Willard E. Pugh Movies

Rap artist Daddy Kool (Shaun Baker) is shot, but refuses to cooperate with the police investigation of the shooting. Abby (Paige Turco) tells Medavoy (Gordon Clapp) that she wants him to be the father of her child -- and that's all. Accused of framing Officer Szymasnki (Christopher Stanley) on a drug charge, Lt. Fancy (James McDaniel) launches his own investigation. And the Feds approach Simone (Jimmy Smits), asking his help in nailing mobster Joey Salvo. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Eddie Presley (Duane Whitaker is a security guard who, like his lifetime hero, is slightly overweight these days. Formerly, he occasionally worked as an Elvis impersonator. Recently he has had rather a rough time, but his spirits have improved on learning that he will have a chance to revive his impersonation routines for a single evening at a none-too spiffy nightclub. When the club's music equipment chews up his tapes, Eddie doesn't simply leave the stage. Instead, he delivers a monologue about his life and times, how he came to be so devoted to Elvis, and his recent nervous breakdown. This movie was adapted from a play and performance piece by Duane Whitaker. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Bill Duke directs this quirky film adaptation of Chester Himes' crime novel -- a heavily plotted gangster tale with a sweet love story hidden underneath. The film begins in Natchez, Mississippi in 1956. During a police shoot-out with the mob leader Slim's (Badja Djola) gang, Slim's moll Imabelle (Robin Givens) takes off with a cadre of stolen gold. As a result, Imabelle is chased by Slim's mob from Mississippi to New York. By the time she reaches Harlem, she is broke and has to figure out a way to ditch the trunk full of gold. She finds herself at the annual Undertaker's Ball, where she sees the big and dumb Jackson (Forest Whitaker), a bumbling undertaker's assistant. She spots Jackson as a mark that she can use as a cover and latches onto him immediately. She moves in with him to hide out, but Imabelle becomes taken with his innocence. For his part, Jackson falls head over heels in love with her. But the Mississippi mob catches up with her and takes her away. Jackson calls in his street-wise brother Goldy (Gregory Hines) to help him rescue Imabelle. Jackson fears that Imabelle has been kidnapped. But Goldy knows better -- he still agrees to help him but Goldy wants the gold for himself. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Based on the Japanese comic-book character created by Toshiki Takaya, this hyper-kinetic science fiction fantasy plays like a live-action cartoon. The title initially refers to a mysterious piece of technology capable of generating a powerful bio-mechanical exoskeleton around the body of its operator. After scientist Tetsu Segawa (Greg Paik) is murdered while trying to deliver it to CIA agent Max Reed (Mark Hamill), the device is stumbled upon by Sean Barker (Jack Armstrong), a friend of the scientist's daughter Mizki (Vivian Wu). Sean discovers the object's power when it encases him with protective power-armor during a fight -- armor which comes in handy when the similarly-clad minions of the diabolical Chronos Corporation come after him to reclaim it. The technology they employ is revealed to be from another planet, which has enabled the head of Chronos (David Gale) to transform his henchmen into reptilian creatures known as Zoanoids (whose ranks include Jimmie Walker from the '70s TV sitcom Good Times!). In the ensuing battle, Sean's consciousness becomes merged with the power of the Guyver, bestowing him with remarkable strength and agility, as well as the convenient ability to regenerate himself when damaged. Helmed by Kung Fu Rascals creator Steve Wang and special-effects wizard Screaming Mad George, The Guyver is a colorful but ultimately clumsy comic-book adventure, bogged down by a pedestrian "Hollywood" script that seems out-of-lace amid the exotic premise and fanciful creature designs. Apparently targeted at younger audiences -- who may enjoy the broad comedy and wild monster effects -- this is relatively safe sci-fi fare compared to its ultra-violent source material. Look for "Scream Queen" Linnea Quigley in a brief cameo. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

The 1987 portmanteau comedy feature Amazon Women on the Moon lampoons several film genres in general and the 1954 sci-fi cheapie Cat Women of the Moon in particular. Other sketches in Amazon Women include an opening bit with Arsenio Hall; a vignette titled "Son of the Invisible Man" wherein a naked Ed Begley Jr. runs around in full view of the nonplussed supporting cast; the It's Alive parody "Hospital", which offers the spectacle of Michelle Pfeiffer giving birth to Mr. Potato Head; and a Siskel & Ebert takeoff, featuring Arche Hahn as a TV viewer whose entire life is given a "thumbs down." Directed by several hands, including Joe Dante, Carl Gottleib, Peter Horton, John Landis, and Robert K. Weiss, Amazon Women on the Moon also features a satire of the Kroger G. Babb school of "sex hygiene" exploitation cheapies, with syphilis victim Carrie Fisher being counseled by unctuous doctor Paul Bartel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Alan Rudolph directed this offbeat, boy-meets-girl romance in which boy dies, dead boy meets dead girl, dead boy loses dead girl, and dead boy tries to find dead girl again. The tale begins is a small Pennsylvania town, where Mike Shea (Timothy Hutton) dreams of escaping small town life and moving to California with his girlfriend Brenda (Mare Winningham). But Brenda leaves him with his motor running and Mike takes off alone. On the way, he rescues a woman and her children from an icy river but perishes himself. He finds himself in Heaven, where he is greeted by Aunt Lisa (Maureen Stapleton), who explains the rules and regulations. Once in the ethereal realm, Mike falls in love with a heavenly lass with flaxen locks named Annie (Kelly McGillis). But their love is torn asunder because Annie has not yet earned her wings on Earth; she must leave on a tour of duty and put in time inhabiting a human body. Mike is beside himself in despair, but the heavenly powers, in the form of Emmett (Debra Winger), chain-smoking and sporting an orange crewcut like a ghostly Laurie Anderson, offer him a deal. Mike can return to Earth, but only on the stipulation that neither he nor Annie will remember each other. They then have thirty years in which to find one another again. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Previously filmed in Argentina in 1951, black author Richard Wright's powerful race-conscious novel Native Son was remade in this barely released 1986 version. The story involves Bigger Thomas (Victor Thomas), an angry Depression-era Chicago black who hopes to elevate himself through his chauffeur's job with a prosperous white Gold Coast family. The family's daughter (Elizabeth McGovern) takes advantage of Bigger's servile status by ordering him to drive her to a rendezvous with her communist-activist lover (Matt Dillon). Their "parlor liberal" attitude both pleases and confuses Bigger, as do the girl's apparent sexual advance towards him. One evening, Bigger drives the girl home after she's gotten herself drunk. She flirts harmlessly with him in her bedroom; when her blind mother (Carroll Baker) stumbles onto the scene, the terrified Bigger, certain that he'll be accused of rape, tries to muffle the girl so she can't talk. He accidentally kills her, whereupon the panicky Bigger hides the body and tries to pin the girl's "kidnapping" on her lover. Tragedy piles upon tragedy before Bigger's climactic murder trial and execution; throughout, we are given the impression that this sorry state of affairs would never have taken place without the black-white tensions and divisiveness that existed in 1930s, and which still exist to this day. During the trial scene, TV talk host Oprah Winfrey makes a heavily-made-up cameo appearance as Bigger's mother. The whole scene has the earmarks of an "Oscar clip," but Oprah's excessive histrionics pale in comparison to her brilliant, well-modulated performance in the earlier The Color Purple. The 1986 version of Native Son was co-produced by PBS' American Playhouse. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The "brass" hopes to keep Hunter (Fred Dryer) and McCall (Stepfanie Kramer) out of mischief by ordering the two detectives to investigate a series of muggings. Instead, Rick and Dee Dee characteristically go off on their own tangent as they try to establish the connection between two seemingly random murders. The catalyst for all the intrigue turns out to be a demented ex-convict who has sworn a terrible vengeance on the members of the jury which sent him up. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this flat attempt at comedy by the director of the Police Academy series, Neal Israel, a brash Dana Cannon (John Murray, brother of Bill) lands in a crooked re-education school for delinquent drivers, run by Deputy Halik (James Keach, brother of Stacey). The objective is to lord it over the miscreant drivers sent to the school (wrongly given citations and tickets by cops out to fill a quota, according to opening sequences) and make some money in the bargain. Deputy Halik has already decided to flunk out anyone in his classes, with the objective of impounding their cars and then auctioning off the vehicles to the highest bidders. Dana, the irrepressible new student, manages to unite the other put-upon drivers at the school into a single, determined faction -- and trouble quickly brews. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This atrocious sequel to the 1977 horror classic is padded with so much of that film's footage that it seems more like a rerun than a new story. The entire cast seems to have lengthy flashbacks of the previous movie's events, including -- in what must be a cinematic first -- the German shepherd dog. The remaining screen time is spent on an uninvolving battle between some bland motocross bikers and the cannibal hillfolk. To be fair, director Wes Craven has stated that the film was extensively tampered with prior to release. That may get Craven off the hook, but doesn't make this muddled mess any easier to watch. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide