Rico Alaniz Movies

In Final Analysis, Richard Gere stars as Isaac Barr, a San Francisco psychiatrist whose alluring patient Diana Baylor (Uma Thurman) is being treated for traumatic memories. In order to find out more about her trauma, Diana suggests that Isaac speak to her sister and question her about what went on between them in the past. But when Isaac sets eyes on Diana's sister Heather (Kim Basinger), they become involved in a torrid and steamy sex affair. Unfortunately, Heather is married to psychotic sadist Jimmy Evans (Eric Roberts). ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

In the second episode of a three part story, the family is still in Spain, where Bill (Brian Keith) has fallen for attractive senorita Ana (Anna Navarro) and Cissy (Kathy Garver) has been swept off her feet by a lad named Ricardo (John Aladdin). Meanwhile, Mr. French (Sebastian Cabot) conducts a frantic search for Buffy (Annisa Jones) and Jody (Johnnie Whitaker), who have somehow gotten on the wrong bus during a sightseeing tour. After an encounter with a nun and some Spanish schoolchildren, and a spooky experience in an empty church, the worn-out twins seek refuge in an old barn, hoping against hope that somewhere, somehow, they'll come across someone who speaks English! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Working as a fruit picker for wealthy citrus grower Leland Hagerman (Byron Morrow), Kimble (David Janssen)--alias "Jim Wallace"--promises his dying boss that he'll look after Hagerman's ne'er-do-well son Blaine (Ben Piazza). This proves difficult when, upon Blaine's return home, he turns out to be an arrogant leech who is universally despised by his late father's employees. Ultimately, Kimble sides with Blaine's stepmother Flo (Celeste Holm) to prevent the wastrel from illegally gaining full control of the family business. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Tennessee Williams' Broadway play Summer and Smoke (expanded from his one-act piece Eccentricities of a Nightingale) was brought to the screen by adaptors James Poe and Meade Roberts and director Peter Glenville. Geraldine Page repeats her stage role as minister's daughter Alma Winemiller, who lives a spinsterish existence in her WWI-era Mississippi home town. Though her hateful mother (Una Merkel) has nothing but nasty things to say about men, Alma carries a torch for her handsome next-door neighbor and lifelong friend, Dr. John Buchanan (Laurence Harvey). The doctor prefers the companionship of Rosa (Rita Moreno), a "wrong side of the tracks" girl who is as open and freewheeling as Alma is shy and repressed. Desperate for Buchanan's attention, Alma begins behaving with uncharacteristic affection towards him. He misreads her signals and attempts to seduce her. Already on the edge, Alma goes ballistic, literally running out of Buchanan's life. When the doctor throws an engagement party for himself and Rosa, the neurotic Alma tells Buchanan's father (John McIntire) that a wantonly immoral get-together is taking place in the doctor's home--an act of vengeance that has long-range tragic consequences. By film's end, the previously strait-laced Alma, unhinged by previous events, has become as misguidedly passionate as her spiritual sister, A Streetcar Named Desire's Blanche DuBois. Summer and Smoke earned Academy Award nominations for both Geraldine Page and Una Merkel; while Merkel would never win an Oscar, Ms. Page finally collected her statuette for 1985's A Trip to Bountiful. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Mexican aristocrat Don Luis Ortega (Edward Colmans) hires Paladin (Richard Boone) to escort his daughter Soledad (Luis Montell) to San Francisco. During the journey, Paladin finds himself constantly imperiled by a hotheaded peon named Doroteo (Rafael Campos), who once worked for Ortega as a ranchhand. Does Doroteo want to get his hands on Soledad--or does he have something more "revolutionary" in mind? (Hint: Doroteo's friends call him Pancho...as in Pancho Villa). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the second episode of Walt Disney's ten-part miniseries Elfego Baca, the title character (Robert Loggia), a former gunman who yearns to be a lawyer, has been appointed sheriff of Socorro County, NM. Banking on his reputation as a fast gun, Baca "invites" all the wanted men in the area to come into town and give themselves up. All these men surrender except one, prompting Elfego to launch a manhunt in Apache territory. Originally telecast on the Walt Disney Presents anthology, "Four Down and Five Lives to Go" was later edited together with the first Elfego Baca episode, The Nine Lives of Elfego Baca, and released overseas as a theatrical feature. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Director Edward L. Cahn always knew how to make lemonade from a lemon; his B pictures of the late 1950s displayed a raw energy that many of his higher-budgeted films of the 1930s lacked. Hong Kong Confidential is a backlot cheapie starring Gene Barry and second-feature stalwarts Beverly Tyler and Allison Hayes. Barry plays a secret agent, in Hong Kong to rescue an Arabian prince from his kidnappers. The villains, of course, are Soviet spies, easily recognizable by their baggy suits and flabby accents. Also in the cast of Hong Kong Confidential is Ed Kemmer, who'd once starred in that baby-boomer favorite Space Patrol. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Legend of the Sea Wolf is the alternate title of two separate film versions of Jack London's allegorical The Sea Wolf. The first of the two, released in 1958, was originally titled Wolf Larsen. Barry Sullivan stars as the brutal captain of a scavenger ship, who rides his men mercilessly and bristles at the slightest hint of weakness. Despite his cruelties, Sullivan fancies himself an intellectual, and welcomes the opportunity to spar both mentally and physically with bookish shipwreck victim Peter Graves. Ultimately, the ship's crew stages a mutiny. Having gone suddenly blind, Sullivan forces Graves to maintain the illusion that Sullivan is still sighted, and still all-powerful. The ruse fails, and both Sullivan and Graves sink to the bottom of the sea. Very well made (especially for an Allied Artists production) and possessed of a thrilling musical score, Wolf Larsen withal runs a distant second to the definitive Sea Wolf of 1941, which starred Edward G. Robinson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Original slated for release through United Artists, the Wisberg-Yarborough production Women of Pitcairn Island was ultimately distributed by 20th Century-Fox. The film purports to detail the aftermath of the mutiny on the Bounty in the late 18th century. When the last of the male mutineers dies, the wives and daughters of the Bounty crew are left behind to make the best of things on Pitcairn Island. Trouble arises in the form of a band of pirates, who've landed on Pitcairn with the intention of hiding a cache of stolen pearls. After dallying with the ladies, the pirates come to grief by fighting amongst themselves. James Craig hams it up as the bearded pirate captain, while second-billed Lynn Bari seems grimly determined to get the film over with as quickly as possible. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Set during Cuba's struggle to free itself from colonialist Spain, this exciting adventure chronicles the exploits of a tough, mercenary gun runner who learns about honor, sacrifice and caring for others when he ends up forced to smuggle his latest weapon's cache aboard a beat up stern wheeler bound for Cuba. There he meets a beautiful freedom fighter who has been in the States trying to rally her expatriot colleagues into returning to join in the battle. It is she, with her passionate idealism and unwavering courage, who turns the gunrunner's life around. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Siege of Red River stars Van Johnson as a Confederate officer, who "appropriates" a shipment of gatling guns from the Northern troops in the waning days of the Civil War. Posing as a medicine show entrepreneur, Johnson smuggles the guns through enemy lines in his wagon. Renegade rebel Richard Boone steals the guns in order to sell them to the Indians. Surrendering himself to Union troops, Johnson sets after Boone with Yankee reinforcements in tow before the Indians can get their hands on the weapons. After Boone is killed, a northern nurse (Joanne Dru) pleads eloquently for the Yanks to be easy on Johnson; he is allowed to escape, but not before promising to marry the nurse at war's end. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The answer is: A turgid melodrama. The question: What is Jeopardy? Barbara Stanwyck stars as a suburbanite on a Mexican vacation with her husband (Barry Sullivan) and son (Lee Aaker). The threesome runs afoul of escape convict Ralph Meeker. Stanwyck's dilemma: Attempting to rescue her husband from drowning, while staving off the carnal demands of Meeker, who holds Stanwyck and her son at gunpoint. Jeopardy is on and off in only 69 minutes, but 64 of those minutes seem far longer. Trivia note: When dramatized on Lux Radio Theater, Jeopardy costarred child actor Harry Shearer, later a comic regular on Saturday Night Live. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Audie Murphy is suitably cast as cavalry lieutenant Jed Sayre in Universal's Column South. Stationed in Navajo country, Sayre has a pretty good understanding of, and rapport with, the local Indians, but his new CO Lee Whitlock (Robert Sterling) is of the "only good Indian is a dead Indian" school of thought. Eventually Sayre is able to make Whitlock see the light -- and, as a bonus, he gets to romance Whitlock's sister Marcy (Joan Evans). Further complications arise when Confederate General Storey (Ray Collins) hatches an underhanded scheme -- one that will potentially cost many innocent lives -- to force the cavalry troops to join the Southern cause when the Civil War commences. Of interest to modern viewers is the presence of Dennis Weaver, here cast as Navajo chief Menguito. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide