David Robinson Movies
- 2003
American film historian and author Richard Schickel directs the documentary Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin. Schickel offers an exploration into Chaplin's life, from his childhood in London until his death in 1977. The film also contains insight on his multifaceted film career and much-publicized private life. Includes archive footage, film clips, and narration by Sydney Pollack. Interwoven with the vintage bits are contemporary interviews with Hollywood personas such as Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese, and Johnny Depp. Chaplin's children Michael and Geraldine also provide contributions. Charlie was shown at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in 2003. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sydney Pollack, Charles Chaplin, (more)
- 1992
- R
When a restaurant owner is hospitalized, he offers his bimbette bunny waitresses a reward if any of them can cure his son's mental problem: fear of women. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jim Hanks, Rikki Brando, (more)
- 1987
- R
Low-budget filmmaker Mark Pirro (A Polish Vampire in Burbank) directed this satirical comedy which heavily echoes The Running Man. Unctuous emcee Chuck (John McCafferty) hosts a television gameshow called Live or Die, in which convicted felons compete for the right to escape execution. As in most of Pirro's films, bathroom humor outweighs the occasionally clever parodies of popular culture. Debra Lamb and Conrad Brooks co-star. The director made Curse of the Queerwolf the same year. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John McCafferty, Robyn Blythe, (more)
Based on Klaus Mann's novel, Mephisto details the rise of a Faustian character who figuratively sells his soul in exchange for greatness. Hendrik Hofgen (Klaus Maria Brandauer, offering an electric performance) is the star of a state-funded theater department who tires of his job. Like his friends, he pays lip service to socialist ideals fashionable for artists of his time -- that is, until the Nazis rise to power. He then sees an opportunity to achieve his objective of fame: he will perform propaganda plays and thereby use the Nazis as a vehicle to spread his name across the country -- only too late does he realize his mistake. This well-adapted version of the book featured the first teaming of Brandauer with director Istvan Szabo; they would later reunite to make Colonel Redl and Hanussen. Brandauer first gained attention in the U.S. after the film's release and would be cast as the villain in Never Say Never Again as a result. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Klaus Maria Brandauer, Krystyna Janda, (more)
- 1976
- R
The cheerleading team at Aloha High are popular with their fellow students (except for a couple of stuck-up rich girls), but they're a major cause of the school's lecherous reputation for underage sex and drug abuse. The fun-loving gals spike the lunchroom spaghetti sauce with a concoction of pot, pills, and powders, hold wild orgies in the boys' locker room, and never bother to attend their classes. The school board considers a merger with Aloha's biggest rivals, the vocational school Lincoln High, but the cheerleaders refuse to mix with the low-class juvenile delinquents that go there. A new principal, ex-Marine Hall Walker (Norman Thomas Marshall), might whip the school into shape, but it'll mean forcing the cheerleaders out of the squad and back into the classroom. Though the girls prove their importance to Aloha spirit at the crucial moment of a big basketball game, it turns out that more sinister forces are at work when the school is blown up and the principal is kidnapped. It's up to the cheerleaders to save the day and unravel a conspiracy to steal Aloha High's land for a shopping mall. Carl Ballantine, David Hasselhoff, and genre vet Rainbeaux Smith appear in this energetic sex comedy. ~ Fred Beldin, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeril Woods, Cheryl Smith, (more)
