Michael Stearns Movies

Veteran police officer Tommy Bates (Neville Brand) catches Billy Harris (Richard Stanley), a young car thief whose wild behavior indicates that he is high on "angel dust." During the arrest, Harris dies, and his accomplice Steve (Michael Horton) accuses Bates of choking the boy to death. Lt. Monahan (Garry Walberg), an old friend of Bates, pressures Quincy (Jack Klugman) to speed up the autopsy on Harris to learn the truth--while a cop-hating civil rights attorney named Charlie Trusdale (William Daniels) is likewise breathing down Quincy' neck. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bruno Kirby was labelled an "overnight" star of the early 1990s thanks to such films as The Freshman (90) and City Slickers (91), but he'd been working since the late 1970s in both films and TV. The 1978 low budgeter Almost Summer top-bills Kirby as a "mover and shaker" high schooler who helps a nice-guy student, Darryl (John Friedrich), run against his former girlfriend. Darryl resigns from the class presidency when he learns the election was fixed. But Kirby is popular enough to win the re-election, without the crooked political machinations of certain school administrators. Featured in the cast were several members of Hollywood's 1970s equivalent to the 1980s "brat pack", including Didi Conn, Lee Purcell and Tim Matheson. The subtlety and perceptiveness of Almost Summer would be buried within a year by the onslaught of Animal House and its many clones. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Prolific character actor Ed Lauter enjoys one of his few starring roles in this made-for-TV mystery yarn. Set in the 1940s, the film casts Lauter as Bud Delaney, a former policeman who was bounced from the force after being framed by a mysterious higher-up. As he tries to track down the person responsible for his firing, Delaney keeps food on the table by working as a house detective in a seedy Hollywood hotel, moonlighting as a private eye. Along the way, he gets mixed up in the theft of a movie star's jewelry and the murder of a pompous gambler--two seemingly diverse crimes that are actually, and inextricably, linked together. Originally telecast April 19, 1975 by NBC, Last Hours Before Morning was the pilot film for the unsold weekly series Delaney. ~Saw Film/TV Guide/Goldberg/Marrill/Internet ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this engaging crime drama with an undercurrent of subtle humor, James Coburn stars as Harry, a "cannon" (a top-flight pickpocket), who works in association with Casey (Walter Pidgeon), an older career criminal with a fondness for cocaine. Ray (Michael Sarrazin) and Sandy (Trish Van Devere) are two aspiring thieves who meet when he tries to steal her watch; eventually, they both come under Harry's tutelage, as he teaches them both the finer points of lifting people's wallets. Harry in Your Pocket was the sole theatrical film for television director and producer Bruce Geller, who died in a plane crash five years after this film was released. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A model prisoner and a desperate thug become unwilling partners in this low-budget action picture. Weed (Michael Sterns) is patiently waiting out the last six months of a sentence for dealing marijuana when he loses his job in the prison library and is put on a rural work gang. Weed finds himself chained to fellow prisoner Harris (Robert Lott), who is serving life for rape and murder. Angry and violent Harris is determined to escape, and when he attacks a guard, grabs a gun and goes on the run, Weed has little choice but to join him. Weed leads Harris to the home of his girlfriend Ann (Linda York), who gives the escapees a place to stay while they plot their next move. Harris shows his true colors by raping Ann while Weed sneaks into town for supplies, and when the convicts' plan to leave the state goes awry, Weed sends her away while they make their own way. Harris and Weed happen upon the home of an elderly farmer (Ralph Campbell) and his much younger wife (Barbara Mills), but while the bride is looking for a way out of her life in the country, the farmer isn't about to let the bandits take his woman. Noted exploitation kingpin Lee Frost served as writer, director and cinematographer on Chain Gang Women, which despite its title only features two women in its cast. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This film is notable for singer Marvin Gaye's debut acting performance. In Chrome and Hot Leather, Green Beret sergeant Mitch's (Tony Young) girlfriend has been mortally injured, and just before her death divulges that a motorcycle gang called "The Devils" were responsible. Mitch and his sergeant buddies (including Marvin Gaye as Jim) take military leave and prepare themselves to track down the evildoers by adopting, as best as they can, the appearance of a motorcycle gang: bikes, clothes and all. This results in some humorous moments. They use their army skills in the quest for justice, and The Devils come in for some serious trouble. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Airport had enough plot and enough star power in its cast for three feature films, and it only encompassed about half of the complexity or characters found in Arthur Hailey's best-selling potboiler. Essentially built around 12 harrowing hours at a major Midwestern airport, the film had everything an audience of the period could have wanted -- suspense, romance, drama, and comedy -- all spread across a vast canvas. Mel Bakersfeld (Burt Lancaster) is the manager of Lincoln Airport, facing a night beset by the worst blizzard in a decade, a wife (Dana Wynter) who announces she wants a divorce, a primary runway blocked by an airliner stuck in a snowdrift, and a governing board ready to fire him. Bakersfeld's cynical, smooth-talking brother-in-law, Vernon Demerest (Dean Martin), won't let up on his criticism of the management at Lincoln, but he has his own problems as well, mostly in the form of a young stewardess, Gwen Meighen (Jacqueline Bisset), who is pregnant by him and whom he finds he genuinely loves. Add to that the presence of an old lady stowaway (Helen Hayes) and a mentally disturbed passenger (Van Heflin) carrying a bomb, and there's more than enough plot to keep viewers engrossed for two hours plus. Airport became one of the top-grossing movies of its era, racking up seven-digit box-office numbers and spawning an entire film genre -- the disaster movie. With Jean Seberg, George Kennedy, Lloyd Nolan, Barry Nelson, and Maureen Stapleton filling out the rest of the leading roles, there was something for almost everyone in this film. The movie still has a lot to offer if only as a prime example of Hollywood at its most successfully glitzy, but, if possible, viewers should try and see the letterboxed version of Airport on DVD (released May 2001). ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Officers Reed (Kent McCord) and Malloy (Martin Milner) have their hands full with a boisterous female alcoholic named Mae Pilaf (Norma Crane). After breaking up a barroom brawl in which Mae is involved, the two cops are summoned to an apartment where a shooting has occurred--and run into old Mae all over again. Can she be rehabilitated, or should Reed and Malloy just give Mae up as a bad job and move on to the next call? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide