Janet Wood Movies
- 1986
- PG13
It just isn't Gino's day. First of all, bank employee Gino (Paul Sorvino) is offered a lucrative deal from his dying boss Theo Marshall (Lorne Greene), if only he can keep the man's bank in control of his irresponsible son (Gary Raff) and out of the hands of his greedy relatives. To make matters even worse, when Gino arrives home from a hard day at work, he is greeted by his wife (Cassandra Edwards), his eight kids, and an ultimatum--get a vasectomy or give up any hope of a sex life. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Sorvino, Abe Vigoda, (more)
- 1986
John Ritter stars in this made-for-television comedy as a lonely philanderer who falls in love with a one-night-stand (Connie Sellecca) who is about to marry another man. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
In a typical "B"-movie delivery with overtones of more modern sex and violence, this routine story features Tom Keena as Dave Dearborn, who has served his stint as a Marine and also as an undercover journalist working in Saigon and other Asian sites. Now Dave is in charge of a floating restaurant on a junk in Singapore and believes his past is behind him until he is requested to track down a Chinese defector, a nuclear scientist who has been researching antimatter. Dave soon discovers that his ex-girlfriend is now the lover of his chief suspect, a member of a Hong Kong Triad gang. The unsung hero will soon need all of his talents garnered as a Marine, as well as his contacts from his journalism days, to find the scientist and bring him to a safe haven. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victoria Racimo, Angelique Pettyjohn, (more)
- 1983
Grace Kelly, the high-society beauty who became an Oscar-winning actress and then a European princess, is the subject of this TV biopic. Cheryl Ladd has the looks and poise of the original Grace, though she isn't quite as charismatic. The early portion of the film retraces the stormy relationship between Grace and her gruff Philadelphia millionaire dad, Jack Kelly. The script suggests that Grace went through life looking for a strong father figure, finally finding one in Prince Rainier of Monaco (Ian McShane), whom she weds. Several "celebrity look-alikes" parade through the film, pretending to be the film personalities with whom Ms. Kelly worked during her brief Hollywood career. Grace Kelly tones down the darker aspects of its subject, and the film is infinitely more tasteful than most other TV biographies of the same period, even when dealing with Princess Grace's untimely death. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1980
A Martinez guest stars as Antonio Carbo, a compassionate young physician on the threshold of a brilliant career. Unfortunately, Carbo is in danger of losing his license--and his future--when he is accused of mishandling a gunshot victim who died while being transported from an emergency clinic to a hospital. Investigating, Quincy (Jack Klugman) uncovers evidence that the victim was murdered after he was treated at the clinic; the challenge now is to figure out why it happened, and who was responsible. This is the final episode of Quincy, M.E.'s fifth season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
As he did in his screenplay for Silver Streak (1974), writer/director Colin Higgins mixes life-and-death melodrama with broad slapstick in Foul Play. Goldie Hawn stars as Gloria Mundy, a recent divorcée whose attempts to start life anew in San Francisco are bollixed up when she is inadvertently swept up in an assassination plot against the Pope. Offering sometimes dubious aid and comfort to Gloria is bumbling federal agent Tony Carlson (Chevy Chase). The film's comedy ranges from the farcical seduction efforts by musician Stanley Tibbets (Dudley Moore) to the zany, gag-filled car-chase finale. Foul Play features character actors Rachel Roberts and Eugene Roche as villains, Burgess Meredith as a martial arts-happy landlord, and Billy Barty as a long-suffering religious bookseller. It also packs in a memorable "throwaway" gag involving a profane Scrabble game played by sweet little old ladies Queenie Smith and Hope Summers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Goldie Hawn, Chevy Chase, (more)
- 1976
- R
When a group of teenage girls gather together for a slumber party, they spend the night relating stories of how they lost their virginity. Debra Winger makes her screen debut in this film. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Noelle North, Bridget Hollman, (more)
- 1976
Nobody is what they seem to be in this dizzying Russ Meyer feature, and everyone is a suspect. The reclusive Adolf Schwartz (Edward Schaaf) pays for weird pansexual pleasures performed by an interracial group of prostitutes. Later, Schwartz (who bears more than a passing resemblance to a more infamous Adolf) is found murdered in his bath, the victim of a hungry piranha. That same morning, Margo Winchester (Raven de la Croix) is jogging on a mountain pass when she's abducted and raped by a local boy. She defends herself and ends up breaking her assailant's neck, an act that is witnessed by state trooper Homer Johnson (Monty Bane). He offers to falsify his report in return for Margo's abundant body, and she enthusiastically accepts. Margo and Homer shack up in his mountain cabin, and he gets her a job at Alice's Cafe, a small-town greasy spoon run by Alice (Janet Wood) and her husband, Paul (Robert McLane). Suddenly business is booming (thanks to Margo's seductive swagger and Mae West impressions) and the trio decide to open a nightclub. Opening night is a smash, until a drunk lumberjack goes ape after witnessing Margo's sultry dance routine. The resulting fracas ends with an axe in Homer's chest and a wild moonlit chainsaw fight. But who murdered Adolf Schwartz? That mystery is solved in not one, but three epilogues which concern the identities of Eva Braun Jr., an undercover police officer and a closet white supremacist, who all fight to the death with a pistol, a dildo, and kung-fu. The action is explained and commented upon by the buxom, perpetually nude Greek Chorus (Francesca 'Kitten' Natividad), who quotes Shakespeare and attempts to raise the story to the level of classic farce. ~ Fred Beldin, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward Schaaf, Mary Gavin, (more)
- 1973
Upon his return from Vietnam, ex-POW Mike Doyle (Cliff Potts) is certain that he sees his police-officer father (Warren Kemmerling) waiting for him at the airport--just before disappearing in the crowd. But the Commissioner (Gene Lyons), and everyone else who knows and cares about Mike, insists that the elder Doyle was killed in a car crash two years earlier. Worried that he is losing his mind, Mike conducts a frantic search for his father...while Ironside (Raymond Burr), who knows the whole truth about the father's reported "death" but is honor-bound to remain silent, tries to prevent the hapless veteran from going off the deep end. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
- R
The Folks at Red Wolf Inn is also known as Club Dead. It's also also known as Terror at Red Wolf Inn. It's also also also known as Terror House. It's also also also also known as Terror on the Menu. Perhaps you're beginning to glom onto the fact that its plotline has something to do with cannibalism. Linda Gillin plays a naïve young lady who wins an all expense paid trip to a spooky resort hotel. Guess what's on the menu -- or, rather, who. Veteran character actor Arthur Space pretends not to be embarrassed by the nature of his silly supporting role. Originally produced sometime in the late 1970s, Club Dead/Terror at Red Wolf Inn, etc. is available in prints of varying lengths and production code ratings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Angels Hard as They Come is a melange of sex, violence, leather, and souped-up Harleys with a note of topicality added in by having some of the bikers dress and behave like hippies. One of the things distinguishing Angels Hard as They Come other pictures of its ilk is the fact that it was produced and written by Jonathan Demme. Also worth noting is the presence in the cast of stars-to-be Scott Glenn and Gary Busey, together with broken-nosed cult fave Charles Dierkop. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1970
This uneven, pretentious satire finds salesman Cyrus Barnwhistle Diner (director Neil Sullivan doing a dreadful W.C. Fields imitation)) traveling to Russia. He meets Trotsky, Stalin, Rasputin and Hitler during his journey. Sullivan also co-wrote the music for this ambitious but unsuccessful feature. Footage of John Barrymore in the 1920 version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hyde adds nothing to the film, although both were filmed at the Eastern Service Studio in Long Island. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Neil Sullivan, George Badera, (more)
