F.J. O'Neil Movies

In this broad but hilarious spoof of the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings, Murphy is dragged before a Senate Committee after she files a story on the personal spending habits of government officials. Mercilessly grilled by a panel of fatuous politicians, Murphy does her best to defend her First Amendment rights, even in the face of a "Contempt of Congress" charge (with possible jail time!) It will not require the services of a political historian to figure out who such characters as "Senator Dennehy" and "Senator Hyden" are really supposed to be! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The directorial debut of producer Irwin Winkler, Guilty by Suspicion is a sobering account of one movie executive's woes in dealing with the political fallout from the McCarthy Era Hollywood blacklist. Robert De Niro stars as David Merrill, a film director in the 1950s whose obsession with his burgeoning career has estranged him from his wife Ruth (Annette Bening) and their son. When he returns from a trip to Paris, Merrill is surprised when told by his boss, Darryl F. Zanuck (Ben Piazza) that he's been summoned to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee, which is investigating Communist ties to Hollywood. Although Merrill once attended a meeting years before, he's not a Communist, and he refuses to help the committee wreck the career of his friend Bunny Baxter (George Wendt). Merrill becomes blacklisted, unable to find work even in menial positions or under assumed names as the editor of a B-movie or the director of a low-budget Western. Reconciled with his family, Merrill caves in and agrees to testify, but as he prepares to "name names," his conscience plagues him. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

In this made-for-TV movie, the characters from the beloved "Brady Bunch" television series return home to spend the holidays together. All grown up with families of their own, the kids all return to take part in the Brady Christmas reunion. All of the original stars, save one, of the original television series appeared in this special. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Veteran television writer-director Jerry Belson concocted this sweet comedy that stars Michael Caine as Sean Stein, a best-selling mystery novelist who's been constantly hurt by women he's fallen for. Sally Field plays Daisy Morgan, an artist who has not yet hit it big. She and Stein are at a museum party when a band of thieves arrive, tie up the guests, and proceed to pull off a heist. They are tied up together, which thrusts them into an unlikely romantic pairing. Because Daisy does not know who Stein is, he pretends that he, too, is a struggling artist. He distrusts women, because in the past, his ex-wife and other women pursued him solely for his money and fame. Steve Guttenberg and Peter Boyle play attorneys vying for Stein's money. Julie Kavner and Louise Lasser are among the fine supporting cast. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

This opening episode of Moonlighting's third season upholds the series' unique juxtaposition of fact and fancy by carrying a "dedication" to a person who doesn't really exist! Wisecracking private eye David Addison (Bruce Willis) is uncharacteristically at a loss for words when his recently widowed father David Sr. (Paul Sorvino) announces that he is to marry again. But David has plenty to see when he learns the identity of his dad's future bride. In addition, a few unsubtle references are made to the many Emmy nominations received by Moonlighting during its second season; and by the way, what's the story about that sombrero and serape? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Edward Asner stars as Saturday Review editor Norman Cousins in this made-for-TV biopic, which first aired May 15, 1984. Stricken with a degenerative spinal illness in 1964, Cousins refuses to accept the prognosis that he must spend the rest of his life as a virtual vegetable. He battles his illness by using the most potent weapons at his disposal--a healthy sense of humor, the love and support of his wife, and confidence that he will endure. This sort of spiritual battle is not that easy to film, and some of the scenes--Cousins laughing at the opening titles of a Marx Brothers film, for example--sorely test the acting skills of Ed Asner. But both Cousins and Asner emerge triumphant from Anatomy of an Illness, which was based on Norman Cousins' own book on the subject. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Larry Cohen wrote the screenplay to this updating of Mickey Spillane's notorious 1947 novel. Cohen was originally engaged to direct the film as well but was pulled from the director's chair after a week's worth of shooting because he had already run up the budget by $100,000; he was replaced by television director Richard T. Heffron. In this 1982 I, the Jury, Mike Hammer (Armand Assante) is a Vietnam veteran who wears hip duds and drives around in a bronze Trans Am in much the same way as Robert Mitchum's Philip Marlowe was refurbished for Michael Winner's re-make of The Big Sleep. After a cheesy rip-off of a James Bond-style credit sequence, the story kicks in. One-armed detective Jack Williams (Frederick Downs) is murdered. Jack was Hammer's best friend, and Hammer decides that he will become a one-man vigilante squad and seek vengeance on the person responsible for his death. He enlists the aid of his vivacious secretary Velda (Laurene Landon) and is also helped and hindered by police-chief Pat Chambers (Paul Sorvino). Hammer latches on to the killer's trail, then the film veers in a radically different direction from the book, introducing government conspiracies and mind-control techniques by the CIA and the Mafia. Also introduced is Hammer's love interest Charlotte Bennett (Barbara Carrera), an administrator of a kinky sex clinic (depicted as a psychiatrist in the original novel). ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Steven Spielberg followed Jaws (1975), his first major box-office success, with this epic science fiction adventure about a disparate group of people who attempt to contact alien intelligence. Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) is an electrical lineman who, while sent out on emergency repairs, witnesses an unidentified flying object, and even has a "sunburn" from its bright lights to prove it. Neary's wife and children are at first skeptical, then concerned, and eventually fearful, as Roy refuses to accept a "logical" explanation for what he saw and is prepared to give up his job, his home, and his family to pursue the "truth" about UFOs. Neary's obsession eventually puts him in contact with others who've had close encounters with alien spacecraft, including Jillian (Melinda Dillon), a single mother whose son disappeared during her UFO experience, and Claude Lacombe (celebrated French filmmaker François Truffaut), a French researcher who believes that we can use a musical language to communicate with alien visitors. Lacombe's theory is put to the test when a band of government researchers and underground UFO enthusiasts (including Neary) join for an exchange with alien visitors near Devil's Tower, Wyoming. In 1980, a "Special Edition" was released. While its primary selling point was the addition of scenes inside the alien spaceship, Spielberg claimed that he also cleaned up some choppy editing in the second act. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide