Tanya Roberts Movies
After experience as a model and off-Broadway actress, curvaceous Tanya Roberts began appearing in film roles that relied almost exclusively on his physical attributes. In 1979's Tourist Trap, for example, the camera took a near-fetishist interest in her long and well-toned legs. Even in her big-budget movie appearances, her acting was not her strong suit, nor was it expected to be, especially in such escapist fare as Beastmaster (1982) and Sheena, Queen of the Jungle (1984). In 1980, Roberts was hired to play streetwise Julie Rogers, the last of a long line of replacement actresses in TV's Charlie's Angels (she was replacing the recently departed Shelley Hack). After her single Angels season, Roberts went back to movies, primarily horror films and high-class, soft-focus erotica. Tanya Roberts exhibited an engaging flair for self-parody as luscious secretary Velda in the made-for-TV Mike Hammer: Murder Me, Murder You (1983); but when time came to develop the film into a series, Roberts had other commitments, and was replaced by Lindsay Bloom. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie GuideSecret Agent 007 must stop a megalomaniacal technology mogul from destroying Silicon Valley in this unexceptional entry in the James Bond series. Computer baron Max Zorin (Christopher Walken) is planning to trigger a major California earthquake in order to wipe out his competitors. Bond is assigned to stop him, but first he must do battle with Zorin's statuesque partner in crime, May Day (Grace Jones). The expected high-wire confrontations ensue, as Bond battles the villains at international landmarks like the Eiffel Tower and takes the occasional break to romance an attractive geologist. Unfortunately, nothing fresh is brought to the familiar formula, and even the well-staged action sequences prove less than exciting. Indeed, this otherwise by-the-numbers production is most notable for the fact that it marked the final appearance of Roger Moore as the dashing Bond. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roger Moore, Christopher Walken, (more)
Dom DeLuise's son Michael holds the directorial reins in the direct-to-video Almost Pregnant. Onetime "Charlie's Angel" Tanya Roberts plays a woman who'll do anything to become pregnant. Since her hubby Jeff Conaway can't deliver the goods, she decides to rely upon a surrogate. Her first new partner turns out to have had a vasectomy-and this is only the beginning. The director's dad makes an amusing appearance in this strident but undeniably funny bedroom farce. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Harry Similac (Dirk Benedict) is a music promoter who must scramble to stay out of debt in this slapstick comedy. He hits upon the idea of becoming a wrestling promoter and steals Rick Roberts (Roddy Piper) from his former manager Captain Lou Milano (Lou Albano). He books his rock band Kick at the match and creates a new phenomena that combines wrestling with rock n' roll. Charles Nelson Reilly, Billy Barty, and John Astin provide memorable comedy relief. Cameo appearances by wrestlers Ric Flair, Afa & Sika, Sheik Adnan Al Kaissy, Freddie Blassie, and Bruno Sammartino add further realism to this feature that recalls the rock-and-wrestling spectaculars of the early 1980s. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dirk Benedict, Tanya Roberts, (more)
T.T. (Dennis Christopher), a Midwesterner, has traveled to the beaches of California for a dose of the surfin' life. He believes that the people he finds there are glamorous and knowledgeable. They reject his Midwestern nerdiness, make fun of him, and generally give him a hard time for not fitting in and wanting to. However, eventually he figures out that they are no wiser than he is, and that their lives are surprisingly empty. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glynnis O'Connor, Seymour Cassel, (more)
A homeless teenager in Los Angeles manages to wind up sharing an apartment in a ritzy complex. One night he sees a beautiful neighbor swimming nude in the pool, when she is suddenly attacked by her crazed, insanely jealous husband. As he is drawn into his neighbor's life, what he doesn't realize is that he is being set up. ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide
Jimmy Angelelli (Harvey Keitel) wants to be a concert pianist. Jimmy's dad, Ben Angelelli (Michael V. Gazzo), wants his son to go into the family business. So far, so banal. But the "family business" depicted in Fingers is organized crime, and therein lies the film's perverse appeal. Fingers represents the directorial debut of screenwriter James Toback, who also wrote the script. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harvey Keitel, Tisa Farrow, (more)
This unpleasant early entry in the slasher film genre involves a psychotic garage mechanic whose history of childhood abuse at the hands of his mother leads to murderous rage against women. When the mechanic ends up falling for one of his potential victims (Tanya Roberts), the terrified but resourceful woman manages to manipulate his amorous feelings for her in order to get the upper hand. This seedy and cheap-looking film was originally released in 1977 (as Last Victim), then re-packaged in 1984 to capitalize on the burgeoning popularity of Roberts, as well as a young Nancy Allen (who appears only briefly as a doomed hitchhiker). ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tanya Roberts, Ron Max, (more)
Set in an early medieval period, this swashbuckling costume drama pits Christian knights against infidels in an imaginary holy war, and what is more astounding and a tribute to the Italian love of amore, is that the commanders from each side fall in love with "enemy" women and decide to call it a day, pack in their arms, and go off to do better things. Ruggero (Ronn Moss) leads the infidels in some of the best-looking armor this side of Armani, and Rolando (Rick Edwards) is at the forefront of the Christian knights. One of the knights is a misnomer -- he is actually a she, Bradamante (Barbara De Rossi), and when she sees the well-clad Ruggero, she agrees to hand over his sister Isabella (Tanya Roberts) just to get in his good graces. These four protagonists go through a series of adventures and misadventures in a gorgeous setting of Byzantine castles, mountain canyons, and dark forests, all complemented by aesthetic, inventive sets and creative costuming. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rick Edwards, Ronn Moss, (more)
An invalid suspects that her husband and her sultry new nurse are plotting to do away with her. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
Trash-TV pioneer Morton Downey Jr. stars as an evil savings-and-loan financier who is investigated by a private eye (Robert Davi) in this thriller also released as Ladies Game. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
After a 1981 false-start pilot film featuring Kevin Dobson, a new TV series based on Mickey Spillane's fascistic p.i. Mike Hammer was heralded with the 1983 TV pilot Murder Me, Murder You. This time Stacy Keach steps into Mike Hammer's gumshoes, as Mike is hired to protect grand jury witness Michelle Phillips. It so happens that Hammer and the witness were once lovers, but what Mike doesn't know (until halfway through the film) is that he is the father of Michelle's 19-year-old daughter. When the lovely witness mysteriously drops dead in court, Hammer is compelled to seek out the daughter he has never met--before the bad guys find her first. While the plot convolutions are more in the tradition of Ross MacDonald than Mickey Spillane, Murder Me, Murder You star Stacy Keach may well stand the test of time as the definitive Mike Hammer. He continued the role into a brief TV series, though ex-"Charlie's Angel" Tanya Roberts, cast in Murder Me, Murder You as Mike's curvaceous secretary Velda, would be replaced in the series by Lindsay Bloom. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Pleasure Cove taps the Grand Hotel format already being worked to death in 1979 by Love Boat and Fantasy Island. Top-billed Tom Jones plays a crook in disguise who becomes involved in love and larceny at the hideaway resort of Pleasure Cove. There's an all-TV star cast, but the largest roles go to James Murtaugh and Constance Forslund as the resort managers, and Ernest Harada as the funny "gopher" desk clerk. This trio would have been the continuing characters has this TV pilot film been picked up as a weekly series. But Pleasure Cove received precisely two network showings in 1979 before going to busted-pilot purgatory. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Carly Arnold (Tanya Roberts) is happily spreading goodness and light as a Peace Corps volunteer in Africa when she and her pal Melanie (Julie Pop) run afoul of the local, highly corrupt, justice system. Despite numerous bribes by her mother Ruth (Clare Marshall), the two girls receive an eleven-year sentence on phony charges of drug-peddling. They are sentenced to serve their time at a prison run by a dissolute warden (Hal Orlandini) who typically employs his better looking female prisoners as prostitutes. Melanie kills herself after being gang-raped by guards, and Carly, realizing she'll get no help from the U.S. Embassy, has no choice but to escape. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tanya Roberts, Julie Pop, (more)
Bert Convy is the lead fellow here who appears as a tennis pro who uses his fondness for matched points to his advantage as he plays stud-man to his wealthy female clients in order to gather funds enough for his own tennis club. This lame effort includes a cameo by tennis great Bjorn Borg and a lengthier appearance by the irrepressible Bobby Riggs. ~ All Movie Guide
Based on the famous comic strip, Sheena chronicles the adventures of the title character (Tanya Roberts), a fair-skinned orphan taken in by a kindly Zambouli priestess (Elizabeth of Toro, a real-life African queen) in a remote African village and trained in the ancient arts of makeup and hairstyling. When American newsmen Fletcher (Donovan Scott) and Vic (Ted Wass) travel to her homeland to cover a story on Prince Otwani (Trevor Thomas), they uncover his plot to assassinate his brother, the reigning prince (a renowned field-goal kicker), and frame the priestess for the crime. Sheena joins forces with the newsmen to stop him and restore order to the country. Although Roberts looks great in a loincloth, her assets alone cannot save this turkey; one wonders where the jungle princess manages to plug in her blow-dryer. This ridiculous film was panned across the board upon its release and subsequently bombed. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tanya Roberts, Ted Wass, (more)
The depraved shenanigans at a sex clinic provide the plot of this erotic crime thriller from B-movie director Jim Wynorski. There is something sinister going at the Callister Sex Institute, a surrogate and sexual healing clinic run by therapist Scott Callister (Jay Richardson) and his bisexual wife Dr. Jessica Callister (Delia Sheppard). While investigating allegations of malfeasance, an undercover operative, Monica Waldman (Gail Harris) has been raped and murdered. Her boss, private eye Barry Mitchum (Nick Cassavetes) is determined to nail the Callisters, and so is Kay Egan (Tanya Roberts), whose sister committed suicide after being sexually assaulted at the clinic. After Barry and Kay discover they're after the same goal, they join forces to expose the Callisters, with Kay even going so far as to use her body in an effort to help Barry. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
The first season of That '70s Show largely took place in 1976, though references to Saturday Night Fever and Star Wars in the course of the season's 25 episodes indicated that there had been some incursion into 1977 territory (the series also quietly moved from a Sunday- to a Monday-night slot in mid-season). The action occurred in Point Place, WI, not far from Green Bay. The plots revolved around the exploits of a group of high-school juniors, led by the impulsive Eric Forman (Topher Grace). Usually found hanging out in the Forman basement, Eric's cohorts included his next-door-neighbor, childhood friend, and latterly sweetheart, foxy redhead Donna Pinciotti (Laura Prepon); his best buds Michael Kelso (Ashton Kutcher), the archetypal "dumb hunk," and Steven Hyde (Danny Masterson), conspiracy theorist supreme; Kelso's spoiled-brat girlfriend, Jackie Burkhart (Mila Kunis); and Fez (Wilmer Valderrama), a naïve and extremely pliable foreign-exchange student. There was also a full complement of grown-ups, foremost among them Eric's dad, Red Forman (Kurtwood Smith), who had a very low opinion of his son's friends and lifestyle, and Eric's mom, Kitty (Debra Jo Rupp), who wasn't quite as ditzy as she seemed (no one could be!). Both of the Formans worked: Red had a factory job which was downsized early in the season, while Kitty was a nurse. Next door to the Formans were Donna's parents, Bob and Midge Pinciotti (Don Stark, Tanya Roberts). Bob owned an appliance store where the semi-laid-off Red was occasionally employed as a clerk, while Midge was a stay-at-home wife and mother who was bored out of her gourd. Seen on a recurring basis was another "older" character, Eric's sister, Laurie (Lisa Robin Kelly), a freshman at the University of Wisconsin. As the season progressed, Bob and Midge Pinciotti drifted toward separation and divorce; Hyde's single mom (played in one episode by Katey Sagal) deserted him, prompting the boy to move in with Eric; and Laurie flunked out of school, came home, and tentatively began a sexual relationship with doltish Kelso. Although That '70s Show did not crack the Top 20 ratings-wise during its maiden season, the series was one of the most popular offerings of the Fox network. It also earned an Outstanding Costume Design Emmy award for the entry titled "That Disco Episode." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Topher Grace, Mila Kunis, (more)
The second season of That '70s Show finds Lisa Robin Kelly becoming a regular in the heretofore recurring role of Laurie Forman, irresponsible sister of 1970s Wisconsin high schooler Eric Forman (Topher Grace). Having moved back into her parents' home after flunking out of college, Laurie has been dallying sexually with Eric's friend Michael Kelso (Ashton Kutcher), who in turn has been hiding these dalliances from his girlfriend, Jackie Burkhart (Mila Kunis). In addition to Eric, Laurie, and their parents, Red (Kurtwood Smith) and Kitty (Debra Jo Rupp), another of Eric's friends, the scruffy Steve Hyde (Danny Masterson) has been living in the Forman home ever since his mom deserted him. Throughout season two, Eric's romance with his lifelong friend (and next-door neighbor) Donna Pinciotti (Laura Prepon) waxes and wanes, then heats up considerably, causing Kitty to have a nervous breakdown when she discovers that Eric and Donna are having sex. In other developments, Laurie briefly causes her parents grief when she moves in with a married guy; Red Forman sells Eric's beloved Vista Cruiser as an indirect result of a serving of Hyde's "hash brownies"; unemployed throughout much of the season, Red lands a job as a supermarket manager, only to find himself the boss of his own son Eric; the marriage of Donna's parents, Bob (Don Stark) and Midge (Tanya Roberts), continues to disintegrate; and Eric's exchange-student pal, Fez (Wilmer Valderrama), remains a virgin, despite his most strenuous efforts to alter this condition. The season ends on a cliffhanger, as Hyde takes the rap when Jackie is caught with a stash of pot. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Topher Grace, Mila Kunis, (more)
Season three of That '70s Show resolves the cliffhanger ending of season two, in which Steve Hyde (Danny Masterson) was arrested for pot possession and kicked out of the Forman household by outraged paterfamilias Red Forman (Kurtwood Smith). Even after it is revealed that Hyde was gallantly covering up for Jackie Burkhart (Mila Kunis), girlfriend of the clueless Mike Kelso (Ashton Kutcher), Red remains convinced that friends like Hyde and Kelso are bad influences for his son, Eric (Topher Grace), and begins lowering the boom discipline-wise -- at least, until he is gently talked out of his stand by his wife, Kitty (Debra Jo Rupp). And there's more to come in season three, as Hyde is reunited with his long-lost father, Bud (Robert Hays); Jackie and exchange student Fez (Wilmer Valderrama) win a roller-disco contest (it's the '70s, remember?); Red gets sued for firing a dopey employee (Robert Clendenin) at Pricemart, then finds that he can't shake the suer no matter where he goes; Jackie picks up a guy who turns out to be one of her mom's former boyfriends; Kitty begins getting the urge to become a mother again; Red undergoes a profound personality change after a near-death experience -- temporarily; Eric gets a tattoo during a drunken binge; Fez takes a trip across the Canadian border and is nearly deported as a result; and Eric's girlfriend, Donna (Laura Prepon), becomes "Hot Donna" when she takes a part-time job at a radio station. Other highlights include unexpected guest appearances by Ted Nugent and Monty Hall, and an episode titled "Too Old to Trick or Treat, Too Young to Die" which evolves into an all-inclusive, and very funny, Alfred Hitchcock spoof. But it's no laughing matter when, at the very end of season three, a disillusioned Donna and Eric decide to call off their romance. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Topher Grace, Mila Kunis, (more)
This low-budget entry into the sword-and-sorcery cycle of the early '80s wasn't successful during its initial release, but has steadily built a strong cult following over the years. The Beastmaster tells the story of Dar (Marc Singer), the son of a king who was stolen from his mother's womb by a witch under the command of vicious sorcerer Maax (Rip Torn). A poor villager saves Dar from being sacrificed and raises him as his own son, teaching Dar how to fight and witnessing the boy's ability to telepathically communicate with animals. Their happiness is destroyed when their village is attacked by the evil Jun horde, a race of beast-like warriors controlled by Maax. Dar vows revenge and journeys to his father's former kingdom to destroy Maax. Along the way, he falls in love with gorgeous slave girl Kiri (Tanya Roberts) and teams up with former royal guard Seth (John Amos). Dar also uses his powers to enlist the aid of an eagle, a panther and two adorable ferrets named Kodo and Podo. Together, Dar and his unlikely but brave team square off with Maax in an impressive two-part finale that involves a swordfight on the side of a pyramid and a showdown with the Jun horde near a flaming moat. The resulting film was full of action and eccentric surprises, but failed to make an impression at a box office already glutted with fantasy films. However, The Beastmaster eventually became a serious cult favorite thanks to home video and extensive exposure on cable (it is the second most aired movie on TBS after Gone With the Wind). This enduring popularity led to two sequels and a syndicated television series chronicling the further adventures of Dar. ~ Donald Guarisco, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marc Singer, Tanya Roberts, (more)
Barry Rosen, director of the cult favorite Gang Wars, made this confused sex comedy about New York models. Michelle Dow plays the naive Melody, who comes to the Big Apple from Duncan Falls, Ohio, to pursue her dream. Inevitably, this dream leads to casting-couches, frightening nightmares, rape, and suicide, but there is much humor in the interim. Rosen tries to graft episodic screwball comedy bits involving bad auditions and backstage cattiness onto what is essentially a grim 1930s-style cautionary tale, and it doesn't quite work. The end result plays like a demented hybrid of Showgirls and Valley of the Dolls in which Melody's horrible abuse at the hands of sleazy producers alternates with semi-nude models pulling each other's hair and elderly Edna Thayer croaking "I'm a Big Fat Mama" to a dismayed casting director. The fact that two of the models are played by Judy Landers and Tanya Roberts may interest some viewers, but overall this disjointed soap-opera is unsatisfying and trite. Production manager Mik Cribben went on to direct the intriguing Beware! Children at Play, while assistant cameraman Domonic Paris directed Dracula's Last Rites and the cheerleader comedy Splitz. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
In this horror outing, a seemingly abandoned desert gas station turns out to be a grotesque museum filled with murderous mannequins who come to life when visitors come to call. The ill-fated "guests" are lured in by a strange siren's song. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chuck Connors, Jon Van Ness, (more)
In this futuristic actioner set in the year 2020, guns have become so illegal that even cops cannot use them to stop criminals. But officer James Tucker is a maverick and carries with him an enormous homemade revolver, which he uses to blow away bad-guys and psychotic criminals. His newest assignment is to find the evil Steelmore, who uses drugs to turn his followers into nearly invincible and super-intelligent supermen. He obtains the drug through the pharmaceutical company he blackmails by regularly killing the lovers, wives and associates of high-ranking company executives. The trouble for Tucker really begins when higher-ups take away his gun. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Heavener, Erik Estrada, (more)

























