Larry Storch Movies
Dialect comedians may not be politically acceptable these days, but American comic actor Larry Storch has never lacked work all the same. A product of the New York ethnic "melting pot," Storch amused his childhood friends (including lifelong chum Don Adams) with his dead-on impressions of the many Italians, Hispanics, Germans and Jews in his neighborhood. He advanced his skills for mimicry by virtually living in the local movie houses, memorizing the speech patterns of such character actors as Victor McLaglen, Guy Kibbee and Charley Grapewin. One of his first jobs after World War II navy service was as a writer on The Kraft Music Hall, where he was frequently required to substitute for the star, blustery actor Frank Morgan; years later, he revived his Morgan impression as Chumley on the cartoon series Tennessee Tuxedo (in which his old pal Don Adams voiced the title character). In 1951 Storch appeared in the Chicago revue Red White and Blue, which led to a stint as summer replacement for Jackie Gleason on the Dumont TV series Cavalcade of Stars. Storch's most common stamping grounds in the '50s was the nightclub stage; at one point he even ran his own club. Storch made his film bow in The Prince who was a Thief (51) which starred a friend from his Navy days, Tony Curtis. When Storch's career was on the wane in the early '60s, Curtis cast him in several of his vehicles of that period, including Who was That Lady (1960), wherein Storch recreated his Broadway role as an emotional Russian spy. After a semi-recurring role as Charlie the Drunk (who became besotted simply by talking about drinking) on the early '60s sitcom Car 54, Where are You?, Storch was cast as Corporal Agarn, comic sidekick of conniving cavalry sergeant O'Rourke (Forrest Tucker) on the western comedy weekly F Troop (1965-66). In addition to Agarn, Storch was permitted to play various foreign branches of the Agarn family, with appropriate broad accents. Since the cancellation of F Troop in 1966, Larry Storch has been a regular on The Queen and I (1969) and The Ghost Busters (1976), has worked periodically in films, and has appeared with great frequency in clubs (still doing "characterization" routines rather than one-liners) and on stage. In 1991, Larry Storch garnered excellent notices for his brief character turn in the off-Broadway play Breaking Legs. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A street performer whose luck in love could best be described as abysmal is subjected to a complete image overhaul by his womanizing best friends in a laid-back romantic comedy about love in the city starring Anthony Michael Hall and directed by Jeff Oppenheim. Despite his kind nature and keen sense of humor, street-busker Josh (Anthony Michael Hall) just can't seem to land a date. Though things start to look up for Josh when his worldly buddies Tim (Lord Jamar) and Sean (Ivan Martin) vow to share their secrets of seduction with Josh, clean up his image, and place a personal ad to help him find a date, Josh soon begins to realize that he may have already found the love he is looking for in working single mother Doreen (Marlo Marron). ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
"A family walks into a talent agent's office..." So begins "The Aristocrats," a joke kept mostly secret by stand-up comedians for decades. An intentionally "bad" joke, the laughs in The Aristocrats aren't in the punch-line (one of the only elements that's the same every time), but in the set-up, made unique by each comedian who tells it in an attempt to fashion the world's dirtiest joke. The cat was finally let out of the bag by Penn Jillette and Paul Provenza, the seasoned funnymen who gathered together a hundred people to tell a hundred different renditions of the bit. Among those presenting their personal take on The Aristocrats in this film of the same name are Jason Alexander, Robin Williams, Gilbert Gottfried, Jon Stewart, Emo Philips, and Chris Rock. The Aristocrats premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- 1995
Kelly (Christina Applegate) is thrilled when she is accepted for enrollment at the Larry Storch School of Acting; after all, she insists, she has always wanted to be a "lesbian" (try "thespian", stupid). It is even more thrilling when Larry Storch himself allows Kelly to do a dramatic scene with him. Alas, Kelly's career may be over before it begins when Storch is accidentally knocked cold by Al's boss Gary (Janet Carroll). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1994
- R
In the tradition of Mel Brooks, this Italian comedy offers an episodic parody of classic thrillers and horror movies. Film includes cameos from several stars including Mel Brooks, John Astin, Larry Storch, Phyllis Diller, John Carpenter, and John Landis. The story begins as director Ezio Greggio is being stabbed ala Psycho in his shower. Before he dies he recaps the events leading to his death. The scene was L.A. and FBI rookie Jo Dee Fostar has been assigned to interview psycho inmate Dr. Animal Cannibal Pizza. Meanwhile Fostar's girlfriend swipes $400,000 bucks from her boss and ends up hiding in the Cemetery Hotel, run by Antonio Motel. Inspector Balsam investigates cases of dead hotel victims. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dom DeLuise, Ezio Greggio, (more)
- 1992
- PG
Jason Alexander stars in this sweet-natured romantic comedy, marred by some overblown stereotypes. Alexander plays shoe salesman Bernie Fishbine. Bernie is lonely and shy and ever conscious about his weight problem. He stills lives at home with his mother Sarah (Lainie Kazan) and grandpa Irving Fein (Lou Jacobi). One night, taking a bus back home, he meets Theresa Garabaldi (Nia Peeples), an attractive graduate student in psychology who works at night as a singer in her uncle's Italian restaurant. Bernie falls in love with her, and he thinks she loves him too. To make her proud of him, Bernie stops eating the chocolate kisses he purchases every day from Frieda's (Eileen Brennan) candy store and, instead, works out at a gym to lose weight. But Bernie is crestfallen to learn that Theresa is being friendly to him because she is using him as the subject of her graduate thesis entitled "The Psychological Study of an Obese Male." ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jason Alexander, Nia Peeples, (more)
- 1987
In this unlikely adventure, a motorcyclist helps an all-girls' school "prisoner" escape her school and together they flee across Europe, chased by the headmistress. To complicate things, the escapee is a mobster's daughter and the motorcycle man, wrongfully accused of a murder, is also being chased. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1986
This comedy drama examines a fading film star who divides her time between the couch in her psychiatrist's office and her memories of past glories. The latter are told in a series of episodes with cameo roles by well-known names: Kaye Ballard, Sammy Davis, Jr., Anne Meara, and many others. At one moment , the scenery shifts to Argentina and elsewhere for a few episodes based on her search for a leading man. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kaye Ballard, Sheila MacRae, (more)
Blake Edwards comes a cropper in this lunk-headed slapstick homage to Laurel and Hardy, Mack Sennett, and Jerry Lewis. Ted Danson and Howie Mandell play Spence Holden and Dennis Powell, a couple of idiots who find themselves involved with a pack of gangsters. Spence is a two-bit actor who is at a racetrack location with his pal Dennis, when he overhears two small-time thugs, Wayne "Turnip" Parragella (Richard Mulligan) and Maurice "Binky" Drundza (Stuart Margolin), talk about doping a horse set to run a race. It turns out that Turnip and Binky are under orders to carry out the dastardly scheme by their underworld boss Tony Pazzo (Paul Sorvino). When Spence and Dennis are found out, they find themselves pursued all over the Los Angeles area by an angry Tony Pazzo mob in an ever-escalating series of races and chases, crashes and smashes, and shouting and screaming. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ted Danson, Howie Mandel, (more)
Just as the singing star Bobbie Warren (Pia Zadora) finishes her act, she is clapped into handcuffs by police lieutenant Thurston (Telly Savalas) and jailed in a woman's prison until she tells them about her mobster boyfriend. Eventually, she gets out, but not unscathed -- she was raped while in prison -- and when she is back in Vegas, her life is in danger from the mob and a few hitmen. Car chases and other action-filled scenes ensue, while a romantic interest begins to develop between the singer and her bodyguard (Desi Arnaz, Jr.). Meanwhile, Lieutenant Thurston is heading for a final round-up with the nefarious mobsters. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pia Zadora, Telly Savalas, (more)
- 1981
Huckleberry Finn joins Tom Sawyer and Jim, a runaway slave, as they escape down the Mississippi River on a raft. ~ All Movie Guide
In this biting comedy satirizing Hollywood cynicism from writer-director Blake Edwards, Felix Farmer (Richard Mulligan) is a motion picture director whose career is on the skids. Having just completed a family musical that is sure to be a $30 million flop, Felix knows that his days are numbered and tries unsuccessfully to commit suicide. When he recovers, Felix suddenly has a brainstorm and hatches a scheme to buy the film back from his studio and lens new scenes that will turn it into a pornographic movie with big stars, a sure-fire box office winner. In order to pull it off, he'll need to convince his female lead and wife, Sally Miles (Julie Andrews, not coincidentally the director's real-life wife) to defy her wholesome, squeaky-clean public image by baring her breasts on film. S.O.B. (1981) was the final film of legendary actor William Holden. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julie Andrews, William Holden, (more)
This standard slasher film from director Dimitri Sotirakis (using the pseudonym "Jom Sotos") is notable only for its fascinating cast. The story is a rather predictable affair as young Melissa (Aleisa Shirley) sees all of her friends being murdered after their 16th birthdays. Her mother (Susan Strasberg) worries, and Sheriff Dan (Bo Hopkins) is convinced that the local Indians led by Greyfeather (Henry Wilcoxon) are to blame, but when the "shock" ending finally comes, it is no surprise. Patrick Macnee, Don Stroud, Larry Storch, and Sharon Farrell lead the familiar cast, which also includes such genre favorites as Michael Pataki, Steve Antin, and Dana Kimmell, who starred in Friday the 13th, Part III the same year. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bo Hopkins, Susan Strasberg, (more)
- 1980
This goofy sci-fi/horror nonsense plays like '50s-style alien-invasion schlock with a dollop of '80s-style blood and gore. The invasion -- such as it is -- is perpetrated on various backwoods hunters and campers by a scarcely-seen alien that looks like a menacing Star Trek guest star in a glam-rock outfit. The alien's rather simple frontal attack employs an arsenal of toothy, pulsating frisbees that glow in the dark and glom onto the necks and backs of various flannel-clad denizens of the woods. That's about it... oh, and there's a few reliable character actors on hand to spout silly dialogue. Jack Palance plays a crusty hunter who fancies the alien stuffed and mounted, not caring that it plans to do the same to him (now there's a trophy); Martin Landau turns in an eye-rolling performance as the local lunatic, whose paranoid ravings presage those of his character in the feature film The X-Files. Also known as It Came Without Warning. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Palance, Martin Landau, (more)
The 1979 Rankin/Bass production Jack Frost is a made-for-TV stop motion animation feature. Buddy Hacket narrates the story as the voice of groundhog Pardon-Me-Pete. The spirit of winter, Jack Frost (voice of Robert Morse) falls for a young woman named Elisa (voice of Debra Clinger). He asks Father Winter to make him into a human so he can win her love. However, she is already engaged to the brave knight, Sir Danny. When the villianous King Kubla Kraus (voice of Paul Frees) kidnaps her, Jack has to turn back into his spirit form in order to use his powers to save her. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Morse, Buddy Hackett, (more)
- 1979
The elderly residents of a nursing home tire of being oppressed and stage a revolution in this made-for-television comedy. Following the ensuing riot they rush out and commandeer a passing train to go out for a few final adventures. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harold Gould, Strother Martin, (more)
- 1978
- PG
This lighthearted, tuneful and youth-oriented comedy is set in a record store and chronicles the zany exploits of its employees. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1978
This is a 1978 version of the Mark Twain classic with Huck dodging the drudgery of an eastern boys school (which he's doomed to attend) by faking his own drowning. Unfortunately his shenanigans result in his good friend Jim getting blamed for his apparent earthly exit. So the two of them set off rafting the Mississippi in search of adventure and to get away from their troubles. They meet up with two con men who add to the intrigue. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1977
The cast of the sitcom F-Troop stars in this comic western about the people of St. Joseph, Missouri and their exasperation with the community's most famous resident--Mark Twain (Christopher Connelly). ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1975
This 1975 live-action television series starred Larry Storch and Forrest Tucker as a pair of detectives who team up with a gorilla (Bob Burns) to keep troublesome ghosts in their rightful place. This series, which only lasted about a season, predated the popular feature film Ghostbusters and the susequent animated series. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
In the wake of the 45-million-dollar gross of the original Airport (1970), Universal was all but required by an act of Congress to produce Airport '75. Charlton Heston heads the all-star cast as Alan Murdock, the former test pilot who must keep a disabled 747 from crashing in flames. The crisis begins when a businessman (Dana Andrews), flying his small private plane, suffers a fatal heart attack and the plane smashes into the cockpit of the 747. Following Murdock's radioed instructions, stewardess Nancy Pryor (Karen Black) takes over the controls. The special-guest passenger lineup includes Helen Reddy as a singing nun (a character wickedly satirized in the 1980 parody Airplane!), Myrna Loy as an alcoholic, and Sid Caesar as a garrulous passenger. While Airport '75 yielded only 25 million dollars at the box office, the franchise continued, spawning Airport '77 a few years later and Airport '79 two years after that. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charlton Heston, Karen Black, (more)
- 1973
Middle-aged Archie can only envy the eternally youthful outlook of his friend and contemporary Bill Mulholern. He is especially impressed that the toupeed, flashily garbed Bill has managed to attract a sexy young bedmate named Tina. But by episode's end, Archie is made to realize how lucky he is to be spending his declining years with a loving wife like Edith. Arlene Golonka plays Tina, a role originally slated for Ann Elder. Scripted by Michael Ross and Bernie West from a story by Joe Kerr, "Oh Say Can You See" originally aired on January 20, 1973. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carroll O'Connor, Jean Stapleton, (more)
