Helen Shaver Movies

The Canadian The Supreme Kid was originally and economically filmed in 16-millimeter. The "heroes" are two drifters, played by Frank Moore and Jim Henshaw. The two are disdainfully referred to as "hippos," or hippie hoboes; one is the domineering mentor, the other the unquestioning follower. While on their aimless trek through the Great White North, the hippos meet a promiscuous young girl, as well as a less appealing holdup man. Morris and Henshaw find themselves with thousands of dollars of stolen loot at the end, but chuck it all to continue their vagabondage. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Two misfits find love and support in each other's company, in this show-business comedy with a twist. One of them, Robin Turner (Craig Russell), is a male hairdresser and a gifted female impersonator, who tries out his act in local gay nightclubs. His roommate is Liza Connors (Hollis McLaren), an old high-school friend who is now a mumblingly strange pregnant woman, recently released from a mental hospital where she was being treated for schizophrenia. She is determined never to return to the hospital again, and he wants to be a show-business success with his impressions. When Robin loses his job, the two determine to try their luck in New York. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Featuring wonderfully lousy special effects (especially in lieu of Star Wars which had come out earlier that year), this sci-fi adventure chronicles the struggle of a flock of friendly space aliens to protect the Earth from an onslaught of wicked aliens. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Peter Fonda and Jerry Reed star as truckers pitted against a rival big-rig boss who wants them off the highway. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

"For God's sake, GET OUT!" was the ad campaign for the 1979 shocker The Amityville Horror. The film was based on the allegedly true story of the luckless Lutz family, who move lock, stock, and barrel into a new home, only to find that it is possessed by the demonic spirits of its previous owners. Variations of the Seven Deadly Plagues emanate from virtually every household fixture, while other forms of otherworldly mischief are suffered by the Lutz children. Enter kindly Father Delaney (Rod Steiger), who does his utmost to exorcise the house. The Amityville Horror was frequently greeted with laughs from its first-run audiences, especially after it was discovered that the "actual" events depicted in the film (based on a book by Jay Anson) were complete fabrications. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When the money-hungry Duke Stuyvesant (Sterling Hayden) orchestrates a phony gas shortage, chaos ensues in a small Midwestern town. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

In this family drama, a famed lawyer is forced to come to grips with the lousy way he has treated his emotionally disturbed brother. Most of the story centers on the attorney's attempts to atone for his actions. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A man discovers that his best friends are actually spies -- or are they? -- in this thriller based on Robert Ludlum's best-selling novel. John Tanner (Rutger Hauer) is the host of a television news show who once a year spends a long weekend with three of his best friends from college, Bernard Osterman (Craig T. Nelson), Joseph Cardone (Chris Sarandon), and Richard Tremayne (Dennis Hopper). Tanner is approached by Lawrence Fassett (John Hurt), a CIA agent who has evidence proving that his three pals are actually agents working with the Soviet Union. With Tanner's reluctant approval, his house is wired with video surveillance equipment so that the CIA can monitor what Osterman, Cardone, and Tremayne say and do over their weekend together in hopes of putting the traitors behind bars. However, Tanner soon realizes that Fassett's agenda is not all that it appears to be. The Osterman Weekend was directed by Sam Peckinpah; it proved to be his last film, as he died a year after its release. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

After her child is abducted by her ex-husband, a woman hires a contract killer to find the man and rescue her son. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

The German "home front" of World War 2 is witnessed through 12-year-old eyes in the US-Canadian coproduction War Boy. Jason Hopely plays the young protagonist, attempting to grow up and cope while the world around him descends into hell. Denied the huge budget of Spielberg's similarly themed Empire of the Sun, the film is more successful on an intimate, personal level in depicting a child's eye view of the horrors of war. The film's PG rating is due to a brief scene involving Hopely's sexual awakening. Helen Shaver and Kenneth Welsh costar in this unjustly underrated film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Director Donna Deitch makes a strong impression in her first feature film, a simple story of a lesbian love affair, based on Jane Rule's 1964 novel Desert of the Heart. Helen Shaver stars as Vivian Bell, an uptight 35-year-old Columbia University professor who travels to Reno to get a divorce. She arrives in Reno on her way to Frances Parker's (Audra Lindley) ranch, where she is staying to establish six weeks of residency in order to obtain the divorce. Once at the ranch, Vivian catches the fancy of Frances's adopted daughter Cay (Patricia Charbonneau), a casino worker ten years younger than herself. Vivien tries to remain unruffled as Cay makes unabashed overtures to her. Cay thinks that all Vivian needs is the love of another woman, and soon enough the two are in each other's arms. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Oscar-nominated in 1961 for his performance as pool hustler Fast Eddie Felson in The Hustler, Paul Newman won that award a quarter century later when he reprised the role in The Color of Money. At the end of The Hustler, Felson was banned for life from playing the game professionally. In the intervening years, he has become what the despicable George C. Scott was in the 1961 film: a front man for younger hustlers, claiming the lion's share of the winnings. His latest "client" is arrogant young Tom Cruise, who is goaded into accepting Felson's patronage by his avaricious girl friend Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. Cruise learns not only the refinements of the game, but also the dirty trickery that will help him lure in the suckers. As Cruise becomes successful on these terms, Felson seethes with jealousy, hitting the bottle and carelessly allowing himself to fall victim to another hustler. He tells Cruise to get lost, and vows to make an honest comeback. It is inevitable from this point onward that the younger and the older player will square off in a game for the biggest stakes of all: Fast Eddie Felson's self-respect. Both the original Hustler and The Color of Money were based on novels by Walter Tevis. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide