John Boxer Movies

The final film released under the Andy Warhol moniker (which Warhol executive produced) is a much more polished affair than Flesh, Trash or Heat, but preserves the oddball wit and eccentric flair that made those films so memorable. Directed by Warhol film editor Jed Johnson, Andy Warhol's Bad focuses on Hazel Aiken, a New York housewife who has to support a houseful of relatives on her own. She pays the bills by operating an electrolysis service out of her home and also by running a murder-for-hire service staffed exclusively by women that specializes in unsavory jobs like killing children and house pets. As a result of her latter job, she has to deal with unwanted attention from Detective Hughes, a corrupt cop who wants her to surrender one of her employees so he can make an arrest. Hazel's complex life grows even more difficult with the arrival of her nephew J.T. (Perry King), a sleazy layabout who wants to join her hit squad. As the bodies pile up around her, Hazel discovers that her cold-blooded take on capitalism and family values comes with a price she didn't imagine. Andy Warhol's Bad differs from previous Warhol productions because of its higher production values and Hollywood-friendly casting, but retains its sense of underground credibility thanks to a wild story line that trashes every taboo in arm's reach to create a memorably bizarre satire. Some sources erroneously list the year of release in 1971; it was in fact produced in 1976 and issued to theaters by Roger Corman's New World Pictures in 1977. The MPAA classified that version of the film with an X. It was later reedited to receive an R, which is the version available on video. ~ Donald Guarisco, All Movie Guide

Assembled by the reliable team of Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat, London Belongs to Me stars Richard Attenborough as a young, full-of-beans boy looking for fun. Bursting into a staid, wearisome London neighborhood, Attenborough exhorts the others to get some kicks out of life. Unfortunately, his search for thrills gets him involved in a murder. Just when you think that the film is a dour "slice of life" drama, a new comic element is introduced as the locals start up a petition to release Attenborough from jail. The presence of Alastair Sim in the cast should have tipped us off that London Belongs to Me wasn't meant to be taken entirely seriously. The film was released in the US as Dulcimer Street. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Written for television by Allan Sloane, Family Reunion stars Bette Davis as an ageing New England schoolteacher who is given an "unlimited" bus ticket as a retirement present. She uses this gift to visit the farthest-flung members of her long-estranged family. In her absence, Davis' small town falls prey to corruptive influences, but with the help of her more honest relatives (four generations' worth, including Bette's real-life grandson J. Ashley Hyman), everything is resolved at the annual Founder's Day gathering. Family Reunion originally aired in two parts, on October 11 and 12, 1981; the preponderance of Davis' family members and unresolved plot strands would seem to suggest that this 4-hour film was intended as a series pilot. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Produced by Britain's Teddington Studios on behalf of Warner Bros., The Flying Fortress stars Richard Greene, who had to be furloughed from the Army to participate in this wartime morale-booster. Greene plays millionaire playboy Jim Spence, a carefree aviation enthusiast whose avocation becomes his vocation when the war breaks out. Giving up wine, women and song for the duration (well, at least wine and song), Spence mans the controls of a British "flying fortress" for periodic bombing forays over Berlin. The film's "money scene" finds Spence clambering out of his plane to repair a hole in its side in mid-air-a bit of bravado which, amazingly, is based on a true incident. For unknown reasons, Flying Fortress was heavily edited for its American release, rendering its storyline a tad hard to follow at times. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Alfred Hitchcock entered the 1970s with his commercial reputation virtually in tatters, a far cry from his stature at the start of the 1960s. Then, he'd been in the middle of the massively successful trio of movies, North by Northwest, Psycho, and The Birds, and was a ubiquitous presence on television thanks to his anthology series Alfred Hitchcock Presents -- but the series ended, and he'd suffered three expensive box-office failures in a row, Marnie, Torn Curtain, and Topaz, in the second half of the 1960s. He redeemed himself with Frenzy, however, which marked his return not only to England for the first time in 20 years but also to the subject matter with which he'd started his career in thrillers back in 1926 -- murder, and a hunt for a serial killer in London. As the latest female victim of the "Necktie Murderer" is found in the Thames, raped and strangled, we meet Richard Blaney (Jon Finch), a bitter, belligerent ex-Royal Air Force officer who can't seem to find his way in life. He drinks too much and holds grudges too easily, and has an explosive temper, which is very near the surface as he's just lost his job. We also meet his girlfriend, a barmaid (Anna Massey); his ex-wife, a professional matchmaker (Barbara Leigh-Hunt); and his best friend, Covent Garden fruit seller Bob Rusk (Barry Foster). Their connection to the necktie murders will be clear to us in the first 30 minutes of the movie and, not coincidentally, completely misinterpreted by the police, as Chief Inspector Oxford (Alec McCowan) and his men tighten a circle around the wrong man, who rapidly runs out of options and allies.

The chase and suspense are classic Hitchcock, favorably recalling a dozen of his earlier movies, from The Lodger and The 39 Steps through Saboteur and Spellbound to Dial M for Murder and North by Northwest, with some new twists and the added energy afforded by the extensive use of actual London locations. There's also a good deal more sex and nudity here than Hitchcock was ever allowed to use in his earlier movies, owing to the relaxation of "decency" standards that had taken place in the years leading up to this production. The suspense derives from multiple interlocking and overlapping layers of uncertainty -- when will each of the two men, suspect and murderer, slip? (And which will slip first?) When and how will the police realize their mistake, and will it be in time to save the innocent man? Amid the straightforward storytelling and thriller elements, Hitchcock manages to slip in a few bravura cinematic moments, the best of them a pullback shot down a flight of stairs into a busy street as the killer invites his next victim into his home, as well as a scene aboard a truck, with a murderer desperately wrestling with a corpse hidden in a sack of potatoes. Frenzy was adapted from Arthur La Bern's novel Goodbye Picadilly, Farewell Leicester Square by mystery aficionado Anthony Shaffer, but for all of that and its decidedly modern trappings of sex and violence, it bears the indelible stylistic stamp of Alfred Hitchcock. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

In this family comedy, the life of a suburban clan is disrupted when they learn that two old friends are coming to call. The house is thrown into a tizzy as they struggle to prepare. One of the three brothers then chooses an inopportune moment to announce that he is planning to marry the maid. The cook then organizes a kitchen strike. Finally things settle down, and the household is ready to entertain the esteemed guests -- they never show up. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A professor of astronomy, David Garrett (Ian Carmichael), is involved with a highly confidential project to develop missiles. He runs into an old friend from the Soviet Union who is now the world chess champion. As David soon discovers, the champion is with a team working for sinister businessman Hubert Marek (Curt Jugens). Marek intends to have David abducted while making it appear as if the professor has defected. Though he narrowly escapes one trap in England, David must continually ascertain who may be in on the group's scheme if he is to survive. Director Cy Endfield enjoyed much greater success earlier in 1964 with Zulu, his historical action feature about a native uprising in Africa. David Stone wrote the screenplay for Hide and Seek, adapted by Robert Foshko from Harold Greene's story. Stone and masterful cinematographer Gilbert Taylor (A Hard Day's Night, Dr. Strangelove, Star Wars) would soon have another project in common: Roman Polanski's psychological thriller, Repulsion. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, two soldiers find themselves dishonorably discharged after they accidently allow a Nazi prisoner to escape. Later they open up a detective agency. They are constantly plagued by the Nazi who follows them on every case. In the climax, the trio plays a crazy cricket match using a ball with a diamond hidden within it. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A man recently gone AWOL from the Army (Derek Farr) is arrested in a store robbery that occurred while he was shopping. With help from a beautiful lawyer (Joan Hopkins), he must prove his innocence. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

American-born French film director Bob Swaim directed this sordid tale of greed, deception, machinations and murder. The darkly beautiful Meg Tilly stars as Olivia Lawrence, member of the Hamptons social elite and heiress to a vast fortune, who becomes attracted to dangerous newcomer Tim Whalen (Rob Lowe). She unwittingly falls into his web of deceit, as he and her stepfather (John Glover) plot her murder in order to gain the $3,000,000 in her trust fund. Inspired in plot by the film noir classics of the '40s, Masquerade lacks the style and originality of the originals. The film noticeably lacks suspense; there is no sustained tension, and many of the characters seem included simply for the sake of bizarreness. However, Tilly manages to carry the film all on her own with her considerable talent and natural screen presence. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide

This early nuclear satire offers a twisted retelling of the old fairy tale "The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg." The story begins as two American newlyweds move to live on an English farm recently inherited by the husband. Unaccustomed to the ways of British country auctions, the husband accidentally buys five dozen ducks. One of those ducks lays radioactive eggs, and eventually the entire farm must be quarantined by the military. Branches of the military then begin fighting over possession of the little quacker. In the end, they all grab the wrong one. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

No one knows what evil lurks with the folks next door in this black comedy. Earl Keese (John Belushi) is a middle-aged suburbanite whose life is dull and uneventful, and that's just the way he likes it, though his wife, Enid (Kathryn Walker), isn't quite so happy. Earl soon learns that a new couple has just moved into the house next door, loudly leisure-suited Vic (Dan Aykroyd) and sexy Ramona (Cathy Moriarty). Earl is at once thrilled and terrified when Ramona unexpectedly attempts to seduce him, and he is quite puzzled when Vic and Ramona stop by for dinner the following evening and Ramona angrily accuses Earl of trying to take advantage of her. After an argument, Vic offers to make peace by buying dinner from a take-out restaurant. When Earl spies Vic cooking the meal in his kitchen a few minutes later, he realizes that his new neighbors are playing some sort of game with him, though he's not sure what or why. Neighbors marked the third and final screen pairing of Saturday Night Live stars John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd; Belushi died of a drug overdose three months after the film's release. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

After causing the needless death of another officer during a near-miss air disaster, a distraught army officer resigns from the military. Still, the American wants to serve in the war effort and so, calling himself a Canadian, enlists in the British military to train as a paratrooper. Revealing nothing about his past, he proves himself obedient and exceptionally skilled. This rouses the suspicion of his commanding officer who starts investigating the trooper. Later, the trooper more than proves himself during a dangerous mission to North Africa. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide