Alex Rocco Movies

This exploitation film delivers the typically sadistic and fast-paced action expected from cult director Russ Meyer. Alex Rocco stars as veterinarian Corey Maddox, whose wife is raped by a motorcycle gang. The three hoods are led by Brahmin (Stephen Oliver), who was a Section 8 in Vietnam. They kill an old man and terrorize his wife Ruby (Haji) until she gets away and joins up with Maddox. Together, the two of them hunt down the gang. Brahmin shoots one of them himself, Ruby knifes another, and Maddox blows Brahmin to pieces with dynamite during a standoff at an abandoned mine. The rape scenes are brutal, though not explicit, and Meyer (who appears briefly as the local sheriff) leavens the film with enough campy humor to make it inoffensive. It would have been odious in other hands, but Meyer is somehow able to present scenes in the worst possible taste and still leave viewers smiling. He made better films than this one, but it is still superior to most similar efforts of the time. Coleman Francis and George Costello also appear. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

Blood Mania -- a low-budget, rather sleazy exploitation horror film -- tells the story of a woman who kills her abortionist/physician father for his money only to find out that she is not the beneficiary of his will. Blood Mania, the first film directed by Robert Vincent O'Neil, is a lurid, sensationalized, gory, implausible horror story with a silly screenplay and poor acting. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide

William Windom makes a return visit to Mission: Impossible, again in a villainous characterization. This time, Windom is cast as Stu Gorman, a music-industry executive fronting for the Syndicate. To get the goods on Gorman, IMF agents Barney and Casey pose as blues singers--with Casey taking her part of the charade to dangerous extremes. This episode is highlighted by Greg Morris' rendition of "Judy's Gone Now", a song specially written for the series by Morris and Benny Golson. Scripted by Howard Berk and Orville H. Hampton from a story by Berk, "Blues" first aired on November 20, 1971. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Popularly viewed as one of the best American films ever made, the multi-generational crime saga The Godfather is a touchstone of cinema: one of the most widely imitated, quoted, and lampooned movies of all time. Marlon Brando and Al Pacino star as Vito Corleone and his youngest son, Michael, respectively. It is the late 1940s in New York and Corleone is, in the parlance of organized crime, a "godfather" or "don," the head of a Mafia family. Michael, a free thinker who defied his father by enlisting in the Marines to fight in World War II, has returned a captain and a war hero. Having long ago rejected the family business, Michael shows up at the wedding of his sister, Connie (Talia Shire), with his non-Italian girlfriend, Kay (Diane Keaton), who learns for the first time about the family "business." A few months later at Christmas time, the don barely survives being shot by gunmen in the employ of a drug-trafficking rival whose request for aid from the Corleones' political connections was rejected. After saving his father from a second assassination attempt, Michael persuades his hotheaded eldest brother, Sonny (James Caan), and family advisors Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall) and Sal Tessio (Abe Vigoda) that he should be the one to exact revenge on the men responsible.

After murdering a corrupt police captain and the drug trafficker, Michael hides out in Sicily while a gang war erupts at home. Falling in love with a local girl, Michael marries her, but she is later slain by Corleone enemies in an attempt on Michael's life. Sonny is also butchered, having been betrayed by Connie's husband. As Michael returns home and convinces Kay to marry him, his father recovers and makes peace with his rivals, realizing that another powerful don was pulling the strings behind the narcotics endeavor that began the gang warfare. Once Michael has been groomed as the new don, he leads the family to a new era of prosperity, then launches a campaign of murderous revenge against those who once tried to wipe out the Corleones, consolidating his family's power and completing his own moral downfall. Nominated for 11 Academy Awards and winning for Best Picture, Best Actor (Marlon Brando), and Best Adapted Screenplay, The Godfather was followed by a pair of sequels. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

A Seminole Indian and Vietnam veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome uses his cold-blooded companions to seek vengeance against the people who killed his father in this horrific frightener from director William Grefe. Tim Ochopee (Chris Robinson) has been deeply scarred by his battlefield experiences. Upon finishing his tour of duty and returning to his home in the Everglades, all Tim wants is to live peacefully in the wilderness with his pet snake "Stanley." Upon discovering that his father has been killed under suspicious circumstances, however, Tim finds Stanley a mate and begins breeding the pair. Before long, Tim has a shack full of hungry snakes just waiting for a decent meal. That meal comes when Tim decides to sick his slithering friends in slimy snakeskin manufacturer Richard Thompkins (Alex Rocco). Infuriated that Tim would refuse his offer to purchase the snakes and transform them into tacky apparel, Thompkins hires a psychotic hitman (Paul Avery) to put the snake-loving vet in the ground. But Thompkins and his volatile gun for hire have underestimated the unusual bond that Tim shares with his snakes. Now, as Tim and his serpents come out to play, the poison begins to flow and the screaming starts. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

This French-produced thriller was shot entirely in English. Jean-Louis Tritignant stars as Lucien, a hit man who goes to Los Angeles to end the life of an important local mobster. The mobster's heirs, who hired Lucien, had already hired yet another hit man (Roy Scheider) to kill him. He speaks very little English, and the lifestyles and customs of Los Angelenos puzzle him completely. One of the films highlights is its use of many unusual decayed and shabby sites in the Los Angeles area, such as Venice Beach. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Based on the best-selling novel by George V. Higgins, The Friends of Eddie Coyle chronicles the last days of a weary Boston-based weapons dealer. Eddie Coyle (Robert Mitchum) doesn't want to serve a life sentence in prison, so he becomes an informant for both the police and the treasury department. Coyle is likewise unwilling to give up his lifestyle, thus he continues his illegal gun-running operation for the underworld. The mob becomes aware that Eddie is squealing to the cops, so they send his best friend, Dillon (Peter Boyle), to rub him out. Dillon compassionately takes Eddie out on the town, treating him to dinner and a hockey game...then drives to a deserted field to carry out his orders. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When a call girl wearing a stolen diamond ring turns up murdered, Kojak (Telly Savalas) begins following the fragmentary clues, the path eventually leading to a gang of upstate bank burglars. At the same time, the gang is preparing a spectacular robbery in Kojak's former jurisdiction--and have set up plenty of diversions to keep the cops from nipping at their heels. This episode features a rare TV appearance by former film star Karen Morley, whose career was all but destroyed by the Hollywood Blacklist. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Freebie (James Caan) and the Bean (Alan Arkin) are a pair of San Francisco cops. Red Meyers (Jack Kruschen) is the mobster whom Freebie and the Bean would like to see behind bars -- or, failing that, six feet under. Nothing stands in the way of the cops' pursuit of Meyers, meaning that private property is given quite a going-over in this picture. The film's most memorable scene finds Freebie and the Bean crashing their car into a poor schnook's living room. TV favorites Loretta Swit and Valerie Harper play the only female roles worth mentioning. The racist and sexist humor in Freebie and the Bean may not go over as well today as it did in the politically incorrect early '70s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The "three" alluded to in the title are played by Jim Brown, Fred Williamson and Jim Kelly. Letting their fists do all the talking, the hard-nosed trio takes on a neofascist organization. It is the avowed purpose of this all-white hate group to "cleanse" Los Angeles, Detroit and Washington DC of all blacks. To do this, they plan to poison the drinking water with a secret formula that affects only African Americans. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hustling is a made-for-television film about a New York reporter (Lee Remick) who investigates the dangerous world of prostitution and becomes friends with a tough, abused hooker (Jill Clayburgh). ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Investigating a case of arson, Lt. Kojak (Telly Savalas) finds that he has another unsolved murder on his docket. The perpetrator is the owner of a plastics firm, who has torched his business for the insurance--and in true "two birds with one stone" fashion, has simultaneously endeavored to cover up the murder of his partner. The supporting cast features a young, pre-CHiPs Erik Estrada. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a greedy millionaire takes a Las Vegas showgirl for his new bride and no one in his family is terribly pleased. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide