Mickey McCardle Movies

Director Blake Edwards departed from his customary sex farces to direct an unusual satirical Western comedy-thriller. In 1927, legendary lawman Wyatt Earp (James Garner) comes to Hollywood to serve as an advisor to a film studio making a movie about Earp's life. He meets silent screen cowboy star Tom Mix (Bruce Willis). The two stumble upon a murder that has apparently occurred on the set but is linked to a renowned bordello. The aging cowboy and the young actor set off on a series of time-warp misadventures to try to solve the mystery. Along the way, they encounter the shady Alfie Alperin (Malcom McDowell) and the intriguing Cheryl King (Mariel Hemingway). ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

Micki (Ann Reinking) is the wife of Rob (Dudley Moore), an airheaded TV talk show host. Maude (Amy Irving) is an attractive musician who is unaware of Micki's existence, and with whom Rob falls in love. Rob is a guy who can't say no, thus when Maude announces that she's pregnant, Rob obligingly marries her. Trouble is, he's still married to Micki who is also pregnant. To make matters worse, Rob's wives are due to give birth on the same day, forcing the double dealer to work doubly hard to keep both demanding women happy. Matters reach their comical climax when the Big Day arrives and Rob is expected to attend both births at the same time. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Gene Wilder stars as Michael Jordon, an architect on the run from false murder charges, who hooks up with Kate Hellman (Gilda Radner), the sister of a recent suicide victim. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

Blake Edwards' 10 stars Dudley Moore as George, a Mancini-type songwriter. Approaching middle age, George feels as if life is passing him by, especially his sex life. Despite the presence of longtime lady friend Sam (Julie Andrews) in his life, he becomes obsessed from afar with Jenny (Bo Derek), who is engaged to be married. Following her to Mexico without her knowledge, George arranges a meeting with Jenny by saving the life of her fiancé, David (Sam Jones). Once he has made her acquaintance, George suddenly finds himself faced with the realities of embarking on such an affair. Beyond renewing the popularity of Maurice Ravel's "Bolero" and turning Bo Derek into a star, upon its release, 10 was one of the most financially successful Blake Edwards films in years. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

A pair of blue-collar buddies use hypnosis to turn a wimpy boxer into a champ in this crime comedy, which reunites actor/director Sidney Poitier and comedian Bill Cosby, stars of the similarly themed Uptown Saturday Night. Clyde Williams (Poitier) and Billy Foster (Cosby) want to help raise funds to sustain the Sons and Daughters of Shaka Lodge, their local community group. Given that Clyde was trained as a hypnotist while in the military, the pair decide to con mobster Biggie Smalls (Calvin Lockhart) by placing a high-stakes bet on a boxing match and then using hocus-pocus to transform skinny underdog Bootney Farnsworth (Jimmie Walker) into a bruiser. When Biggie finds out about their ruse, he and his thugs move in to reclaim their money, setting the stage for further laughs and sleight-of-hand. With a supporting cast that includes Denise Nicholas and Lee Chamberlin as the protagonists' wives and Ossie Davis as an elder at their lodge, Let's Do It Again also reunited Good Times stars Walker and John Amos to the silver screen. Cosby and Poitier would return two years later with A Piece of the Action, though Lockhart, another veteran of Uptown Saturday Night, would sit out the final team-up. Hip-hop fans will note that Lockhart's character provided one of the aliases for slain '90s rap star Christopher Wallace, also known as the Notorious B.I.G. The soundtrack for Let's Do It Again featured Curtis Mayfield songs performed by the the Staple Singers. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Paul Newman plays the title role in John Huston's surreal, revisionist western as the infamous Texas hanging judge. Upon arriving in the tiny West Texas town of Vinegaroon, Roy Bean draws a moustache on a wanted poster of himself, marches into a saloon, and declares his presence. He is immediately robbed, beaten within an inch of his life, tied to a horse and dragged out into the prairie, then left to die. Rescued by a young Mexican girl, Maria Elena (Victoria Principal), Roy Bean heads back into town and murders everyone in the local saloon, declaring that he'll kill anyone of the same sort who turns up. He also sets himself up as the sole arbiter of law and order and renames the town Langtry, in honor of the legendary actress Lily Langtry (Ava Gardner). The community prospers as Judge Bean dispenses his own brand of frontier justice upon strangers passing by, robbing or killing anyone who tries to make their way through the town. But when Maria dies, Bean's old associates begin to turn on him, one at a time (in response to his constant harping on their wives, many of whom were former prostitutes) and Bean is forced to leave. Years later, Bean rides back into town, called back to the place to save his daughter from trouble - and finds that the community has been taken over by a shady character called Frank Gass (Roddy McDowall) - a circumstance that requires Bean to dispense his own unique brand of justice once again. Stacy Keach lends a neat comic turn to the film as Bad Bob, an albino gunslinger whose dining habits consist of chowing down on raw onion, drinking hot coffee from a pot, and demanding that an entire horse be cooked for his supper. John Milius (Red Dawn) scripted.
~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

In this comedy drama set during the late Prohibition era, a federal agent attempts to make some real money before the alcohol ban is lifted. He sets his sights on the whiskey cache of an old army buddy, but just before they strike a deal, two ex-convicts frighten the buddy away. The creeps then murder the town sheriff and his deputy and begin looking to get a hold of the moonshine. The agent decides to help his friend defeat the thugs. One of the crooks ends up killing the agent and taking four locals hostage. In exchange for their lives, he wants all the whiskey. The moonshiner acquiesces and tells him that the booze is stashed in a graveyard. The greedy crook races off and begins digging. Unfortunately instead of hooch, he finds dynamite and blows himself up. To celebrate his death and the end of Prohibition, the town decides to have a blow-out of their own. Naturally the buddy provides the booze. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Peter Sellers plays a bumbling foreigner once again (but this time he's not from France) in this cult-favorite comedy. Hrundi V. Bakshi (Peter Sellers) is an accident-prone actor from India who has come to California, hoping to make a name for himself in Hollywood movies. However, Bakshi quickly makes the wrong impression on producer C.S. Divot (Gavin MacLeod) and studio chief Fred Clutterbuck (J. Edward McKinley) when he accidentally blows up the set for his first film. Clutterbuck jots down Bakshi's name to remind himself to have the actor blacklisted, but he doesn't realize that he's put the name on the guest list for an upcoming party at his home. Bakshi sees the social event as an opportunity to get back in Clutterbuck's good graces, but from the moment he arrives, one thing after another goes wrong, with increasing effect; it doesn't help that he finds himself infatuated with Michele Monet (Claudine Longet), Divot's latest starlet discovery. Director Blake Edwards shot The Party with a minimal script to allow Peter Sellers and the other comic actors greater room for slapstick improvisation, which helps explain why many of the film's most memorable scenes feature little or no dialogue. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

First came 20th Century-Fox's Mother Was a Freshman; then, a few months later, the same studio's Father Was a Fullback. Fred MacMurray stars as college football coach George Cooper, whose team can't win a game to save its life. George finds some comfort in the arms of his wife Elizabeth (Maureen O'Hara), but his young daughters Connie (Betty Lynn) and Ellen (Natalie Wood) are too concerned with boys to pay their dad any attention. Connie causes no end of trouble for George by printing a highly imaginative article about her various romances. On the verge of losing his job, George is saved by the arrival of football champ Joe Burch (Richard Tyler). Rudy Vallee virtually repeats his stuffy-suitor characterization from Mother is a Freshman in Father Was a Fullback. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Dore Schary regime at MGM brought a much-needed dose of stark realism to the venerable studio. Van Johnson sheds his boy-next-door image to play L.A. plainclothes lieutenant Mike Conovan. Determined to bring a cop killer to justice, Conovan will let no man stand in his way -- not even his level-headed superiors. The detective's single-purposed pursuit causes a rift in his marriage to wife Gloria (Arlene Dahl). The film comes very close to the Dragnet school of unadorned, unglamorized police procedure: it adheres to standard MGM formula only in the final reconciliation scene. Officially a Harry Rapf production, Scene of the Crime was completed by another producer when Rapf died during filming. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Excellent Technicolor photography, principally in the aerial scenes, is the main asset of the cliché-ridden Fighter Squadron. Set in the months just prior to D-Day, the plot zeroes in on Marjor Ed Hardin (Edmond O'Brien) leader of a squadron of fearless combat pilots. In keeping with the conventions of the era, the training and flying sequences are counterbalanced with comic byplay involving wheeler-dealer Sergeant Dolan (Tom D'Andrea), whose flippant attitudes towards the opposite sex are a bit hard to take today. Far more effective is the performance of 15-year-old Jack Larson, making his screen debut in the role of a rookie pilot who grows up in a hurry after scoring his first kill (Larson later gained TV immortality as Jimmy Olsen on Superman). Also making his first screen appearance, in a role so small it isn't even billed, is a former truck driver named Rock Hudson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide