Kathryn Witt Movies
At the time of its release, Jonathan Demme's Philadelphia was the first big-budget Hollywood film to tackle the medical, political, and social issues of AIDS. Tom Hanks, in his first Academy Award-winning performance, plays Andrew Beckett, a talented lawyer at a stodgy Philadelphia law firm. The homosexual Andrew has contracted AIDS but fears informing his firm about the disease. The firm's senior partner, Charles Wheeler (Jason Robards), assigns Andrew a case involving their most important client. Andrew begins diligently working on the case, but soon the lesions associated with AIDS are visible on his face. Wheeler abruptly removes Andrew from the case and fires him from the firm. Andrew believes he has been fired because of his illness and plans to fight the firm in court. But because of the firm's reputation, no lawyer in Philadelphia will risk handling his case. In desperation, Andrew hires Joe Miller (Denzel Washington), a black lawyer who advertises on television, mainly handling personal injury cases. Miller dislikes homosexuals but agrees to take the case for the money and exposure. As Miller prepares for the courtroom battle against one of the law firm's key litigators, Belinda Conine (Mary Steenburgen), Miller begins to realize the discrimination practiced against Andrew is no different from the discrimination Miller himself has to battle against. The cast also includes Antonio Banderas as Andrew's partner, Joanne Woodward as Andrew's mother, and Stephanie Roth as Joe's wife. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, (more)
- 1987
- R
The makers of this '50s monster-movie throwback must have greatly enjoyed the Wisconsin-lensed Bog -- since this film lifts that regional clunker's premise in its entirety and merely transplants it into a pleasant Polynesian locale. Yet another prehistoric terror from the deep (i.e. diver in cheap latex suit) rises from its eons-long nap after being rudely awakened by boozy, dynamite-fishing locals, slinking among the swaying palms to snack on unsuspecting tourists. That is, until the local Sheriff (of course) teams up with the owner of a popular resort to stand around and talk a lot... and eventually put an end to the beast's bloodthirsty rampage. There's even a convenient reptile expert on hand to kick around pseudo-scientific nonsense and pad out the film's runtime with even more inane dialogue. For more Italian variations on the same tired theme, masochistic viewers may want to seek out Up from the Depths (from the same director, no less!) and Devilfish. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- 1986
- R
In this low-budget but violent action-adventure, the DEA decides to send its top agent undercover as a drug-smuggling flier in South America. The assignment becomes personal after the kingpin behind the drug-ring murders the agent's partner. The agent's own life is jeopardized after he refuses to perform a hit for the drug lord. On video the film is titled Vice Wars. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Schneider, Kathryn Witt, (more)
- 1985
Midas Valley might just as well have been titled Falcon Crest Goes to Silicon Valley. The heroes are a pair of handsome young computer executives, played by James Read and Brent Cullen. The boys' most formidable rival is their onetime mentor, electronics mogul Robert Stack. Relationships between these business enemies are further strained when Stack's daughter Shanna Reed joins Read and Cullen's firm. When first telecast in June of 1985, Midas Valley was advertised as an "open-ended" TV movie. English translation: it was a busted pilot film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1985
A street artist named Speed (David Westgor) is being forced to paint forgeries of valuable works of art so that crooked dealer Steffan Shawn (Lloyd Bochner) can pass the phonies off as the real thing. When Speed is nearly beaten to death by Shawn's minions, his sister Peggy (Maylo McCaslin) turns to the A-Team for help. To maneuver the villain into tipping his hand, Face (Dirk Benedict) poses as a writer for a high-toned art magazine, while Murdock (Dwight Schultz) impersonates a VERY eccentric artist--named H. M. Murdock, of course! The titular "assault" occurs at the end of the episode, when an expensive Mercedes is brought into play as a makeshift tank. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Director Bob Fosse's fact-based tale of Playboy centerfold Dorothy Stratten's short life and gruesome death focuses less on Stratten (played by Mariel Hemingway) than on her husband/manager, sleazoid pornographer and all-around failure Paul Snider (Eric Roberts, ideally cast). He sees the young beauty as his meal ticket and sets out to pimp her in the adult entertainment business. He marries her and appoints himself her career manager; soon after, she attracts the attention of Playboy executives and wins a spot in the magazine. As her success increases however, so does Snider's alienation as he finds himself left out in the cold. His jealousy begins to consume him; she spurns him on the advice of her new friends; he goes berserk and confronts her. The same murder-suicide inspired the made-for-television Death of a Centerfold. This was choreographer/filmmaker Bob Fosse's final film. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mariel Hemingway, Eric Roberts, (more)
- 1982
Massarati (Daniel Pilon) is a fabulously wealthy adventurer-for-hire who uses a wide array of electronic gadgets to carry out his various missions. "The Brain," aka Christopher (Peter Billingsley), is Massarati's 12-year-old nephew, and the creator of most of Unk's gadgetry. Together with such confederates as sexy spy leader Julie Ramsdell (Markie Post) and ever-resourceful butler, Anatole (Christopher Hewitt), Massarati and Christopher endeavor to steal back a fabulous art collection from a larcenous neo-Nazi named Victor Leopold (Christopher Lee). The pilot for an unsold tongue-in-cheek espionage series from the Aaron Spelling plant, Massarati and the Brain debuted August 26, 1982, on ABC. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Pilon, Peter Billingsley, (more)
This fun, silly thriller written and directed by Michael Crichton manages to combine the dramatic murders of beautiful models, a secret conspiracy to use TV commercials for mind-control, and an unusual seeing-eye device which makes the wearer invisible. Plastic surgeon Larry Roberts (Albert Finney) becomes the prime suspect after two models on whom he operated are killed. Larry becomes suspicious because both of the women came into his office asking for very precise and seemingly unnecessary physical alterations. Agreeing to operate, because the women's jobs depended on the surgery, Larry must now clear his own name and save his life and career. With the aid of a friend and model Cindy (Susan Dey), Larry discovers and foils the plot led by corporation-head John Reston (James Coburn). Larry must then fight for his life against Reston's thugs who are equipped with the devices, called "Lookers." This is good, if silly fun and Albert Finney does his best with a somewhat implausible script. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Albert Finney, James Coburn, (more)
- 1979
News of a critic's arrival causes hijinx to ensue at a hotel resort in this made-for-TV comedy. Bill Daily stars as Walter Grainger, a California resort-hotel manager whose business is thrown into turmoil at the news of a hotel-guide writer's arrival. As he and his staff try to impress the writer, along with their regular guests, they get involved in a series of mishaps, including mistaking an ordinary guest for the critic. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide
- 1978
Flying High was a Charlie's Angels of the airways. Pat Klous, Connie Sellecca and Kathryn Witt play three flight attendants for the fictional Sunwest airways. This TV movie (the pilot for the original series) traces their various seriocomic adventures in the sky and on land. Guest stars on this particular boarding are Marcia Wallace and Jim Hutton. Flying High was the pilot film for a sixty-minute weekly TV series, which ran--or flew--from September 1978 through January 1979. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1974
- R
Freebie (James Caan) and the Bean (Alan Arkin) are a pair of San Francisco cops. Red Meyers (Jack Kruschen) is the mobster whom Freebie and the Bean would like to see behind bars -- or, failing that, six feet under. Nothing stands in the way of the cops' pursuit of Meyers, meaning that private property is given quite a going-over in this picture. The film's most memorable scene finds Freebie and the Bean crashing their car into a poor schnook's living room. TV favorites Loretta Swit and Valerie Harper play the only female roles worth mentioning. The racist and sexist humor in Freebie and the Bean may not go over as well today as it did in the politically incorrect early '70s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Arkin, James Caan, (more)
