Helen Martin Movies

Michael (Ralph Carter) begins doing research for a school term paper about the Communist party. But instead of heading to the public library, Michael writes a few letters of inquiry to the Cuban government. The results are both swift and terrible: Michael and the rest of the Evans family are targeted as a likely "security risk" by the FBI. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Eric Laneuville makes his first appearance as Daniel, newly adopted son of Aunt Esther (LaWanda Page). Upon learning that Daniel is an atheist, the pious Esther throws him out of the house. It is up to Fred (Redd Foxx) and Lamont (Demond Wilson) to convince Esther that Daniel's lack of faith is due to a lifetime of hard knocks. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the conclusion of Good Times' two-part fourth season opener, the Evans children try to come to grips with the fact that their father, James, has been killed in a traffic accident. At James' funeral, his widow, Florida (Esther Rolle), surprises one and all with her upbeat, almost festive behavior. Growing bitter over their mother's seeming callousness, the kids confront Florida and demand an explanation for her "inappropriate" laughing and joking. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Good Times moved to a Tuesday-night slot for this first episode of the series' second season. The Evans family is bewildered by the bizarre behavior of mom Florida (Esther Rolle). Son Michael (Ralph Carter) thinks that Florida is going through menopause, while her best friend Willona (Ja'net DuBois) is convinced that she is merely bored with her life. But could it actually be that Florida is in the early stages of a nervous breakdown? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Director Carl Reiner, most closely associated with the homey values of situation comedies, shocked, surprised, and (in some cases) delighted his admirers with the jet-black comedy Where's Poppa?. George Segal plays Gordon Hocheiser, a New York attorney whose love life is constantly being sabotaged by his senile mother (Ruth Gordon), who constantly asks the question of the title. (She doesn't realize Poppa is dead). Every time Gordon has a prospective bride or lover lined up, Mrs. Hocheiser gums up the works with her insane behavior. The attorney at last finds a kindred spirit in the beautiful caregiver Louise Callan (Trish VanDevere), who has likewise been a victim of someone else's eccentricities (her first husband used the conjugal bed as his own personal toilet). When Mrs. Hocheiser chases Louise away like she has all the others, Gordon begins entertaining notions of killing his mother. In desperation, Gordon begs his brother Sidney (Ron Leibman) to take his mother off his hands, which leads to several comic vignettes in deliriously bad taste. The film's incest-themed original ending (trimmed from the video version but still included in cable prints) finds Gordon climbing into bed with Mrs. Hocheiser, only to be greeted with a "Here's Poppa." The celebrated "tush scene," wherein Mrs. Hocheiser bites Gordon on his bare backside while Louise looks on in horror, packed a real wallop back in the early '70s, as did a courtroom scene involving a disgruntled hippie (Rob Reiner) and a psychotic U.S. general who graphically describes his homicidal acts against the Vietnamese. Though Carl Reiner would continue to "push the envelope" in his later films (Steve Martin as a "poor black child"? George Burns as God?) he would never again attempt anything as risky as Where's Poppa?. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on actual events, The Phenix City Story tells the tale of a wide-open "Sin City" in Alabama (across a bridge from Columbus, GA, and just a stone's throw from the Ft. Benning Army base) where gambling, prostitution, and any number of other vices were tolerated openly by the law, most of it centered on the main downtown drag, 14th Street, thanks to the 50-year influence of organized crime on the local government. Reform groups, mostly in the form of vigilantes, had tried to clean up "the wickedest city in the United States" before, even taking the law into their own hands and wrecking some of the establishments, only to be stymied by the courts (which were otherwise indifferent to activities on 14th Street). At the outset of the movie, set in 1954 -- when the actual events took place -- a new reform group is trying to organize and attempting to get the city's most prominent attorney, Albert Patterson (John McIntire) on their side; so are the club owners on 14th Street, led by Rhett Tanner (Edward Andrews), a cheerful, affable sort with a mean streak not far from the surface. But Patterson wants no part of either side's activities -- he's been a reformer, even a successful candidate, only to see his efforts come to little, and has also successfully defended Tanner and the others on 14th Street in an investigation of a murder of which they weren't guilty. Now he's old, and he wants to sit back with his wife and enjoy the return of his army office/lawyer son, John (Richard Kiley), and his family from Germany. But when the 14th Street boys, led by Clem Wilson (John Larch), go too far beating up Patterson's friends, and involve his son John, and then turn to murder and intimidation, it forces the elder Patterson and his son to join the reformers.

The Phenix City Story runs 87 minutes, but most prints also include a 13-minute preface, compiled from newsreel footage and interviews with the original participants, that provides background on the events that inspired the film (and also spoils a few plot points). Ironically, given the negative image that it portrays of Alabama, the movie was surprisingly well-received in the state at the time; residents were simply fascinated by and taken with the notion of a feature film set in their home state and even including a couple of actual local residents in its cast. Director Phil Karlson was to enjoy even greater success 18 years later with a similar story about one man fighting a city turned bad, Walking Tall, which included many similarly staged action scenes amid its somewhat wider plot-canvas. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide