Edie McClurg Movies
Short, pleasantly plump, and endowed with an endearingly piercing voice, American actress Edie McClurg has been a favorite supporting performer since her 1976 film debut in Carrie. Much of her TV work has been as a comedy sketch performer, notably on Tony Orlando and Dawn (1976), The David Letterman Show (a 1980 daytimer), The Big Show (1980) and No Soap, Radio (1982). Ms. McClurg has also played many a nosy neighbor/in-law/secretary on such TV sitcoms as Harper Valley PTA (1982), Small Wonder (1985) and The Hogan Family (1988). McClurg received larger roles in the TV series The Kallikaks (1977), in which she was the wife of series star David Huddleston, and in the feature film Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988), wherein she portrayed the villainess (the ads showed McClurg burning horror-show hostess Elvira at the stake; bully for her). That Edie McClurg is capable of subtler dramatic roles was proven by the TV movie Bill: On His Own, in which she was touchingly convincing as a mentally retarded group-home resident. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
John Lasseter, director of Pixar's movie phenomenon Toy Story, has set new standards in computer animation with this effort, another Disney-released children's epic entitled A Bug's Life. Blending classic Disney storytelling characters and the mysterious underground world of bugs, Lasseter has created a film that can be enjoyed by all audiences, and another franchise in the process. A Bug's Life is a computerized retelling of the Aesop fable The Ant and the Grasshopper, made as a cartoon-short by the one-and-only, Walt Disney, in the mid-'30s. However, A Bug's Life has modernized the story with many new twists and celebrity voices. The story focuses on a colony of ants who seasonally gather food for themselves and a wild gang of rowdy grasshoppers. When bumbling worker ant Flik (David Foley) destroys the food supply, the angry grasshoppers, lead by the maniacally warped Hopper (Kevin Spacey), threaten to kill the ants if they don't produce a new supply of food by the time they return -- an impossible feat. Flik leaves the anthill in search of help in the form of bigger bugs, and to wage war against the grasshoppers. What he doesn't know is he has actually discovered a group of down-on-their-luck traveling circus insects in need of a job. When the ants realize that their heroes are really circus performers (and the circus bugs realize these grasshoppers are really big and mean), the situation goes from bad to worse. Ultimately, the ants use their large numbers to overcome the grasshoppers. ~ Chris Gore, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dave Foley, Kevin Spacey, (more)
Robert Redford's lyrical direction sets the tone for this evocative adaptation of author Norman MacLean's memoir of his idyllic Montana youth. The MacLean family is presided over by the strict but encouraging Rev. MacLean (Tom Skerritt) and his loving wife (Brenda Blethyn). Craig Sheffer stars as the young Norman, the older son in his family, who takes his school work and writing a bit too seriously for Paul (Brad Pitt), the impetuous younger son, to take much stock in. Paul would rather have a good time, drink and play cards than get involved with academic study. Where Norman wants to be a college literature professor, Paul would prefer to stay in Montana all his life and wrangle some kind of job writing for a local newspaper. But, ironically, Paul is the better fly fisherman and in this way attains a sense of perfection. The film also details the MacLean boys' involvement with a colorful group of town's people -- including a young Indian woman Paul decides to date and the defiant Jessie (Emily Lloyd), whom Norman later marries. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Craig Sheffer, Brad Pitt, (more)
Mike Southon's Air Bud Spikes Back brings the gifted athlete and golden retriever Buddy back for more action. Buddy excels at the sport of beach volleyball. But in between his domination of the court, Buddy must help solve a series of crimes that evidence suggests he himself has committed. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Katija Pevec, Jake D. Smith, (more)
- 1993
- PG
The exciting world of rollerblading provides the basis of this tale of a young teen who tries to inspire the affection of a pretty girl with his skating prowess. The lad is 15-year-old Mitchell Goosen who is sent from sunny southern California to snowy Cincinnati to live with relatives while his parents go on a long trip to Australia. The boy comes to the Ohio city clutching his surfboard and meets his goofy cousin who quickly becomes his friend. Naturally his laid back West Coast ways make him the subject of ridicule in his new high school. His biggest foe is the school jock. The pain of his new life is eased a bit after Mitchell meets perky blond Nikki. They talk and then he is forced to play in a hockey game. Mitchell has no idea what hockey is about but still manages to score the winning goal causing him to be the victim of more ostracism. In the spring, he begins rollerblading and the other kids are amazed by his many stunts. Eventually, he uses his skills to win the respect of his enemies and Niki's heart, but not without a lot more daring skating escapades. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shane Mc Dermott, Seth Green, (more)
- 1982
Mel's mom Carrie (Martha Raye) has had so much success with her special chicken pies that she plans to publish a cookbook. This would be okay with Mel (Vic Tayback) except for one detail: Carrie also plans to publish his secret chili recipe! Clearly, drastic legal measures are called for to keep Carrie from spilling the (chili) beans. This episode was directed by Linda Day, of Soap and Married. . .With Children fame. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Self-made wealthy guy Rodney Dangerfield decides he needs a better education--and also to spend some time away from his cheating new wife. Dangerfield joins his son Keith Gordon at college. Dad hopes to gain his son's respect (isn't that always Dangerfield's motivation?), while son tries to fit in with his snobbish and brutish fellow students. English professor Sally Kellerman forms a strong bond with Dangerfield, encouraging both father and son to stick out their first year despite all odds. The finale involves some slapstick at the swimming pool diving board, and the obligatory commencement address delivered by Dangerfield, who proves that he can crack jokes without tugging at his tie. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rodney Dangerfield, Sally Kellerman, (more)
- 1983
Bill: On His Own is the laudable made-for-TV sequel to the Emmy-winning 1981 film Bill. Mickey Rooney once more shines as Bill Sackter, a mentally-retarded adult struggling to survive in the mainstream. The owner of a coffee kiosk at the University of Iowa, Bill becomes disoriented when his friend and mentor Dennis Quaid moves to Los Angeles. Taking over Bill's case is idealistic young social worker Helen Hunt. While studying towards his Bar Mitzvah (which he was denied at the age of 13 because of his "incompetence"), Bill suffers a severe personal blow that threatens to send him spiralling back into helplessness. Bill: On His Own was originally telecast November 9, 1983, some four months after the death at age 70 of the real-life Bill Sackter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The insane ramblings of a madman become all too real for a young medical student assigned to investigate the murder of a mental patient's mother in director Mark Edwin Robinson's twisted tale of psychological horror. Don Wake is a troubled soul whose secrets run deep. As the medical student assigned to the case pushes Don to reveal the true events that lead to his mother's murder, the mention of a menacing figure named Malachi leads her to believe that Don's paranoia has reached new heights. As a strange figure begins to stalk the suspicious student's every move, she is forced to question whether Don is telling the truth about the mysterious Malachi, or her overactive imagination is suddenly getting the best of her. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kelly Overton, James Haven, (more)
This classic horror movie based on Stephen King's first novel stars Sissy Spacek as Carrie White, a shy, diffident teenager who is the butt of practical jokes at her small-town high school. Her blind panic at her first menstruation, a result of ignorance and religious guilt drummed into her by her fanatical mother, Margaret (Piper Laurie), only causes her classmates' vicious cruelty to escalate, despite the attentions of her overly solicitous gym teacher (Betty Buckley). Finally, when the venomous Chris Hargenson (Nancy Allen) engineers a reprehensible prank at the school prom, Carrie lashes out in a horrifying display of her heretofore minor telekinetic powers. Many films had featured school bullies, but Carrie was one of the first to focus on the special brand of cruelty unique to teenage girls. Carrie's world is presented as a snake pit, where the well-to-do female students all have fangs -- even the reticent Sue Snell (Amy Irving) -- and all the males are blind pawns, sexually twisted around the fingers of Chris and her evil cronies. The talented supporting cast includes John Travolta, P.J. Soles, and William Katt. One of the genre's true classics, the film was followed by a sequel in 1999, as well as by a famously unsuccessful Broadway musical adaptation that starred Betty Buckley, the movie's gym teacher, as Margaret White. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, (more)
A pedal-to-the-metal race car determined to prove his worth on the tracks discovers that life isn't always about crossing the finish line first in Toy Story director John Lasseter's mechanically minded tale of friendship and loyalty. Lightning McQueen (voice of Owen Wilson) may be just a rookie, but he's convinced that he can realize his dream of zooming by the checkered flag if he can only make it to California in time to compete in the upcoming Piston Cup Championship. When Lightning takes a detour into the slow-moving, Route 66 town of Radiator Springs, however, it begins to appear as if his shot at the big time has effectively stalled out. Of course, Lightning's exciting cross-country trek wasn't all for naught, and after befriending such quirky Radiator Springs residents as Sally the Porsche (voice of Bonnie Hunt), Doc Hudson (voice of Paul Newman), and Mater the Tow Truck (voice of Larry the Cable Guy), the eager young racer learns that sometimes life is more about the voyage than the outcome of the race. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, (more)
A shared affliction -- namely, breast cancer -- forges an unlikely friendship between two Southern women, ebullient young Amber Collins (Lauren Holly) and crabby, reclusive oldster Betty Miller (Faye Dunaway). As they join forces to battle and cope with their disease, Amber and Betty also end up helping one another with their respective romantic entanglements. Tom Skerritt is cast as Betty's faithless former flame, Johnny Pinkley (now the self-styled Lothario of a nursing home), while Ian Somerhalder plays Amber's troubled -- and much younger -- amour Jason Kelly. Daniel Wright adapted the script of this independently produced movie from his own award-winning play Colored Eggs (the film's working title), retaining the original's sizeable supporting cast of lovable eccentrics. Decked out with musical highlights by Rita Coolidge, Earl and Randy Scruggs, Jan Howard, and Jeannie Seely, Changing Hearts was given scattered theatrical release in 2002 before it was picked up for TV play by the Lifetime cable network. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lauren Holly, Faye Dunaway, (more)
- 1984
- PG
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Filmed on location "Somewhere in France", this umpteenth version of Dumas' The Corsican Brothers stars the zoned-out comedy team of Cheech and Chong. Perhaps inspired by the Ritz Bros.' spin on The Three Musketeers, the duo retains enough of the original story (about twin brothers who feel one another's pain) to keep the plot going, but try to inject their own peculiar brand of humor throughout. The film's highlight is a duel with two loaves of stale bread. Yes, that's the highlight. Just as the 1930s comedy team of Wheeler and Woolsey lost their audience when they dropped their risque humor and Prohibition gags, so too do Cheech and Chong falter when not indulging in the drug-oriented comedy which made them famous in the early 1970s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cheech Marin, Tommy Chong, (more)
In an unfunny, scattered sequel to their successful Up in Smoke, Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong reprise their roles as carefree men who do inhale. But this time around Cheech is out of a job and trying to dodge his bilious neighbor while chasing the lovely Donna (Evelyn Guerrero) with anything but honorable intentions. Meanwhile, Cheech's cousin Red (also Cheech Marin) and Chong go tooling around Hollywood in a luxury sports car looking for adventure. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cheech Marin, Tommy Chong, (more)
- 1996
Here's something new in the annals of made-for-cable movies: a dysfunctional family of three in outer space. Coming across a derelict spaceship, Foster Carver (Corbin Bernsen), his wife, Katrina (Lara Harris), and their daughter, Amy (Brittany Ashton Holmes), rescue the vessel's sole survivor, a handsome fellow named Adam (Richard Grieco). It soon develops that everyone else on the derelict ship has been murdered, and that Adam is an android who has been programmed without morals or conscience -- as proven when Adam brazenly sets about to seduce Katrina and wipe out the rest of her family. An extraterrestrial variation on the old theatrical feature Dead Calm, Inhumanoid originally aired July 23, 1996, as part of the Showtime channel's "Roger Corman Presents" series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Grieco, Lara Harris, (more)
- 1998
In this feature-length episode of the enduring and endearing television detective drama, the world's most rumpled police investigator, Lt. Columbo investigates the mysterious disappearance of a controversial Hollywood gossip columnist. Columbo's prime suspect is a secretive mortician who specializes in celebrity funerals. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Falk, Patrick McGoohan, (more)
The warm-hearted drama Country Remedy concerns an ambitious doctor who must leave the familiar environs of the city in order to tend to a clinic in a rural North Carolina town. While there, he learns that he has been concentrating on the wrong elements in his life. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cameron Bancroft, Bellamy Young, (more)
- 1977
- R
The Big One finally hits California and as it slides into the waiting Pacific a television news team with anchor people Walter Concrete and Barbara Halters is there to record the resulting chaos and help themselves to whatever is left. This satire features performers from such noted comedy troupes as the Ace Trucking Company, FireSign Theater and Second City. The Tubes provide the music. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Philip Proctor, Peter Bergman, (more)
- 1988
A group of mischievous teen-agers get a notoriously difficult instructor that becomes their summer driving school teacher. ~ All Movie Guide
John Hughes dishes out the sentiment by the ladle-full in Curly Sue. The film stars James Belushi as Bill Dancer, a down-on-his-luck drifter who lives by his wits on the highways and byways of the United States, stealing free meals, slipping into movie theaters, and sleeping in welfare hotels. Bill is also the guardian of cute pint-size moppet Curly Sue (Alisan Porter), a cutey pie cross between Little Orphan Annie and Tatum O'Neal's Addie Loggins character from Paper Moon. Bill and Curly Sue are a perfect con team, and they practice their scams when they need money for food. Pulling a knockdown car-accident scam, Bill makes hard-bitten Chicago lawyer Grey Ellison (Kelly Lynch) think that she slammed into him with her car. She buys dinner for the two mountebanks before being taken away by her snotty boyfriend Walter McCormick (John Getz). But the next morning, Grey actually does hit Bill with her car, and she takes the two back home with her. At first, Grey can't seem to get Curly Sue out of her mind, but then she finds herself falling in love with Bill. They begin to form a perfect family until Walter puts in a call to the Department of Children and Family Services. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Belushi, Kelly Lynch, (more)
While at the high-school prom, a group of students find romance and fun, while their parents enjoy the same. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- 2003
- PG13
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In keeping with his background in television sitcoms, Sam Weisman directs the cameo-filled comedy Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star. Dickie Roberts (David Spade) was a child actor on the hit TV show "The Glimmer Gang" and remains remembered for a particular catch phrase. Now in his thirties, he finds work as a parking valet and spends time with other nominal child stars (enter cameos by Danny Bonaduce, Corey Feldman, and the like). Wanting to make a comeback, he manages to get an audition with director Rob Reiner. When the role requires him to be normal, he decides to hire a normal family in order to relive the childhood he missed out on. He ends up with sleazy salesman George Finney (Craig Bierko) and his loving wife, Grace (Mary McCormack). Dickie shares a room with their two kids: sunny daughter Sally (Jenna Boyd) and impressionable son Sam (Scott Tessa). Former child star Alyssa Milano appears as Dickie's girlfriend, Cyndi. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Spade, Mary McCormack, (more)
Eating Raoul was celebrated at the time of its release as the perfect marriage between mainstream moviemaking and the so-called "underground" cinema. Cult-film icons Mary Woronov and Paul Bartel (both of whom directed) play a married couple who decide to cash in on the sexual perversions of others. Posing as a hooker, Woronov lures the "johns" in and indulges their every kinky whim, whereupon Bartel kills the unwary client, steals the valuables, and sells the corpse for dog food. Though they see nothing wrong in what they're doing, they react in prudish disgust at the sexual preferences of their victims. Eventually, Raoul (Robert Beltran), the fellow who transports the corpses to the dog food concern, proves expendable--and extremely edible. Eating Raoul features a high-powered comic supporting cast, among them Buck Henry, Ed Begley Jr., Richard Paul, Hamilton Camp, and Edie McClurg. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Bartel, Mary Woronov, (more)
This lightweight and slightly ribald comedy marks the feature film debut of Elvira (Cassandra Peterson), a buxom seductress best known for hosting a popular syndicated television show that features wonderfully bad old horror movies. After losing her latest job for refusing to sleep with her new boss, Elvira tries to launch a Vegas career. Just before that scheme falls flat, she finds salvation when an aunt dies and leaves her a huge old New England mansion. When the black-clad and sexy Elvira, with her flamboyant make-up and acres of cleavage hit the town, she creates an instant scandal amongst the old folks and inspires lusty dreams in the minds of the young. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cassandra Peterson, Edie McClurg, (more)
Having lived a sheltered childhood while her absentee parents traveled all over the world, artist Abby Morrison (Shiri Appleby) has developed an extraordinarily vivid imagination, but her grasp on reality is tenuous at best. Now the roommate of Jessica Lindstrom (Alexandra Holden), Abby agrees to tutor Jessica's cousin Quinn (Nick Zano), a selfish and cynical college student. Much to her surprise, Abby is attracted to Quinn, helping him to come out of his shell and develop his own artistic talents. But when it comes to romance, Jessica remains true to her "dream man" Sy (Orlando Seale), who poses for her paintings and shares all of her likes and dislikes -- and whom nobody but Abby has ever seen. Based on a play by Natalie Prado, the made-for-cable Everything You Want premiered April 17, 2005, on the ABC Family Channel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shiri Appleby, Nick Zano, (more)
- 1984
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Originally aired on Shelley Duvall's family-oriented HBO television series, this lively retelling of the classic tale features Jennifer Beals as the good-hearted slave girl who overcomes all to become a princess. Matthew Broderick plays the handsome object of her affection. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
