Susan McIver Movies
- 1985
- R
In a standard story of a band's rise to popularity broken by drugs and tragedy, the friendship of the band members is tested to the limits. Donnie (Scott McGinnis) has started a band and wants his friend Richie (Roger Wilson) to join and help them put together a winning sound. Richie overcomes his dislike of one of the group members, starts playing with them, and soon they are on the way to stardom. But their sleazy manager has been getting Donnie hooked on drugs, and when an overdose kills the young bandleader, Richie is devastated. His girlfriend Beth is there for him, but for the rest of the band, their grief takes on a violent edge as they begin to connive to avenge Donnie's death. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roger Wilson, Jill Schoelen, (more)
"Smokey," aka Sheriff Buford T. Justice (Jackie Gleason), is the prospective father-in-law of unwilling bride Carrie (Sally Field). The Bandit (Burt Reynolds), a maverick racecar driver, makes an 80,000-dollar bet that he can transport a shipment of Coors beer from Texarkana, TX, to Atlanta within 28 hours. It's important to note that in 1977, it was illegal to sell the Coors brand east of the Mississippi River without a permit; if we don't note that, then the plot won't make sense at times. Already in danger of arrest from redneck lawmen like Buford T. Justice, Bandit furthers his chances at a stiff jail term when he offers a ride to Carrie, who hopes to escape her unwanted wedding to Justice's boy. The rest of the film is one long chase; not quite as subtle as a Road Runner/Coyote cartoon, not quite as restrained as a Three Stooges comedy. Universally panned by critics upon its first release, Smokey and the Bandit reportedly pulled in just under $126 million and led to two sequels. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, (more)
A frankly adult comedy about the sex lives of the aimless and the rich, Shampoo is also a pointed commentary on the demise of 1960s idealism at the dawn of the Nixon era. It is Election Day, 1968, and randy Beverly Hills hairdresser George Roundy (Warren Beatty) is too worried about attending to all of his women's tonsorial and sexual needs, while trying to swing a bank loan to fund his own salon, to notice the fateful Presidential race. As George juggles the demands of girlfriend Jill (Goldie Hawn) and mistress Felicia (Lee Grant), not to mention Felicia's daughter (Carrie Fisher), he meets Felicia's husband Lester (Jack Warden) to get money for the salon and discovers that his beloved ex-girlfriend Jackie (Julie Christie) is now Lester's mistress. Lester asks George to escort Jackie to a banquet for Nixon supporters, leading to a series of climactic confrontations at the dinner and a Hollywood orgy that expose the conflicting demands of sex, love, and security among these terminally narcissistic L.A. denizens. As Nixon's victory speech drones in the background the following day and Paul Simon's mournful '60s music plays on the soundtrack, George's free-wheeling world collapses around him for reasons that he can barely begin to comprehend. Produced and co-written (with Chinatown scribe Robert Towne) by its star Warren Beatty, Shampoo became Beatty's second critical and popular success as a producer after Bonnie and Clyde, and it bolstered Hal Ashby's track record as director. Shampoo earned Grant an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, as well as a Supporting Actor nomination for Warden and Beatty's first nomination as writer. With Nixon's 1974 Watergate disgrace adding an extra edge to the humor for 1975 audiences, this tragic bedroom farce became one of the highest-grossing films in Columbia Pictures' history at the time. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, (more)
This low-budget action film from cult director Al Adamson features Georgina Spelvin (The Devil in Miss Jones) in a rare non-porn role as a psychotic assassin set up for murder by her partner (Rosalind Miles) and another woman. Spelvin isn't the only porn actress in this desert-set oddity, which co-stars Barbara Bourbon as well as veteran actor Kent Taylor. The pacing is uneven and the film is a rather grungy affair, typified by a scene in which Spelvin rapes a retarded man and shoots him as he climaxes. This scene was used as a selling point for the film's video release, re-titled to capitalize on the success of I Spit on Your Grave. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
