Lisa Jane Persky Movies

This made-for-television film, an unusual collaboration between hard rock group Kiss and children's television kings Hanna Barbera, became one of NBC's highest-rated programs of 1978. The plot, reminiscent of the average episode of Scooby-Doo, begins with crazed inventor Abner Devereaux (Anthony Zerbe) getting fired from his job at California's Magic Mountain amusement park for ignoring safety standards in his quest to create bigger and better attractions. Devereaux retreats to his underground lab and plots a revenge scenario that coincides with the arrival of rock group Kiss (playing themselves) to perform a concert at the park. Using his knowledge of animatronics, Devereaux creates android duplicates of Kiss and uses them to create havoc. However, he soon discovers he's in for a fight because the group has secret talisman amulets that give them special powers. Thus, the stage is set for a superhero-style showdown between Kiss and Devereaux's squad of animatronic henchmen. Although it is a live-action effort, Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park is cartoonish in the extreme as it dishes out plenty of bad jokes and low-budget special effects. It was a considerable ratings success, but also unfortunately branded Kiss with a "kiddie group" image that took years to shake. As a result, the members of the group consider Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park an embarrassment. Nevertheless, it remains a cult favorite with the group's fans and aficionados of odd television. ~ Donald Guarisco, All Movie Guide

This romantic drama features a relationship between Sam (James H. Jacobs), a Jewish New York cabbie, and Corinne (Diane Sommerfield), an African-American mother with a young son, Davey (Malik Murray). After Davey hops into Sam's cab one day, he manages to bring Sam and his mother together. She is a bank clerk and handling her own life quite well but neither she nor Sam can deny the attraction that begins when they meet. Cultural and racial differences are handled with understanding as Corinne and Sam are accidentally involved in a drug scam that could get them into serious trouble. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

A young Rob Lowe plays a supporting role in this Emmy Award-winning ABC Afterschool Special. The main focus, however, is on high-school senior Lisl Gilbert (Karlene Crockett), who must reconcile herself to her mother's terminal cancer. In the agonizing months that follow the initial prognosis of her mom's illness, Lisl is forced to draw upon the inner strength and resourcefulness that she never knew she had. ~ All Movie Guide

Quincy (Jack Klugman) is invited to appear on the talk show emceed by Dick Wilcox (Ron Masak). Also appearing on the same show is Corinne O'Connor, the author of a best-selling diet book. Almost immediately, Quincy goes on the offensive against Corinne, claiming that her controversial diet was a contibuting factor in the death of young model Gretchen Stone (Lori Street). Although no real crime is committed on this episode, there is plenty of punishment to go around--especially when Corinne slaps Quincy with a multimillion-dollar libel suit. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A botched attempt to remake Jean-Luc Godard's classic nouvelle vague entry, Á Bout de souffle, Breathless follows Jesse (Richard Gere), a fugitive wanted for the murder of a police officer. In the course of his flight from the law, he hitches up with a beautiful French college student (the stunning Valerie Kaprisky), and together the two attempt to escape to Mexico. From start to finish, Breathless places style over substance; the film is almost insufferably hip, although its hipness now seems more dated than a time capsule. More attention seems paid to wardrobe, set design and soundtrack than anything else, yet it lacks any of the stark visual impact the original managed to achieve. Gere is passable as the sociopathic killer (although he relies on shirtlessness to carry him through much of the film), but Kaprisky, though beautiful, demonstrates limited acting range. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide

Combining electric song and dance performances with drama (both on and off screen), Francis Ford Coppola's The Cotton Club (1984) looks back to the 1920s-1930s peak of the legendary Harlem nightclub where only blacks performed and only whites could sit in the audience. Mixing historical figures with characters loosely based on actual people, Coppola and co-writers William Kennedy and The Godfather's Mario Puzo create a panorama of love, crime, and entertainment centered on the Club. Among them are cornet player Dixie Dwyer (Richard Gere, playing his own solos), who escapes psycho gangster "benefactor" Dutch Schultz (James Remar) for a George Raft-type Hollywood career as a gangster film star; Schultz's nubile mistress Vera Cicero (Diane Lane), who loves Dixie against her mercenary instincts; Cotton Club Mob owner Owney Madden (Bob Hoskins) and close associate Frenchy Demarge (Fred Gwynne); Vincent (Nicolas Cage), Dixie's no-good Mad Dog Coll-esque brother; Club tap star Sandman Williams (Gregory Hines), who woos ambitious light-skinned Club singer Lila Rose Oliver (Lonette McKee); and cameos by Charles "Honi" Coles and Cab Calloway impersonator Larry Marshall. Complementing the period story, Coppola evokes the style of '30s gangster movies and musicals through an array of old-fashioned devices like montages of headlines, songs and shoot-outs. Conceived by producer Robert Evans as his crowning achievement and directorial debut, Evans had to hand over the troubled production to Coppola, but the budget spiraled out of control as the script was repeatedly re-written throughout the chaotic shoot. By the time it was released, The Cotton Club's epic production story of power struggles, financial bloat, and even a murder overshadowed the "reunion" of The Godfather's creative team. Neither a Heaven's Gate-sized failure nor a wallet-saving hit like Coppola's Apocalypse Now, The Cotton Club got some favorable critical notices (although it drew fire for subordinating the African American stories). It did not, however, find a large enough audience to justify its expense and controversy, becoming another mark against 1970s "auteur" cinema in increasingly blockbuster-driven 1980s Hollywood. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

During her 25th high school class reunion, middle-aged Peggy Sue (Kathleen Turner) tries to forget her marital problems with husband Charlie (Nicolas Cage) by renewing old friendships. Wondering if she made the right decisions in her life, Peggy Sue gets a chance to try again when, zapped into a time warp, she finds herself a teenager back in 1960. Armed with foreknowledge (the scene in which she tells off her algebra teacher is a particular treat), Peggy Sue gets to retrace the steps leading up to her unhappy marriage to high-school sweetheart Charlie. Will nerdish Richard Norvik (Barry Miller), who always carried a torch for Peggy Sue and whom she knows will become a millionaire computer mogul by 1985, win out over the unreliable Charlie this time? A "small" film from the otherwise profligate Francis Ford Coppola, Peggy Sue Got Married possesses an irresistible charm that makes up for its glaring plot deficiencies. The youthful cast is matched in its appeal by such veterans as Leon Ames, Maureen O'Sullivan and John Carradine. And yes, that is Jim Carrey as Walter Getz. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Private Eye was the pilot for the 1987 TV series of the same name. The setting is the Los Angeles of 1956. Ex-cop Jack Cleary (Michael Woods), embittered over his brother's death, becomes a Spillanelike private detective, principally to solve his sibling's murder. A Rock 'n' roll idol (John Brolin) becomes Cleary's largely unwelcome partner when the trail of evidence leads to a scandal in the record industry. The film is partly inspired by the "Payola" imbroglio of 1959, which (so far as we know) resulted in very few murders. Bill Sadler and Lisa Persky costar, while Jay O. Sanders has a fall-on as Cleary's unfortunate brother; the background music was provided by Joe Jackson. Private Eye was first telecast September 13, 1987, while the series proper commenced five days later. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Veteran soap-opera leading ladies Nancy Frangione, Hillary Bailey Smith and Eileen Davidson star in the made-for-TV Sharing Richard. The ladies play three best friends who find that they have one more thing in common: "significant other" Ed Marinaro. Rather than feeling betrayed, Nancy, Hillary and Eileen decide to continue sharing Marinaro's affection on a rotating basis. Only when he learns that his three lovers are also buddies does jealousy enter the picture. Ann Donahue and Marion Zola wrote the film and Peter Bonerz directed. Sharing Richard debuted April 26, 1988. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Until its last 10 minutes or so, this filmed biography of controversial recording star Jerry Lee Lewis plays like a live-action cartoon. As played by Dennis Quaid, "the killer" is a very mixed-up individual: a saintly sinner, a world-wise naif, a skilled performer with zero sense of discipline, a loving husband who uses his wife for a punching bag. The story takes place during the years 1956 through 1958, as Lewis rises to the top of the charts with such hits as "Crazy Arms," "A Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On," and the title tune. Along the way, he falls in love with his second cousin Myra (Winona Ryder), eventually marrying the girl. When it is revealed that Myra is only 13 years old, Lewis is condemned as a molester and pervert by the public (his disastrous tour of England during this crisis is depicted in hilarious Tex Avery fashion). After establishing a brisk, satirical tone through most of the proceedings, the film plummets into heavy dramatics in its final portions, jarring disastrously with all that has gone before. Otherwise, Quaid is terrific as Lewis (expertly lip-synching to the original records,) and Ryder is equally good as the long-suffering Myra. Featured in the cast are Alec Baldwin as Jerry's cousin Jimmy Swaggart (the same!), Michael St. Gerard as Lewis' great rival Elvis, and Steve Allen as himself. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Four cops make the painful discovery that not everyone on the force is upholding the law in this crime drama. Frank Daly (Brian Dennehy), Wayne Gross (Joe Pantoliano), Ricky Rodriguez (Jeff Fahey), and Howard Jones (Bill Patxon) are four undercover cops with the Los Angeles Police Department who work as a team to solve the cases that their colleagues consider too tough to handle. Under Daly's supervision, the four are trying to get the goods on a drug dealing operation working out of a meat packing plant. However, a raid on the plant uncovers little practical evidence, and Daly, a moody and hard-drinking loose cannon, is sharply criticized by his superiors for planning the bust without the input from the department heads or the FBI. Convinced that there's more to the case than they've been able to find so far, the four men begin looking into the matter on their own time. The deeper they dig, the more shocking the evidence becomes, as they learn that the police, the FBI, and even the Federal Government are involved in the smuggling operation, and the parties involved are perfectly willing to use violence and murder to keep troublemakers out of their way. After Jones is murdered while collecting evidence on a businessman in on the operation, the other three quit the police force, determined to see justice done even if they have to overstep the boundaries of the law to do it. Last of the Finest was also released under the titles Blue Heat and Street Legal. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Although she knew from the outset that she'd never be a "traditional" mother, Murphy (Candice Bergen) nonetheless is willing to shed her unorthodox approach to parenthood when she concludes that she hasn't spent enough quality time with baby Avery. This explains how Murphy came to join a group of new mothers who are dedicated to such old-school customs as singing nursery songs and playing games with their offspring. Of course, it doesn't take long for Murphy and the other moms to get on each other's nerves in a spectacular fashion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide