John Ratzenberger Movies

Soured on America by his experiences as a POW in Vietnam, General Lawrence Dell (Burt Lancaster) hopes that his government will someday tell the truth about the Southeast Asian debacle, thereby allowing his country to embark upon a healing process. Regarded as a dangerous embarrassment by the higher-ups, Dell is framed on a manslaughter charge and sent to prison. Escaping with three hardened convicts (Paul Winfield, Burt Young, and William Smith), Dell takes over an SAC base, threatening to launch nine Titan missiles if his demands that top-secret Vietnam files be made public are not met. Thus, the fate of the world rests in the hands of the mentally unbalanced Dell, his former superior General MacKenzie (Richard Widmark), and U.S. president David Stevens (Charles Durning). For this picture, Edward Huebach and Ronald M. Cohen adapted Walter Wager's novel Viper Three. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Also known as Seven Cities to Atlantis, this is a youth-oriented, British-produced adventure fantasy which uses rather ordinary special effects. In Victorian England, an explorer, Greg Collinson (Doug McClure), leads an unlikely expedition to discover the lost continent of Atlantis. Among the team are scientists Professor Aitken (Donald Boisset) and son Charles (Peter Gilmore). The crew members mutiny, setting their sights on the legendary treasures of Atlantis. The ship is attacked by sea monsters and a giant octopus. Sinking to the bottom of the sea, the explorers find that Atlantis is populated by intelligent beings from another planet who enslave shipwrecked sailors. The aliens' goal is to create a fascist state that will rule the world, and they want to recruit Charles to help them. Delphine (Lea Brodie), the daughter of one of the shipwrecked slaves, helps the heroes find a high priestess, Atsil (Cyd Charisse), who holds the key to their chances of escaping. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

Joan Collins stars as Fontaine Khaled in this sleek and sleazy sequel to her sister Jackie Collins's The Stud. Fontaine is the owner of a high class London nightclub, but after having an extramarital affair, her marriage falls apart and she stands to lose her nightclub. As a result, she hits the jet-set circuit, plying her allure for erotic dividends. She also involves herself in smuggling and in rigged horse races, trying any means necessary to obtain the funding to rescue her beloved nightclub from foreclosure. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

A valiant prince battles an evil sorcerer to rescue his true love in this colorful fantasy, which features high adventure and plenty of special effects. The hero must overcome a number of dangers, along the way receiving help from a beautiful street urchin and a magical rose. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

Between giving up his super powers, confronting criminals from outer space, and having problems with his girlfriend, it's a bad time to be the Man of Steel in this sequel to the 1978 blockbuster. When terrorists threaten to destroy Paris with a thermonuclear device as they hold reporter Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) hostage, Superman (Christopher Reeve) comes to the rescue and flings the weapon into space. However, its blast outside the earth's orbit awakens Zod (Terence Stamp), Ursa (Sarah Douglas), and Non (Jack O'Halloran), three villains from Superman's home planet of Krypton who were exiled to outer space for their crimes. Zod and his partners arrive on Earth and use their powers in a bid to take over the U.S., and then the world. However, when Lois realizes that mild mannered Clark Kent and Superman are actually the same person, he brings her to his Fortress of Solitude, where his decision to marry Lois costs him his remarkable strength. Without his super powers, how can Superman vanquish Zod and save the world? Gene Hackman, Ned Beatty, Susannah York, and Jackie Cooper return from the first film, which was shot at the same time as parts of the sequel. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

People come from far and wide to sample Farmer Vincent's distinctively flavored dried, smoked sausages, but one might well ask why there are so few people staying at his nearby motel. This horror comedy provides the graphic answer. It seems that the good farmer only uses the highest quality, specially processed human meat in his treats. To prepare the meat, he first harvests healthy tourists from his hotel. Next, he plants them into the ground up to their necks and with a sharp knife carefully slices their vocal chords. He and his portly sister then feed the victims until the meat is tender and well marbled with fat. Afterward they are promptly slaughtered, minced with a few secret herbs, and stuffed into sausage casings, which are then carefully aged in the smokehouse. His operation is abruptly cut off when Vincent's normal brother, Bruce, learns about the secret ingredients. In the end, the brothers grab chain saws and have a hilarious, blood-soaked showdown. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

E. L. Doctorow's novel Ragtime was a sprawling fictional account of American manners and mores in the years between 1900 and 1913. Among the mosaic of colorful factual and fictional characters in the novel were escape artist Harry Houdini and radical Emma Goldman. Both characters are all but eliminated in the film version, which only concentrates on three of Doctorow's many plot threads: The story of an immigrant artist (Mandy Patinkin) who becomes a movie director; the saga of "Gibson Girl" Evelyn Nesbit Shaw (Elizabeth McGovern), for whose sake playboy Harry K. Thaw (Robert Joy); kills architect Stanford White (Norman Mailer) and a lone black man's (Howard Rollins Jr.) quest for justice when his car is destroyed by a racist fire chief (Kenneth McMillan). This last subplot consumes most of the film's running time, to the overall detriment of the pacing. There are also several scenes involving an unnamed upper-middle-class family (headed by James Olson and Mary Steenburgen) who are evidently meant to be the audience's eyes and ears, but are frankly not terribly interesting. Back in 1981, Ragtime was given plenty of press coverage as the "comeback" picture for James Cagney, after twenty years in retirement. The problem is that Cagney's character (a police commissioner) isn't in the book, and his inclusion not only throws the story off balance, but necessitates the removal of several potentially interesting characters and events. Another detriment is the gratuitous (and illogical) nudity in the Evelyn Nesbit scenes, which earned the film its "R" rating. An ornate misfire, Ragtime is of interest today only for its remarkable cast of veterans and stars-to-be, including Pat O'Brien and Eloise O'Brien, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Allen, Moses Gunn, Jeff Daniels and Fran Drescher. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Seldom has a television sitcom opened with such assurance as Cheers. Within the very first episode, the basic setting was firmly established, the characters clearly drawn, and the interrelationships fully defined. Although there would be plenty of "fleshing out" over the next 11 seasons, Cheers knew exactly where it was going from its beginning. Sam Malone (Ted Danson), former star pitcher for the Boston Red Sox and a recovering alcoholic, was the owner and main bartender of the nearly-century-old Boston watering hole Cheers. Assisting Sam behind the counter was Ernie "Coach" Pantusso (Nicholas Colasanto), a retired baseball coach and manager with a veritable fountain of colorful anecdotes and sage advice and Carla Tortelli (Rhea Perlman), acerbic waitress and single mother (she had recently been divorced from the slimy Nick Tortelli, who would not appear on camera until the show's second season). Cheers' regular patrons included Norm Peterson (George Wendt), a perennially underemployed accountant and full-scale worry wart who was forever grousing about his marriage to the never-seen Vera; and, less frequently than Norm during the first season, trivia-spouting, know-it-all postal worker Cliff Clavin (John Ratzenberger). Other recurring patrons filled in the background, with the notable exception of local scam artist Harry "The Hat" Gittes, played by Harry Anderson as something of a dry run for his starring stint on another sitcom, Night Court. The one square peg in the round hole known as Cheers was Diane Chambers (Shelley Long), an attractive, intellectual graduate student who came into the bar early in the first episode to await the arrival of her boss and fiancé, Professor Sumner Sloan (Michael McGuire). Upon realizing that Sloan had jilted her, the now-unemployed Diane, with no discernible practical skills, was forced to accept a job as a Cheers waitress. This delighted Sam, an inveterate womanizer who regarded Diane as a hot prospect, but was greeted with less than enthusiasm by Carla, who never had a good word to say about anyone. Gradually, Sam came to resent the well-meaning but inherently annoying Diane as much as Carla, but viewers knew that this constantly combative couple were secretly attracted to one another -- even if they would not declare that attraction until the very last episode of season One. Although Cheers' audience was relatively small during its first year, this was more symptomatic of the sorry state of NBC's sitcom lineup in 1982 than any lack of quality. Indeed, only two NBC series even made the Top 25 during that season, and neither was a comedy. Nonetheless, those who did tune in Cheers instead of its chief competition, CBS's Simon and Simon, were enthusiastic in their support, and the series was warmly embraced by the TV industry as a whole. Upon completing its freshman season, Cheers walked away with five Emmy awards: Outstanding Comedy Series; Outstanding Directing (James Burrows for the season finale); Outstanding Lead Actress (Long); Outstanding Writing (Glen and Les Charles for the opener); Outstanding Individual Achievement in Graphic Design and Title Sequences (James Castle and Bruce Bryant); and eight total nominations, including one for the series' now-classic theme song ("Where Everybody Knows Your Name," by Judy Hart-Angelo and Gary Portnoy). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Harley Cokliss (second-unit director for The Empire Strikes Back) made his feature-film directing debut in this Mad Max-inspired action film. The story takes place in a post-apocalyptic civilization carrying on after a war for oil has depleted the world's petroleum supplies. An outlaw army under the command of Straker (James Wainwright) controls a gigantic truck used as a weapon of pillage. However, Straker's daughter Corlie (Annie McEnroe) doesn't want to be a part of her father's evil designs. She runs away from her father and takes up with Hunter (Michael Beck), a reclusive biker. With Hunter, Annie settles in a peaceful community led by Rusty (John Ratzenberger). But it is only a matter of time before the Battletruck barrels into town, and the peace of the community is shattered. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

There was good news and bad news for Cheers during its third season. In the former category, the series continued to climb upward in the ratings (thanks largely to the goodwill engendered by NBC's most popular Thursday-night series The Cosby Show), sharing 12th place with ABC's Hotel. The sitcom also took home two more Emmys -- Outstanding Supporting Actress (the second such award for Rhea Perlman) and Outstanding Live and Tape Sound Mixing and Sound Effects (Douglas Gray, Michael Balin, and Thomas J. Huth for the episode entitled "The Executive's Executioner") -- in addition to ten other nominations. In the "bad news" category, the cast and crew were forced to bid farewell to one of the series' most beloved regulars, who died all too soon. Picking up where season two left off, the romance between Sam Malone (Ted Danson) and Diane Chambers (Shelley Long) was kaput thanks to a foolish argument. Recovering alcoholic Sam crawled back into the bottle and Diane briefly had herself committed to a mental institution, where she was placed under the care of imperious, insufferable Dr. Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer, inaugurating a role which he would play for the next two decades in two different series). Once Sam had come to terms with the loss of Diane and had sobered up, he had to deal with the fact that Diane and Frasier were now lovers. By season's end, the couple had embarked upon a working vacation to Europe, where Frasier finally popped the question -- but would the notoriously mercurial Diane accept his proposal? And back at Cheers in Boston, the still-unmarried Carla (Perlman) was pregnant yet again (for the sixth time). Amidst all this comic intrigue, the ineffable Coach (Nicholas Colasanto), Cheers' venerable bartender, emerged as the sole spokesman for calm and reason. Alas, actor Colasanto was suffering from cancer, and died February 12, 1985, shortly after completing work on the episode entitled "The Executive's Executioner" (for which the actor received a posthumous Emmy nomination). Rather than have the character die, as well, the producers went through an elaborate charade during the season's climactic episodes, explaining away Coach's absences with a multitude of lame excuses, or having him briefly show up via outtakes from earlier episodes. Perhaps this was done to avoid an excess of melancholy, or simply to keep the audience's attention on the Sam-Diane-Frasier triangle which determined the outcome of the third-season finale. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

As in earlier years, the action in the first episode of Cheers' fourth season was driven by the plot lines left dangling during the previous one. Having ended their romance in Europe, Diane Chambers (Shelley Long) and Dr. Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer) returned separately to Boston. Diane entered a local convent to pay penance for the "debauchery" she indulged in overseas, while Frasier repaired to Cheers to cry in his beer. Eventually, Diane gave up the cloistered life to return to her waitressing job at Cheers, prompting owner/bartender Sam Malone (Ted Danson) to renew his efforts to rekindle his own romance with her. Just when it seemed that couple was an "item" again, along came attractive Boston councilwoman Janice Eldridge (Kate Mulgrew), who deftly managed to wrap Sam around her little finger. This precipitated the series' three-part fourth season finale, in which Sam and Diane angrily broke off their relationship yet again. But there was a last-minute twist for those who stuck around until the episode's fade-out. As for the other regulars, accountant Norm Peterson (George Wendt) continued his search for a new job and kvetching about his never-seen wife Vera, and postman Cliff Clavin (John Ratzenberger) persisted in spouting useless information to anyone who would listen. Abrasive Cheers waitress Carla (Rhea Perlman), now with six children to support, redoubled her efforts to find a new husband -- and to fend off her slimy ex, Nick Tortelli (Dan Hedaya). With the death of series regular Nicholas Colasanto in February 1985, Cheers was in need of a capable bartender to replace the beloved Coach (whose own demise was finally acknowledged). The man needed was the man found: Woody Boyd (Woody Harrelson), a gangly naif from Indiana who came into Cheers to meet Coach, with whom he had carried on a correspondence course in bartending. Woody was hired by Sam on the spot. Another future Cheers regular showed up briefly during the February 6, 1986, episode "Second Time Around." As originally conceived, uptight, patronizing, female psychologist Lilith Sternin was supposed to have been a one-shot character, merely another of the many women whom Frasier unsuccessfully tried to date after his split with Diane. But audience response was so positive to Bebe Neuwirth's portrayal of Lilith that the producers decided to bring her back on a recurring basis during the 1986-87 season. Up from 12th to fifth place in the ratings, Cheers not only continued to please the crowd, but also garnered more Emmy awards for its already-burgeoning collection. That year, Emmys were bestowed upon Rhea Perlman for the third time as Outstanding Supporting Actress and the series' sound-mixing crew (Michael Ballin, Robert Douglass, Douglas Gray, and Thomas J. Huth) for the second time. The series also earned nine nominations in other categories. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this youthful film, to juvenile delinquents must spend a year in a military academy. They immediately begin driving their superior officers crazy. The film is also titled Combat Academy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide