Linda Thompson Movies
Lawrence Kasdan originally wrote his script for The Bodyguard in the late 1960s as a vehicle for Steve McQueen; by the time it reached the screen, Kasdan's star was another movie hearthrob, Kevin Costner. When imperious musical superstar Whitney Houston begins receiving death threats, she is compelled to hire a bodyguard. Enter Costner, who immediately incurs the wrath of Houston and her entourage by imposing prison-like security measures. An ex-Secret Service agent, Costner still hasn't purged himself of his guilt feelings over his inability to protect President Reagan from would-be assassin John Hinckley (in the original concept, the agent had been guarding JFK in Dallas, but Costner was too young to make this credible; besides, he and Oliver Stone had been there before). Gradually, and inevitably, Costner and Houston fall in love. Ralph Waite is cast as Costner's father, while Robert Wuhl and Debbie Reynolds please the crowd in their cameo roles. The Bodyguard was a huge box-office success, helped along in no small part by Whitney Houston's bestselling rendition of the old Dolly Parton hit "I Will Always Love You." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin Costner, Whitney Houston, (more)
- 1992
- R
Love Crimes, an erotic thriller directed by Lizzie Borden, explores the psychology of a con man posing as a photographer, who seduces women and then blackmails them using humiliating, revealing pictures he has taken of them. David Hanover (Patrick Bergin) preys on the hopes of women by offering them love and a possible career as fashion models. When some of the women complain, but refuse to aid in Hanover's prosecution, DA Dana Greenway (Sean Young) becomes obsessed with catching Hanover, to the point where she tracks him down and spys on him in his secluded home, making herself a potential victim. He catches her and holds her captive. Feminist filmmaker Borden, who also directed the remarkable, low-budget film Working Girls, raises interesting questions regarding sex, humiliation and male-female relationships, but the film is spoiled by the ambiguity of her central character, Dana. An abused child herself, she has the same self-loathing that the other woman who are preyed upon by Hanover possess, but her motivations for her actions remain murky. Despite these flaws, Borden, always an interesting filmmaker, raises important issues which perhaps can't be adequately resolved using the restrictions of the thriller genre. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sean Young, Patrick Bergin, (more)
- 1991
- PG
In this earnest, socially conscious drama, a prominent young lawyer rethinks his yuppie lifestyle and risks it all to become a staunch defender of homeless people's rights. Look for Martin Sheen (a strong advocate for the homeless) in a cameo role as a street person. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
The serialized story structure and barbed social commentary from comic book creator and co-writer Frank Miller earned critical respect in this satirical science fiction sequel directed by Irvin Kershner. Peter Weller returns as RoboCop, a futuristic cyborg fashioned from cutting-edge technology and the biological remains of slain Detroit police officer, Alex Murphy. Still patrolling the city streets, RoboCop is scheduled by his creator, Omni Consumer Products, to be replaced by a new "superior" model, RoboCop 2, that according to designer Juliette Faxx (Belinda Bauer), will contain the human remains not of a cop but a criminal. In the meantime, an instantly addictive drug called Nuke is sweeping through Detroit thanks to a kingpin named Cain (Tom Noonan). Taking Cain to task, RoboCop is captured and dismantled. When he's put back together, the cyborg is reprogrammed with a series of socially conscious commands (in a sly mocking of the then relatively new concept of "political correctness") that render him impotent as a law enforcer. Taking charge by rewiring himself with an electrical overload, RoboCop arrests Cain, who is injured in the process. Faxx secretly takes Cain's brain and inserts it into RoboCop 2, turning the robot immediately into a law-breaking murder machine and leading to a violent showdown between two generations of robotic crime-fighters. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, (more)
This Is Elvis wants to have it both ways. At times, the film is a warm, loving tribute to The King. At other times, it merely exploits a dead man's reputation for the purposes of a fast buck. The documentary footage of Elvis in concert, overfamiliar though it may be, is excellent and well-selected. The dramatized portions of the film, featuring a quartet of Presley imitators portraying Elvis at different junctures of his life, range from passable to mediocre. For the record, and not in the order in which they appear, Paul Boensch III is Elvis at 10, David Scott is Elvis at 18, Dana MacKay is Elvis at 35 and an appropriately corpulent Johnny Harra is Elvis at 42. In addition, a fifth actor, Ral Donner, is heard as Elvis, narrating the whole affair. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dave Scott, Paul Boensh III, (more)
- 1972
Billy (James Pickett) is a lonely country boy who lives on a remote farm with his overprotective patriarch. Seems that Billy can't be left alone with other people, especially women. He's convinced that he murders them in blind rages that he can't remember. That's exactly what happens when four pretty girls have engine trouble and stay at the farmhouse; they're each messily dispatched by an unseen killer. Billy is horrified, and his father (Charles Kissinger) chastises him, sending him off to town for supplies while he cleans up the violence. Billy spends a long, soul-searching day trying to come to grips with what he's become, and ends up drowning his sorrows in a nightclub where a terrible psychedelic white soul band plays the same song over and over again. A kindly waitress brings him home after he passes out, and over the course of the next day they fall in love. Her inevitable visit to the farm brings out old hostilities and recriminations from Billy's father, whose drunken belligerence is as threatening as the truth behind Billy's secret. The ridiculous "twist" ending won't come as too big a shock to anyone, but it accompanies enough gory overkill and stomach-turning innuendo to please those who wade through the film's sluggish second act. A weird mood pervades Three on a Meathook, courtesy of Kentucky's maverick exploitationeer William Girdler, who directed and wrote the screenplay. ~ Fred Beldin, All Movie Guide
