Rex Ryon Movies
- 1998
Actor-director William Richert (Winter Kills), who directed the late River Phoenix in A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon (1988), originally planned this low-budget adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' 1848-50 classic adventure, as a vehicle for River Phoenix. Casting his son, Nick Richert, in the dual role of Philippe and King Louis XIV, he continued on with the project, despite the competition of the heavily promoted, more lavish MGM production scheduled for release almost the same month. The future King of France is kidnapped as a boy, put inside an iron mask, and imprisoned in the Bastille. Court intrigue then places his younger twin on the throne as Louis XIV. A decade later, the queen confesses on her deathbed, revealing the truth to Count Aramis (William Richert), who recruits the three Musketeers (Edward Albert, Dennis Hayden, Rex Ryon) in order to bring truth and justice to the situation. Filmed at the historic Mission Inn in Riverside, California. Previous film versions: the 1939 James Whale version with Louis Hayward, the 1976 TV movie with Richard Chamberlain, and Ken Annakin's The Fifth Musketeer (1978, aka Behind the Iron Mask) with Beau Bridges, Lloyd Bridges, Ursula Andress, Cornel Wilde, Jose Ferrer, Rex Harrison, and Olivia de Havilland. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward Albert, Dana Barron, (more)
- 1996
With baby Suzy gone, Lewis (Sherry Stringfield) tries to get over the loss by throwing herself in her work. Meanwhile, Greene (Anthony Edwards) and Weaver (Laura Innes) discuss the possibility of making Lewis chief resident. Elsewhere, paramedic Shep (Ron Eldard), unable to cope with the dearth of his partner, begins to take out his anger on the job. Ross (George Clooney) begins cultivating an interest in his father Ray's girlfriend, Karen (Marg Helgenberger). And Carter (Noah Wyle) finds that his qualifications for graduation are incomplete. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In this lively actioner, a samurai warrior adopts an American boy and later gives him the treasured family sword. Unfortunately, this rouses the jealousy of his wicked stepbrother who is involved with yakuzas and illegal sword-fighting contests, and who vows that he will get revenge upon the Yankee brat. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Bradley, Mark Dacascos, (more)
- 1988
- PG13
Gutsy ex-Marine Ellie DeWitt (Rebecca DeMornay) and bookish Bryn Mawr-graduate Janis Zuckerman (Mary Gross) have two things in common. Both are ardent supporters of the Reagan administration, and both aspire to a career in law enforcement. This is the unifying link that brings Ellie and Janis to the FBI training center in Quantico. Bucking male chauvinism and their own occasional loss of self-esteem, the ladies become top-notch federal agents. Except for a few cheap shots at the Republican Party, Feds is surprisingly reverent to such government institutions as the FBI. While this would be well and good in a straight drama, it's the kiss of death for a comedy -- if indeed, this is a comedy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rebecca De Mornay, Mary Gross, (more)
- 1987
- R
The "Jack" who's "back" in this contemporary chiller is none other than Jack the Ripper. The scene is Los Angeles: the time is August of 1988, exactly 100 years after the Ripper's original reign of terror in Whitechapel. When several LA prostitutes turn up murdered and disemboweled, young physician James Spader is accused of emulating Spring Heel'd Jack. Before the film is half over, Spader is killed, and so far as the police are concerned, the case is closed. But then, Spader's twin brother appears on the scene, determined to track down the genuine culprit (if it doesn't turn out to be him, that is!). Handled with restraint, Jack's Back covers much of the same ground as the classic Robert Bloch tale Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper," though its crucial plot twist is a tad more clever (if a bit silly out of context). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Spader, Cynthia Gibb, (more)
- 1987
- R
In this film, an aspiring young actor moves to Los Angeles from his New York home, hoping to make it big in show business. Idolizing actor Robert De Niro, the young man must learn to cope with the rejection and despair he experiences in his career struggle. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jim Youngs, James Noble, (more)
- 1987
- R
When newspaper editor Charles Bradley (Anthony Zerbe) makes a call uncovering corrupt Los Angeles cops selling drugs, his phone is tapped and his architect son Joey (Clayton Rohner) is endangered. A detective is killed in Joey's apartment and detective Ryan (Ray Sharkey) is assigned to protect him. Ryan is in league with the crooked cops and tries to kill Joey. Joey escapes but is hit by a car driven by Jenny Fox (Talia Balsam). She takes him back to her place where Joey is nursed back to heath and the seeds of love are planted. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- 1986
Magnum (Tom Selleck) can't believe his eyes and ears when Higgins (John Hillerman) abruptly leaves the Masters Estate after being fired for embezzling funds. What Magnum doesn't know is that Higgins is on a covert mission for the British Secret Service to squash a renegade guerilla group. In his efforts to find out why Higgins is behaving so strangely, Magnum is continually flustered by Higgins' replacement, birdbrained actress Ginny Malcolm (Darleen Carr). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
When prodigal son Billy Turner (Judd Nelson) returns to his Florida home town, he's caught in a brawl and thrown in jail. He tells the guards to call his father, the mayor, who will have him released; however, he soon discovers his father has been killed. After Turner finally gets out of jail, he starts to hunt down his father's murderer, with the eventual help of Annie Rayford (Ally Sheedy) and her brother Joey (David Caruso). Their nemesis is the nasty crime boss Perry Kerch (Scott Wilson) and his henchmen, though the slow-witted police chief (Paul Winfield) is not much help, either. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, (more)
- 1985
A trio of rich ex-cops begin to investigate a murder involving baseball and gangsters. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ted Wass, Markie Post, (more)
What's that wisecracking young black guy (Eddie Murphy) in that beat-up Chevy Nova doing in lily-white Beverly Hills? He's Axel Foley, a Detroit detective who's been sent on involuntary vacation because he refuses to drop his intention of avenging his friend's murder. Warned by Beverly Hills police chief Ronny Cox to stay out of trouble, Foley nonetheless dogs the trail of above-the-law Steven Berkoff, the British crime czar who was responsible for the murder of Foley's friend. With the help of sympathetic local cops Judge Reinhold and John Ashton and lady friend Lisa Eilbacher, Foley attempts to corner Berkoff in his mansion, which leads to a wild slapsticky shootout. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, (more)
- 1984
Convicted murderer Dr. Jeffrey MacDonald had hoped that, by telling his side of the story to investigative journalist Joe McGinniss, the authorities would be persuaded of MacDonald's innocence. Instead, McGinniss ended up unswerving in his belief of MacDonald's guilt, and the result was the devastating best-seller Fatal Vision. In this two-part TV adaptation of McGinniss' book, Gary Cole plays MacDonald, a former Green Beret officer, while Frank Dent essays the role of McGinniss. MacDonald's wife and two children are brutally murdered in their Fort Bragg, North Carolina home on February 17, 1970. The prime suspect, MacDonald insists that the killings were committed by a gang of stoned-out hippies, a story that at first is accepted in toto by the doctor's father-in-law Freddy Kassab (Karl Malden). But after MacDonald is officially exonerated, Kassab notices several holes in his son-in-law's story, and becomes convinced that MacDonald was in fact the murderer. Through Kassab's persistence, as well as the uncovering of new forensic evidence, MacDonald is ultimately convicted for all three murders in 1979. Since the TV premiere of Fatal Vision on November 18 and 19, 1984, there has been a growing movement by MacDonald's sympathizers to discredit McGinniss' book and to retry the case--a movement that has been hampered time and again by MacDonald's own erratic behavior. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Karl Malden, Eva Marie Saint, (more)
- 1984
Everyone is a stereotypical extreme in this sometimes mean-spirited black comedy about the vicious staff at an orphanage, the garrulous punk kids who live there, and the pretentious overblown rich couple who adopt one of the orphans -- this is not a happy world. In the Bleeding Heart Orphanage, Sister Serene (Anne De Salvo) applies all the mental and emotional restrictions she can to her wild charges, while Kurtz (Murphy Dunne) applies the electric cattle prod. When one of the children (all around 10 years old, more or less) is adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Fitzpatrick (Martin Mull and Karen Black), his cohorts come to rescue him from the terrors of an upper-class Santa Barbara existence -- and subsequent mayhem ensues. With a low-brow, low-budget approach, the premises are obviously meant to key in to the slapstick characterizations, but for some viewers, even the comic moments may not assuage the meaner undertones of the film. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Martin Mull, Karen Black, (more)
- 1982
- R
In this standard young teen/older woman sex story, Bobby (Matt Lattanzi) has had trouble with French at school, and sex out of school, and so his rich parents hire a winsome 30-year-old tutor (Caren Kaye) to help him with the first subject, without thinking that she would help him with the second as well. The father (Kevin McCarthy) is not exactly subtle about his interest in the tutor, but the discerning woman prefers his much more sensitive son. A few comic moments with Bobby's friends trying to teach him about sex, and a more respectful treatment of the sexual relationship between the tutor and young teen alleviates some of the otherwise, run-of-the-mill storyline. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Caren Kaye, Matt Lattanzi, (more)
- 1982
Rabid Red Sox booster Carla Tortelli (Rhea Perlman) gets steamed when boorish Yankees fan Ed Kellner (Ron Karabatsos) drops in at Cheers. So inflammatory are Ed's abrasive anti-Boston insults that Carla ends up slugging the guy. As a result, Ed threatens to slap an enormous lawsuit on Sam (Ted Danson) unless Carla is immediately fired. But never fear, there's a "sweet revenge" finale in this classic episode. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
