John Allen Movies

A travel agent in deep debt attempts to swindle a by-the-books insurance agent by claiming the corpse of a gangland hit as his long-missing brother in director Mark Mylod's dark crime comedy. Paul Barnell (Robin Williams) is in trouble. Saddled with a cantankerous wife (Holly Hunter) and unable to convince ambitious insurance company agent Ted (Giovanni Ribisi) to pay off the one-million-dollar claim on his brother, who has been missing for five years, Paul's debts are mounting as fast as his life is crumbling. When Paul discovers the corpse of a nameless man who ended up on the wrong side of the mob, desperation drives him to stage a grizzly death scene and make it look as if his brother has suffered a horrible fate. Though the local police force is easily taken by Paul's elaborate ruse, it's going to take a little more convincing before Ted is willing to sign off on the hefty insurance payment. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Small-time crook Johnny Stewart (Damon Wayans) decides to go straight to win a beautiful girl (Stacey Dash), and to prove it, he joins the mailroom of the credit-card firm for which she works. Needing money to impress her, Johnny steals a credit card, goes on a shopping spree and wins the girl. The story isn't over though, because a security guard who caught his theft on videotape is blackmailing Stewart to join his own credit-card ring. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

Broadcast on November 6, 1988 as the third episode of the "new" Mission: Impossible, "Holograms" was actually a remake of "Fakeout", a 1966 installment of the original series. Guest star Gerard Kennedy plays Colonel Usher, a drug-trafficking Carribean dictator. To topple both Usher and his whole regime, the IMF stages the "return" of the dictator's long-lost son. While the script of "Fakeout" was credited to Leigh Chapman, Robert Brennan was listed as the writer of "Holograms." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cliff (John Ratzenberger) insists that his plain-Jane girlfriend Sally (Karen Akers) pretty herself up a bit. But when she does, she begins neglecting Cliff in favor of other eligible bachelors, including Sam (Ted Danson). Elsewhere, Rebecca (Kirstie Alley) has taken up smoking again, but is determined to kick the habit, even if it means kicking everybody else in the head. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This romantic melodrama is based on a novel by Danielle Steele and chronicles a wife's reaction to her husband's run of bad luck. Their troubles begin when she returns home from a business trip and discovers that her husband has been arrested and jailed for raping a woman. Though he tends to philander, he is not a rapist. The only way the wife can cope with the pain is to become an alcoholic drug addict. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

After making a name for himself with such underground gross-out epics as Pink Flamingos and Desperate Living, director John Waters made a bid for somewhat wider acceptance with this black comedy, which is sedate only by the standards of his previous work. Francine Fishpaw (Divine) is a housewife whose life has become a living hell. Her husband Elmer (David Samson) runs a porno theater (currently showing the classic My Burning Bush) and is having an affair with secretary Sandra (Mink Stole), a vision of sleaze in Bo Derek-style cornrow braids who informs Elmer, "Children would only get in the way of our erotic lifestyle!" Francine has two teenage children, Dexter (Ken King), who likes to sniff glue and stomp on women's feet, and Lulu (Mary Garlington), a brazen slut who hangs out with overage juvenile delinquent Bobo (Stiv Bators) and gleefully anticipates her next abortion. Francine's best friend, Cuddles (Edith Massey), is a slightly insane heiress who is somehow convinced she's a debutante. Francine's life has become so miserable that her dog commits suicide rather than witness it, but a light appears on the horizon -- Todd Tomorrow (Tab Hunter), the handsome and dashing owner of a local drive-in specializing in art films (their current bill is a Margurerite Duras triple feature), with whom Dawn enters into a torrid affair. Subversive on all fronts, Polyester was originally shown in "Odorama" (patrons were given a card with ten scratch-and-sniff patches, to be smelled at key points in the action) and featured a romantic theme song sung by that new hitmaking duo, Deborah Harry and Bill Murray. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

When this middle-aged mom becomes a widow she decides to spice up her social life, even if her kids disapprove. ~ All Movie Guide

In his last starring film (it was supposed to be his last film, but Ragtime came along in 1981), James Cagney plays Coca-Cola executive C.R. MacNamara. Assigned to manage Coke's West Berlin office, MacNamara dreams of being transferred to London, and to do this he must curry favor with his Atlanta-based boss, Hazeltine (Howard St. John). Thus, MacNamara agrees to look after Hazeltine's dizzy, impulsive daughter, Scarlett (Pamela Tiffin), during her visit to Germany. Weeks pass, and on the eve of Hazeltine's visit to West Berlin, Scarlett announces that she's gotten married. Even worse, her husband is a hygienically challenged East Berlin Communist named Otto Piffl (Horst Buchholz). The crafty MacNamara arranges for Piffl to be arrested by the East Berlin police and to have the marriage annulled, only to discover that Scarlett is pregnant. In rapid-fire "one, two, three" fashion, MacNamara must arrange for Piffl to be released by the Communists and successfully pass off the scrungy, doggedly anti-capitalist Piffl as an acceptable husband for Scarlett. MacNamara must accomplish this in less than 12 hours, all the while trying to mollify his wife (Arlene Francis), who has learned of his affair with busty secretary Ingeborg (Lilo Pulver).

Seldom pausing for breath, Billy Wilder's film is a crackling, mile-a-minute farce, taking satiric scattershots at Coca-Cola, the Cold War (the film is set in the months just before the erection of the Berlin Wall), Russian red tape, Communist and capitalist hypocrisy, Southern bigotry, the German "war guilt," rock music, and even Cagney's own movie image. Not all the gags are in the best of taste, and most of the one-liners have dated rather badly, but Cagney's mesmerizing performance holds the whole affair together. Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond adapted their screenplay from an obscure play by Ferenc Molnár. Watch for Red Buttons in an unbilled cameo as a military policeman, and listen for the voice of Sig Rumann, emanating from the mouth of actor Hubert Von Meyerinck (the Count von Droste-Schattenburg). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Set in 1930s London, Secret People stars Valentina Cortesa and Audrey Hepburn as Maria and Nora, two sisters whose father has been murdered for political reasons. Adopted by a kindly Italian restaurateur (Charles Goldner), Maria and Nora gradually overcome the loss of their father and get on with their lives. But when an old family friend enters the picture, the girls are plunged into a maelstrom of international intrigue. The upshot of this is a misguided murder charge and an eleventh-hour act of selfless sacrifice. When Audrey Hepburn ascended into stardom in the mid-1950s, Secret People was re-issued, with the originally fourth-billed Hepburn promoted to above-the-title billing. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide