David Mendenhall Movies
Juvenile actor, onscreen from the early '80s. ~ All Movie Guide- 1990
- R
Best known as the sexy but intellectually challenged Kelly Bundy on Married with Children, Christina Applegate broadened her range a bit with this tough-minded drama in which she played a drug-addicted teenage prostitute living on the streets of Los Angeles. Sy (David Mendenhall) is a clean-cut, middle-class teenager who dreams of becoming a rock star, so he makes his way from the suburbs into downtown L.A. to check out the action. Shortly after arriving, Sy sees a man with a gun beating Dawn (Christina Applegate), a hooker who didn't let her customer get as rough with her as he wanted. Sy comes to Dawn's rescue, and he suffers some severe facial scratches for his trouble. Dawn takes Sy under her wing and gives him a guided tour of the seedy underbelly of Los Angeles, where murder, theft and addiction are as common as jaywalking, and hundreds of homeless kids no older than Sy fight for survival. Meanwhile, as Dawn and Sy become closer, the psycho who attacked Dawn is hot on her trail, looking for revenge and unconcerned with who gets hurt before he finds her. Streets was directed by Katt Shea Ruben, who acted in several low-budget exploitation films for producer Roger Corman before moving on to direct several films for Corman's New World Pictures. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christina Applegate, David Mendenhall, (more)
- 1989
- PG
When they learn that there is treasure hidden in some distant mountain peaks, a ragged group of treasure-seekers battle it out to claim the riches. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1988
- PG
When a disgruntled chimp escapes from his circus master, he leads a number of people on a wild and crazy chase across Africa. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- 1987
For all we know, there may be even more unknown and unseen Dom DeLuise films lurking around out there. Until we did the research, we didn't know My African Adventure existed. Based loosely on a comic novel by Tamar Burstein, the film concerns the son of an American ambassador who meets a steady stream of merry mercenaries while heading into the African interior. One of the plot-motivating factors is a talking monkey; other devices aren't quite as subtle. In addition to Mr. DeLuise (who isn't the lead, though he gets top billing), My African Adventure also features Jimmy "Dy-No-Mite" Walker. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dom DeLuise, Jimmie "J.J." Walker, (more)
- 1987
The fourth and final season of the original Transformers cartoon series is actually a three-part miniseries titled "The Rebirth." The age-old war between the two rival Transformer factions, the Autobots and the Decepticons, takes the combatants to Nebulos, a planet controlled by evil telepaths. In the course of events, the lines of battle are blurred when, thanks to those aforementioned telepaths, several Decepticons, disguised as good-guy Autobots, infiltrate the other side. As the climax approaches, the fate of everyone concerned rests in the hands of the Autobots' human ally Spike -- with a bit of assistance from the revivified Optimus Prime, head of the Autobots, who has merged his intelligence and resources with the "super computer" Vector Sigma. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Cullen, Frank Welker, (more)
In this theatrically released chapter of the 1984-1987 syndicated animated series, the struggle between the heroic Autobots and evil Decepticons is taken twenty years into the future as both sides must deal with a world-devouring being called Unicron (voiced by Orson Welles). Set in 2005, The Transformers: The Movie serves as a bridge between the series' second and third seasons, with the deaths of several major characters and the introduction of new ones. Darker and more action-packed than the TV series, the movie was originally dismissed as little more than a feature-length toy commercial, but it has since grown in stature to become a cult favorite. ~ Skyler Miller, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leonard Nimoy, Robert Stack, (more)
After winning the heavyweight boxing championship and single-handedly winning the war in Vietnam for America, Sylvester Stallone moves on to a real challenge -- arm wrestling -- in this action drama with a family undercurrent. Lincoln Hawk (Stallone) is a long-haul truck driver who years ago abandoned his wife Christina (Susan Blakely) and their son Michael (David Mendenhall). Hawk comes to see the error of his ways and wants to reconcile with his loved ones, only to discover that Christina is in the hospital suffering through the last stages of a terminal illness. Her wealthy and powerful father, Jason Cutler (Robert Loggia), has come to hate Hawk for the way he left his daughter to fend for herself, and he wants full custody of the boy upon her death. But Hawk is desperate to mend his relationship with Michael. He kidnaps the boy, and as Jason's hired goons give chase, Hawk points his truck toward the one place where he can win the money and recognition that will earn his son's respect -- a wrist-wrestling championship in Las Vegas. Actor Sylvester Stallone also co-wrote the screenplay. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sylvester Stallone, Robert Loggia, (more)
- 1986
- PG
In a sequel to They Call Me Bruce (1982), Johnny Yune plays Korean Bruce Won who, while searching for an American GI who previously saved his life, ends up taking a ten-year-old orphan under his wing. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Yune, David Mendenhall, (more)
- 1986
- R
After their psychiatrist is killed, mental patients Lydia (Shelley Winters), Julietta (Corinne Neuchateau), and Hattie (Frencesca de Sapio) escape from a mental institution and take up residence in an abandoned house. Attempting to use occult powers to contact the spirit of their dead shrink, the women run into complications when they meet up with a local hunter. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shelley Winters, Francesca de Sapio, (more)
Season three of the cartoon series The Transformers opens with an elaborate five-part story (eminently suited to be "transformed" into a single two-hour TV movie), "The Five Faces of Darkness," set largely on Cybertron, home planet of the warring Autobots and Decepticons. This plotline serves to introduce a new human ally for the good-guy Autobots, Marrisa Fairborne of the Earth Defense Command. In other developments this season, the Autobots' earthling chum Spike, long married to a girl named Carly, inadvertently involves his son Daniel in the neverending Autobot-Cybertron conflict; the ghost of Decepticon Starstream goes on a relentless search for a new host body; and several new groups of characters are brought into the action, the better to sell more toys for the Hasbro company: among these are the Technobots, the Junkions, and the Quintessons. The season ends with a two-parter wherein Autobot mentor Optimus Prime, long presumed dead, makes a spectacular return in an all-out final(?) assault against the despicable Decepticons. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Cullen, Frank Welker, (more)
- 1985
This routine small tots' animated feature is about a young girl named Rainbow Brite who brings color to the universe. She is forced to do battle with the henchmen of a wicked princess determined to plunge everything into a colorless darkness. Before the princess can carry out her plan, Rainbow joins up with the warrior Krys and some special horses to outsmart and outfight the anti-technicolor faction. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bettina, Patrick Fraley, (more)
The robotic cartoon adventure series The Transformers begins its second season with the episode "Autobot Spike," in which one of the human allies of the Autobots in their ongoing battle against the Decepticons literally loses his mind to a super-Transformer. "Autobot Spike" is one of the few single-episode storylines to be found this season. Many of the other scenarios take up two episodes or more, notably "Dinobot Island," wherein the discovery of a remote island populated by prehistoric beasts leads to a serious schism in the time-space continuum; "Megatron's Master Plan," in which the leader of the evil Decepticons does his best to turn public opinion against the Autobots; and "Desertion of the Dinobots," which finds the title characters rebelling against their enslavement by the robots and trying to claim the Autobots' home planet as their own. The best of The Transformers' two-parters during the series' second season is "The Key to Vector Sigma," a story built around a computer from the planet Alpatrian with which the Decepticons intend to bestow artificial intelligence upon their newly created flunkies, the Stunticons. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Cullen, Frank Welker, (more)
Season one of the "cartoon commercial" The Transformers begins with the three-part "More Than Meets the Eye," which explains how the two warring Transformers armies from the planet Cybertron, Optimus Prime's good-guy Autobots and Megatron's bad-guy Decepticons, were placed in suspended animation when they attempted to expand their battle to prehistoric Earth. "Thawing out" in 2005 A.D., the combatants resume their war as if nothing had happened, with the Autobots gaining a bit of an advantage by winning two human earthlings, Spike and Sparkplug, over to their side. A later episode, "Roll for It," introduces another major human ally of the Autobots, computer whiz Chip Chase. Subsequent season-one highlights include the three-part story, "The Ultimate Doom," wherein Megatron enlists the aid of a mad (Do you hear? Mad!) human scientist in attempting to bring Cybertron into Earth's orbit. And "A Plague of Insecticons" introduces a brand-new threat to Autobots and Decepticons alike -- not to mention a fresh new line of Hasbro-licensed Transformer toys! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Cullen, Frank Welker, (more)
- 1983
Single mom Elaine (Marilu Henner) is having problems at home with her son Jason (David Mendenhall), who has just declared that he's "had it" with his oboe lessons. Sensing that a man's influence might help Jason get his head on straight, Elaine follows the advice offered her by Alex (Judd Hirsch) and agrees to let Jason sign on for the junior boxing program headed by Tony (Tony Danza). As it happens, however, Jason is possessed of a glass jaw -- and when he is flattened in his first bout, guess whom Elaine holds responsible? ~ All Movie Guide
- 1983
- PG
Low-budget and cheap, the sci-fi adventure Space Raiders liberally raided Star Wars and the previous Roger Corman film Battle Beyond the Stars for scenes of special effects once, twice, three times, and more. The story, also cribbed from Star Wars is about a Col. Hawkins or "Hawk" (Vince Edwards) who has to defeat the "Company" and their massive robot ship in order to bring a young boy back to his home planet. A Star Wars bar scene has a space creature hooker looking great until she turns around and shows her face. Aside from the familiar content in this film, there are continuity gaps that make wounds miraculously jump from one side of the body to the other and do not connect the special effects in space with the space travelers inside the ships. Perhaps the title should have been "Spacy Raiders." ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vince Edwards, David Mendenhall, (more)
- 1983
Wallace Shawn of My Dinner With Andre fame reprises his role as Arnie Ross, the nerdish chap whom Elaine (Marilu Henner) dated in the earlier fifth-season episode "The Shloogel Show." Since that time, things have gotten somewhat serious between Elaine and Arnie -- so much so that she feels it is time that he meet her children, Jason (David Mendenhall) and Jennifer (Melanie Gaffin). Well, that's how Elaine feels; whether or not she will actually work up the courage to introduce the kids to Arnie and whether or not Arnie will sabotage his chance to win over the youngsters is another matter. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1982
In the conclusion of a two-part story, the cabbies recall the "turning points" in their own lives as Elaine (Marilu Henner) considers an offer to leave New York for a new job. In the course of events, Latka (Andy Kaufman) flashes back to the day he left his (unpronounceable) homeland to start life anew in the U.S., and Alex (Judd Hirsch) remembers the humiliating event which convinced him to kiss the corporate world goodbye. This was the final episode of Taxi's fourth season and the last one to be telecast on ABC before the series' move to rival NBC. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1980
A singer finds herself terrorized by the same killers who murdered her husband after he discovered an industrial waste cover-up. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
