Ric Mancini Movies

Ann Margret looks too healthy to portray Blanche DuBois, the physically and mentally fragile Southern-belle protagonist of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, but we forget this discrepancy five minutes into her marvelous performance. This TV-movie version of Streetcar costars Treat Williams as faded aristocrat Blanche's rude 'n' crude brother-in-law Stanley Kowalski; Williams is persuasive, though he tries so hard not to be Marlon Brando that he comes off as a bit mechanical. The 1984 Streetcar is more realistically staged than the near-impressionistic 1951 Vivien Leigh/Marlon Brando filmization. The storyline, concerning the battle of wills between the earthy, pragmatic Stanley and the delusional Blanche, remains the same in both films, as does the script's tendency to avoid the homosexual elements that were so important to Williams' original play. The newer film's photography is bathed in an ambler tint throughout, conveying both nostalgia for the era in which it is set (the late 1940s) and a visual literalization of Blanche's "yellowed with antiquity" former lifestyle. The 1984 Streetcar Named Desire is less a remake of the 1951 version than a companion piece--a praiseworthy alternate version of the same sturdy material. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Robert Duvall is cast as a suspended New York cop who sets out on a one-man crusade to avenge his cop-partner's murder. ~ All Movie Guide

Rocky co-star Burt Young makes his second Baretta appearance, this time in the role of immigrant Jewish watchmaker Solomon Goldfarb. No stranger to persecution, Goldfarb defiantly stands up to a gang of protection extortionists who have been terrorizing his neighborhood. Undercover cop Tony Baretta (Robert Blake) makes it his personal mission to protect Goldfarb from mob retribution. The actual telecast date of this episode is in doubt: Originally scheduled for November 19, 1975, it was reportedly not seen until over a year later, on December 29, 1976. However, a summer 1976 telecast of the episode was listed as a "rerun" in the pages of TV Guide, suggesting that "The Big Hand's on Trouble" first aired sometime in December 1975. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The first major breakdancing film, Breakin' stars Lucinda Dickey as a dancing student who dislikes the hidebound regimen of her demanding teacher. She breaks free from terpischorean tradition when she befriends a bunch of street kids devoted to breakdancing. Within a year of its release, Breakin' spawned a sequel, Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Laurence Fishburne plays no-nonsense LAPD narc Russell Stevens, Jr., who has worked all his life to expunge the memory of his dope-addict father, whom he saw die in a liquor-store robbery. DEA agent Jerry Carver (Charles Martin Smith) orders Stevens to work as an undercover operative on a major case. The cop is to pose as a dealer in order to get the goods on South American drug lord. Stevens is so convincing as a dealer, that he fast works his way up through the ranks and gains the trust of lawyer and narcotics dealer David Jason (Jeff Goldblum) and his sinister associates, all lackeys to the kingpin who is the target of Stevens' assignment. Through a series of fantastic but credible circumstances, Stevens eliminates the lower echelon, getting closer to his quarry, but in the process he finds himself so deep into the sinister and seductive world of the drug trade that he may never get out. In a surprise move, and just when he is about to bring the ringleader down, the DEA pulls the plug on his assignment, because the top dealer, an influential Latin American politician, may someday be useful to the State Department. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hollywood visionary Tim Burton pays homage to another Hollywood visionary, albeit a less successful one, in this unusual fictionalized biography. The film follows Wood (Johnny Depp) in his quest for film greatness as he writes and directs turkey after turkey, cross-dresses, and surrounds himself with a motley crew of Hollywood misfits, outcasts, has-beens, and never-weres. The real story, however, is his friendship with aging, morphine-addicted Bela Lugosi (Martin Landau), whom he tries to help stage a comeback. Landau's unforgettable Oscar-winning performance must be seen to be believed, as must Rick Baker's Oscar-winning makeup. While it would have been easy to make a film simply ridiculing the bumbling director, Burton instead focuses on his driving passion for filmmaking and his unwavering persistence in the face of ridicule and failure. Possibly the most surprising aspect of the film is the genuine sentiment with which Burton treats the relationship between Wood and Lugosi; his devotion to Lugosi is touching, as is Lugosi's final soliloquy -- an inane bit of dialogue from the hilariously bad Bride of the Monster that grows into a poignant metaphor for the actor's life and ultimate triumph of his spirit. Even the look of the film is right; it manages to preserve the air of one of Wood's own films while retaining a sense of artistry in much of the composition on screen (note the scene at the drug rehab where Lugosi endures a horrifying night of detox). In all, Ed Wood is a unique film -- at times side-splittingly funny; at others, tragic or even frightening -- and a heartfelt tribute to the love of movies, good and bad alike. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide

Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson star as a quartet of Manhattan-based "paranormal investigators". When their government grants run out, the former three go into business as The Ghostbusters, later hiring Hudson on. Armed with electronic paraphernalia, the team is spectacularly successful, ridding The Big Apple of dozens of ghoulies, ghosties and long-legged beasties. Tight-lipped bureaucrat William Atherton regards the Ghostbusters as a bunch of charlatans, but is forced to eat his words when New York is besieged by an army of unfriendly spirits, conjured up by a long-dead Babylonian demon and "channelled" through beautiful cellist Sigourney Weaver and nerdish Rick Moranis. The climax is a glorious sendup of every Godzilla movie ever made-and we daresay it cost more than a year's worth of Japanese monster flicks combined. Who'd ever dream that the chubby, cheery Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man would turn out to be the most malevolent threat ever faced by New York City? When the script for Ghostbusters was forged by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis, John Belushi was slated to play the Bill Murray role; Belushi's death in 1982 not only necessitated the hiring of Murray, but also an extensive rewrite. The most expensive comedy made up to 1984, Ghostbusters made money hand over fist, spawning not only a 1989 sequel but also two animated TV series (one of them partially based on an earlier live-action TV weekly, titled The Ghost Busters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Rhonda (Leslie Easterbrook) informs Carmine (Eddie Mekka) that auditions are under way for the leading role in a movie musical about famous ex-boxer Rocky (played by genuine ex-boxer Ric Mancini). Naturally, Laverne (Penny Marshall) jumps to the wrong conclusion when she overhears Rhonda and Carmine rehearsing a romantic scene, convincing herself that Carmine is cheating on Shirley (Cindy Williams). But the episode's real crisis doesn't occur until Carmine is chosen as one of the finalists for the part of Rocky--and ends up in a "faked" fight that is anything but. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An L.A. policeman (George Peppard) works with several partners to destroy the prostitution ring run by Chinatown's version of the Mafia. The film was originally produced for television. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

Peter Bogdanovich's early career as a film writer stood him in good stead for this comedy drama about the early days of the motion-picture industry, based in part on his interviews with pioneering directors Raoul Walsh and Allan Dwan. Leo Harrigan (Ryan O'Neal) is a lawyer and Buck Greenway (Burt Reynolds) is a cowboy and gunman. Both are sent to California to shut down a renegade group of silent-movie makers -- financed by blustery H.H. Cobb (Brian Keith) -- who are in violation of the Motion Picture Patents Co. Trust. Harrigan and Greenway somehow find themselves working with the movie crew instead of shutting them down; they join forces with cameraman Franklin Frank (John Ritter), leading lady Kathleen Cooke (Jane Hitchcock), and precocious prop girl Alice Forsyte (Tatum O'Neal). Greenway becomes a star and Harrigan a respected director, but both battle over the affections of Cooke. Incidentally, Cobb's big speech near the end is taken almost verbatim from a quote given to Bogdanovich in an interview with actor James Stewart. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In an episode obviously inspired by the death of Bruce Lee, Quincy's assistant Sam (Robert Ito) takes it personally when his cousin Tad Kimura, a martial-arts movie star, dies mysteriously while filming his latest picture. As Quincy (Jack Klugman) prepares to perform an autopsy, Sam begs him not to do so, since such an operation would be against Tad's religious beliefs. So adamant is Sam on this point that he quits the Coroner's Office, putting Quincy on the outs with LA's Japanese community and forcing him to chart a brand new course in his investigation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Will Mackenzie makes the first of several series appearances as mercurial travel agent Larry Bondurant. The office is abuzz with speculation and trepidation when Carol announces her engagement to a man whom she met on a blind date -- 12 hours earlier. Others in the cast are Robert Casper as Judge Tanner, Pat Cranshaw as the Old Gentleman, and Vince Milana and Ric Mancini as the moving men. Written by Gordon and Lynne Farr, "Carol's Wedding" was the first Bob Newhart Show episode filmed for the 1975-1976 season, but was not shown until October 18, 1975, when the season was already six weeks old. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide