Joe Tornatore Movies
A worldly vampire falls for the daughter of a high profile scientist who's currently researching immortality for the Illuminati in this independent horror thriller starring Katherine Hawkes, Daniel Goddard, and Costas Mandylor. Who would have thought that the Illuminati would become the vampire kingdom's main competitor in the quest to exploit and rule all of mankind? After exploiting the population through war, poverty, disease, and drugs, the clandestine organization attempts to gain immortality through science to no avail. Perhaps the solution to their problem lies with Alex, a debonair vampire who has fallen deeply in love with Estelle after meeting the ethereal beauty at the opera. But Alex doesn't want to welcome Estelle into his coven; he'd rather sacrifice his immortality to raise a family with her and take one last shot at living a normal life. Later, after an intense round of negotiations, the Illuminati agrees to find a cure for Alex's vampirism in exchange for the bite of immortality. What happens next, neither side could have seen coming. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Katherine Hawkes, Daniel Goddard, (more)
- 1994
- R
Set in New England but actually filmed in Africa for some strange reason, this derivative demon-possession opus is one of the less-inspired releases from Roger Corman's direct-to-video outfit New Horizons. The story involves an occult soiree at the palatial home of a phony-baloney psychic, where an arcane recitation summons the feral demon Asmodeus, who appears under the pretense of answering some pressing questions about the afterlife. Instead, the nefarious visitor decides to commit a serious social blunder by possessing one guest after another, setting them at each other's throats until nearly everyone is dead -- not even the family dog is spared from demonic possession. By the time the police arrive, the sole survivor (Dirk Benedict), who is also the only genuine psychic in the bunch, is blamed for the murders. Essentially a tired Exorcist knockoff (the kind which even the Italians had given up on making a decade before), this shabby, poorly-written mess also borrows the standard '80s slasher-movie convention of requiring its characters to behave like absolute morons in order to propel the plot. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- 1993
- PG13
The search for Ali Baba's fabulous lost treasure provides the framework for this adventure. The seekers are a notorious arms smuggler and beautiful woman who endure many dangers in pursuit of their desired goal. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1988
- R
Three military-school rejects hire on at a near-bankrupt antique hotel where they plunge into their jobs with gusto, trying to turn a profit. They think up a plan to run a gambling parlor in the hotel basement and they convince a bunch of Christian Beauty Girls (winners of a religious beauty contest) to put on a ladies' wrestling show for the guests. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael C. Bendetti, Andrew Zeller, (more)
- 1987
- R
Somewhere amid the filmmakers' attempts to disorient the viewers of this film with the old movie-within-a-movie trick, it would seem they also got themselves completely lost in the process. The story opens with a false start, depicting an elderly woman being stalked by a faceless maniac (actually a scene from a retired special-effects artist's demo reel). The "real" story begins as the man's daughter (horror's head-spinning sweetheart Linda Blair) is waylaid by a band of hooligans en route to her dad's mountain cabin. This incurs the wrath of Blair's mutant brother, who lives in a hidden compartment within the cabin. As if that weren't enough, even more monsters from Blair's gnarled family tree show up for a lightning bonus round -- including Tab Hunter as a homicidal plastic surgeon. All is revealed (sort of) as yet another movie-within-a-movie, clear evidence of a writer in way over his head. Cable TV prints actually contained an additional twist ending, apparently for no reason whatsoever. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Linda Blair, Tab Hunter, (more)
- 1986
- R
In this actioner, young people become a crack team of elite commandos and head for Central America to save the life of a kidnapped American ambassador's daughter who happens to be a friend of theirs. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Linda Blair, James Van Patten, (more)
- 1986
- R
Another horny-teen epic from Galaxy International, Free Ride asks us to identify with jerky preppie Gary Hershberger. Anxious to impress a sexy but monumentally stupid young woman, Hershberger claims that a snazzy red sports car that has just pulled up to a singles bar is his. He "borrows" the car and takes the girl for a joyride, little knowing that the back seat contains a quarter of a million dollars of mob money. Connect the dots and you'll figure out the rest of the story. All Free Ride really has going for it is the campy presence of 1950s sex-bomb Mamie Van Doren and a handful of raunchy verbal gags. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gary Hershberger, Reed Rudy, (more)
Filled with enough cameos to keep film buffs entertained, this otherwise routine action-comedy by John Landis boasts Michelle Pfeiffer as one of its major attractions. She plays Diana, a woman prone to having affairs with some very dangerous men, and Jeff Goldblum is Ed Okin, an aerospace engineer whose lot is thrown in with Diana's when the woman is caught in a bind at the airport. The beautiful Diana is an airhead on the scale of the Hindenberg, her only concerns are clothes and men -- which she either most attractively wears or wears out, depending. While Ed is at the airport one day trying to sort out his life, Diana arrives with six smuggled emeralds in tow and is immediately welcomed by several hired assassins. Fear and expediency propel her into Ed's car, and the two are off on a series of narrow escapes that has them pursued by everyone from Iranians to baddies played by well-known international directors (Roger Vadim) or singers (David Bowie) or comedians (Dan Aykroyd). ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Pfeiffer, (more)
This lifeless action feature finds mafia hitman Carmine Longo (Mike Lane) seeking vengeance against the Zebra Force led by Cougar (Timmy Brown). Frank Barnes (Jim Mitchum) joins the group when his Zebra Force buddy is killed. Lindsey Crosby (son of Bing) plays a police sergeant, and Frank Sinatra, Jr. appears briefly as the mob lawyer Kozlo. Only those interested in the offspring of aging or dead performers could find anything of interest in this film. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Mitchum, Mike Lane, (more)
- 1984
- PG
The owner of a professional football team must restore the titular train and run it from Tennessee to NYC in 24 hours if he is to inherit $1 million in this comedy. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
Billy (Jon Voight) is on the road with his son T.J. (Ricky Schroder), fighting low-end boxing matches for drinking money before moving on to the next town for another match. When his ex-wife (and T.J.'s mother) Annie (Faye Dunaway) shows up, it's to tell him that she wants custody of the boy. She has remarried and has risen to social prominence in her community. She wants the same for T.J. Determined to keep his son with him, Billy decides to train properly in order to be a success instead of just a washed-up punching bag. This gorgeously photographed drama is a remake of the 1931 film, which won its star Wallace Beery an Oscar. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jon Voight, Faye Dunaway, (more)
- 1978
Rocky (Noah Beery Jr.) decides to open up a roadside restaurant with a chance acquaintance named Vinnie Whithead (Ken Lynch). From the outset of this enterprise, Rocky can't help but notice that an elderly man is watching every move he and Vinnie make. . .and no sooner has the restaurant opened than someone breaks into the joint. Investigating, Jim (James Garner) discovers that Vinnie is a retired mob boss, and that his trail has been dogged for the last 50 years by retired federal officer Eddie LaSalle (Victor Jory). Somehow, all this is tied in with a lawsuit brought about by Bruce Woodstock (Jess Nadelman), a total stranger who has managed to fall off the roof of Jim's trailer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1976
- PG
In this post Vietnam War actioner, a group of veterans, former members of a crack guerrilla team, decide to reteam and use their specialized skills to fight organized crime. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1976
- R
In this crime drama, a runaway girl from rural Montana heads for LA and ends up trapped within its darkest underbelly surrounded by crime, drugs, and sleazy people. Fortunately, her brother, a tough cowboy, comes to rescue her. But first he must find her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Mitchum, Karen Lamm, (more)
For better or worse, The Gumball Rally was the catalyst for a short-lived cycle of "illegal cross-country race" flicks. As thick-headed cop Roscoe (Norman Burton) does his best to stop the titular rally, a vast and varied contingent of contestants prepare to burn rubber from New York to California. The best-looking of the racers is played by top-billed Michael Sarrazin; Franco, a delightfully narcissistic Italian road jockey played by Raul Julia, also competes. Producer/director Chuck Bail was formerly a stunt coordinator, which helps to explain the incessant car crashes and near-misses in the film. Surprisingly, the doggedly low-budget Gumball Rally was produced by First Artists, a company formed by such major stars as Dustin Hoffman, Barbra Streisand, and Steve McQueen for the purpose of creating "prestige" film fare. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Sarrazin, Norman Burton, (more)
- 1975
- PG
Three's a crowd in Mike Nichols's period caper comedy -- or is it? To dodge the 1920s Mann Act barring the transport of women across state lines for "immoral purposes," not-yet-divorced Nicky (Warren Beatty) has felonious buddy Oscar (Jack Nicholson) marry Nicky's runaway heiress sweetheart Freddy (Stockard Channing) so they can all escape New York for Los Angeles. The three set up house together, but trouble starts brewing when odd man out Oscar decides to get Nicky's attention by exercising his rights as a husband to Freddy. Exasperated with being stuck in the middle of the bickering pair, Freddy threatens to donate her impending inheritance to charity, inciting Oscar and Nicky to hatch a plan to bump her off and keep the money. But Freddy just will not die, prompting the three to reconsider the whole arrangement. With a period setting and pair of stellar lead actors similar to the 1973 blockbuster The Sting, a screenplay by Five Easy Pieces author Carol Eastman (under the name Adrien Joyce), and deft comedy director Nichols, The Fortune seemed like a can't-miss proposition. But it resoundingly flopped, as audiences preferred to see Beatty in his earlier 1975 starring role as a racy L.A. hairdresser in Shampoo, and to wait for Nicholson's later 1975 incarnation as an archetypal iconoclast in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. As with other late '60s-early '70s period films like Beatty's own Bonnie and Clyde (1967), The Fortune lends an updated sensibility to its old-fashioned milieu, complete with a very modern happy ending. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, (more)
Undoubtedly having second thoughts after turning down Dirty Harry, John Wayne showed up in 1974 in his own "maverick cop" adventure, McQ. Wayne, playing McQ, a veteran detective, turns in his badge when he's officially denied the opportunity of clearing the name of his late best friend, who has been posthumously accused of drug pushing. Investigating on his own, McQ becomes romantically involved with his friend's widow (Diana Muldaur), who unbeknownst to him is up to her neck in police corruption. Considering the usual flag-waving content of John Wayne's 1970s films, it is rather startling to discover that the real villains in McQ are a coterie of crooked cops! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Eddie Albert, (more)
- 1974
William Smith and a gang of white drug-dealers try to muscle in on black nightclub owner Rockne Tarkington in this silly blaxploitation film. What they don't know is that Tarkington -- who has a pet lion -- is skilled at martial arts and will not give in without a fight. Abby's Carol Speed co-stars with skinflick vet John Alderman. Director Chuck Bail returned with Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- 1973
- R
Long before his tenure on TV's Magnum PI, Roger E. Mosley starred in the blaxploitationer Sweet Jesus, Preacher Man. Mosely plays a streetwise mobster who goes undercover as a ghetto clergyman. This he does at the request of his boss, who wants to get the goods on a rival. "Preacher Man" has a change of heart along the way, but not before whuppin' some butt. The fact that Sweet Jesus, Preacher Man was distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was overlooked in the otherwise all-inclusive coffee-table volume The MGM Story. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Four years after setting box offices ablaze in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Paul Newman, Robert Redford, and director George Roy Hill re-teamed with similar success for The Sting. Redford plays Depression-era confidence trickster Johnny Hooker, whose friend and mentor Luther Coleman (Robert Earl Jones) is murdered by racketeer/gambler Doyle Lonnegan (Robert Shaw). Hoping to avenge Luther's death, Johnny begins planning a "sting" -- an elaborate scam -- to destroy Lonnegan. He enlists the aid of "the greatest con artist of them all," Henry Gondorff (Paul Newman), who pulls himself out of a drunken stupor and rises to the occasion. Hooker and Gondorff gather together an impressive array of con men, all of whom despise Lonnegan and wish to settle accounts on behalf of Luther. The twists and surprises that follow are too complex to relate in detail -- suffice to say that you can't cheat an honest man, and that you shouldn't accept everything at face value. The Sting became one of the biggest hits of the early '70s; grossing 68.5 million dollars during its first run, the film also picked up seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Adapted Score for Marvin Hamlisch's unforgettable setting of Scott Joplin's ragtime music. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Newman, Robert Redford, (more)
- 1973
Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) poses as a caterer for a Syndicate wedding. In this capacity, Erskine hopes to gather information about a bloody internal power play instigated by Mob functionary Ed Haynes (Alex Cord). But the wedding may never come off--certainly not if Haynes is able to pull off his plan to murder the father of the bride, Boss Faber (Frank DeKova), just before the exchange of vows! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Tamara Dobson stars as Cleopatra Jones in Jack Starrett's blaxploitation programmer that, in its own way, deals effectively with the ravages of drugs in inner-city black communities. Cleopatra Jones is a jive female James Bond, a special drug agent for the United States government who wears sleek and hip clothes, drives a fancy car with a submachine-gun compartment in the front door, and travels all over the world to stomp out drugs at their source. Cleopatra has a loving relationship with Ruben (Bernie Casey), the well-meaning head of a drug rehabilitation clinic in Los Angeles. When Cleopatra travels to Turkey to oversee the destruction of poppy fields owned by Mommy (Shelley Winters) -- a lesbian drug dealer -- Mommy becomes upset. She exacts her revenge on Cleopatra by having the police close down Ruben's drug clinic. Nevertheless, Cleopatra continues to wreak havoc upon Mommy's drug business, and Mommy continues to try to do Cleopatra in, until finally there is a major confrontation between Cleopatra and Mommy and her minions. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tamara Dobson, Bernie Casey, (more)
- 1972
- R
In this 1972 actioner, a Washington DC cop is proud that he is one of the few African Americans on the force. He is not well loved by his peers or the street people. The trouble erupts when he is overlooked for a promotion. The angered cop goes off the deep end and begins using his gun to launch a personal vendetta against street crime. In the end it is all for naught and he does not survive the adventure. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1970
- R
Fast paced and violent, this Mexico-set western chronicles the bloody struggle over a stolen gold cross. The murderous Harris gang started the trouble by stealing the icon from a Tecate church in a terrifying raid that left many townsfolk dead or brutalized. The head Federale assigned to bring the gang in realizes he is dealing with monsters and that to catch them he must fight fire with fire by enlisting the aid of the most notorious crook in prison with the promise of a pardon if the outlaw and his men are successful. When the two ruthless gangs finally clash, amidst considerable furor and treachery, unparalleled bloodshed and chaos ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
