Bibi Osterwald Movies
- 1996
- PG
Set in a small town, this youthful outing tells the story how a local paper boy and a band of misfits successfully prevented a band of bullies from taking over their neighborhood. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Englund, Kyle Howard, (more)
Angie is the study of a believable Italian-American woman who takes an honest look at herself and sees she's on a predictable path that will soon include an altar and a baby carriage. "There's gotta' be more!" she feels, and she's one gal with courage enough to find the answer. Geena Davis stars in this worthwhile effort. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Geena Davis, Stephen Rea, (more)
- 1994
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Kit Walker is the 21st Century Phantom, one of a long line of superheroes who have lived in the jungles and dutifully defended mankind's precious natural resources. After the cataclysmic Resource War, Kit moves to the urban jungles of Metropia, looking to thwart the baddies. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- 1994
Jamie (Helen Hunt) feels too bad to see a feel-good movie. Still, Paul (Paul Reiser) persuades her to accompany him to the theater, if for no other reason than to meet Ira's (John Pankow) new sweetie. Not only do things go to hell in a hand basket, but waitress Ursula Buffay (Lisa Kudrow) isn't at Riff's anymore (try looking for her on Friends). All this, plus an important message from the mayor of the city of New York. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1993
Disowned by her wealthy family, a determined young woman moves to San Francisco and tries to become a famous singer and to find lasting love. This sudsy drama chronicles her decade-long struggle. Through it all, she finds romance with an old flame. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1988
- R
A transit engineer and his family must face the gargantuan task of moving from New Jersey to Boise, Idaho in this lively comedy starring Richard Pryor. It all begins after he gets a really great job out West. Unfortunately, his family is less than thrilled with the prospect. The furniture movers, who prove to be crooks, and their crazy neighbors conspire to make matters all the worse. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Pryor, Beverly Todd, (more)
This comedy returns to the exclusive but crazy country club golf course seen in the original Caddyshack. This time its the blue-bloods against the blue collars as a loud, vulgar self-made millionaire tries to join the stuffy upper-crust club after his daughter falls in love with the son of one of the members. Naturally, the boisterous millionaire is rejected by the genteel jerks. He retaliates by buying the golf course and turning it into an ultra-tacky amusement park. Merry mayhem ensues, but in the end, the snobs learn a valuable lesson, the millionaire gets to join, and his daughter and her lover are finally united. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jackie Mason, Dyan Cannon, (more)
- 1988
Harry Anderson makes his second appearance in the role made famous in the 1960s by Fred MacMurray in The Absent-Minded Professor: Trading Places. While working on yet another "miracle" formula, Anderson is talked into briefly trading jobs with his ex-roomate Ed Begley Jr., a research computer. As usual, the professor gets in over his head, and before long he's chased around by all sorts of mysterious characters. The gimmick this time is a "mystery invention" disguised as a tennis ball. The Absent-Minded Professor: Trading Places first aired February 26, 1989, as a two-hour episode of TV's The Magical World of Disney. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1987
This mystery is set in Washington, D.C. and chronicles the exploits of a TV correspondent who is sent there to interview a prominent senator. While there, she begins realizing that her subject and a weird old house are strangely connected. Mayhem ensues as she begins her investigation. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1983
The year 1983 saw no fewer than two made-for-TV movies bearing the title Happy Endings. The first one premiered March 1, 1983, and starred Dukes of Hazzard's John Schneider. The story concerns a teacher and author named Nick Callohan (Schneider) and would-be singer Lisa Sage (Catherine Hicks), Nick's new neighbor. Both hero and heroine have just emerged from unhappy love affairs. Even though they still pine away for their former amours, Nick and Lisa manage to find romance with each other. The title song, written by Molly-Ann Leiken and William Goldstein, was nominated for an Emmy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Schneider, Catherine Hicks, (more)
- 1982
While attending the opening ceremonies of a Naval museum named in his honor, Rear Admiral Burgess McKenzie (Albert Paulsen), an old comrade in arms of medical examiner Quincy (Jack Klugman), suddenly drops dead. Peforming the autopsy, Quincy discovers that a microchip has been implanted in the Admiral's body, suggesting that he might have been involved in treasonous activities. The plot thickens when several people demand that Quincy turn over the corpse and the chip--including three ladies all claiming to be McKenzie's widow. This semicomic episode is capped by a supremely silly but highly appropriate punchline. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Beulah Land is an edited, movie-length version of the three-part TV miniseries adaptation of Lonnie Coleman's multi-part novels. The film is set in the Old South, with a time span ranging from 1827 to the postwar Reconstruction Era. Lesley Ann Warren stars as Sarah Kendrick, young belle of the Beulah Land plantation, who finds herself in love with a "damn Yankee." Sarah must also contend with a weakling brother (Paul Rudd) and a former slave (Dorian Harewood) who demands freedom as a right rather than a privilege. Beulah Land took forever to get before the cameras due to protests from black historical organizations; when it was finally telecast on October 7-9, 1980, NBC conducted a low-pressure ad campaign, as though the network was still fearful of stepping on toes despite the testimonial of a black Yale history professor, who commended the production for its "special sensitivity." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lesley Ann Warren, Michael Sarrazin, (more)
- 1978
While renovating her new apartment in an old Victorian mansion, Quincy's girlfriend Jenny Drake (Marj Dusay) unearths the mummified remains of two women. Later on, two other female corpses are found within the same walls. After a thorough examination, Quincy (Jack Klugman) concludes that three of the women died of natural causes--but that the fourth was murdered. Our hero's subseqent fact-finding misison brings him in close contact with the truly bizarre residents of the crumbling old mansion (and any resemblance to Hitchcock's Psycho is undoubtedly purely intentional). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1977
Two men from widely opposite spectrums in life are trapped in the same dilemma. Highly respected police detective Dave Lambert (Barry Primus) and seedy informer Art DeVoe (Mills Watson) have both witnessed a cop killing--and the murderer has sent his minions forth to get rid of them both. Featured prominently in the supporting cast is Robert Walden, on the cusp of his stardom as gonzo reporter Rossi on Lou Grant. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1976
Now that little Joey Stivic has been born, things return to normal on All in the Family; that is, the various family members start arguing and bickering again. This time around, the problems arise from Mike's habit of making decisions without consulting Gloria. Things reach the crisis stage when Mike allows a couple to stage their New Year's nuptials in the Stivic living room. A pre-stardom Billy Crystal appears as bridegroom Al, while Elaine Princi is cast as Trudy, the bride. Written by Lou Derman, Bill Davenport, Milt Josefsberg, and Ben Starr, "New Year's Wedding" originally aired on January 5, 1976. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rob Reiner, Sally Struthers, (more)
Not everything Henry Fonda did was Grapes of Wrath or Mister Roberts. In the enjoyable low-budget "road" flick The Great Smokey Roadblock, Fonda plays a worn-out trucker named Elegant John. Anxious to make one last, big haul before retiring, Fonda loses his 18-wheeler to the repo men. He steals his rig back, then further thumbs his nose at the law by hauling a group of prostitutes across the border as a favor to his old flame, bordello madam Eileen Brennan. This rollicking film ends on an unexpected--but logical within the framework--tragic note. Filmed in 1974, The Great Smokey Roadblock lay on the shelf for nearly two years. Despite a plethora of illnesses, Fonda is in fine fettle, delivering one of his sprightliest latter-day performances. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Henry Fonda, Eileen Brennan, (more)
This crime-caper film from director Gower Champion stars George C. Scott as a visionary thief. He doesn't merely intend to rob a bank; his plan is to steal the whole bank. This is accomplished by lifting the structure with house-moving machinery in the dead of night, then painting it pink and squirreling it away in a trailer park. The Bank Shot was based on a novel by Donald E. Westlake who also wrote the book that became 1972's The Hot Rock. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1967
Expanded from a two-character play by Murray Schisgal, this comedy stars Eli Wallach as Ben Harris, a disgruntled New York City mail carrier. Harris is fed up with being cheated by his landlords, the Kellys (Roland Wood and Ruth White), so he terrorizes them and the city's housing authority until they agree to give him a new apartment. Not satisfied, Harris "goes postal" by kidnapping a bored suburban housewife, Gloria Fiske (Anne Jackson) and taking her back to his apartment. To his surprise, he finds that Gloria also hates the world, and they become fast friends. He eventually lets her go but follows her home. When he tries to climb into her window, her husband Jerry (Bob Dishe) chases him away. Harris returns to his apartment building, where the Kellys invite him in to watch TV, and somehow this soothes his wrath. Dustin Hoffman has a small role as a hippie named Hap. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eli Wallach, Anne Jackson, (more)
Sean Connery attempted to make a clean break from his "James Bond" image in the boisterous comedy A Fine Madness. Connery plays Samson Shillitoe, a Brendan Behan-like poet with a mile-wide misogynistic streak. Try as he might to complete his latest masterpiece, Shillitoe is constantly interrupted by the women in his life. Driven to a nervous breakdown, he seeks help from the medical establishment -- and ends up a babbling shell of his former self. The film takes scattered potshots at a repressive society that forces the truly creative among us into near-madness; at times, it is sidesplittingly funny, though never quite as potent as the Elliot Baker novel upon which it is based. Sean Connery is brilliant, but the public wanted James Bond to behave himself, thus the film didn't do as well at the box office as it should have. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sean Connery, Joanne Woodward, (more)
Decked out with another of his American accents, Peter Sellers plays self-centered concert pianist Henry Orient. While Henry's active libido sends him off on pursuit of married woman Paula Prentiss, a pair of preteen boarding-school chums, played by Tippy Walker and Merrie Spaeth, worship Orient from afar. The girls' overworked imaginations, manifested in pursuing Orient about and recording their fantasies in their diaries, leads Walker's mom, Angela Lansbury, to conclude that Henry has "had his way" with her underaged daughter. The World of Henry Orient was later musicalized for Broadway as Henry, Sweet Henry. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Paula Prentiss, (more)
- 1961
A scenic, tobacco-road soap opera by director Delmar Daves, known more for his westerns, Parrish features Troy Donahue in the eponymous title role. Parrish's mother Ellen (Claudette Colbert in her last movie role) happens to marry one of two competing tobacco growers in the Connecticut River Valley. Her new husband and Parrish's stepfather Judd Raike (a snarling Karl Malden) drums the tobacco business into Parrish, alienating him in the bargain. The lad is soon romancing three different women: Judd's daughter Paige (Sharon Hugeny), the daughter of Judd's arch-rival, and a wanton woman of the tobacco fields. Now all that remains is for the romance and the rivalry to shake down into the winners and losers. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Troy Donahue, Claudette Colbert, (more)
- 1955
Irregularly scheduled on NBC from 1954-1957, Producers' Showcase was a series of lavish, full-color, 90-minute specials, bringing the best of Broadway to the 21-inch screen. One of the more memorable presentations in this anthology was director Vincent Donahue's live staging of Clare Boothe Luce's brilliantly vitriolic 1936 stage comedy, The Women, which had previously been filmed by MGM in 1939. Boasting a stellar all-female cast, The Women centers around the tactics used by the supposedly demure Mary Haines (here played by Ruth Hussey) to win back her husband from predatory shopgirl Crystal Allen (Shelley Winters). Meanwhile, Mary's so-called friends gossip, bicker, and "diss" with bitchy abandon, both in New York and on a Reno "divorce ranch." Mary Boland, who played the much-married Countess DeLage in the 1939 movie, repeats her role in the TV version, while Paulette Goddard, who portrayed mercenary chorus dancer Miriam in the film, is here ironically cast as the malicious Sylvia Fowler, whose husband is stolen away by Miriam (played on this occasion by Valerie Bettis). The Women was adapted for television by Sumner Locke Elliot. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shelley Winters, Paulette Goddard, (more)
