Austin Willis Movies
Canadian supporting actor, onscreen from the '50s. ~ All Movie Guide
To fully appreciate Boy in Blue, it's helpful to know a little bit about the sport of "sculling"-or competitive rowing. Nicolas Cage stars as the real-life Ned Hanlan, who at the turn of the century was Canada's foremost sculling champ. A wild, uncontrollable youth, Hanlan is "adopted" by a gambler named Bill (David Naughton), who promotes the boy on the sculling circuit for his own monetary gain. Ruthlessly businessman Knox (Christopher Plummer) assumes control of Hanlan's career, but when Ned discovers just how ruthless Knox can be, he casts his lot with the first honest man he's met, inventor-speculator Walter (Sean Sullivan). Hanlan's professional success is capped by his marriage to Margaret (Cynthia Dale), Knox's previously unattainable niece. The by-the-numbers Boy in Blue was given an R rating due to a few disposable sex scenes, thereby cutting its potential audience (hero-worshipping youths) in half. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicolas Cage, Cynthia Dale, (more)
Producer/director/star Clint Eastwood takes his sweet time getting Firefox started. Eastwood plays Mitchell Gant, a past-his-prime U.S. pilot, smuggled into the Soviet Union to steal a new Russian supersonic fighting plane. Fortunately the KGB men are as burnt out as Gant, enabling him to abscond with the plane with the greatest of ease. The rest of the film is a protracted chase, pitting Gant against scores of impersonal MIG pilots. Based on a novel by Craig Thomas. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clint Eastwood, Freddie Jones, (more)
- 1980
- G
Even animal lovers may balk at this light, light drama about how a missionary (Genevieve Bujold) and Bobby (Rick Schroder), a young boy manage to populate a deserving island with critters of all types. Noah Dugan (Elliott Gould) is a pilot in need of escaping his creditors and he agrees to fly the animals to their destination. Bobby and the missionary sneak on board and the plane crash-lands on another island on which two Japanese soldiers are still fighting World War II. The story veers ever more into fantasy as the Japanese and the pilot join together to make a boat out of the plane with the goal of taking every animal with them into uncharted waters. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elliott Gould, Geneviève Bujold, (more)
- 1979
A race horse goes berserk in its stable, trampling a jockey to death. Though it looks like a tragic accident, Quincy (Jack Klugman) suspects a murder has been committed--especially since he'd previously witnessed a heated argument between the victim and another jockey. In a typically unorthodox move, Quincy performs an autopsy on the "killer" horse, and in the process uncovers a crooked conspiracy involving the illegal application of amphetamines at the racetrack. Real-life jockey Chris McCarron appears in a supporting role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
- PG
In this drama, a rising hockey star loses track of his career after he falls in love with a rambunctious rock star. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1972
Diana Hyland guest stars as Pat Laner, the wife of hopeless drug addict Jim Laner (Roger Perry). To feed her husband's habit, Pat turns to theft, stealing securities from the brokerage firm where she works. Inasmuch as Pat's "customers" are members of the Mob--most prominently Phillip Derane, played by Robert Loggia--the beleagured woman falls under the scrutiny of the FBI operative Lew Erskine Efrem Zimbalist Jr.. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1971
This 1971 TV movie remake of the 1934 film of the same name (see the above synopsis) adds little to the original story about Death assuming human form to discover why mankind fears him. In updating the story, the scenarists removed much of the "nobility" of the principal characters--and also a lot of their charm. Melvyn Douglas and Myrna Loy are superb in roles played in 1934 by Sir Guy Standing and Helen Westley, while Monte Markham is okay but nothing more in the old Fredric March role as "Death". Yvette Mimieux is utterly forgettable as the enigmatic Grazia; her wisecracking American friend (originally Gail Patrick) is played by Maureen Reagan, a few years before the daughter of Ronald Reagan and Jane Wyman (rather wisely) abandoned acting. Whatever appeal Death Takes a Holiday had in 1934 utterly withers and expires in this halfhearted remake. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1970
- R
This Canadian-produced horror movie finds a third-generation descendant of the monster-making madman Frankenstein (Simon Ward) performing bizarre electronic mind-control experiments on the students of a Canadian university under the auspices of his sponsor, Dr. Preston (Sean Sullivan). When the doc isn't hard-wiring the kids' brains into the department's newest computer equipment, he's making time with a pretty coed (Kathleen Sawyer). Complications ensue when a group of students decide to frame the doctor for selling pot, leading him to use the computer to remote-control a karate champion and chop-socky his enemies to death. Only when the doc loses his control box do things really get out of hand, leading to a whiz-bang climax which reveals the doctor's true identity. Dated and silly, with needless subplots and numerous drug references, this is occasionally enlivened by some interesting special effects. This film is also known by the oddball title Flick. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robin Ward, Kathleen Sawyer, (more)
The Boston Strangler adopts the split-screen technique then in vogue (see also The Thomas Crown Affair) to relate the true story of self-confessed mass murderer Albert DeSalvo. Adapted by Edward Anhalt from the book by Gerold Frank, the film covers the years 1962 to 1964, during which time a dozen women were raped and murdered in the Boston area. State-appointed officer John Bottomly (Henry Fonda) arrests as many known sex offenders as he can get his hands on in hopes of finding a clue as to the Boston Strangler's identity. As these things often happen, the police come across the necessary evidence through pure luck. Well-played by Tony Curtis (whose makeup is startling), DeSalvo himself does not appear until an hour into the film. When caught, the schizophrenic DeSalvo insists that he knows nothing of the murders. Under interrogation and hypnosis, his homicidal impulses are exposed. Meticulously cast, The Boston Strangler offers excellent vignettes by Sally Kellerman as the Strangler's only surviving victim and by Hurd Hatfield as an erudite sex pervert. When Boston Strangler was first shown on TV in 1974, a voice-over coda was added, noting that Albert DeSalvo was stabbed to death in prison on November 26, 1973, and that many experts were convinced that he was not the killer but that his confessions were the product of a delusional mind. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tony Curtis, Henry Fonda, (more)
John Sturges directed this sequel to his Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, which is more of a melancholy character study than an action Western. The Edward Anhalt screenplay (based on Douglas D. Martin's Tombstone's Epitaph) traces Wyatt Earp's (James Garner) moral decline from a lawman with high ideals to a mean-spirited vigilante bent on personal revenge. Ironically, Doc Holliday (Jason Robards), an admitted lawless gambler, reacts to Earp's vengeful turnabout by becoming the moral force that Earp has rejected. When Earp's brothers are killed by goons employed by Ike Clanton (Robert Ryan), Earp becomes obsessed with vengeance and organizes a posse to track down the killers. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Garner, Jason Robards, Jr., (more)
- 1967
Affair with a Killer stars Stephen Young as Nick King and Austin Willis as Admiral Fox. King is a security agent, assigned to patrol the St. Lawrence Seaway by Fox, the head of the Ship Owners Association. Right now they must contend with a ruthless US/Canadian dope ring. Affair with a Killer was culled from two episodes of the Canadian TV series Seaway, which ran in 1965 and was thereafter syndicated to the US. It is one of two ersatz Seaway feature films; the other was the less-lurid-than-its-title Don't Forget to Wipe the Blood Off. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1967
In this comedy, a widower, his seven children, and their maid find themselves on the lam, after he is falsely accused of embezzling at the bank where he works. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Hope, Phyllis Diller, (more)
- 1966
Working on a tip, Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) goes undercover at a Colorado federal prison, where becomes the cellmate of hard-bitten "lifer" Fritz Moline (Joe Campanella). Having spent five years formulating an escape plan, Moline has no qualms about killing anyone who might get in his way--including his new "buddy" Erskine. William Reynolds, who would join the series during Season Three as Special Agent Tom Colley, is here cast as another FBI operative named Kendall Lisbon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
With Goldfinger, the James Bond series took a turn away from relatively straightforward spy thrillers and toward campy gadgetry, extravagant sets, and kitschy jokes. Bond (Sean Connery) has to prevent a notorious gold smuggler, appropriately named Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe), from robbing Fort Knox. Goldfinger is surrounded by evil henchmen such as the sexy female pilot Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman) and Oddjob (Harold Sakata), who kills with his steel-rimmed bowler hats. In order to stop Goldfinger, Bond has to survive several perilous situations, including a huge, deadly laser. Goldfinger is one of the most popular films in the James Bond series, and it set the tone not only for the rest of the series but also for most of the action/adventure films of the late '60s and early '70s. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sean Connery, Gert Fröbe, (more)
- 1961
Neither fish nor fowl, this docudrama is an odd combination of ostensible statistics and dramatic fiction. Using the much-touted first Kinsey Report on sexual behavior as a resource, director Arch Oboler has strung together five different vignettes on the topics of premarital relations ("Honeymoon"), infidelity ("Homecoming"), divorce ("The Divorcee"), mid-life promiscuity in men ("Average Man"), and abortion ("Baby"). The setting is a seminar given by a college professor (Leo G. Carroll), and the vignettes are introduced as remembrances of people listening to the discussions in the seminar. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hilda Brawner, William Traylor, (more)
- 1960
In this romance, a young girl runs away from boarding school with the hope that her boyfriend will marry her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1960
Based on the stageplay Pick-up Girl, this film adaptation by director Muriel Box retains enough of the verbose theatrical styling and single-set focus to wobble as a cinematic effort. The story centers around an unfortunate period in the life of Elizabeth (Pauline Hahn), a fifteen-year-old girl who lives with her mother in New York while her father is away working in California. Because her mother works late into the night, there is not enough guidance or supervision in Elizabeth's life to keep her from making bad choices. And so she ends up with some dubious-looking friends, and after a brief fling with a sailor she goes through the trauma of an abortion. By that time any split with her parents has widened into a major chasm. Eventually she gets into even more trouble and ends up in juvenile court. It is in that setting under the understanding eye of a worldly wise judge (Thomas Mitchell) that her story unfolds in flashbacks as her fate hangs in the balance. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Thomas Mitchell, Joan Miller, (more)
- 1960
A humorous, sometimes absurd and sometimes just light-hearted comedy, this story sets up the premise of a couple's search for a housemaid, with a series of impossible women providing the hilarity. When Richard and Kate (Michael Craig and Anne Heywood) return from their honeymoon, they discover that Kate's father has given them a maid as a wedding gift. The trouble is that the maid has a good portion of the U.S. Navy in the house when they arrive, in a more-or-less wild orgy. Exit maid. The couple then hire Rosemary (Joan Hickson) who tipples to excess, making her service at a dinner party an insurmountable challenge. Exit Rosemary. Enter Blodwen (Joan Sims) a homesick woman from Wales who cannot live outside her native environment. Exit Blodwen. And so it goes, even through a gorgeous French maid (Mylene Demongeot) who causes more than a mild uproar among the couple's friends. It seems the help is either too bad or too good. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Craig, Anne Heywood, (more)
- 1960
Three stars appear in two separate but intertwined stories of romantic triangles gone wrong in this ambitious drama. In the first segment, Hagolin (Orson Welles) is a loutish construction worker with an unhappy wife, Eponine (Juliette Greco). The wife becomes involved with a swarthy working man, Larnier (Bradford Dillman), and their passion knows no boundaries of caution or safety. Eventually, Eponine's and Larnier's lust drives them to madness, and they murder Hagolin. The second tale concerns an up-and-coming young lawyer, Claude (Dillman), whose mentor is a highly successful veteran attorney, Lamerciere (Welles), with a beautiful young wife named Florence (Greco). Claude finds himself defending Larnier and Eponine, while Lamerciere dies of a heart attack after he discovers that Florence has been unfaithful to him with Claude. Producer Darryl F. Zanuck also wrote the screenplay, under the pen name Mark Canfield. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Orson Welles, Juliette Greco, (more)
- 1959
The career of rocket scientist Wernher von Braun (Curt Jurgens) is the focus of this film. Supposedly bullied by the Nazis into working for the Third Reich, the end of the war leaves the rocket man with a decision to take his talents to either Russia or the United States. He chooses the U. S., but controversy follows the gifted scientist wherever he goes. Some resent his collaborations with the Nazis, while others in the government are more than willing to turn their heads in deference to his genius. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Curd Jürgens, Victoria Shaw, (more)
The economy of the teeny-tiny European duchy of Grand Fenwick is threatened when an American manufacturer comes up with an imitation of Fenwick's sole export, its fabled wine. Crafty prime minister Count Mountjoy (Peter Sellers) comes up with a plan: Grand Fenwick will declare war on the United States. Grand Duchess Gloriana (Peter Sellers again) is hesitant: how can meek little Grand Fenwick win such a conflict? Mountjoy explains that the plan is to lose the war, then rely upon American foreign aid to replenish Grand Fenwick's treasury. Bumbling military officer Tully Bascombe (Peter Sellers yet again) leads his country's ragtag army into battle. They cross the Atlantic in an ancient wooden vessel, then set foot on Manhattan Island, fully prepared to down weapons and surrender. But New York City is deserted, due to an air raid drill. While wandering around, Sellers comes upon atomic scientist David Kossoff and the scientist's pretty daughter Jean Seberg. Kossoff has been working on the deadly "Q Bomb," a football-sized weapon with the destructive capacity of a hundred hydrogen bombs. Suddenly seized with patriotic fervor, Tully captures Kossoff, his daughter and the bomb and brings them all back to Grand Fenwick. Tully has "won" the war-precisely what he'd been told not to do. The upshot of this "victory" is that every world power converges upon Grand Fenwick to claim the Q Bomb for themselves. The satire is heavy-handed at times, but The Mouse That Roared contains several unforgettably hilarious moments, including one startling "false ending." One of the best gags involves the Columbia Pictures logo--a bit frequently cut from TV showings, worse luck. Based on one of the many "Grand Fenwick" novels by Leonard Wibberly, The Mouse That Roared was a success, yielding a Peter Sellers-less sequel, 1963's Mouse on the Moon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Jean Seberg, (more)
- 1948
The very real dangers of venereal disease provide the framework of this informational Canadian docu-drama. The basic story concerns a hard-working health officer who tries to keep his town morally and physically clean. Meanwhile a corrupt town councilman's daughter is infected and this causes him to re-evaluate his life and go straight. The presentation of the subject matter is done in a nonexploitative manner. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Pratt
