Susan Mechsner Movies

A magic-obsessed New York waitress (Rosanna Arquette) is persuaded by a colorful group of characters to help her rob the restaurant where she works. Along the way, she falls in love with the eatery's bartender (David Bowie), who just so happens to be looking for someone who will make him a permanent resident of the U.S. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

Combining electric song and dance performances with drama (both on and off screen), Francis Ford Coppola's The Cotton Club (1984) looks back to the 1920s-1930s peak of the legendary Harlem nightclub where only blacks performed and only whites could sit in the audience. Mixing historical figures with characters loosely based on actual people, Coppola and co-writers William Kennedy and The Godfather's Mario Puzo create a panorama of love, crime, and entertainment centered on the Club. Among them are cornet player Dixie Dwyer (Richard Gere, playing his own solos), who escapes psycho gangster "benefactor" Dutch Schultz (James Remar) for a George Raft-type Hollywood career as a gangster film star; Schultz's nubile mistress Vera Cicero (Diane Lane), who loves Dixie against her mercenary instincts; Cotton Club Mob owner Owney Madden (Bob Hoskins) and close associate Frenchy Demarge (Fred Gwynne); Vincent (Nicolas Cage), Dixie's no-good Mad Dog Coll-esque brother; Club tap star Sandman Williams (Gregory Hines), who woos ambitious light-skinned Club singer Lila Rose Oliver (Lonette McKee); and cameos by Charles "Honi" Coles and Cab Calloway impersonator Larry Marshall. Complementing the period story, Coppola evokes the style of '30s gangster movies and musicals through an array of old-fashioned devices like montages of headlines, songs and shoot-outs. Conceived by producer Robert Evans as his crowning achievement and directorial debut, Evans had to hand over the troubled production to Coppola, but the budget spiraled out of control as the script was repeatedly re-written throughout the chaotic shoot. By the time it was released, The Cotton Club's epic production story of power struggles, financial bloat, and even a murder overshadowed the "reunion" of The Godfather's creative team. Neither a Heaven's Gate-sized failure nor a wallet-saving hit like Coppola's Apocalypse Now, The Cotton Club got some favorable critical notices (although it drew fire for subordinating the African American stories). It did not, however, find a large enough audience to justify its expense and controversy, becoming another mark against 1970s "auteur" cinema in increasingly blockbuster-driven 1980s Hollywood. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

This remake of François Truffaut's 1977 comedy misses out on Truffaut's subtext that delves into the nature of love and instead simply recounts the sexual and romantic exploits of David, a sculptor who is an incurable womanizer (Burt Reynolds). In order to come to grips with his obsession for women, David goes to see a psychiatrist, Marianna (Julie Andrews), and sure enough, she later joins him on the couch. His tale is told by Marianna, as flashbacks reveal their relationship and other loves of David's life, most notably Louise (Kim Basinger), a married woman hooked on intimacy in odd, if not dangerous, places. In all these relationships, David is as much attracted to the women as they are to him. Unfortunately, with flat dialogue and uninspired comedy, David fares better than the film as a whole. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In this low-budget but inventive teen kung-fu melodrama, the diminutive, karate-chopping Lovely (Lucinda Dooling) is out to wreak vengeance on the drug thugs who killed her younger brother, and fortunately she is not alone. Her female karate class and the instructor (Susan Mechsner) are behind her all the way, most notably in the final scenes when a showdown between the kicking teen women and the heavy-duty gangsters almost brings down the docks. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Bill Murray decides to be all that he can be -- and it ain't pretty -- in this hit comedy. John Winger (Murray) is a quick-witted but unambitious loser who comes home after getting fired to discover that his car has been repossessed and his girlfriend is leaving him. With no idea of what to do next, John and his best friend Russell Ziskey (Harold Ramis) impulsively join the Army, more as a practical joke than a career goal. John and Russell find themselves in basic training under the hard-nosed and impatient Sgt. Hulka (Warren Oates), who is stuck with an outfit of goofballs, including overweight Ox (John Candy), naive Cruiser (John Deihl), perpetually stoned Elmo (Judge Reinhold), and the appropriately-nicknamed Psycho (Conrad Dunn). The platoon succeeds in impressing the generals spite of themselves, and John and Russell even find time to romance two pretty female MPs, Stella (P.J. Soles) and Louise (Sean Young). However, when John and Russell commandeer a high-tech military vehicle for a European weekend getaway with the girls, they happen into Soviet territory and stumble into an international incident. Remarkably, Stripes was made with the full cooperation of the U.S. Army, despite its less-than-rosy view of the all-volunteer armed forces. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide