-like boyfriend, Baldwin (Stephen E. Miller), the leader of the squares, is dead set against Cry-Baby and the rest of the juvenile delinquents and leads a revolt against them. In the resultant riot, the juvenile delinquents are blamed for the chaos, and Cry-Baby finds himself dispatched to reform school. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Depp, Amy Locane, (more)
Dudley Moore stars as Emory Lesson, an advertising genius whose finds himself committed to an insane asylum in Tony Bill's Crazy People. Emory becomes tired with creating phony ad campaigns and decides to create his own campaigns that tell the brutal truth. Since sex sells, Emory designs an explicit ad campaign consisting of unadorned sexuality. The campaign is so offensive that his colleagues have Emory put in a mental institution. At first Emory resists, but under the tutelage of a concerned psychiatrist, Dr. Liz Baylor (Mercedes Ruehl) and the tender love of Kathy (Daryl Hannah) a beautiful patient, Emory begins to like it in the mental home. Befriending the cute and lovable patients in the mental ward, Emory discovers that the crazy people are natural-born advertising geniuses and Emory utilizes their genius for a new ad campaign. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dudley Moore, Daryl Hannah, (more)
Sylvia Kristel adds her sexual allure to the story of Mata Hari (Margaretha Geertruida Zelle), executed by the French in 1917 at the age of 41 for being a double agent. In reality, "Mata Hari" had been married, had children, and performed as a dancer around Europe -- not the normal background for a spy. And according to the man who requested her execution, Captain Ladoux, she was a lousy spy indeed. But Kristel and director Curtis Harrington capture one aspect of Mata Hari that made her most infamous -- her willingness to bed down with just about any military man she found attractive, and none were not. As Kristel jumps into bed with both Germans and French, and others in-between, something of the spirit of Mata Hari may live on in this ostensible biography. Viewers may definitely want to compare versions with Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, or Jeanne Moreau in the lead. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sylvia Kristel, Christopher Cazenove, (more)
In Hard to Hold, pop singer Rick Springfield is cast as an immensely successful recording artist named James Roberts. As a result of a fender-bender accident, Roberts meets and falls in love with child psychologist Diana Lawson (Janet Eilber), who is not the least bit impressed with James' wealth or fame. He spends the rest of the picture following Diana all over San Francisco, much to the discomfort of his lovelorn writing partner Nicky Nides (Patti Hanson). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rick Springfield, Janet Eilber, (more)
- 1982
First, a crazed and fighting Malcolm (Peter Jason) is hauled off to an asylum by two men just that much tougher than he is, and then this film jumps ahead several years to Halloween at Malcolm's old home. His wife, Joan (Carrie Snodgress), and her live-in lover, Richard (David Carradine), are about to go out, while son Christopher (Chris Graver) stays home with Linda (Jackelyn Giroux), a soon-to-be unhappy babysitter. When Linda and Christopher are alone, the chubby little devil decides to play endless practical jokes on the poor woman: he "chops" his finger off, he "kills" himself, and commits all sorts of make-believe mayhem until she sits him down and tells him the story of the hapless boy who cried wolf just a bit too often. Meanwhile, dressed as a nurse, the crazy Malcolm has managed to escape from his confinement in the asylum, and as he makes his way through the streets in drag (it is Halloween, who's to notice?) he finally arrives at his former house, lusting for vengeance, just when little Christopher's pranks are reaching their worst. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jackelyn Giroux, Peter Jason, (more)
- 1982
- PG
This oddball werewolf outing from hit-and-miss genre auteur Larry Cohen details the comic misadventures of Tony Walker (Adam Arkin, son of Alan), a former high-school jock who is transformed into a werewolf during a family visit to Transylvania. Cursed with immortality, Tony is able to return to his old school stomping ground twenty years later and pass himself off as his own son. The outcome proves more disconcerting for Tony than for his unsuspecting friends, to whom the passing years have been less than kind. This low-key comedy provides enough grist for Cohen's wry brand of satire, but a terminal case of Teen Wolf syndrome causes many of the jokes to fall flat. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adam Arkin, Roz Kelly, (more)
In Americana, David Carradine's feature-film directorial debut, the director casts himself as a softspoken Vietnam vet whose aimless wanderings bring him to a dusty Kansas village. At the center of town is a once-resplendant merry-go-round, now derelict due to neglect and disrepair. Sensing that here lies his own redemption, Carradine obsessively sets about repairing the rusty carousel. Far from being grateful, the townsfolk think the very worst of Carradine, suspecting the stranger of harboring ulterior motives. By slowly winning his new neighbors' confidence, Carradine expedites the healing process necessary to leave the collective shame of Vietnam far, far behind. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Carradine, Barbara Hershey, (more)
- 1981
- PG
Car chases abound in this youthful, comedy action outing that centers on the rivalry between a small-town Southern sheriff and a mischievous, but basically good-hearted kid who bedevils him by joy riding in stolen cars and then destroying them. As added insult, the sheriff's daughter, the boy's steady, is frequently involved. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jimmy McNichol, Janet Julian, (more)
- 1979
- R
This inept, obviously low-budget, poorly-acted horror-comedy is primarily a showcase for Nai Bonet a belly-dancer turned actress in her role as Nocturna, the last descendant of Count Dracula. Nocturna has followed her love interest -- rock guitarist (Tony Hamilton) -- from Transylvania to Manhattan in spite of the wrath of her infamous grandfather, who proceeds to follow her. But his thirst for revenge is thwarted by Jugulia (Yvonne de Carlo), a vampiress with a protective bent toward Nocturna, her musician, and their friends. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nai Bonet, Yvonne De Carlo, (more)
- 1978
- R
In this extremely violent copy of Dirty Harry, a cynical cop tires of seeing guilty crooks get off scott-free and so decides to leave the force and become a one-man vigilante force. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1976
In this WWII-era drama, Jan-Michael Vincent plays Marion Hedgepeth, a young Marine who fails out of a boot camp in 1943 and gets sent home wearing a baby blue suit to symbolize shame and dishonor. In Los Angeles, he runs into a veteran who -- eager to be discharged -- k.o.'s him and switches their uniforms. When Marion regains consciousness, he's clad in a hero's uniform. He begins hitching his way toward his home in St. Louis, dreading the prospect of confessing to his folks, but stops for a time in a small town where he's mistaken for a hero and immediately falls in love with a waitress, Rose (Glynnis O'Connor). Meanwhile, as the truth threatens to emerge and bring disgrace raining down onto his head, several residents of a Japanese internment camp escape. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jan-Michael Vincent, Glynnis O'Connor, (more)
