Jorge Russek Movies

This wacky buddy comedy was the fifth in a series of Hollywood remakes of films by French director Francis Veber, none of which were box office successes. Sheila Kelley is Valerie Highsmith, an heiress who, despite her family's wealth, suffers from horribly bad luck. On a vacation to Mexico, she takes a fall, causing amnesia, then is mugged and kidnapped for ransom. When her father (Sam Wanamaker) becomes frustrated with the failed attempts of a detective, Ray Campanella (Danny Glover) to find his daughter, he teams a very reluctant Ray with Eugene Proctor (Martin Short), an accountant whose bumbling bad luck is even worse than Valerie's. The theory is that perhaps two such incredibly unlucky people will act like magnets, with Eugene leading Ray to Valerie's location. Although Ray finds Eugene irritating, the unlikely partners eventually begin making surprising progress in the case, despite Eugene's never-ending screw-ups and pratfalls. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Luis is the only survivor of an attack by bandits on his boarding school. Chaos rocks the Mexican countryside during the 1910 revolution, and the boy is happy to have survived. Before he can get away and head towards home, he encounters another group of bandits. These are pre-teens who scavenge places looted by adult bandits. Thinking that by joining them his chances of returning home will be better, Luis' arrival makes the group a quartet. They soon become fast friends, bound together by their many adventures and their need to fend off the lethal bullying of the adult bandits, in particular the gang led by the sadistic Cacho. Before long, the kid bandits are wreaking havoc in the countryside all on their own. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

It sounds like a sports video, but Emilio Varela vs. Camelia La Texana is actually a Mexican crime flick. The title characters are a couple of criminals. When one announces his intention to reform, the other is sore and annoyed. The rest of the film charts the decline and fall of a beautiful friendship. Maria Almada, Jorge Russek and Silvia Maniquez head the cast. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this romance, a woman, her sister, and her teen-age daughter find Summer love. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Costa-Gavras's tense political drama opens in an unspecified South American country (though clearly intended to be Chile) in the throes of a military coup. American activist Charles Horman (John Shea), who has been a thorn in the side of the country's military ever since his arrival, suddenly disappears. In trying to find out what has happened, his wife Beth (Sissy Spacek) is stonewalled, not only by the ruling junta but by the American consulate. His father, staunchly patriotic Ed Horman (Jack Lemmon), joins Beth in her search. Ed and his daughter-in-law have never seen eye to eye politically, and he refuses to entertain the notion that his son's disappearance might be part of a larger conspiracy or cover-up. But as the days grow into weeks, Ed comes to the shattering conclusion that he and his family have been betrayed by the American government, on behalf of the "friendly" South American dictator who holds his people in a grip of iron. Adapted by Costa-Gavras and Donald E. Stewart from a book by Thomas Hauser, Missing was inspired by the true story of the late Charles Horman. In spite of (or perhaps because of) condemnation from certain high-ranking officials in the Reagan administration, the film went on to win an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, as well as nominations for Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Actress. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this strange, unsatisfying remake of Casablanca, directed by J. Lee Thompson, a bar owner helps a woman find a missing fortune. Right after the end of WWII, Giff Hoyt (Charles Bronson) owns a bar in Peru into which Marie Allesandri (Dominique Sanda) enters one day, in search of her lover and some missing money. Matters are complicated by Gunther Beckdorff (Jason Robards), a Nazi who has his own plans for the money. Terredo (Fernando Rey) observes all the action and helps at an important moment. Despite the very good cast which also includes Camilla Sparv and Gilbert Roland, all of the various subplots and characters fail to gel, and Caboblanco is confusing, unsatisfying and slow-moving. Any fan of Casablanca should skip this and see the original again. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide

The CB (citizen's band) radio fad had nearly run its course when this feel-good action film was made by director Sam Peckinpah. In the story, based on C.W. McCall's song "Convoy", a group of struggling truckers (who stay in touch by CB) run into a situation which ignites their indignation. They arrange to form a truck convoy under the leadership of the man whose CB nickname is "Rubber Duck" (Kris Kristofferson). He is the most aggrieved of the bunch, having been harassed beyond the point of endurance by Lyle Wallace (Ernest Borgnine) a blackmailing traffic cop who pursues him ever more frantically through several states after he fails to submit to the phony speed trap he had set up. As news of the truck convoy spreads, unexpected allies join the line, and the now-gigantic illegal protest becomes the subject of national news reports. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Because his papers are not in order, the man in this story(Gregorio Casal), has been expelled from the country he has been visiting. For the same reason, he cannot enter the neighboring country. Instead, he is stuck on a bridge connecting the two. But he is a man of principle; when his plight becomes public knowledge in both countries, and each country is prepared to relax its rules and let him in, he refuses to leave the bridge, on the grounds that the rules themselves need to be changed. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Mexican director Raúl de Anda's 1976 Spanish-language adventure La Gran Aventura del Zorro finds the reputation of the titular masked crusader thrown into grave doubt when he is spotted robbing stagecoaches and committing a series of heinous crimes. In actuality, the culprit turns out to be an imposter masquerading as Zorro. The real Zorro addresses the situation by placing his wounded father and future sister-in-law in a stagecoach and using them as bait - thus luring the criminal to the scene and catching him in the midst of an ambush. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Wealthy Mexican Emilio Fernandez puts a million-dollar bounty on the head of Alfredo Garcia, who has seduced and knocked up Fernandez's daughter. Trouble is, Alfredo Garcia is already dead and buried. Barkeep Bennie (Warren Oates) is appointed by two of Fernandez's hit men (Robert Webber and Gig Young) to travel to the small town in whose cemetery Garcia is interred, planning to dig up the body and recover the head; along the way, he meets and falls for prostitute Elita (Isela Vega), who had become involved with Garcia. But these two fail to anticipate the arrival of fellow corpse-seekers, equally desperate to collect the bounty. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide