Barbi Benton Movies

An old building falls victim to the wrecker's ball. When the dust clears, the demolition crew discovers the three-centuries-old remains of a satanic cult. Barbi Benton, Gareth Hunt and Brian Deacon (in a dual role) head the cast of this British TV movie. And the Wall Came Tumbling Down debuted in American over the USA cable network on January 5, 1985, in tandem with another British import, Last Video and Testament. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This lurid, misogynist slasher opus employs the usual "20 years later" motif in its presentation of a heavy-breathing maniac (Chip Lucia) who has been relentlessly stalking the now-grown object of a jilted childhood crush (former Playboy playmate and '80s television staple Barbi Benton). He finally tracks her to the hospital where she has arrived for a routine physical and switches her x-rays with those of a terminally ill patient in order to buy more time in which to plan the ultimate realization of his revenge. His actions are timed to coincide with Valentine's Day, exactly 20 years after he murdered her brother (depicted in one of the most hilariously contrived death scenes in horror film history) in retaliation for laughing at his timid attempts to woo her. While Benton is dutifully stripping down for gratuitous head-to-toe examinations, the killer is busily roaming the halls in surgical garb, slaughtering doctors, nurses, and patients alike with a wide assortment of medical equipment. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi

Didi Conn, who skyrocketed to fame thanks to Saturday Night Fever (77) and You Light Up My Life (78), did nothing for her career with the made-for-TV Murder at the Mardi Gras. Conn plays a loopy young Philadelphia waitress who witnesses a murder during the New Orleans Mardi Gras celebration, but can't get anyone to believe her. The murderer, who is disguised variously as a large pink rabbit and a headless gorilla, spends most of "Fat Tuesday" pursuing poor Didi Conn up street, down alley, and around the other costumed revellers. With an all-TV cast, it's hard to tell at first whodunit--since all the actors have played the mystery killer at one time or another in their careers. The biggest mystery is the participation of director Ken Annakin, who surely does not list Murder at the Mardi Gras on the same resume as his earlier Swiss Family Robinson, The Longest Day, and Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

An unsubtle but effective TV-movie satire of the "Miss America" syndrome, Great American Beauty Contest stars Joanna Cameron as a fire-breathing feminist who enters the contest of the title. She plans to win the crown, then utterly destroy the contest by delivering a scathing attack on exploitation and sexism instead of an acceptance speech. A subplot concerns contest judge Louis Jourdan, who uses his position to extract sexual favors from the more desperate contestants. Eleanor Parker, the girls' chaperone, gives Jourdan his comeuppance in the film's most satisfying sequence. We won't spoil the twist ending, but we will note that one of the contestants is played by Farrah Fawcett, whose specialty is an endearingly ridiculous belly dance. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi