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Scott Beach
- 1980
- G
Charles Schultz' Peanuts gang once more transfer their base of operations from the comic pages to the big screen. Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus and the rest are exchange students this time out, taking in the sights of England and France. Charlie Brown's dog Snoopy finds himself competing at the Wimbledon tennis championship, shortly before everyone moves on to the Continent. In France, the gang is ensconced in a lavish chateau thanks to an unseen benefactor. Producers Lee Mendelson and Bill Melendez do their usual excellent job in bypassing corniness and sentiment, allowing Charlie Brown et. al. to maintain the integrity established years earlier by the prolific Charlie Schultz. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Anderson, Scott Beach, (more)
- 1981
- PG
A former baseball player (Alan Arkin) has descended into alcoholism, and meets up with a has-been entertainer (Carol Burnett) when both spot a briefcase containing secret documents. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Arkin, Carol Burnett, (more)
Based on a novel by Ronald Sukenick, this off-beat, slyly satirical road movie chronicles two decades in the life of a traveling mercenary who philosophizes about American culture and hopes to find himself while carrying out the orders of his enigmatic employer, who gives him assignments via bowls of vegetable soup. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Coyote
A criminal trying to reform is forced to endure the most humiliating punishment of all -- hanging out with his son -- in this family comedy. Ray Gleason (Ted Danson) is a thief whose ambitions far outstrip both his skill and his intelligence; Ray is just bright enough to have realized this, and he's decided to go straight and open a bake shop (he learned how to decorate cakes during his last stay in prison). However, Ray needs to raise some working capital, so in association with his buddies Bobby (Saul Rubinek) and Carl (Gailard Sartain) he is planning his last heist, in which they hope to walk away with a highly valuable collection of rare coins. Ray also happens to have an 11-year-old son, Timmy (Macaulay Culkin), whose mother died several years ago; Timmy has been living with his aunt, but when she gets married and goes away on her honeymoon, Timmy ends up staying with Ray. Timmy is a lot smarter than his dad and quickly figures out what Ray and his cronies have been up to; he's long felt a great deal of resentment toward his father for not being around when he needed him, so Timmy steals the loot from the robbery and uses it to blackmail Ray into spending some quality time with him. Timmy also thinks that it's high time Ray settled down, so when he notices that Theresa (Glenne Headly), an undercover cop, has been following Ray's trail, Timmy tries to play matchmaker and bring them together. Getting Even with Dad would prove to be the next-to-last screen appearance for former pre-teen superstar Macaulay Culkin; he was 14 when this film was released, and within five years he was a married man attending the Rhode Island School of Design. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Macaulay Culkin, Ted Danson, (more)
- 1981
Discover the fun and hard work that goes into the making of a film as packed with action as Raiders of the Lost Ark. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1972
- PG
A woman struggles to rebuild her life after her husband leaves her in this drama. Amy Brower (Trish VanDevere) is a 27-year-old woman who thinks that her marriage to James (Paul Jenkins), a college professor, is a happy one until he unexpectedly files for divorce after falling for one of his students. On her own for the first time in her life, Amy is introduced by her best friend Madge (Jane Elliot) to a support group for divorced women, but the bitterness of Gert (Janet Leigh), the group's leader, doesn't make her feel much better; her search for a career proves just as unsatisfying. Amy finds friendship and solace with Joseph Provo (Melvyn Douglas), an elderly man whose wife of 40 years recently passed on and is also dealing with loneliness, and she dips her toes back into dating when she meets Howard Carpenter (Monte Markham) at an art gallery, and he shows a keen interest in her, though he seems more interested in her body than her mind. Trish VanDevere's performance earned her a Best Actress nomination at the 1973 Golden Globe Awards. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Trish VanDevere, Monte Markham, (more)
Based on his award-winning student short, George Lucas's debut feature cerebrally celebrates the possibility for individual freedom against all odds. In a 1984-esque white-washed future underground dystopia where sexuality is banned, all humans sport shaved heads and the same shapeless outfits as they go about their work in a mandated state of sedation, listening to exhortations to "Buy and Be Happy." Black-clad robot cops chant a mantra to their victims that "everything will be all right" and automated confessional booths emit soothing therapeutic bromides. But unbeknownst to THX 1138 (Robert Duvall), his roommate LUH 3417 (Maggie McOmie) has been reducing their meds, resulting in their mutual discovery of love and THX's subsequent imprisonment for drug evasion and sexual misconduct. Determined to find the pregnant LUH, THX breaks out of prison with the help of his cellmate SEN 5241 (Donald Pleasence) and an escaped TV hologram (Don Pedro Colley). With fugitive pursuits strictly budgeted, THX only has to evade the robocops until the funds run out, but surveillance is omnipresent and THX's vehicle keeps overheating. Making the only film produced through the first incarnation of Francis Ford Coppola's independent studio American Zoetrope, Lucas and his small crew, including co-writer and sound editor Walter Murch, shot THX 1138 in northern California with no interference from distributor Warner Bros. When Warners saw the austere result, however, they recut the film before its release. Neither the studio's nor Lucas's cut was a popular success, but THX 1138's coolly minimalist style and story-telling gained fans on the college screening circuit, just as Stanley Kubrick's poetic 2001: A Space Odyssey had attracted a large youth audience in 1968. When Lucas returned to sci-fi after American Graffiti, he traded restraint for nostalgic fun in the film that guaranteed his creative freedom in Hollywood: Star Wars. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Duvall, Donald Pleasence, (more)
