John Briley Movies
- 1999
Without the Christian Church of the Middle Ages, Freud of the 19th century would have been out of work. Actor Peter Coyote, of Roman Polanski's dark sex comedy Bitter Moon, narrates this History Channel series that examines human biology, art, humor, and attitudes regarding sex down through the ages. Directed by Jim Milio, this third of five episodes studies the intricate sexual dance of medieval chivalric romance and the importance of chastity. The program is closed-captioned. ~ Steve Blackburn, All Movie Guide
- 1999
Boy meets girl -- it's still the same old story. As this program reveals, some of the world's earliest and greatest literature is about sex. Actor Peter Coyote, of Roman Polanski's dark sex comedy Bitter Moon, narrates this History Channel series that examines human biology, art, humor, and attitudes about sex through the ages. Directed by Melissa Jo Peltier, this second of five episodes takes a peek at India's Kama Sutra, China's pillow books, and Arabic poetry. The program is closed-captioned. ~ Steve Blackburn, All Movie Guide
- 1999
Actor Peter Coyote, of Roman Polanski's dark sex comedy Bitter Moon, narrates this History Channel series that examines human biology, art, humor, and attitudes regarding sex down through the ages. Directed by Melissa Peltier, this fourth of five episodes examines the greatly varying sexual mores held by various influential individuals and groups, including, but not limited to, Don Juan, the Pilgrims, Casanova, the Marquis De Sade, and Queen Victoria. The program is closed-captioned. ~ Steve Blackburn, All Movie Guide
- 1999
Actor Peter Coyote, of Roman Polanski's dark sex comedy Bitter Moon, narrates this History Channel series that examines human biology, art, humor, and attitudes regarding sex through the ages. Directed by Mark Hufnail, this last of five episodes examines the importance of sex to the movie industry, the pioneering Masters and Johnson study of human sexuality, the sexual revolution triggered by the simplicity and ease of the female birth control pill, the phenomena of Viagra, and the prevalence of pornography on the Internet. The program is closed-captioned. ~ Steve Blackburn, All Movie Guide
- 1999
- NR
Based on the true story of a priest who risked his life in order to help people no one else would touch (a wager he would eventually lose), Father Damien stars David Wenham as the titular Belgian saint. In 1872, Damien, a young Catholic priest serving as a missionary near Hawaii, volunteers to spend three months working in a colony for victims of leprosy on the island of Molokai. When he arrives, he discovers the lepers have been herded to a barely inhabitable part of the island where they're treated like animals. Damien is shocked, and makes it his crusade to improve the lives of the lepers, planting trees to help buffer the island's strong winds and building huts to house the sicker members of the tribe. Damien also concerns himself with their spiritual needs, restoring a sense of dignity and self-respect among the diseased and urging them away from drinking, sex, and other sinful behavior. At first, Damien's pleas to the mainland for medicine, supplies, and medical help fall on deaf ears, but soon the press picks up on Damien's story -- which only angers the Hawaiian government, who would prefer the plight of the lepers be forgotten. Damien is destined to spend the last years of his life on Molokai when he contacts the disease himself, working to ease the pain of his fellow victims to his last breath. Father Damien boasts a star-studded supporting cast, including Sam Neill, Peter O'Toole, Leo McKern, Kris Kristofferson, and Derek Jacobi. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Wenham, Kate Ceberano, (more)
- 1992
- PG13
John Glen directed this throwback to the costume dramas of the 1930s and 1940s, but without a smidgen of their energy and verve. George Corraface plays Christopher Columbus as a dynamic and muscular comic-book hero. He has a dream to set sail to find a new passageway to India, but he needs the backing of the Spanish government to do it. First, he must undergo a grilling by Tomas de Torquemada (Marlon Brando in, hands down, his worst performance). After passing muster with Torquemada, he gets the blessing of Queen Isabella (Rachel Ward) and King Ferdinand (Tom Selleck). Columbus then sets sail in a series of picture-postcard travelogue shots as he sails the ocean blue and discovers a new world of wonders -- particularly the Indian chief's well-endowed daughter. As a sop to revisionists, a rat is seen scampering down the plank as Columbus' vessel lands on "undiscovered" turf. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marlon Brando, Tom Selleck, (more)
- 1990
Guerilla wars against the major powers have been a factor in Central American politics for a long time. This biographical drama is based on the life of Nicaragua's prototypical 20th century guerilla, Augusto C. Sandino (born as Augusto Nicolás Calderón Sandino). His name and life were the inspiration for the anti-U.S. forces in that country fifty years after his death: they called themselves the Sandanistas. It is helpful to remember, and this movie demonstrates, that the U.S. military has been actively involved with the domestic politics of Nicaragua many times in this century, most notably during the 1912 invasion which resulted in over twenty continuous years of U.S. military intervention. In the story, Sandino loves two women: his wife, who remains at home, and his warlike mistress, a guerilla who accompanies him into the jungle. He has a tendency (common at the time) of wanting to trust politicians. As a result, he was betrayed by Anastasio Somoza in 1933, and vanished from sight. Somoza soon became the sole ruler of Nicaragua (from 1936 to 1956). The free-thinking rebel, who renamed himself Augusto César Sandino in the late 1920s, identified strongly with the indios or indigenous people of the region, and proposed a political agenda under which the countries of the Central America would unite against European exploitation. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kris Kristofferson, Dean Stockwell, (more)
Richard Attenborough directed this dramatic story, based on actual events, about the friendship between two men struggling against apartheid in South Africa in the 1970s. Donald Woods (Kevin Kline) is a white liberal journalist in South Africa who begins to follow the activities of Stephen Biko (Denzel Washington), a courageous and outspoken black anti-apartheid activist. Woods and his wife Wendy (Penelope Wilton) get to know Biko, and they become friends, until Biko is brutally murdered at the hands of government troops in 1977 for his activities against the country's repression of the black majority population. Donald is shocked and appalled by Biko's murder and determined that the truth about Biko will become known to the world; eventually, Donald and Wendy Woods and their children must leave South Africa (and nearly everything they have) as they spread the word about Biko's life and death to ensure that he did not die in vain. Washington received an Academy Award nomination for his performance as Biko. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin Kline, Penelope Wilton, (more)
Daryl Duke directed this epic adventure, based on James Clavell's best-selling novel, concerning the battle for control of the China trade in early 19th-century Hong Kong. The film takes place in 1842 on the China Coast, where the Chinese object to the British imperialist policy of buying opium from the Chinese and then selling it back to them at a higher price. As a result, British warships arrive to pound the recalcitrant Chinese into submission. The outcome of the assault is a treaty giving England the right to operate Hong Kong as a free-port. The problem is who will become the Tai-Pan, or British merchant ruler of Hong Kong? The battle lines for the position are drawn between two swashbucklers -- Dirk Struan (Bryan Brown), a skipping and jumping buccaneer, and Tyler Brock (John Stanton), a weaselly cheat. Brock makes the first move by forcing Straun into bankruptcy, but, thanks to the help of the local prostitute May-May (Joan Chen), who has a score to settle with Brock, Straun is able to raise the money at the last minute. This enrages Brock, who remains bitter through the years and finally confronts Straun in a climactic sword fight. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bryan Brown, Joan Chen, (more)
- 1985
- PG13
Based on a true story, this drama stars Sissy Spacek as Marie Ragghianti, a Tennessee housewife stuck in a bad marriage with an abusive husband and caring for a child with long-term health problems. Determined to turn her life around, Marie leaves her husband and goes back to school. Against long odds, she completes her college degree and is able to land a job with the Tennessee State Government. Thanks to hard work and being in the right place at the right time, Marie moves up the ladder to become the head of the Tennessee Parole Board. However, the more authority Marie gains, the more corruption she sees, reaching to the highest offices in the state -- Eddie Sisk (Jeff Daniels), special assistant to the governor, has worked out a system by which he can collect bribes on behalf of the governor in exchange for political favors, without the governor himself being directly implicated. An angry Marie decides that it's time she did something about the graft and dirty dealing in the parole department, but she soon discovers that the governor has many powerful friends who can easily discredit her in the press. The supporting cast includes Morgan Freeman and Trey Wilson. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sissy Spacek, Jeff Daniels, (more)
It was Richard Attenborough's lifelong dream to bring the life story of Indian political and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi to the screen. When it finally reached fruition in 1982, the 188-minute, Oscar-winning Gandhi was one of the most exhaustively thorough biopics ever made. The film begins in the early part of the 20th century, when Mohandas K. Gandhi (Ben Kingsley), a British-trained lawyer, forsakes all worldly possessions to take up the cause of Indian independence. Faced with armed resistance from the British government, Gandhi adopts a policy of "passive resistance," endeavoring to win freedom for his people without resorting to bloodshed. In the horrendous "slaughter" sequence, more extras appear on screen than in any previous historical epic. The supporting cast includes Candice Bergen as photographer Margaret Bourke-White, Athol Fugard as General Smuts, John Gielgud as Lord Irwin, John Mills as the viceroy, Martin Sheen as Walker, Trevor Howard as Judge Broomfield, and, in a tiny part as a street bully, star-to-be Daniel Day-Lewis. Gandhi won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Director. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ben Kingsley, Candice Bergen, (more)
Directed by TV-anthology veteran Jeannot Szwarc, Enigma has a certain small-screen "feel" to it. Adopting a musical-comedy foreign accent, Martin Sheen plays Alex Holbeck, an Iron Curtain defector who returns to East Germany at the behest of the CIA. His mission is to save five political "undesirables" from the communists. Holbeck runs up against some formidable opposition, namely ambitious KGB agent Dimitri Vasilkov (Sam Neill) and a quintet of highly trained Soviet assassins. Brigitte Fossey co-stars as Holbeck's former love, whom he involves in his escape plans by asking her to romance the susceptible Vasilkov. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Martin Sheen, Brigitte Fossey, (more)
- 1979
- PG
Though made in Britain and Europe, Eagle's Wing qualifies as a Western. Easterner Pike (Martin Sheen) does a lot of growing up in a hurry when he becomes a trapper out-West. By mid-film, Pike is accomplished enough to compete with Comanche chief White Bull (Sam Waterston, there's a masterpiece of nontypecasting!) over possession of a white, wild stallion. The film contains subliminal pro-ecological and pro-tolerance messages, courtesy of its politically-minded stars and the screenplay by future Gandhi scrivener John Briley. Supporting Sheen and Waterston are such never-fail performers as Harvey Keitel and Stephane Audran. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Martin Sheen, Sam Waterston, (more)
- 1978
- PG
In The Medusa Touch Brunel (Lino Ventura), a French detective on temporary assignment with Scotland Yard, investigates a mysterious series of disasters. The uncanny events begin happening shortly after writer John Morlar (Richard Burton) was hit over the head by an unknown intruder and rendered comatose. Slowly, Brunel begins to connect the strange things that are happening in the world with the deranged dreams of the comatose Morlar. He gets the final clue he needs from Morlar's reluctant psychiatrist, Dr. Zonfield (Lee Remick), who holds the key to Morlar's past. Once it is discovered that Morlar has the ability to think horrible thoughts and make them come true, Brunel and Zonfield must take off with dispatch to a London cathedral, where the Queen is scheduled to make an appearance -- but Morlar is thinking about the cathedral, and it is crumbling fast. Well-liked in Britain, this movie did not do well in the U.S. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Burton, Lino Ventura, (more)
- 1975
Lee J. Cobb's last film is in this light romantic comedy starring Roger Moore as Michael Scott, an arms dealer who comes complete with a sophisticated playboy patter for the ladies. During war games, Michael attempts to sell weapons to NATO forces by trying to interest NATO general Steedman (Lee J. Cobb) in his wares. Opposing his sale is feminist reporter Julia Richardson (Susannah York), who is not impressed with either his job or his come-hither endearments. But, as happens to most movie feminists, she ends up putting her values on the back burner and she falls in love with Michael. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roger Moore, Susannah York, (more)
Liv Ullman portrays a female pope -- based on a long-held rumor that the papacy was held by a woman between the reigns of Leo IV and Benedict III -- in this rambling saga directed by Michael Anderson. The British version of the film has been cut, not only removing twenty-one minutes of the film but also an entire contemporary framing story. In the full version, a modern-day woman evangelist, played by Ullman, who feels an affinity to the legendary Pope Joan, pays a visit to her psychiatrist (Keir Dullea). Searching through her past lives to see whether she is the reincarnation of Pope Joan, the film then flashbacks 1000 years to pick up Joan (Ullman in an earlier incarnation of her character) undergoing a succession of trials and tribulations. Joan then meets up with and becomes the mistress of Adrian (Maximilian Schell), a monk with an artistic bent. After the death of Charlemagne when roving bands of Saxons are raping women and ransacking the countryside, Joan flees the country by cutting her hair short and dressing like a man. Together Joan and Adrian escape to Greece. In Greece, Joan's street-corner preaching draws the attention of Pope Leo IV (Trevor Howard), who is impressed by her impassioned rendering of the Gospel. Still disguised as a man, Pope Leo, clueless as to her true sex, hires her as his secretary. From there, she rises up the ladder of the Roman Catholic Church, becoming a cardinal and then Pope Leo's successor. But then she becomes pregnant by a lover from her past (Franco Nero) and Joan must hide her delicate condition from the papal authorities and the rowdy masses. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Liv Ullmann, Trevor Howard, (more)
- 1965
A pair of American Allied fliers (Michael Connor and Robert Redford in his second feature film appearance) are shot down in a small German village near the end of WW II and end up captured and held prisoner in the wine cellar of a lonely old man (Alec Guiness). The old man likes having the two around and so endeavors to keep them in his cellar even though the war is over. The two remain there for seven years and while they wait, the old man regales them with tales of a wonderful Nazi world. The strange plot of this comedy is based on a novel by Robert Shaw. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Connors, Robert Redford, (more)
- 1963
This sequel to the 1960 Village of The Damned falls short of the original well-made Sci-Fi shocker. The pretentious attempt to give the film a moral message severely weakens the plot and serves to confuse the fans of the previous film. Beautiful, strange children with genius IQ's, destructive dispositions, and ray-gun eyes, who were invaders bent on overtaking the earth in the former tale, are now a sample of mankind's future sent to the earth for the purpose of being destroyed in order to teach the present-day warlike man a lesson of some sort. Plagued with a tedious and unimaginative plot. ~ Lucinda Ramsey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ian Hendry, Alan Badel, (more)
- 1962
In this routine, slapstick, frenetic tale, British comic Spike Milligan stars as Harold Petts, a rural mailman with a sudden promotion that ends up getting him into a lot of trouble. Harold is supposed to be trained behind the scenes at London's busiest post office but even after his first day in the city he is already in difficulties. He soon meets Jean (Barbara Shelley), a mediocre art student with big aspirations for her future. The duo eventually find themselves as top suspects in a mail-theft ring, with the police and the Post Office higher-ups close on their heels. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Spike Milligan, Barbara Shelley, (more)
- 1961
It's probably no surprise that Invasion Quartet has four leading actors; what might be surprising, especially to the unwary war-film fan, is that film is a comedy. British funster Spike Milligan joins the sobersided Bill Travers, John LeMesurier and Gregoire Aslan; the foursome are undercover agents, travelling by train behind Nazi lines. It's all part of a plan to disarm a huge German gun that is aimed at the port of Dover. Just so the audience knows it's supposed to be laughing, the creators of Invasion Quartet pile joke upon joke by having the Nazis portrayed as bumbling buffoons. What works for Hogan's Heroes does not necessarily add to the effectiveness of Invasion Quartet. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bill Travers, Spike Milligan, (more)
