Sharon Mitchell Movies
Based on an actual incident at the University of Virginia Medical Center, this made-for-TV drama stars Melissa Gilbert and Rosanna Arquette as Sarah and Linda, two expectant mothers who give birth on the same day in the same hospital. It is not until 18 months after the two women had contentedly gone home with the babies that a DNA test proves the infants were switched at birth thanks to a hospital snafu. Although Sarah and Linda both elect to keep the babies that they've grown to love, they reach an unusual compromise that has profound (and not entirely positive) effects on their respective families and friends -- leading, inevitably, to a heated courtroom battle. Originally telecast by CBS under the title Two Babies: Switched at Birth on November 24, 1999, the film has since been released to video as Mistaken Identity. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Melissa Gilbert, Rosanna Arquette, (more)
- 1999
Famous for his gargantuan anatomy, John Holmes led a bacchanalian high life surrounded by a bevy of beautiful porn starlets and a plethora of drugs. Veteran documentary director Cass Paley tells of the sordid and often bizarre rise and premature fall of Holmes, porn's most famous performer. Starting from his humble upbringing in the back woods of Ohio, the film chronicles Holmes' rise to fame from the notorious porn-noir Johnny Wadd series, to his 27 fan clubs and his reported $1500-a-day salary. Yet Paley is less interested in the sensational aspects of Holmes' debauched life than in exploring his character. Through interviews and clips from four of the most famous of his 2000 movies, a disturbing dark side emerges from his good old boy image. He had an abusive childhood, kept a wife secret from his porn colleagues for 20 years, pimped out his 15-year-old mistress for drug money, was questioned for his connection with a grisly mass murder, and eventually died of complications from AIDS. In the process, Paley paints a raucous portrait of the porn world during its '70s heyday. Wadd: The Life & Times of John C. Holmes was screened at the 1999 Toronto Film Festival and won the best documentary award at the 1999 South by Southwest Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Holmes, Paul Thomas Anderson, (more)
Wealthy metallurgist Harry Mitchell (Roy Scheider) lives to regret his extramarital affair with pretty young Cini (Kelly Preston). A trio of vicious blackmailers (John Glover, Robert Trebor, Clarence Williams III) show Mitchell a videotape of his most recent roll in the sack with Cini. They demand a huge amount of hush money, but Mitchell calls their bluff, going so far as to tell his politicially ambitious wife Barbara (Ann-Margret) about the affair. But the extortionists haven't even gotten started yet. Tying Mitchell to a chair, they force him to watch a tape of Cini being horribly murdered-with the evidence arranged so that Mitchell will be accused of the crime. But Mitchell remains firm in his refusal to pay up, whereupon he mounts a "fight fire with fire" plan all his own. 52 Pick Up was based on a novel by Elmore Leonard, which was previously filmed in 1984 as The Ambassador. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roy Scheider, Ann-Margret, (more)
- 1982
Wanda Whips Wall Street features Samantha Fox as an attractive, manipulative woman who makes her living luring wealthy married men into beds and then demanding they pay for her silence. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
Joe Spinell, who appeared in Taxi Driver, stars in this unsavory horror film as Frank Zito, a character reminiscent of an even more disturbed Travis Bickle. Frank is an embittered loser who talks to himself and his dead mother, stalks a pretty model (Caroline Munro), and spends his spare time brutally murdering women. He then scalps his victims and puts the trophies on mannequins which he takes to bed with him at night. An unpleasant film with a relentlessly downbeat tone, Maniac! features graphic, bloody special-effects makeup by cult favorite Tom Savini, who meets a gruesome end in a cameo as "Disco Boy." Highlights include a realistic scalping by Exacto knife and an exploding head. The ending takes an interesting twist as Spinell hallucinates his victims returning to life and tearing him limb from limb. Spinell and Munro reteamed in 1982 for The Last Horror Film. Adult film star Sharon Mitchell (whom director William Lustig discovered in The Violation of Claudia) appears briefly as a nurse. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joe Spinell, Caroline Munro, (more)
- 1978
Blue Jeans is a French coming-of-age film set in England. A group of French schoolboys conspire to lose their virginity while visiting the British isles (thereby reversing the usual procedure) The most impressionable of the lads learns a little more about life and love than simply the sexual aspects. Otherwise, this film titillates on a level almost as immature as its protagonists. The video version of Blue Jeans is unrated. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gilles Budin, Michel Gibert, (more)
- 1977
The distinguishing feature of this hardcore pornographic feature is that in it, women rape men, rather than the other way round. The chief "rapist" is a woman who was ravaged as a high-school girl. She enjoyed the experience and wants to share the joy. Even played for laughs as this one is, few films, even in the porno genre, have strayed so far beyond acceptable social norms as this one does. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Linda Marlowe, Jake Teague, (more)
- 1977
Cult filmmaker William Lustig directed this mildly amusing sex film using the pseudonym "Billy Bagg." Sharon Mitchell, in her first adult film, plays a bored housewife whose husband Jason (Don Peterson) is too busy to give her the attention she needs. Taking matters into her own hands, Mitchell proceeds to bed her tennis instructor, Kip (Jamie Gillis), who puts her to work as a callgirl. Among Mitchell's subsequent escapades is a "date" with a portly old man (Waldo Short) who puts her on a table and decorates her body with cherries, whipped cream, and chocolate syrup before having dessert. Short's appearance is odd to say the least, and is exacerbated by the fact that one of his body parts seems to belong to someone of a different race during close-ups. When Claudia finally returns home, she discovers Jason in bed with Kip, who conspired with her gay mate to set up the entire arrangement. Because of Lustig's involvement -- as well as an early appearance by the unique Long Jeanne Silver -- the film has a certain curiosity value, making it worthwhile for genre completists. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sharon Mitchell, Don Peterson, (more)
