Ron Taylor Movies
- 1978
- PG
During the 1977 Ediburgh Film Festival, independent filmmaker Maurice Hatton made this feature story, using real-life actors, film directors, producers, etc., to enact improvisational roles in a film about filmmaking. In the story, Charlie (played by the film's real-life producer Charles Gormley) is going from person to person at the Edinburgh Film Festival in order to raise money for the production of an independent director's first "commercial" film, tentatively titled "Gulf and Western." The bluffs, lies, and outright rejections he receives are characteristic of those experienced by industry insiders, and this rather bleak, occasionally humorous feature became a favorite among filmmakers and industry cognoscenti. Among the well-known individuals who enact roles similar to their real-life activities are director John Boorman, actress Susannah York, director Wim Wenders, and agent Dennis Selinger. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Gormley, Neville Smith, (more)
Based on Peter Benchley's best-selling novel, Steven Spielberg's 1975 shark saga set the standard for the New Hollywood popcorn blockbuster while frightening millions of moviegoers out of the water. One early summer night on fictional Atlantic resort Amity Island, Chrissie decides to take a moonlight skinny dip while her friends party on the beach. Yanked suddenly below the ocean surface, she never returns. When pieces of her wash ashore, Police Chief Brody (Roy Scheider) suspects the worst, but Mayor Vaughn (Murray Hamilton), mindful of the lucrative tourist trade and the approaching July 4th holiday, refuses to put the island on a business-killing shark alert. After the shark dines on a few more victims, the Mayor orders the local fishermen to catch the culprit. Satisfied with the shark they find, the greedy Mayor reopens the beaches, despite the warning from visiting ichthyologist Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) that the attacks were probably caused by a far more formidable Great White. One more fatality later, Brody and Hooper join forces with flinty old salt Quint (Robert Shaw), the only local fisherman willing to take on a Great White--especially since the price is right. The three ride off on Quint's boat "The Orca," soon coming face to teeth with the enemy. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, (more)
In this full-length documentary feature, a team of divers seeks Great White Sharks in their natural habitats, a journey which takes them all over the oceans of the world. At first, they are content to film sharks from the safety of cages, but as their journey proceeds, they take more risks. This toothsome film, made years before the thriller Jaws, offers its own more realistic brand of thrills. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
A woman who is blackmailed by her boss discovers his plans are not at all what she imagined in this low-key comedy-drama. Benjamin Hoffman (Peter Sellers) is a businessman who has eyes for a secretary working in his office, Janet Smith (Sinead Cusack). Smith is engaged to marry a man named Tom Mitchell (Jeremy Bulloch), but when Hoffman learns that Mitchell has a criminal past and is wanted by the law, he makes a startling proposal to Smith -- he'll turn her fiancé in to the police unless she agrees to spend the weekend with him. Smith sees little choice but to agree, but arrives at Hoffman's door imagining the worst. However, to her surprise she discovers Hoffman is a desperately lonely man who wants to be loved, and he demands almost nothing of her but her companionship. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Sinéad Cusack, (more)
- 1965
This downbeat, semi-improvised look at troubled youth was a landmark in Canadian filmmaking, and in 1984 it was named one of the ten best Canadian films of all time in a poll of the nation's film writers. Peter (Peter Kastner) is a confused and alienated teenager, bright and personable but also headstrong and rebellious, whose difficult relationship with his father (Claude Rae), an auto dealer, comes to a head when Peter steals a car Dad has brought home for the night. After his father forces him to spend the night in jail, Peter leaves home and moves into a rooming house, hoping to find a job and save enough money to move away. Peter's only real ally is his girlfriend Julie (Julie Biggs), who loves him and admires his bravado, though she's a good bit more emotionally mature. When Peter's parents insist that he break up with Julie, come back home, and return to school, it only strenthens his resolve, but his fortunes soon take a turn for the worse when he reaches a crosroads in his relationship with Julie. Director Don Owen and actors Peter Kastner and Julie Biggs revisited these characters 20 years later in the follow-up, Unfinished Business. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Kastner, Julie Biggs, (more)
