Rollin Moriyama Movies
In this involved send-up of two American icons -- the automobile and the tourist trap -- the tiny Florida town of Ticlaw strives desperately for success after it has been denied the most essential of all tourist amenities -- a freeway exit. The insane, and mostly successful, schemes of the mayor (William Devane) and other distinctly unbalanced citizens interrupt, often hilariously, the lives of various eccentric travellers forced into a place they never intended to be. Critics disagree violently on whether this is a neglected classic or sophomoric nonsense. The winning record of director (John Schlesinger) (Midnight Cowboy, Marathon Man, Cold Comfort Farm, etc.,) and first-class performances by William Devane, Beau Bridges, Beverly D'Angelo, Hume Cronyn, JessicaTandy and a plethora of great character actors -- not to mention the water-skiing elephant and the wild rhino -- argue that it's worth a look. ~ Michael P. Rogers, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Beau Bridges, Hume Cronyn, (more)
- 1980
In the conclusion of a two-part story (originally telecast as a single hour-log special), Mel (Vic Tayback) loses the diner in a Las Vegas crap game. His only chance to regain his property is to arrange for Robert Goulet to sing at a rundown hotel owned by cagey casino manager Joe Capri (Lou Criscuolo). Not surprisingly, Mel doesn't deliver, obliging Alice (Linda Lavin)--disguised in male drag as Mr. Goulet--to appear in his place. The episode's highlight finds "the Two Bobs" singing a duet! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
As he did in his screenplay for Silver Streak (1974), writer/director Colin Higgins mixes life-and-death melodrama with broad slapstick in Foul Play. Goldie Hawn stars as Gloria Mundy, a recent divorcée whose attempts to start life anew in San Francisco are bollixed up when she is inadvertently swept up in an assassination plot against the Pope. Offering sometimes dubious aid and comfort to Gloria is bumbling federal agent Tony Carlson (Chevy Chase). The film's comedy ranges from the farcical seduction efforts by musician Stanley Tibbets (Dudley Moore) to the zany, gag-filled car-chase finale. Foul Play features character actors Rachel Roberts and Eugene Roche as villains, Burgess Meredith as a martial arts-happy landlord, and Billy Barty as a long-suffering religious bookseller. It also packs in a memorable "throwaway" gag involving a profane Scrabble game played by sweet little old ladies Queenie Smith and Hope Summers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Goldie Hawn, Chevy Chase, (more)
- 1978
The peace talks at Panmunjon have broken down again, and it looks as if the Korean "police action" will drag on interminably. One person who is decidedly miffed by this logjam is our old friend and reluctant soldier Hawkeye (Alan Alda). Taking the bull by the horns (and breaking several regulations in the process), Hawk heads to the peace conference to put in his own two cents' worth. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1975
This time it is Radar's (Gary Burghoff) turn to recap the zany happenings at the 4077th in a letter home. Writing to his mother, Radar invokes such highlights as the camp's annual foot inspection, this year handled by a reluctant Hawkeye (Alan Alda). On a more delicate note, Radar recalls the shrapnel wound endured by Col. Potter (Harry Morgan)--an injury as embarrassing as it is painful. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Cary Grant made his last film appearance before retiring from the screen in this agreeable piece of fluff based on the 1943 comedy The More the Merrier, which dealt with the romantic complications inherent in the housing shortage in Washington D.C. during World War II. In Walk, Don't Run, the story is updated to a housing shortage in Tokyo during the Olympic Games of 1964. British industrialist Sir William Rutland (Cary Grant) arrives in Tokyo two days before the start of the games and cannot find any suitable accommodations. As a result, he answers an ad for an "apartment to share" and convinces the occupant, Christine Easton (Samantha Eggar), to rent a room to him. The next day he meets the handsome Steve Davis (Jim Hutton), a member of the United States Olympic walking team. Steve also needs a room and convinces Christine to take him on as a second tenant. After meeting Christine's pompous fiancé, Julius D. Haversack (John Standing), Rutland begins to ply his matchmaking skills in an effort to get Christine and Steve to fall in love with each other. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cary Grant, Samantha Eggar, (more)
Bernhard Wicki directed this hard-hitting World War II espionage drama. Marlon Brando plays Robert Crain, a German deserter who is coerced by British Intelligence officer Colonel Statter (Trevor Howard) to impersonate a Gestapo officer in order to get aboard a German blockade runner that is conveying a valuable rubber cargo from the Orient. Crain's assignment is to save the rubber by finding a way to deactivate the explosives that the ship's captain would use to destroy the ship if captured by the enemy. Crain finds his way aboard the ship, but the ship's commander Captain Mueller (Yul Brynner), skeptical of the Nazis, refuses to let Crain out of his sight. When survivors of a sunken vessel board the ship, and Crain realizes that his identity may be exposed by two rescued German submarine officers, he incites Mueller's officers and the new arrivals to mutiny before his true identity is revealed. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marlon Brando, Yul Brynner, (more)
- 1961
When a storm at sea threatens to sink the freighter "Janeel Trader", first officer Jerry Griffin orders a million dollars' worth of cargo to be dumped overboard, taking full responsibility for what he regards as a life-saving act. But when returns to shore, Jerry must face charges brought by a maritime court. The only man who can clear Griffin is Captain Bancroft (Robert Armstrong); unfortunately, Bancroft is murdered and Griffin is accused of the crime. This turns out to be a real "out-of-town" assignment for Griffin's civilian attorney Perry Mason (Raymond Burr). Wesley Lau makes his first series appearance as Lt. Anderson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1959
Crimson Kimono stars Glenn Corbett and James Shigeta as Korean War army buddies, working side by side with the LA homicide squad. When stripper Gloria Pall is murdered, Corbett and Shigeta are sent to investigate. Both are smitten by the lovely Victoria Shaw, who is implicated in the crime. Corbett becomes jealous of Shigeta, who is deeply hurt, feeling that Corbett's animosity is borne of racism. Their friendship, and the central romance, is resolved after the detectives bring the murderer to heel in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo. Samuel Fuller's love of oriental exotica is never more pronounced than in the climactic sequences, staged before the backdrop of the Japanese New Year celebration. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victoria Shaw, Glenn Corbett, (more)
One of special-effects wizard Ray Harryhausen's pre-Seventh Voyage of Sinbad efforts, 20 Million Miles to Earth borrows a few pages from King Kong. An American spaceship crashlands off the coast of Sicily. The rescue party discovers that the astronauts have inadvertently brought back a curious gelatinous mass from the planet Venus. This lump of goo rapidly evolves into be a living reptilian creature, which scientists label an "Ymir". While being subjected to laboratory experimentation, the Ymir begins growing by leaps and bounds, and before long the gigantic monstrosity has escaped and is wreaking havoc in Rome. After battling a zoo elephant and taking a swim in the Tiber, the gargantuan creature holes up in the Colosseum, where the film's pyrotechnic finale occurs. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Hopper, Joan Taylor, (more)
- 1956
Director Edward Bernds proved that he was capable of handling a different sort of comedy than the "Bowery Boys" and "Three Stooges" brand in Navy Wife. The film is set in postwar Japan, where Peg Blain (Joan Bennett) and her daughter Debby (Judy Nugent) join Peg's commanding-officer husband Jack (Gary Merrill). Impressed by the independence and self-reliance of Peg and Debby, the local Japanese wives begin demanding the same rights and privileges as their American counterparts. Things come to a head--and a resolution--at a military Christmas party. If the reader is wondering what Joan Bennett is doing in a low-budget Allied Artists film, it is because the producer was Bennett's then-husband Walter Wanger. Navy Wife was based on Mother Sir, a novel by Tats Blain. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Bennett, Gary Merrill, (more)
Samuel Fuller directed and cowrote this typically hard-boiled drama set in Japan following World War II. Eddie Kenner (Robert Stack) is given a special assignment by the Army to get the inside story on Sandy Dawson (Robert Ryan), a former GI who has formed a gang of fellow servicemen and Japanese locals who use their muscle to take over Tokyo's pachinko racket and commit a series of train robberies, targeting deliveries of military ammunition. Eddie is supposed to gather evidence on the murder of a soldier believed to have fallen in with the gang, and Eddie tries to blend in with the group to find out how they work. Hoping to learn more, Eddie also begins romancing Mariko (Shirley Yamaguchi), a Japanese woman who was married to the slain gangster, and he learns that the ruthless Dawson kills men who are injured during robberies rather than leave them behind to possibly testify against him. After a burglary goes wrong, Dawson becomes convinced that there's an informer in the group; wrongly believing it's Griff (Cameron Mitchell), Dawson kills his loyal soldier and makes Eddie his second in command. Veteran Japanese actor Sessue Hayakawa appears as Inspector Kito, a Japanese police detective working with Eddie to crack the case. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Ryan, Robert Stack, (more)
- 1954
The horrors suffered by American prisoners of war at the hands of the North Koreans during the Korean war provide the basis of this drama. Allegedly based on the true stories of those who survived the tortures, it centers on an intelligence officer (Ronald Reagan) who is sent into a POW camp to investigate conditions. When he learns that inmates are routinely tortured and brainwashed, he allows himself to undergo the same. He fools the enemy into believing that he has successfully been indoctrinated into Communist philosophies as does another soldier. Meanwhile, another soldier affects a more direct means of combatting the enemy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ronald Reagan, Dewey Martin, (more)
Based on the novel by James Michener, this film stars William Holden as Harry Brubaker, a former military pilot who served in World War II. When he's called back into duty during the Korean conflict, Brubaker is angry, believing he's already served his country and needs to devote himself to his wife Nancy (Grace Kelly) and their children. However, he accepts his commission and is sent back into action as a pilot, with a special assignment to blow up five strategically crucial bridges in Korean territory. This drama, which focuses on the danger and futility of war, also features Frederic March as an admiral who respects the tremendous danger of Brubaker's assignment, and Mickey Rooney as an ill-fated helicopter pilot. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Holden, Grace Kelly, (more)
One of several sci-fi/fantasy efforts produced and directed by W. Lee Wilder, the film's only drawback is the inconsistency of the Colorama color process. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Langton, Leslie Denison, (more)
- 1954
Hell and High Water brings an intriguing Cold War slant to a standard submarine melodrama. Richard Widmark plays a soldier-of-fortune sub commander who agrees to sell his services to noted atomic scientist Victor Francen and his assistant (and daughter) Bella Darvi. Francen intends to prove that the Communists intend to launch a nuclear attack on Korea from an Arctic island, then blame the attack on the United States. Widmark frankly doesn't give a fig about politics, but he is won over by the sincerity of Francen and his idealistic cohorts, and by the beauty of Ms. Darvi. Before the Reds' evil intentions can be thwarted, however, Widmark must face down a Communist Chinese submarine loaded with highly volatile atomic weaponry. The special effects are very impressive, especially for a mid-1950s 20th Century-Fox production. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Widmark, Bella Darvi, (more)
Burt Lancaster and Virginia Mayo, the stars of 1950's Flame and the Arrow, are reteamed in the lusty adventure romp South Sea Woman. It all begins at the military trial of Marine sergeant O'Hearn (Burt Lancaster), facing a court-martial for desertion. In flashback, O'Hearn recalls how he was stranded in Shanghai while trying to break up the impending marriage between his pal David White (Chuck Connors) and brassy nightclub photographer Ginger Martin (Virginia Mayo). The two marines try to make it back to Pearl Harbor, but they undergo several hair-raising adventures along the way, including a sticky involvement with a group of French resistance fighters. The upshot of all this is that O'Hearn arrives in Pearl after the Japanese attack, and as such is branded as a coward. It is up to Ginger Martin to provide the evidence that will clear our hero -- but she isn't too fond of O'Hearn at the moment. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Burt Lancaster, Virginia Mayo, (more)
- 1951
Peking Express was the second remake of Josef vonSternberg's Shanghai Express. In the original film, a group of railroad passengers escaping war-torn China are overtaken by Chinese; in the first remake, Night Plane to Chungking, a plane is forced down in a jungle surrounded by Japanese troops. In Peking Express, the chief villains are Chinese again, but the passengers are now refugees of the Communists. Joseph Cotten (as a doctor) and Corinne Calvet (as a "woman of the world") are among the pilgrims threatened by Oriental outlaw Marvin Miller and his gang. The elements of social and religious hypocrisy in the original Shanghai Express are downplayed in the 1951 version, as is the shady past of leading lady Calvet (who inadequately fills the role originated by Marlene Dietrich). Peking Express is not the classic that the vonSternberg film had been, but on its own is a snappy little melodrama. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joseph Cotten, Corinne Calvet, (more)
In Halls of Montezuma, Richard Widmark stars as Lt. Carl Anderson, a former schoolteacher who serves as a no-nonsense Marine officer during WW II. Anderson leads his patrol to a Japanese-controlled island, where the enemy has set up an experimental rocket base. The patrol's mission is to capture prisoners for interrogation, which proves a near-insurmountable task given the fact that the Americans are heavily outnumbered. Among the grime-covered Marines are Walter (Jack) Palance, Robert Wagner, Karl Malden, Richard Boone, Skip Homeier and Neville Brand. Jack Webb is a chain-smoking war correspondent, while Reginald Gardiner shows up as an aristocratic--but very tough--British officer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Widmark, Jack Palance, (more)
