Henry Olek Movies

Anne Archer stars in the made-for-TV movie A Different Affair--and, surprise, she doesn't play a long-suffering victim. Anne is cast as a chic radio psychologist who has lived alone and liked it since the death of her husband. All this changes when the plot requires that she take in a troublesome 12-year-old foster child, played by Bobby Jacoby. Tony Roberts fills the standard best friend/lover/severest critic role, while other parts are essayed by Stuart Pankin and Alan Fudge. Filmed in 1985, A Different Affair didn't land an airdate until March 24, 1987. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After many failed attempts at suicide, a hopeless man takes a contract out on himself--except now that he has fallen in love with a likewise suicidal woman, he wants to live. Now he must figure out how to call off the hit man so they can enjoy life together. Gabe Kaplan and Bernadette Peters star in this Canadian comedy. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

The Soviets and Americans combine forces to save the world from a meteor in this science fiction disaster adventure. Bradley (Sean Connery) is an American scientist who teams up with Dubov (Brian Keith), and his translator-assistant Tatiana (Natalie Wood) later falls in love with Bradley. Hong Kong and New York are hit hard by tidal waves as the scientists race against time to prevent global disaster. Although a fine cast is assembled, nobody stands out, and the real star of the film is the special effects. This 18-million-dollar feature faced real economic disaster at the box office, although four engineers received an Oscar nomination for "Best Sound" for this forgettable film. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Rollercoaster was a by-product of the brief "Sensurround" craze of the 1970s. Nutsoid Timothy Bottoms sabotages an amusement-park roller coaster, killing several innocent revelers. After several other acts of terrorism, Bottoms (whose character is credited as Young Man) presents his demands to the authorities via audio tape: one million dollars, or he'll stage five roller-coaster disasters simultaneously in five different parks. Because detective Harry Calder George Segal evinces a grudging respect for the elusive extortionist, Bottoms declares that only Detective Calder will be permitted to deliver the money. Thus the stage is set for an explosive climax, which during the film's original run was accompanied by the Sensurround effect, a gimmick that electronically caused the filmgoer's chairs to begin shaking and vibrating during the "thrill scenes." As with most disaster flicks of the era, Rollercoaster is top-heavy with "guest stars," including Richard Widmark, Henry Fonda, Harry Guardino, and Susan Strasberg. Watch for 13-year-old Helen Hunt as Detective Calder's spunky daughter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the family film When the North Wind Blows, an old trapper flees into the woods of Alaska after accidentally wounding his friend's son. Once he's in the wilderness, he befriends a family of snow tigers and protects them from various other hunters and trappers. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Stuart Margolin appears in this episode as poetry-spouting motorcyclist Snake, a role created in the second-season episode "A Man Called Snake" by All in the Family's Rob Reiner. This time around, the Partridges try to shake Snake out of his suicidal funk when his girlfriend Penny (Judie Stein) rejects his marriage proposal. Unfortunately, after Shirley takes Snake by the hand to show him the proper way to pop the question, Penny misconstrues the situation and thinks he's making fun of her. It is up to Snake's former high school chum Laurie (Susan Dey) to set things right. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Already established as "Meathead" on All in the Family, Rob Reiner found time to guest in this Partridge Family episode, atypically cast as a crude-and-rude motorcyclist named Harry "Snake" Murphy. Falling in love with Laurie Partridge (Susan Dey), the poetry-spouting Snake sets out to woo and win her in his own inimitable--and embarrassing--fashion. Shirley (Shirley Jones) tries to help by teaching Snake a few of the basic social graces, but things only get worse from this point on! Song: "Listen to the Sound". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This made-for-television feature (which premiered on the ABC Movie Of The Week) attracted slightly more interest than usual, due in part to the presence an unusually recognizable supporting cast (including several players, such as Joseph Cotten, Keenan Wynn and Dewey Martin, who'd had real film careers, going back to the 1940's), and Star Trek's Leonard Nimoy in the lead. Nimoy plays Commander Phil Kettenring, the captain of the nuclear submarine Wayne, which has been assigned a critical, top-secret mission involving a less than completely cooperative scientist (Malachi Throne). What Kettenring doesn't know is that the Eastern bloc enemy (this being the middle of the Cold War) is already on to the mission. They've not only got a fairly clever trap set for the sub in mid-ocean, but have also infiltrated the crew at key points. As the Wayne's and her commander's problems mount, the crew begins to lose confidence in Kettenring, threatening not only the mission, but the safety of the sub. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide