Felice Orlandi Movies

At times, Another 48 Hrs. seems less like a sequel to than a parody of the first 48 Hrs., especially when Nick Nolte, repeating his role from the earlier film, begins commenting on the cliched absurdity of the goings on. This time, Nolte risks life, limb and career as he obsessively tries to bring an elusive master criminal known as "The Iceman" to justice. Eddie Murphy, who stole the show in the first 48 Hrs. as the wheeler-dealer convict who becomes Nolte's reluctant partner, is brought into the plotline of the second film when a contract is taken out on his life. The adversarial relationship between Nolte and Murphy, supposedly dissipated by the end of the first film, is revivified in the sequel via a couple of plot devices. Still, Murphy rallies to the occasion, in the process saving Nolte from being thrown off the force. Though not as successful as the first film, Another 48 Hrs. proved that there were still enough Eddie Murphy fans around in 1990 to insure a strong box-office showing. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The hook in Walter Hill's mythic retelling of the James-Younger outlaw legend is in the casting; the James, Younger, Miller, and Ford Brothers are played by a string of acting brothers, the Keachs, the Carradines, the Quaids and the Guests. The film begins as outlaws are robbing a bank. After the robbery, Ed Miller (Dennis Quaid) finds himself kicked out of the gang for needlessly killing a man during the robbery. Jesse James (James Keach) hands over Ed's share of the money and tells him to leave, a feeling held mutually by Ed's brother Clell (Randy Quaid). After the killing the gang decides to split up for awhile. The James boys return to their wives and farms, while Cole Younger (David Carradine) travels to Texas with his prostitute girlfriend Belle Starr (Pamela Reed). After the brief respite, the gang reunites to rob a well-stocked bank in Northfield, Minnesota. The robbery turns out disastrously, with most of the gang either wounded or dying. The James boys are the only ones not seriously hurt, and they leave the rest of the gang behind, escaping while they can. After the James boys leave, the remnants of the gang are captured. But trailing the Jameses is a relentless posse. Frank and Jesse manage to keep one step ahead until the Ford brothers (Christopher Guest and Nicholas Guest) make a deal with the Pinkerton detectives trailing the outlaws. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Walter Hill's stripped down neo-noir features a protagonist who makes the laconic boxer of the director's similar Hard Times (1974) seem logorrheic by comparison. The film's tone is set in the opening scene as the Driver (Ryan O'Neal) gloms a V-8 sedan and proceeds to whip through claustrophobic parking garages, narrow alleyways, and sundry other high-risk macadam, as he demonstrates why he's known as the best getaway driver in the business to some potential clients, before giving his vehicle a proper burial. Such plot as there is in this highly abstract film concerns the Driver's cat and mouse game with the Detective (Bruce Dern), an employee of the constabulary of an unnamed city, intent on his arrest. A mysterious and beautiful woman, the Player (Isabelle Adjani), soon appears on the Driver's radar, a perfect match for his taciturnity. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide

The scene is a high-rise hotel in midtown San Francisco. Confronted by mobsters who are angry because he refused to throw a fight, an aging boxer manages to beat up two of his assailants and throw the third out the window to his death! Arriving on the scene to investigate the killer, Stone (Karl Malden) and Keller (Michael Douglas) conduct a room-by-room search for the fugitive boxer, who is now on the run from cops and crooks alike--and is presently hiding in the same room with a pair of adulterous lovers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Gay Talese's bestseller Honor Thy Father is given a superb, albeit slightly expurgated, treatment in this made-for-TV movie. Joseph Bologna plays Bill Bonanno, the son of New York City Mafia-don Joe "Bananas" Bonanno (Raf Vallone). When his father disappears in 1964, Bill is compelled to take over the "family business." This proves well-nigh impossible as several Mafiosi fall over themselves trying to stake their own claims within the Bonanno empire. Lewis John Carlino, the script writer for the 1968 Mafia flick The Brotherhood, adapted the Talese novel for television. Joseph Campanella "appears" as the slyly noncommittal off-screen narrator. Honor Thy Father was first telecast March 1, 1973. The producers sagaciously withheld the film from the critics until that night to make certain no reviewer would spoil the audience's enjoyment by prematurely cataloging the differences between the film and the book. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Several years before achieving stardom in the TV miniseries Rich Man--Poor Man, Peter Strauss is cast in this episode as temporarily paroled convict Bobby Jepson. Ordered to find a job during a 36-hour-pass or return to prison, Jepson runs headlong into a stone wall of prejudice and hostility, with only Detective Stone (Karl Malden) willing to give the man a break. But even Stone's compassion is sorely tested when Jepson is accused of murder--and the evidence seems air-tight and irrefutable. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

With the Feds in hot pursuit, narcotics peddler Arthur Majors (played by a cast-against-type William Shatner) needs a safe place to hide. Relocating in a small town, Majors worms his way into the confidence of lonely widow Mary Binyon (Bettye Ackerman) and her rebellious daughter Shelly (Astrid Warner). Unfortunately, a drug distributor whom Majors has betrayed has vowed to kill him--meaning that both Mary and Shelly will end up in the crossfire unless Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) can catch up with the fugitive in time. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Director Mike Nichols and writer-actor Buck Henry followed their enormous hit The Graduate (1967) with this timely adaptation of Joseph Heller's satiric antiwar novel. Haunted by the death of a young gunner, all-too-sane Capt. Yossarian (Alan Arkin) wants out of the rest of his WW II bombing missions, but publicity-obsessed commander Colonel Cathcart (Martin Balsam) and his yes man, Colonel Korn (Henry), keep raising the number of missions that Yossarian and his comrades are required to fly. After Doc Daneeka (Jack Gilford) tells Yossarian that he cannot declare him insane if Yossarian knows that it's insane to keep flying, Yossarian tries to play crazy by, among other things, showing up nude in front of despotic General Dreedle (Orson Welles). As all of Yossarian's initially even-keeled friends, such as Nately (Art Garfunkel) and Dobbs (Martin Sheen), genuinely lose their heads, and the troop's supplies are bartered away for profit by the ultra-entrepreneurial Milo Minderbinder (Jon Voight), Yossarian realizes that the whole system has lost it, and he can either play along or jump ship. Though not about Vietnam, Catch-22's ludicrous military machinations directly evoked its contemporary context in the Vietnam era. Cathcart and Dreedle care more about the appearance of power than about victory, and Milo cares for money above all, as the complex narrative structure of Yossarian's flashbacks renders the escalating events appropriately surreal. Confident that the combination of a hot director and a popular, culturally relevant novel would spell blockbuster, Paramount spent a great deal of money on Catch-22, but it wound up getting trumped by another 1970 antiwar farce: Robert Altman's MASH. With audiences opting for Altman's casual Korean War iconoclasm over Nichols' more polished symbolism, the highly anticipated Catch-22 flopped, although the New York Film Critics Circle did acknowledge Arkin and Nichols. Despite this reception, Catch-22's ensemble cast and pungent sensibility effectively underline the insanity of war, Vietnam and otherwise. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

Robert L. Pike's crime novel Mute Witness makes the transition to the big screen in this film from director Peter Yates. In one of his most famous roles, Steve McQueen stars as tough-guy police detective Frank Bullitt. The story begins with Bullitt assigned to a seemingly routine detail, protecting mafia informant Johnny Ross (Pat Renella), who is scheduled to testify against his Mob cronies before a Senate subcommittee in San Francisco. But when a pair of hitmen ambush their secret location, fatally wounding Ross, things don't add up for Bullitt, so he decides to investigate the case on his own. Unfortunately for him, ambitious senator Walter Chalmers (Robert Vaughn), the head of the aforementioned subcommittee, wants to shut his investigation down, hindering Bullitt's plan to not only bring the killers to justice but discover who leaked the location of the hideout. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

This episode is dominated by the superb performances of two African-American performers: Series regular Ivan Dixon as Kinchloe, and singer Barbara McNair as American-born chanteuse Kumasa. Sneaking into Paris, Hogan and Kinchloe hope to convince Kumasa, who has become disillusioned with America's treatment of her people, to extract vital information from her German protector, General Von Hammerschlag (Paul Lambert). The plan hinges upon Kinchloe's prior friendship with Kumasa when they both attended the same high school. Written by Richard M. Powell, "Is General Hammerschlag Burning?" first aired on November 18, 1967. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hogan is faced with the possibility that captured French pilot Lt. Boucher (Felice Orlandi) may crack under Gestapo questioning and expose the POW's espionage operation. To keep Boucher's morale high, Hogan smuggles in the Frenchman's sweetheart Suzanne (Susan Albert). He then goes one step further, attempting to trick Klink into performing a marriage ceremony between Boucher and his beloved. The episode's highlight is another disguise scene, with Sgt. Carter appearing in outrageous drag. Scripted by Richard M. Powell, Art Baer, and Ben Joelson from a story by Baer and Joelson, "Reverend Kommandant Klink" originally aired on March 3, 1967. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Never Love a Stranger--especially if it's young hoodlum Frank Kane (John Drew Barrymore). When it is discovered that his natural parents were Jewish, Kane is removed from the Catholic orphanage that has been his only home. Seething with resentment, he vows to succeed at gangsterdom. He rises spectacularly to the top before his inevitable downfall-and has a high old time doing so. The basis for Never Love a Stranger was a Harold Robbins novel, which obviously drew upon actual people and events; it's quite entertaining to guess who the fictionalized characters are supposed to be. Of the stellar supporting cast, Robert Armstrong is a standout as a soft-spoken gunman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Stanley Kubrick's second feature film, Killer's Kiss was made on a budget of $40,000, all raised by Kubrick's relatives. The black-and-white drama was shot principally at night in a variety of seedy Manhattan locations. The plot, told in an extended flashback, covers two days in the life of boxer Davy Gordon (Jamie Smith) -- he meets nightclub dancer Gloria Price (Irene Kane); the two fall in love, and decide to make their futures somewhere other than New York City. But Gloria is lusted after by her ex-employer, Vince Rapallo (Frank Silvera), who not only won't take "no" for an answer but has no intention of losing her to a two-bit boxer. His machinations lead to murder, a police manhunt, and revenge in the best film noir fashion -- the very best, in fact, as Kubrick's use of real New York settings (and very ominous and sleazy New York settings at that) gives the action here a startling verisimilitude, as though we're watching a documentary, or the unfolding of actual events. The violence escalates as Davy and Rapallo find themselves going one-on-one, to the death if need be, with a climax in a warehouse filled with department store mannequins and their various component parts. Director-writer-photographer-editor Kubrick wasn't pleased with the studio-imposed ending added by its distributor (United Artists), but that compromise was a lot more logical and satisfying than the filmmaker's intended denouement. Irene Kane, who played the female lead, subsequently achieved success as TV commentator and journalist Chris Chase; also appearing in the film is Kubrick's then-wife Ruth Sobotka. And Frank Silvera, who plays the villain, was among the most prominent black actors working in theater and films during the 1950s, and eventually achieved stardom on television a dozen years later with his role on the NBC series The High Chapparal. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide