Aram Avakian Movies
American film editor and director A. Aram Avakian graduated from Yale, served in the Navy, and attended the Sorbonne in Paris before returning to New York to become a still photographer in the early 1950s. In 1955, he began working for CBS television and became editor of Edward R. Murrow's famous See It Now television series. In 1959, he won acclaim for his creative work on Jazz on a Summer's Day, a chronicle of the Newport Jazz Festival, and this led him to begin editing feature films. In the 1960s, he turned to directing and is most famous for his adaptation of John Barth's disturbing novel End of the Road. Avakian's version, released in 1970, contained a horrific depiction of a botched abortion and received an X-rating. He continued making films until the mid-1970s. In 1983, he took over the film program and taught filmmaking and screenwriting at the State University College at Purchase, New York. He remained there until he died of heart failure in 1987. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide- 1980
- PG
After displaying his easygoing charm in a number of television appearances and a showy supporting role in The Electric Horseman, Willie Nelson scored his first leading role in this romantic comedy-drama in which he (appropriately enough) plays a musician. Buck Bonham (Nelson) is a country singer/songwriter with a loyal following in his native Texas and the neighboring Western states. However, Buck hasn't yet had the hit record that would make him a star nationwide; in the meantime, Buck and his band keep up a busy tour schedule, much to the annoyance of his wife, Viv (Dyan Cannon), and son, Jamie (Joey Floyd), who would like to see Buck at home every once in a while. As Buck wonders if he should press on with his musical career or call it quits, his close friend and longtime guitarist Garland Ramsey (Slim Pickens) announces he's retiring, and suggests a good replacement -- his daughter, Lily (Amy Irving). Lily had a crush on Buck as a child, and now as a full-grown and very beautiful woman, her infatuation has only increased with time. Consequently, Buck must choose between Viv and Lily as well as his home and his career. Honeysuckle Rose was written specifically for Nelson, and his character bears more than a passing similarity to Willie and his life before the album Red Headed Stranger made him a star; the film also earned Nelson an Academy Award nomination for the film's theme song, "On the Road Again." ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Willie Nelson, Dyan Cannon, (more)
Audiences loved him as a Berber sheik in the historical saga The Wind and the Lion, so who better to play a Saudi Arabian minister of state who wants to make peace with Israel during the Arab oil embargo of 1976 than Sean Connery? Connery plays Khalil Abdull-Muhsen, a peace-mongering diplomat who wants to sign a mutual assistance pact with Israel and sell Saudi oil to needy nations at cost. The object of his pipe-dream plan is to free those needy nations from the East-West conflict. Unfortunately, the world is not ready for such starry-eyed idealism, and before you can say "Tiger in your tank," Khalil finds himself the victim of choice for a network of Arab terrorist groups. The terrorists clearly have the pick of the litter at the casting office, for Khalil finds himself pursued by the frisky and beautiful Bryn Mawr graduate and cool-as-a-cucumber terrorist Nicole Scott (Cornelia Sharpe). ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sean Connery, Cornelia Sharpe, (more)
- 1974
- PG
Based on the novel by Gerald A. Browne, 11 Harrowhouse is a 1974 heist spoof with an all-star cast. The story concerns millionaire Clyde Massey (Trevor Howard) pressuring diamond merchant Howard R. Chesser (Charles Grodin) into robbing a London diamond exchange owned by Meecham (John Gielgud. Howard gets help from his girlfriend Maren Shirell (Candice Bergen), discontented employee Charles D. Watts (James Mason), and a cockroach in order to execute the plan. Once he has the fortune, Massey tries to double-cross his team of forced thieves, but his wealthy partner-in-crime Lady Anne Bolding (Helen Cherry) helps them escape. Charles Grodin, who also co-wrote the screenplay adaptation, provides voice-over commentary. 11 Harrowhouse is also known as Anything for Love and Fast Fortune. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Grodin, Candice Bergen, (more)
In this comedy from director Aram Avakian, New York police officers Cliff Gorman and Joe Bologna turn crooked. Their plan is to steal $10 million worth of investment certificates, using a Manhattan parade as their "cover". Gorman and Bologna display an amazing degree of dexterity and foresightedness in breaking down the investment firm's sophisticated security system. Too bad they didn't take fate into consideration. Cops and Robbers was based on a novel by Donald Westlake (The Hot Rock). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cliff Gorman, Joseph Bologna, (more)
- 1970
- NC17
Rated "X" upon its initial release in 1970, End of the Road would probably rate at most a hard "R" today. Stacy Keach stars as Jake Horner, a college professor beset with a wide variety of emotional problems. He seeks out help in therapy, conducted by unorthodox psychologist Dr. D (James Earl Jones). This treatment turns out to have a disastrous effect on Horner, leading him into the arms of Rennie Morgan (Dorothy Tristan), the wife of a fellow teacher. End of the Road was adapted from a story by John Barth. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stacy Keach, Harris Yulin, (more)
- 1966
This cult favorite began as Francis Ford Coppola's UCLA thesis, ending up with a professional cast and nationwide release. Teen Peter Kastner undergoes his coming-of-age rites when, urged on by dad Rip Torn, he strikes out on own and moves to NYC. Every person Kastner meets is an eccentric's eccentric, from landlady Julie Harris to cop Dolph Sweet. Kastner's new friend Tony Bill, who works at the New York Public Library and accumulates pornography on side, introduces the boy to sex and drugs. Our hero truly matriculates to manhood after his heart is broken by disco dancer Elizabeth Hartman; he settles instead for Karen Black, still enough of an unknown quantity in 1966 to play against type as "the right girl". Adapted from a novel by David Benedictus, Big Boy is afflicted with usual youthful film-class fervor, crammed full of showoffish cinematic tricks that Coppola would eventually outgrow. But one can't deny that this seminal production is both heartfelt and energetic. To improve the film's saleability, distributors Seven Arts tacked on a music score by the Lovin' Spoonful, hardly necessary but very enjoyable appendange. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elizabeth Hartman, Geraldine Page, (more)
- 1965
This sensitive and realistic drama follows the daily dramas faced by a middle-aged retarded man living in the slums of New York City. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Norman Alden, Tamara Daykarhanova, (more)
- 1965
Often described as a French New Wave film made in Hollywood, Arthur Penn's 1965 art movie enters the unsettlingly paranoid world of a nightclub comic on the run from the Mob. Having fooled around with the wrong blonde and gambled himself into an unpayable debt, an entertainer (Warren Beatty) flees to Chicago, where he hides out and changes his name to Mickey One. He hooks up with Jenny (Alexandra Stewart) and Castle (Hurd Hatfield), the owner of the nightclub Xanadu, but he cannot shake the paralyzing conviction that he's being pursued no matter where he is. After being beaten by unknown assailants, Mickey finally decides that escape is impossible, so he might as well just do his thing. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Warren Beatty, Hurd Hatfield, (more)
Vincent Bruce (Warren Beatty) is a Korean War veteran who becomes an occupational therapist in a private mental hospital that cares for wealthy, schizophrenic clientele. He slowly begins to fall for Lilith Arthur (Jean Seberg), a patient who is mentally locked in her own little world. Vincent eventually begins his own psychological disintegration over his feelings for the woman and asks for help. Watch for early career performances from Olympia Dukakis and Gene Hackman in this depressing psychodrama. This was the final film from the gifted director Robert Rossen, who died in 1966. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Warren Beatty, Jean Seberg, (more)
Based on William Gibson's Broadway play and retaining its acclaimed cast, Arthur Penn's The Miracle Worker tells the true story of Helen Keller (Patty Duke), an Alabama girl struck blind and deaf as a baby after an elevated fever. Enter Annie Sullivan (Anne Bancroft), a partially-blind woman assigned the task of teaching Helen sign language. After first separating Helen from her over-protective parents (Victor Jory and Inga Swenson), Annie begins the arduous process of teaching the girl. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anne Bancroft, Patty Duke, (more)
- 1962
This sentimental children's film is based on the true adventures of author Albert Payson Terhune's collie dog, as immortalized in Terhune's early 1920's novel. The story about the dog Lad's saving graces is very much directed toward the youngest moppets whose love of animals has yet to be jaded by ruined carpets, chewed-up books, or all-night barking. Lad comes to the rescue again and again, implying in more than one instance that dogs can be smarter than at least a few people. The canine saves his little mistress Angela (a nine-year-old Angela Cartwright just before her role in TV's Lost in Space) from a poisonous snake bite and is mistakenly ill-treated as a consequence, his actions help cure her need for a wheelchair, and furthermore, the dog prevents a local troublemaker from torching the family's barn. A younger Carroll O'Connor of redneck Archie Bunker TV fame, plays a crotchety neighbor. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Breck, Peggy McCay, (more)
- 1960
Anne Francis stars as a young prostitute in search of a way out. She seeks out the help of a discreet psychiatrist (Lloyd Nolan), to find out why she has doomed herself to her sordid profession and why she can't seem to shake loose. At this point the film becomes a virtual monologue for Anne Francis, who is magnificent. Girl of the Night never quite rises above its exploitation trappings, but Ms. Francis' performance is worth the admission price alone. The film was advertised as a "case study", based on the book The Call Girl by Dr. Harold Greenwald. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anne Francis, Lloyd Nolan, (more)
Jazz on a Summer's Day is a priceless record of the 1958 Jazz Festival at Newport, Rhode Island. It just doesn't get better than this. We see Louis Armstrong, Mahalia Jackson, Dinah Washington, Chuck Berry, Thelonious Monk, Gerry Mulligan, George Shearing, Jack Teagarden, Sonny Stitt, Chico Hamilton, Anita O'Day and Big Maybelle, so we'd stay glued to the screen even if the film was poorly made. But it isn't: director Bert Stern not only does a masterful job of filming these imperishable greats at their very best, but he manages to make the whole enterprise fascinatingly fluid and thoroughly cinematic. Even non-jazz buffs will be exhilarated by Jazz on a Summer's Day. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1957
Can there be any question as to the identity of the subject in Satchmo the Great. An expansion of an earlier TV special, this 63-minute documentary was produced by Edward R. Murrow and Fred Friendly, of See It Now fame. Murrow also narrates this lively filmed record of Louis Armstrong's recent musical goodwill tour of Europe and England. There's also a side trip to Africa's Gold Coast, the land of Armstrong's ancestor, where Satchmo is given a hero's welcome. The film concludes with an unforgettable black-tie "jam session" at the New York Philharmonic, wherein Armstrong is copacetically teamed with Leonard Bernstein. Bridging the various sequences are the charcoal sketches of the great Ben Shahn.Satchmo the Great bears no directorial credits, though it is obvious that film editor Adam Avakian had a great deal to do with the pacing and rhythm of the piece. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
