Deborah Richter Movies
In a post-apocalyptic world, killer-for-hire Gibson Rickenbacker (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is hired to escort a cyborg--which contains valuable information on a cure for a deathly plague--to its research center. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Claude Van Damme, Deborah Richter, (more)
John Garfieldesque leading man Robert Forster plays a cop in The Banker. The title character is above-suspicion financier Duncan Regehr, whom Forster suspects of being a serial killer of prostitutes. Such is the banker's power that Forster is threatened with unemployment, or death, or both if he acts upon his suspicions. The detective is forced to use the "give him enough rope" ploy-and nearly ends up with his own neck in the noose. Old favorites Richard Roundtree, Leif Garrett, Jeff Conaway, and E. J. Peaker dot the supporting cast of this contemporary Jack-the-Ripper chiller. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Forster, Duncan Regehr, (more)
Three friends face the disappointments of adulthood in this drama. Growing up in Ashville, Utah, a small town where traditional ideals still cling stubbornly to the hearts and minds of youth, Davey Hancock (Jason Gedrick) is the star of the high school's championship basketball team. Pretty cheerleader Mary Daley (Tracy Pollan) is Davey's girlfriend, and bright Danny Rivers (Kiefer Sutherland) is his best friend. Two years after graduating from high school, reality has dimmed their dreams; while Davey won a college scholarship to play ball, he washed out of the team and ended up back in Ashville, where he's now a police officer. While Davey still sees Mary, she wants more out of life than Ashville or her relationship with him can give her. And when Danny, who has spent much of his time since high school drifting in search of an ambition, returns to town to visit Davey and Mary, he brings along a surprise -- Bev (Meg Ryan), a drug-addled floozy with an unstable personality (and a gun) whom he married in Las Vegas three days earlier. Promised Land was also released on home video under the title Young Hearts. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jason Gedrick, Kiefer Sutherland, (more)
- 1987
- PG13
Gemma (Winona Ryder) is a young teen raised by her crusty grandfather Dillard (Jason Robards) in this drama of a young woman's coming of age. When she goes to the city to spend the summer with her estranged mother Juanella (Jane Alexander), she falls for Rory (Rob Lowe), a rural rube of less-than-average intelligence, but her only true friend in a hypocritical town. Gemma's promiscuous mother delights in reminding the emotional Gemma that her father could be any one of several men, and Gemma's frustration leads to an inevitable confrontation between mother and daughter. Deborah Richter plays the town floozie Gwen. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jason Robards, Jr., Jane Alexander, (more)
After Billy Robinson (Robert Krantz) finds success as a professional motorcycle racer, he returns to his hometown where he faces adulation and jealousy as a result of his success. When a local motorcycle race is put together, Billy must compete against his best friend (Don Michael Paul) for the prize. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don Michael Paul, Kathleen York, (more)
- 1986
Christmas Eve was actually first telecast on December 22, 1986, but nobody cared about the "error" then, so why should we? Making her first television appearance in 23 years, Loretta Young (her ageless beauty undimmed by her silvery hair) plays a wealthy New York matriarch who learns that she is dying. This strengthens her determination to be reunited with her three grandchildren, whom she hasn't seen in 16 years thanks to a bitter argument with her avaricious son Arthur Hill. As Hill wages a court campaign to have Young declared incompetent and thus get his mitts on her millions, private eye Ron Leibman races against time to locate her lost grandkids before Christmas. Do you honestly think you'll get through Christmas Eve without a box of Kleenex handy? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1980
- R
Chaos reigns in the Catskills in this low-budget teen comedy. Kavell (Michael Lembeck) and Bergman (Philip Casnoff) are college students who spend their summers working in the dining hall at Camp Oskemo, an upstate New York summer camp where they're the senior waiters. Serving food to bratty children doesn't interest them nearly as much as trying to make time with the female counselors at the camp, among them pretty but chaste Vicki (Lisa Shure) and attractive but significantly less virginal Evie (Fran Drescher). Kavell and Bergman also wage an annual war against the junior waiters with the help of deranged server Grossman (Dennis Quaid), but their real nemesis is Wallman (David Huddleston), the owner of the camp who makes no secret of his dislike for the waiters. Over the course of one eventful summer, Kavell, Bergman and their fellow food slingers dose the entire camp with amphetamines, taint the Kosher meals with pork, screen pornographic movies during Parent's Weekend, run a tank through the campgrounds and destroy the waiter's housing and most of what surrounds it. Hilarity, or something like it, ensues. While seemingly influenced by Meatballs, Gorp was actually shot at roughly the same time as Bill Murray's summer camp vehicle, though it was released nine months later. Director Joe Ruben later went on to better things, including True Believer, Sleeping With The Enemy and The Forgotten. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Lembeck, Dennis Quaid, (more)
The crux of this limited, juvenile comedy is a complex game that begins at midnight and ends by morning. Of main interest is the fact that a young Michael J. Fox plays one of the students involved in the game. Leon (Alan Solomon) has spent a year creating the game and practically needs that long to convince his fellow students to play it. Eventually he wins out, and the various teams of classic stereotypes -- the nerd, the well-groomed hero, the obnoxious sorority sister, the easily duped freshman, and others -- all converge on Los Angeles at midnight. Their treks take them through the Griffith Observatory which because of those odd hours astronomers keep, could conceivably be open. Other locales are interestingly open too, apparently Los Angeles never sleeps. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Naughton, Debra Clinger, (more)
- 1979
- R
- Add Hometown USA to Queue
Max Baer Jr. borrows liberally from George Lucas's American Graffiti for this slice-of-life look at teenage life circa 1957. The story concerns a group of adolescents whose main concerns are cars, cruising, and sex. The story centers upon Rodney C. Duckworth (Gary Springer), a shy, virginal teen, and the efforts of his friends Recil Calhoun (David Wilson) and T.J. Swackhammer (Brian Kerwin) to try to fix Rodney up with a date. Unfortunately, their libidos manage to get the better of them, and Recil and T.J. end up going out with the girls themselves. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gary Springer, David Wilson, (more)
- 1979
The Rebels was the second "Operation Prime Time" miniseries to be based on author John Jakes' Kent Family Chronicles (the first was The Bastard). The saga of Philip Kent (Andrew Stevens), illegitimate son of a British blueblood, picks up with Kent fighting in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. Part One of this two-part endeavor busies itself with setting up characters, places and events; Part Two finds Kent and his pal Judson Fletcher (Don Johnson) teaming up to prevent the assassination of General George Washington (Peter Graves). The enormous all-star cast includes Richard Basehart, Doug McClure, Joan Blondell, Tom Bosley, Macdonald Carey, Robert Vaughan, William Daniels and Nehemiah Persoff; William Conrad does off-screen duty as narrator. The Rebels was syndicated to local TV stations beginning the week of May 14, 1979. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1979
This made-for-TV drama tells the story of how a nice young widow becomes a stripper. She only does it because she desperately needs money to support her young son. When her son's grandfather finds out, he immediately starts a custody battle to take the son away from her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1977
- PG
Robby Benson plays a talented but naive high school basketball star who wins a scholarship to a perfection-driven college. Here he discovers that he's way out of his league, easily outclassed athletically by his opponents and by his own team. In addition, he runs up against the sort of arm-twisting corruption that often occurs in a college where winning is the only thing. Only the support of his new girlfriend Janet (Annette O'Toole) sees him through his first two semesters. He must weather the bullying of his teammates and his mean-spirited coach (played byG. D.Spradlin). There was plenty of shuttling between cast and production staff in One on One. Besides starring in the film, Benson co-wrote the screenplay (with his father Jerry Segal), while director Lamont Johnson portrays Benson's alumni sponsor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robby Benson, Annette O'Toole, (more)
