Ron Thompson Movies
- 1999
The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords is a documentary about the largely-forgotten history of African-American newspapers. In 1827, a group of black writers and journalists in New York who were tired of the way racial issues were depicted in the press created America's first black-owned and operated newspaper, "Freedom's Journal." Over the next 150 years, dozens of similar newspapers appeared across America, giving African-Americans a voice they never had in the mainstream news media. On of the largest black newspapers, "The Chicago Defender," helped promote the "Great Migration" by advising Southern blacks to move North, where they would be treated with greater tolerance. As a result, the paper was banned in many Southern states, but it still trickled into the South thanks to black train porters, who brought copies with them on journeys from the North. Another black paper, "The Pittsburgh Courier," attracted the attention of the FBI when during World War II they launched what they called the "Double V Campaign," which argued the battle against fascism in Europe should be extended to fighting segregation in the United States, in the process incurring the wrath of J. Edgar Hoover. However, when the Civil Rights movement the black press helped to organize took hold, the mainstream press began presenting more and better coverage of issues in the black community, which led to a declining interest in the African-American papers. Featuring interviews with members of the black press and newsreel footage, The Black Press is narrated by actor Joe Morton and was shown both on PBS and at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joe Morton
This portrait of the man who brought nude male flesh into the American mainstream combines present-day interviews, archival footage, and semi-fictionalized dramatization into a cinematic hybrid. Photographer and filmmaker Bob Mizer (Daniel MacIvor) founded the Athletic Model Guild, or AMG, in Los Angeles in 1945, hoping to turn his fascination with the male physique into a successful business that used nude and semi-nude photographs to sell the services of models to painters and the like. When the photos themselves proved more lucrative than the non-existent modeling contracts, Mizer launched Physique Pictorial. The magazine ostensibly offered bodybuilding tips and moral guidance to young men the world over, but in reality its clientèle included legions of gay men eager for eye candy. With the help of his mother and business partner, Delilah (Carroll Godsman), Mizer parlayed his magazine, short films, and other work into a palatial residence/studio where young men fresh off the bus from Nowheresville could frolic, crash, and earn a little cash in front of the camera (or on the casting couch). Occasional run-ins with the law and stints in prison couldn't deter Mizer from continuing his photography until his death in the early '90s. His models, contemporaries, and associates included bodybuilding proponent Jack LaLane and future Warhol superstar Joe Dallesandro, who are among the many men interviewed by filmmaker Thom Fitzgerald. The writer/director/producer intersperses his dramatic and documentary sequences with plenty of actual AMG and Physique Pictorial images. The film's narrative arc, however, focuses on the fictionalized character of novice model Neil E. O'Hara (Joshua Peace), who serves as a stand-in for the audience as he acclimates himself to Mizer's campy, flesh-filled compound and witnesses the photographer's betrayal by another model, Red (Jack Griffin Mazeika). Beefcake was inspired by F. Valentine Hooven III's book Beefcake: The Muscle Magazines of America, 1950-1970. The scenes of Mizer's trial for pandering were based on transcripts of the real-life Red's courtroom testimony. The character name Neil E. O'Hara, of course, is a joking reference to Neely O'Hara, the ingénue character from Valley of the Dolls. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel MacIvor, Thomas Cawood, (more)
- 1993
- R
Martial arts abound in this taut adventure, yet another version of the 1924 classic story "The Most Dangerous Game," by Richard Connell. Big-game hunter Danton Vachs and his pals live on a remote island off the Mexican coastline. The island is densely jungled and Vachs makes a good living staging hunts involving human victims. His latest victim is an exceptional athlete and Vietnam veteran. To get him to the island, Vachs has his girl friend kidnapped and will not release her until the vet, Matt Collins agrees to play. He is given a four hour start upon his pursuers. While making his way through the jungle, he runs into John Blackwell, his predecessor, a survivalist who faked his death, and who has been hiding out on the island ever since. Together the two team up to make it back to the big house, get deadly chopsocky revenge and save Matt's girl friend. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mike Norris, Chad McQueen, (more)
Laurence Fishburne plays no-nonsense LAPD narc Russell Stevens, Jr., who has worked all his life to expunge the memory of his dope-addict father, whom he saw die in a liquor-store robbery. DEA agent Jerry Carver (Charles Martin Smith) orders Stevens to work as an undercover operative on a major case. The cop is to pose as a dealer in order to get the goods on South American drug lord. Stevens is so convincing as a dealer, that he fast works his way up through the ranks and gains the trust of lawyer and narcotics dealer David Jason (Jeff Goldblum) and his sinister associates, all lackeys to the kingpin who is the target of Stevens' assignment. Through a series of fantastic but credible circumstances, Stevens eliminates the lower echelon, getting closer to his quarry, but in the process he finds himself so deep into the sinister and seductive world of the drug trade that he may never get out. In a surprise move, and just when he is about to bring the ringleader down, the DEA pulls the plug on his assignment, because the top dealer, an influential Latin American politician, may someday be useful to the State Department. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laurence Fishburne, Jeff Goldblum, (more)
Edward J. Olmos made his directorial bow with the powerhouse crime saga American Me. Olmos stars as street-gang leader Santana, who during his 18 years in Folsom Prison rules over all the drug-and-murder activities behind bars. Upon his release, Santana goes back to his old neighborhood, intending to lead a peaceful, crime-free life. But his old gang buddies force him back into his old habits. The omniprescene of the "Mexican Mafia" in the southwest is sufficient to make this film a daunting, demoralizing experience. Upon its release, American Me received a lot of press play due to the fact that Olmos shot his Folsom sequences on location, using actual prisoners as extras and bit players. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward James Olmos, William Forsythe, (more)
New York art dealer Arne Glimcher took his first crack at film directing with this florid, high-energy romance about two brothers who flee Cuba in the early 1950s to make it as musicians in the United States. Cynthia Cidre wrote the literate screenplay adapted from Oscar Hijuelos's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love. Cesar (Armand Assante) and Nestor Castillo (Antonio Banderas) are popular musicians on Havana's club circuit, but when they make enemies of the wrong people, they are forced to leave for New York City, the moody Nestor leaving behind his true love. In New York, the brothers work as meat-cutters during the day as Cesar tries to organize a band and make inroads into the lively New York music scene. Soon, as The Mambo Kings, they get club bookings and Cesar falls in love with a sharp-tongued cigarette girl, Lanna Lake (Cathy Moriarty), and Nestor with the beautiful Delores Fuentes (Maruschka Detmers), who wants to be a teacher. Cesar concentrates on singing and managing the band, while Nestor plays the trumpet and writes emotional songs of love. All seems to be going well until Cesar antagonizes the moneymen on the Latin nightclub circuit and they finds themselves playing bar mitzvahs. But after they're discovered by Desi Arnaz (Desi Arnaz Jr.), the group is prominently featured on I Love Lucy. Their popularity soars and they cut a successful album called "Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love." Cesar is glorying in his success, but Nestor is disappointed and longs to return to Cuba. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Armand Assante, Antonio Banderas, (more)
The rise and growth of American popular music through the 20th century is reflected in the lives of four generations of one family in this animated drama directed by Ralph Bakshi. Zalmie (voice of Jeffrey Lippa), a Russian Jew, emigrates to America, and tries to struggle along as a comic and musician in vaudeville, until an injury suffered in World War I ends his singing career. Zalmie's son Benny (voice of Richard Singer) inherits his father's love for music, and when he grows to adulthood, he joins a jazz combo as a pianist; his career is cut short, however, when he's killed while fighting in World War II. Benny's son Tony (voice of Ron Thompson) is also bitten by the music bug and is determined to make his mark as a songwriter; he becomes involved in the Beat poetry and music community in San Francisco, and later falls in with a pioneering psychedelic band. Along the way, Tony fathers an illegitimate son named Pete (voice of Eric Taslitz), and ends up becoming Pete's guardian in New York City without realizing he's the boy's father. After Tony's death, Pete supports himself by dealing drugs, while struggling to make his dream of becoming a rock star a reality. Ralph Bakshi achieved American Pop's unique look through a process called "rotoscoping" -- shooting the scenes with live actors, and then tracing their movements onto animation cells.
~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ron Thompson, Marya Small, (more)
- 1980
Jeffrey (Keith Mitchell) and Josh (Todd Bridges) steal money from the Godsey's store to cover their losses in a crap game. But when the authorities catch up with them, Jeffrey magnanimously allows Josh take all the blame. And in another development, an insulting remark from a soldier convinces Ben (Eric Scott) that it is high time that he enlist in the Armed Forces -- even though he is a new husband and an even newer father. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1977
J. Lee Thompson directs Charles Bronson in this strange western variation on Herman Melville's Moby Dick. Bronson plays a man named James Otis, who is disturbed by dreams of a giant white buffalo. He returns to the west under his new name --Wild Bill Hickok. Amongst his travels, he meets Chief Crazy Horse (Will Sampson), who is roaming the plains in an obsessive search for the giant white buffalo that killed his young daughter. Chief Crazy Horse wants to slay the beast in revenge for his daughter's death, and Wild Bill Hickok teams up with him to hunt down the giant white buffalo. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Bronson, Jack Warden, (more)
- 1977
The plot of this 90-minute (Quincy, M.E.) episode gets under way when a human bone, found at the excavation site for a new college building, is given to medical examiner (and temporary forensics teacher) Quincy (Jack Klugman) as a joke. But it is no laughing matter when, after a little lab work, Quincy determines that the bone was from the body of a murder victim. Much to the dismay of his superiors at the LA County Coroner's Office, Quincy puts his regular duties aside to conduct an investigation which may not only determine the identity of the victim, but also solve a 20-year-old murder. The supporting cast includes two future Lou Grant regulars, Linda Kelsey and Jack Bannon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1976
Andrea Marcovicci guest stars as Sandra Fleming, an intrepid -- and somewhat obnoxious -- newspaper reporter. Undercover cop Tony Baretta (Robert Blake) is none too happy when Sandra begins tagging along on his latest investigation. If she isn't careful, Sandra will botch Baretta's efforts to solve the attempted robbery of 500,000 dollars in syndicate money -- and probably get herself bumped off in the bargain. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Blake, Edward Grover, (more)
- 1976
Undercover cop Tony Baretta (Robert Blake) works side by side with a federal agent to find the courier for a dealer in illegal weapons. Normally, Baretta's assignment would be fraught with danger. This time, however, that danger comes from an unsuspected but deadly source: Tony, his partner, and the fugitive have all been exposed to a particularly vicious form of contagious spinal meningitis. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Blake, Edward Grover, (more)
- 1976
A doctor is murdered, and the chief suspect is a grieving young father who held the victim responsible for his son's death. Placed in custody, the perpetrator escapes, embarking upon a seemingly senseless murder spree. In his efforts to nab the rampaging killer, undercover detective Tony Baretta (Robert Blake) tries to figure out his quarry's motives -- and his next move. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Blake, Edward Grover, (more)
- 1976
Joan Collins guest stars as female undercover officer Lynn Stiles. Teaming up with Tony Baretta (Robert Blake), Stiles tries to nab a murderous pimp who covets full control of the city's prostitutes. In an incredibly suspenseful climax, Baretta is forced to place Stiles in grave danger for the sake of justice. Star Robert Blake's wife Sondra Blake appears as Candy Lee, a character she'd introduced in the first-season episode "The Mansion." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Blake, Edward Grover, (more)
- 1976
A young pickpocket who works in a major airline terminal is found brutally murdered. Undercover cop Tony Baretta (Robert Blake) can't understand why anyone would have reason to bump off a two-bit thief. But he intends to find out, and to do that he poses as an experienced "dip." Sanford and Son regular Whitman Mayo appears in a key supporting role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Blake, Edward Grover, (more)
- 1975
James Franciscus stars as a university professor with an eye on bigger things. Using his inherent promotional know-how, he launches a career in the record industry, eventually operating his own top-selling label. To insure that the local stations will run his artists' recordings, Franciscus crosses certain deejays' palms with silver. That's called payola, and that's against the law. His empire shattered, Franciscus is reduced to cabdriving to earn a living--and by the end of the film he's neither earning nor living. Singer Kenny Rogers makes his acting debut as one of Franciscus' clients; also featured is Rogers' former First Edition colleague Mickey Jones. Made for television, The Dream Makers has pretenses of profundity, but ultimately is as pointless as its abrupt climax. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1975
Undercover cop Tony Baretta (Robert Blake) investigates when a blind hot dog vendor is murdered. The only witness is a hungry little girl named Molly (Elizabeth Cheshire), who got a good look at one of the killers. Unfortunately, both of the perpetrators got a very good look at Molly, meaning that her life won't be worth a bottle of mustard unless Baretta comes to the rescue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Blake, Edward Grover, (more)
- 1974
While performing with a street-theater troupe, Ironside's goddaughter Peggy Lynch (Kathleen Quinlan) witnesses a murder. Rather than summon the police, Peggy allows her boyfriend Jamie (Ron Thompson) to talk her into running away. Ironside (Raymond Burr) scours the city in search of the girl, not knowing that the real reason for her flight is because her boyfriend is a wanted car thief. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
