Ed Marshall Movies
- 1984
When first released as Grace Quigley, this odd little black comedy proved too fey and quirky even for the most devoted fans of Katharine Hepburn. The star plays the title character, an old, worn-out woman with nothing to live for. Accordingly, she hires professional assassin Seymour Flint (Nick Nolte) to kill her, albeit gently. As she ponders the prospect of a peaceful death as opposed to a miserable life, Grace convinces Seymour to murder not only herself, but all other poor souls who have grown tired of life. As it turns out, there are several people who'd be willing to pay for this "courtesy," and soon Grace and Seymour, together with his ditsy girlfriend Muriel (Kit Le Fever), are conducting a land-office business! Entered into competition at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival, Grace Quigley made no impression whatsoever. Screenwriter A. Martin Zweibeck withdrew the film, recut it to his satisfaction, and reissued it as The Ultimate Solution of Grace Quigley. Though this version was a marked improvement over the original, the film was still not quite the Harold and Maude-like "cult favorite" that everyone hoped it would be. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Katharine Hepburn, Nick Nolte, (more)
Oliver Stone's first directorial effort for a major studio (and his second horror film after the 1974 Seizure) came shortly after the phenomenal success of Midnight Express, which was based on Stone's Oscar-winning screenplay. The director turned to Mark Brandel's obscure thriller "The Lizard's Tail" as source material for what is essentially a silly psychosexual variant on low-budget horror films like The Crawling Hand. The title appendage belongs (for a while, anyway) to smug, conceited artist Joe Lansdale (Michael Caine), who owes his success to a popular comic strip featuring a macho, Conan-type hero. After Lansdale's drawing hand is sheared off in a grisly car accident, his career, dignity, self-control and even his sanity soon begin to abandon him as well. His tenuous relationship with his wife Anne (Andrea Marcovicci) falls apart as she takes steps to improve her own self-worth -- something she had never had the strength to do before the accident. Bitter and paranoid, Joe begins to lash out in anger at everyone around him ... and becomes convinced that his severed hand has come back, wandering in fields and dark alleys and squeezing the life out of everyone it comes in contact with. The question of whether the hand is real or merely a manifestation of Lansdale's rage is never answered, even in the film's "shock" coda. At any rate, it's impossible to take the film seriously -- the crawling-hand effects are laughably shoddy for a major studio production, reflecting none of the skills of effects wizard Carlo Rambaldi, and Caine's sweaty, pop-eyed histrionics are too goofy to be convincing. On the plus side, James Horner's score is remarkably chilling, contributing a great deal to a few effective suspense scenes -- but it belongs in a better film than this. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Caine, Andrea Marcovicci, (more)
George Segal plays rich and surly California executive Walter Whitney, who learns out-of-the-blue that he has a 17-year-old black son, in Michael Schultz's lightweight Carbon Copy. When his son Roger Porter (Denzel Washington) arrives, Walter tries to pass him off to his neighbors in the restricted all-white suburb as a sociological experiment. But when he eventually confesses his parenthood to his wife Vivian (Susan Saint James), his world is turned upside down. In a flash, all the trophies of upper-class white respectability are removed -- he loses his job, his credit cards are revoked, and Vivian throws him out of the house. Without the white man's trappings, he is forced to accept the help of downtrodden minorities. When he is compelled to manual labor, Walter comes to understand the troubles his son goes through. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Segal, Susan Saint James, (more)
Dick Harper (George Segal) and his wife Jane (Jane Fonda) have always lived way beyond their means. Just because Dick has just lost his high-paying job is no reason for Jane to stop spending like there's no tomorrow. To make ends meet, Jane takes up a new career: armed robbery. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Segal, Jane Fonda, (more)
- 1976
- PG
Peter Bogdanovich's early career as a film writer stood him in good stead for this comedy drama about the early days of the motion-picture industry, based in part on his interviews with pioneering directors Raoul Walsh and Allan Dwan. Leo Harrigan (Ryan O'Neal) is a lawyer and Buck Greenway (Burt Reynolds) is a cowboy and gunman. Both are sent to California to shut down a renegade group of silent-movie makers -- financed by blustery H.H. Cobb (Brian Keith) -- who are in violation of the Motion Picture Patents Co. Trust. Harrigan and Greenway somehow find themselves working with the movie crew instead of shutting them down; they join forces with cameraman Franklin Frank (John Ritter), leading lady Kathleen Cooke (Jane Hitchcock), and precocious prop girl Alice Forsyte (Tatum O'Neal). Greenway becomes a star and Harrigan a respected director, but both battle over the affections of Cooke. Incidentally, Cobb's big speech near the end is taken almost verbatim from a quote given to Bogdanovich in an interview with actor James Stewart. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ryan O'Neal, Burt Reynolds, (more)
Yvette Mimieux delivers a sensitive, nuanced performance in a role that could have easily spread into a cheap exploitation turn in Jackson County Jail. Mimieux plays advertising executive Dinah Hunter, who leaves Los Angeles and a promising career after she discovers her lover has been cheating on her. Determined to start fresh in New York City, she gets into her car and heads east. Picking up some young hitchhikers along the way, she ends up stranded in an out-of-the-way western town after being beaten up and having her car stolen. Thrown into the local jailhouse on trumped up charges, she finds herself at the mercy of a psychopathic guard who further beats her and then rapes her. Dinah kills the jailkeeper and goes on the lam with fellow jailhouse inmate and down-home radical Coley Blake (Tommy Lee Jones). The sheriff's department engages the couple in a wild car chase through a parade commemorating the United States' Bicentennial, as Dinah and Coley try to break free to the open road. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yvette Mimieux, Tommy Lee Jones, (more)
- 1974
A tough biker gang comprised of African-American women heads off to find a member's mother and her abductor in this exploitation comedy ostensibly designed to make fun of racial stereotypes. The film was later retitled Get Down and Boogie. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1973
- PG
Frasier the Sensuous Lion would seem to have been conceived as a racy "answer" to Disney's sugary-sweet animal comedies. The talkative title character is befriended by zoologist Marvin Feldman (Michael Callan). When Frasier's loquaciousness becomes public knowledge, Feldman tries to save the lion from being commercially exploited by a sleazy California wildlife preserve. The film's supporting cast includes such TV perennials as Frank De Kova ("Wild Eagle" on F Troop) and Malachi Throne ("Noah Bain" on It Takes a Thief). Frasier's innuendo-laden dialogue is supplied by, of all people, Victor Jory. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1969
Locked in the cottage by David (David Henesy), Mrs. Johnson (Clarice Blackburn) sees the spirit of Quentin Collins. Rescued by Maggie (Kathryn Leigh Scott), Mrs. Johnson now suspects that the children have been possessed. Edward Marshall takes over from Craig Slocum in the role of Harry Johnson. This episode first aired on January 16, 1969. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1969
Barnabas (Jonathan Frid) asks Beth (Terry Crawford) about the silver pentagram she has commissioned from Ezra Braithwaite (Ed Marshall). She refuses to talk, so Barnabas attacks her in time-honored vampire fashion. This episode first aired on May 29, 1969. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
