Jerry Summers Movies
Stunt man Corey Michael Eubanks plays a repo man in Forced to Kill. While claiming a Jaguar, Johnny (Eubanks) is captured by a strange family. Before long, he's in the thick of a subrosa boxing tournament, where bare fists are de rigeur and the participants are obliged to kill one another. A question: if Eubanks is such a crackerjack stunt man, how'd he allow himself to get into this mess? (and he wrote the script, too!) Check your brains at the door: the action is terrific. The supporting cast of Forced to Kill includes filmmaker Ron Howard's father Rance and brother Clint. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Originally prepared for European release under the title Catchfire, Backtrack wasn't given a wide distribution until 1991, and then only to capitalize on the Oscar win of Silence of the Lambs star Jodie Foster. In Backtrack, Foster plays a youngish innocent who witnesses a mob hit. Professional assassin Dennis Hopper is contracted to silence Foster for keeps. Instead, he falls in love with her. Directed by star Hopper, Backtrack has some of the feel of his earlier, better Easy Rider: the cast is populated by such old Hopper chums as Dean Stockwell, Charlie Sheen, Joe Pesci, Bob Dylan, Vincent Price and Julie Adams; and, like Easy Rider, it looks as though the story was improvised during filming. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dennis Hopper, Jodie Foster, (more)
- 1990
- R
Jay Underwood plays Jeff Sherman, a teenage movie fan who idolizes the classic films of Humphrey Bogart. Jeff's Uncle Ben (Vince Edwards) owns a small detective agency, and Jeff asks if he could have a job working there to earn some extra money. Ben warily agrees, assigning Jeff the most rudimentary of tasks. But when a gangster client comes to the agency, needing someone to spy on his fiancee, Rita Benson (Tracy Scoggins), whom he suspects is cheating on him, Jeff is given the assignment. Hiding out in a closet in a hotel room, Jeff documents an assignation between Rita and her lover Glenn (Charles Lucia). But then strong-arm men push their way into the room, pump Glenn with tranquilizers, and carry him off. Jeff proceeds to fall out of the closet, and Rita asks Jeff for help. They immediately go to the police to report the crime. Unfortunately for the luckless duo, the police and the kidnappers are in cahoots, and soon Jeff and Rita are on the run from both the gangsters and the cops. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jay Underwood, Tracy Scoggins, (more)
Handsome young Washington attorney Louie Jeffries (Chris McDonald) has it all: a promising career, a beautiful wife, and a baby on the way. But after discovering a local judge is in cahoots with the Mob, Louie bites it in a car crash and finds himself in Heaven. Unsatisfied with the customer service he's receiving, Louie jumps the gun and gets himself reincarnated -- before being administered the magic injection that will remove his memories of his former life. For the next quarter-century, Louie's museum curator wife, Corinne (Cybill Shepherd), remains true to her husband's memory, ignoring the frustrated devotion of Louie's best friend, Philip Train (Ryan O'Neal). Meanwhile, Louie's soul grows up in the body of Alex Finch (Robert Downey Jr.), an aspiring journalist. Alex's memories of his life as Louie return after he becomes romantically involved with Miranda (Mary Stuart Masterson) -- the daughter he never got to meet. Soon, Alex/Louie is romancing his wife, spurning his daughter's advances, and frustrating Philip's attempts finally to woo Corinne. Written by Mystic Pizza scribes Perry and Randy Howze and directed by Emile Ardolino of Dirty Dancing fame, Chances Are didn't score as well at the box office as those earlier comedies. Its soundtrack, however, generated the hit Peter Cetera and Cher ballad "After All." ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cybill Shepherd, Robert Downey, Jr., (more)
In this vaguely allegorical science fiction-crime film, a Los Angeles cop tries to solve the murder of his best friend with the help of his new partner -- a member of a star-faring alien race. In the near-future world of Alien Nation, the "Newcomers" are a race of formerly enslaved humanoids seeking refuge and integration into Earth society. These unusual immigrants face anger and resentment from some humans, including Matthew Sykes (James Caan), a cop whose partner, Tug (Roger Aaron Brown), was killed in a shoot-out with several Newcomers. In order to get some insight into Newcomer society and track down the "slags" who killed Tug, Sykes volunteers to take on a new partner,Sam "George" Francisco (Mandy Patinkin), the first alien ever promoted to the rank of detective. As Sykes tries to overcome his bigotry against George and his kind, who eat raw beaver and get drunk on spoiled milk, the friendly, helpful George soon learns the identity of Tug's killer: William Harcort (Terrence Stamp), a pillar of Newcomer society who is secretly manufacturing the same powerful narcotic that was used to enslave his race. It's up to Sykes and George to stop Harcort before he turns his fellow Newcomers into drooling addicts and pulls the skeletons out of his race's closet for all of humankind to see. Omen 3 director Graham Baker made his screenwriting debut with Alien Nation, as did co-writer Rockne S. O'Bannon. Kenneth Johnson, creator of the miniseries V, would adapt Alien Nation into a weekly television show in 1989 and several made-for-TV movies in the mid-'90s. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Caan, Mandy Patinkin, (more)
- 1980
When Daisy Duke (Catherine Bach) is kidnapped after snapping a photo of a bank robbery in progress, Deputy Enos Strate (Sonny Shroyer) defies orders from Sheriff Roscoe (James Best) and Boss Hogg (Sorrell Booke), joining Bo and Luke Duke (John Schneider, Tom Wopat) in their efforts to rescue their cousin. As a result, Enos finally gets his chance at a throughly honest job in a big-city police department. Making their first series appearances are Nedra Volz as Hazzard County's cycle-ridin' postmistress Miz Tisdale and Flash the Dog as "himself", while Rick Hurst becomes a full-fledged regular in the role of Deputy Cletus. This episode was designed as the pilot for the Dukes of Hazzard spinoff series Enos, which (of course) starred Sonny Shroyer and originally ran on CBS from November 5, 1980 through September 19, 1981. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1979
Season Six of The Rockford Files begins as Jim Rockford (James Garner) faces permanent expulsion from the community of Paradise Cove as the result of a damage suit instigated by vindictive neighbor C.C. Calloway (Leif Erickson). Court-appointed receiver Althea Morgan (Mariette Hartley) shows up at Jim's doorstep to inventory his possessions, the better to find out if he should be forced to liquidate everything he owns to pay the $35,000 demanded in the lawsuit. As if Jim's life isn't in enough turmoil, he must also deal with a mystery involving a fortune in buried bullion, and the reopening of a scandal dating all the way back to 1929. Inevitably, all of Jim's problems turn out to be inextricably linked--and the result may prove fatal for himself and the hapless Althea. Though obviously conceived to capitalize on the popularity of the then-current camera commercials costarring James Garner and Mariette Hartley, this episode is strong enough to stand on its own merits--and Ms. Hartley earned an Emmy nomination in the bargain. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1978
When an "I'm-just-makin'-money" developer plops his new ski lodge at the foot of a mountain, the locals warn him about snowslides. So it's not too long before a gigantic avalanche buries the lodge and all the snow bunnies in it. Rock Hudson plays the ski lodge owner and Mia Farrow is his couch-hopping wife in this disaster film. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rock Hudson, Mia Farrow, (more)
- 1974
- PG
John Frankenheimer's bizarre, satirical gangster film is not for all tastes but has acquired a minor cult following. Elderly mobster Edmond O'Brien hires a hitman (Richard Harris) to eliminate his rival (Bradford Dillman) in a dystopic setting of not-quite reality. There are albino alligators, skillful chase scenes, and Chuck Connors as a one-handed psycho who can fit various deadly weapons on his stumpy arm. None of it makes much sense, and mainstream viewers may end up scratching their heads in bewilderment, but fans of more esoteric films should find it a lot of fun. It would likely have ended up as a big hit on the drive-in circuit if it hadn't been directed by Frankenheimer, from whom most people expect better. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Harris, Edmond O'Brien, (more)
- 1974
The plot is set in motion by a corrupt banker who has stolen several million dollars in US bonds. Also playing key roles in the intrigue are a mob fence and a professional assassin. Truly, crimefighting makes strange bedfellows: In his efforts to capture the banker and foil the other villains, NYPD lieutenant Kojak (Telly Savalas) is forced to team up with a cat burglar (Henry Darrow). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
John Milius's first directorial effort in its own small way set the stage in the 1970s for a subgenre of action films that depict a nostalgia for historical figures tinged with a hard-edged skepticism. Warren Oates stars as John Dillinger, whose short-lived career as Public Enemy No.1 was, at least according to Milius, promoted by Dillinger with a self-absorbed boosterism, comforting his victims by telling them, "Someday you'll tell your grandchildren about this." The film captures the highlights of Dillinger's criminal career, as seen through the eyes of Melvin Purvis (Ben Johnson), the FBI agent whose obsession with capturing Dillinger led to Dillinger's death in the back alley of Chicago's Biograph Theater. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Warren Oates, Ben Johnson, (more)
- 1972
Henry Jones guest stars as Dr. Alexander Knott, an elderly country physician who helps Roy (Kevin Tighe) and John (Randolph Mantooth) during an emergency--and who goes to great lengths to hide his own physical frailties. Back at the station house, John becomes starstuck during a photo shoot in which he is surrounded by beautiful models. And in another show business-related incident, a pair of Hollywood stuntmen (played by real-life stunt performers Fred Gabourie and George Sawaya) are trapped on a studio-built waterfall. The same week that this episode originally aired on NBC, the cast of Emergency! appeared in a "crossover" episode on Adam-12, "ost and Found". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
- PG
The stars of the witty TV series I Spy were reunited for this downbeat crime thriller, which takes a much darker and more violent look at the lives of two detectives for hire. Al Hickey (Bill Cosby) and Frank Boggs (Robert Culp) are a pair of private eyes who are approached by an attorney to find his girlfriend, who has gone missing. Their investigation leads them to a large sum of money from a Pittsburgh bank robbery. It seems that the woman in question has married the leader of a leftist radical group, which is now trying to find a buyer for the tainted money. An attempt to recover both the money and the girl goes awry when Hickey and Boggs infiltrate a meeting with the radicals; the girl slips away and takes the burgled cash with her. Adding to the disaster, the meeting tips off the identity of the detectives to mobsters dealing with the radicals, and the gangsters execute Hickey's wife in an effort to keep him away from their activities. Hickey and Boggs also features Rosalind Cash, Michael Moriarity, Vincent Gardenia, Isabel Sanford, and James Woods. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bill Cosby, Robert Culp, (more)
With Howard Hawks's Bringing Up Baby (1938) as his blueprint, Peter Bogdanovich resurrected and payed homage to 1930s screwball comedy in What's Up, Doc? (1972). When wacky co-ed Judy Maxwell (Barbra Streisand, in the Katharine Hepburn part) spies nebbishy musicologist Howard Bannister (Ryan O'Neal in bespectacled Cary Grant mode) in a San Francisco hotel lobby, she decides that Howard and his precious igneous rocks are right up her alley. Too bad Howard already has a fiancée, the propriety-fixated Eunice (Madeline Kahn in her film debut). Using all her arcane knowledge from brief stays at numerous colleges, Judy tries to charm her way to a $20,000 grant for Howard, and Howard himself, at a banquet with grantor Frederick Larrabee (Austin Pendleton). Things get even more complicated the next day when Judy's underwear-filled overnight bag gets mixed up with Howard's rock bag, which gets mixed up with Mrs. Van Hoskins' bag of jewels, which gets mixed up with Mr. Smith's bag of top secret government papers. All sides converge at Larrabee's mod townhouse and the chase begins. Retaining Hawks' machine-gun pace (as well as the sly pop culture referentiality of Billy Wilder), Bogdanovich and writers Buck Henry, David Newman, and Robert Benton updated the opposites-attract screwball convention for contemporary times. O'Neal gently parodied not only Grant but also his own Love Story (1970) preppy, while Kahn represents stiff-wigged 1950s manners as opposed to Streisand's long-haired, pants-wearing free spirit. The happy ending, in which Cole Porter-belting youth wins out over old manners, found favor with audiences, as What's Up, Doc? became one of the most popular films of 1972, and the second hit in a row for Bogdanovich after 1971's The Last Picture Show. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbra Streisand, Ryan O'Neal, (more)
- 1969
Written and directed by Michael Landon, "The Wish" would remain Landon's favorite Bonanza episode long after its original airing on March 9, 1969. Preparing for a two-month fishing trip, Hoss Cartwright meets Sam Davis (Ossie Davis), an ex-slave trying to make a go of a drought-plague farm. Though Hoss would like to offer assistance, he hesitates, fully aware that Sam is too fiercely proud to accept help from a white man. Conversely, Sam's son John (George Spell) immediately bonds with Hoss-and expresses the disturbing wish that his own father was white! Recalling his participation in this episode, guest star Ossie Davis told TV Guide "I like the script. It shows a black man heading a family and fighting to keep it together. He encounters prejudice. . .There's no pat ending. The story says a great deal without making speeches." Unfortunately, "The Wish" is one of those "lost" Bonanza episodes which, for various reasons, is seldom rebroadcast today. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, (more)
- 1969
Neil Kriton (Michael Tolan), a respectable businessman, is none too pleased when his black-sheep younger brother Ricky (Scott Marlowe) shows up, begging for a job. Neil relents and finds employment for Ricky, despite the reservations of Neil's wife Denise (Julie Adams) and sister-in-law Lori Donna Baccala). Perhaps the elder Kriton would have been wise to heed the warnings of the women in his life: Ricky happens to be a fugitive from the FBI, wanted for hijacking and attempted murder--and he has no intention of reforming. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Clint Eastwood stars as Walt Coogan, an Arizona deputy sheriff who has been sent to New York City to extradite escaped killer James Ringerman (Don Stroud). On arrival, he's forced to wait by NYPD detective Lieutenant McElroy (Lee J. Cobb), who informs him that Ringerman is recovering from a bad acid trip at Bellevue Hospital. After briefly flirting with attractive probation officer Julie Roth (Susan Clark), Coogan heads for Bellevue, where he's able to con the hospital's staff into releasing the criminal. The cop and the fugitive are on the way to catch a flight back to Arizona, when Ringerman's hippie girlfriend Linny (Tisha Sterling) and a large accomplice spirit the killer away, leaving Coogan unconscious. Luckily, Julie is the girl's probation officer, and Coogan manages to get her address from the woman's files while getting to know her better. He tracks the girl to a popular psychedelic club, whereupon, deciding she likes the deputy, she takes him back to her apartment for further interrogation. The first in a series of films on which Eastwood would collaborate with director Don Siegel, it features a memorable scene in which a battle fought with billiard balls and cue sticks suggests the birth of a new martial art. Although its seemingly innocuous scenes of sex and violence drew criticism at the time, it served as the source for television's considerably more benign McCloud, starring Dennis Weaver as the laconic fish out of water. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clint Eastwood, Lee J. Cobb, (more)
- 1967
The Cartwrights play host to two members of the Russian aristocracy, Count Alexis (Warren Stevens) and Countess Elena (Claire Griswold). Meanwhile, Russian-expatriate outlaw Peters (Lloyd Bochner) has other plans in store for the Count and Countess. The object of Peters' avaricious scheme are the Czar's crown jewels. Originally shown on April 2, 1967, "The Prince" was written by John Hawkins and Melvin Levy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, (more)
- 1967
The Man from UNCLE comes to the big screen in this spy thriller comprised of episodes from the popular television series. The story centers around the attempts of evil THRUSH operatives who endeavor to abduct a professor who has developed a formula for turning salt water into gold. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1965
Andrew Prine guest-stars as George Whitman, a self-proclaimed "jinx" who inadvertently leaves disaster in his wake wherever he goes. Over the protests of the Ponderosa ranchhands, Whitman is hired by Hoss Cartwright, who is determined to prove that George's hard-luck reputation is undeserved. But even Hoss has second thoughts when the dire predictions of gypsy fortune teller Teresa (Angela Clarke) begin to come true. Originally telecast on May 9, 1965 as Bonanza's 200th episode, "The Jonah" was written by Preston Wood. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, (more)
- 1965
In this western, a gunslinger runs from the Dawson gang and decides to return home to the wife he abandoned many years before. There he finds that his infant son has grown into a thuggish hellion who has been lead to believe that his mother is dead. He also hates the father who left him. The mother isn't dead. She works as a saloon keeper, but her son doesn't recognize her. The father and son end up staging a showdown, and the father quickly outdraws his son. Later, the Dawsons catch up to the gunfighter. His son plans to do nothing to save him, but then he learns that his father left because his mother had cheated upon him. The son changes his mind and rides out to save his dad. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rory Calhoun, Virginia Mayo, (more)
- 1964
This is the first of numerous westerns produced by A.C. Lyles which became famous not for their stories but for who played in them--all the stars being veterans not often seen on the screen anymore. As far as plot line, essentially we have a badguy who has become a good guy (read that ex gunfighter turned judge) and meets his past in his own court room. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dale Robertson, Yvonne De Carlo, (more)
- 1964
Arizona adolescents harken to the call of the distant surf and head off for a fun-filled romantic adventure in swinging Malibu. Songs include: "If I Were an Artist," "Surf Party," "Fire Water," "Glory Wave," "Crack-Up" and "Great White Water." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1963
His gun hand crippled in a shootout with sodbuster Brock March (Chris Alcaide), ruthless land baron Colonel Draco (Warren Stevens) is determined to have his revenge. To this end, March hires Paladin (Richard Boone) to track down March and mete out "justice." Meanwhile, the nervous townspeople, led by kindly but two-fisted Brother Grace (George Kennedy), pray for a miracle of some sort to prevent any further violence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1963
This tuneful romp offers about an hour of good, trashy low-budget fun as it tells the tale of wealthy teens' struggles to keep their favorite hot spot intact after they learn that a real estate dragon-lady has set her avaricious eye upon it with the hopes of building a new high-rise there. Much of the tale centers on the land magnate, Roberta Crawford, and her vivacious teen-age niece, Vicki, who visits the club with her blue-blooded, arrogant beau Roger Kelly. Vicki is in the dark concerning her aunt's machinations until she hears the club's handsome star singer Mel Hudson talking about how he is trying hard to resist Roberta's onslaught of pressure to sell. Vicki falls for Mel right away and immediately decides to help him. Trouble ensues when the club mysteriously burns down and Roberta Crawford is accused of arson. Fortunately, the truth is revealed, someone has a change of heart, and amidst much celebration, a romance blooms. Songs include: "Come to the Party," "Mad, Mad, Mad," "Come A-Runnin'," "Watusi Surfer," "Greenback Dollar," "I Can't Get You out of My Heart," and "You Pass Me By." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rod Lauren, Molly Bee, (more)
