Sammy Cahn Movies

Martin Scorsese explores the life of organized crime with his gritty, kinetic adaptation of Nicolas Pileggi's best-selling Wiseguy, the true-life account of mobster and FBI informant Henry Hill. Set to a true-to-period rock soundtrack, the story details the rise and fall of Hill, a half-Irish, half-Sicilian New York kid who grows up idolizing the "wise guys" in his impoverished Brooklyn neighborhood. He begins hanging around the mobsters, running errands and doing odd jobs until he gains the notice of local chieftain Paulie Cicero (Paul Sorvino), who takes him in as a surrogate son. As he reaches his teens, Hill (Ray Liotta) is inducted into the world of petty crime, where he distinguishes himself as a "stand-up guy" by choosing jail time over ratting on his accomplices. From that moment on, he is a part of the family. Along with his psychotic partner Tommy (Joe Pesci), he rises through the ranks to become Paulie's lieutenant; however, he quickly learns that, like his mentor Jimmy (Robert DeNiro), his ethnicity prevents him from ever becoming a "made guy," an actual member of the crime family. Soon he finds himself the target of both the feds and the mobsters, who feel that he has become a threat to their security with his reckless dealings. Goodfellas was rewarded with six Academy Award nominations including Best Picture; Pesci would walk away with Best Supporting Actor for his work. ~ Jeremy Beday, Rovi

Singing her way through life as life sings back at her, little orphaned Heidi (voice by Margery Gray) is bounced around from her aunt's house, to her grouchy grandfather's place, to a wealthy family in the big city, and never do the vocals subside nor does her spirit droop to anything lower than high "C," probably a fitting classification for this animated film from the Hanna-Barbera studio. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Jackie Collins wrote the best-selling novel The Stud. Her sister Joan Collins starred in the 1978 film version of The Stud. The producer on the film was Joan Collins' then-husband Ron Kass. Need we say more? Well, there is a plot, involving the insatiable Joan's sexual hold over a handsome nightclub manager Oliver Tobias. And there was a sequel, also written by Jackie and starring Joan, titled The Bitch. Need we say more now? ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This represents MGM's 1976 sequel to its enormously successful compilation film That's Entertainment (1974). In lieu of the multi-narrator device of the first film, director Gene Kelly chooses to limit the hosting chores to two people: himself, and his friendly rival Fred Astaire. Another departure from the first film was the decision to include comedy and dramatic highlights from MGM's past, with such stars as Greta Garbo (seen in a montage of "I want to be alone"s), Greer Garson, Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Jean Harlow, Wallace Beery, Marie Dressler, Red Skelton, the Marx Brothers, and Laurel and Hardy (though the last-named team's vignettes are culled from Hal Roach productions which were merely released by MGM). Be sure and catch That's Entertainment from the beginning for Saul Bass' opening credits, incorporating a variety of title-sequence styles: waves crashing on the shore, pages turning in a book, and a J. Arthur Rank-style gong. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this crime comedy, a gullible private volunteers to become the subject of numerous military biological and chemical weaponry experiments. Later he becomes so messed up that he is forced into early retirement. He then decides to use some of the experimental gases to rob banks. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The consumption of human flesh is the main course of this off-beat horror movie that centers on a war veteran who returns to California a cannibal. His sister likes peopleburgers too. The trouble begins when a gentle hippie chick encounters the hungry duo enthusiastically eating their latest meal. The terrified girl heads for the police, but they refuse to believe her. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Night Watch a suspenseful, under-rated thriller tells the story of a lonely, unhappily married woman who believes that she sees a murder committed in the deserted house across her courtyard. Ellen Wheeler (Elizabeth Taylor) spends her nights alone, drinking, wandering around her living room, and looking out the window. One night she witnesses a murder. She calls the police, who investigate, but find nothing. Her husband John (Laurence Harvey) believes that she has imagined the entire thing, but her friend Sarah (Billie Whitelaw), while skeptical, is sympathetic to her deeply troubled friend. Director Brian G. Hutton fills the film with a number of distracting red-herrings and directs with a leisurely pace which tends to lessen the suspense. However, Taylor is splendid in the central role of a woman who seems to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and she creates a sympathetic believable character. Laurence Harvey, in his final performance, is less effective but is believable as the neglectful, emotionally abusive husband. Night Watch has a bloody, surprise ending, which while stretching credibility, is perfectly in keeping with the melodramatic intensity created by Taylor. Night Watch, reminiscent in some respect of Gaslight will be of interest to fans of Elizabeth Taylor and should entertain any fan of psychological thrillers. ~ Linda Rasmussen, Rovi

Taken from the 1907 comedy play by Georges Feydeau, A Flea In Her Ear is a comedic sex romp about a wife suspicious of her husband's activities away from home. Gabrielle (Rosemary Harris) is convinced her attorney husband Victor (Rex Harrison) is seeing another woman because of his inattention to her amorous needs. Gabrielle sets up a meeting with her husband at a bordello-hotel, and he is completely unaware that the woman he is going to meet will be his own wife. She soon discovers just who is being unfaithful to their wives after meeting a number of lovers and both faithful and unfaithful husbands. Louis Jourdan and Rachel Roberts also star in this light situation comedy containing turn-of the-century-sensibilities that appear somewhat dated in 1968. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

George Roy Hill directed this original musical set the 1920s that mixes pop standards with new tunes written by Sammy Cahn and James Van Heusen. Julie Andrews, in a role that recalls her Broadway triumph in The Boy Friend, stars as Millie Dillmount, who comes to New York is search of a secretarial job and an unattached boss. She moves into a hotel for women, run by kindly Mrs. Meers (Beatrice Lillie), and she befriends the pretty, petite orphan Dorothy Brown (Mary Tyler Moore). Millie finds work with the handsome bachelor Trevor Graydon (John Gavin), but Trevor has his eyes on Dorothy. So too does Mrs. Meers, who despite her kindly exterior is actually an unscrupulous white slaver. Paper clip salesman Jimmy Smith (James Fox), on the other hand, pledges his undying love to Millie. One day, after attending a weekend party being given at the opulent Long Island mansion of Muzzy Van Hossmere (Carol Channing), Dorothy disappears. When Jimmy and Millie smell opium in Dorothy's room, they realize the awful truth about Mrs. Meers. Trying to rescue Dorothy and find the location of Mrs. Meers' hideout, Jimmy disguises himself as an orphaned woman and tries to get himself kidnapped. The scheme backfires, however, and Mrs. Meers drugs and kidnaps both Jimmy and Trevor. It is left to Millie to find the white slavers, free her friends from bondage and save the day. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Dean Martin stars as an amiable gunrunner in the tongue-in-cheek western Texas Across the River. Martin teams up with fugitive from justice Alain Delon, a Spanish nobleman engaged to the beautiful Rosemary Forsyth. Amidst several Indian attacks, hairbreadth escapes and wild chases, Martin does his utmost to steal Rosemary away from Delon. If you were entertaining thoughts of taking this thing seriously, please bear in mind that Joey Bishop co-stars as a very urban-looking Indian. Watch for future character star Richard Farnsworth as a Native American medicine man. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Rat Pack packed it in after this sprightly musical comedy that owes more than it should to Damon Runyon's stories and Frank Loesser and Abe Burrows's classic musical Guys and Dolls. Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen's bright and snappy score features such songs as "Style", "Bang-Bang" and the Sinatra standard "My Kind of Town". Set in 1920s Chicago, the tale begins during a birthday party for head mobster Big Jim (Edward G. Robinson) who is shot to death during the celebration. Rival gangster Guy Gisbourne (Peter Falk) immediately declares himself the chief gangster. The northside gang, headed by Robbo (Frank Sinatra) is willing to grant Guy his self-declared title as long as he leaves the northside territory alone. Guy refuses and when small time hood Little John (Dean Martin) joins Robbo's crew, turf warfare breaks out between the two gangs, resulting in the destruction of both Robbo and Guy's nightclubs. Meanwhile, Big Jim's daughter Marian (Barbara Rush) offers Robbo $50,000 to find the man who killed her father. Robbo demurs and gives the money to his henchman Will (Sammy Davis Jr.) to get rid of. Will, hoping to do a good deed, hands the money over to Allen A. Dale (Bing Crosby), who runs an orphanage. Allen, finding out that the money came from Robbo, informs the newspapers of Robbo's philanthropic enterprise and Robbo immediately becomes a local celebrity, referred to as Chicago's Robin Hood. For his part, Robbo is willing to go along with the publicity. On the romantic front, although Robbo is attracted to Marian, he gives her the brush-off when he finds she is using a charitable foundation as a front for a counterfeiting ring being run by herself and Little John. Robbo tells Marian to leave town. Instead, she hooks up with Guy, proposing that he kill both Robbo and Little John. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Based on the novel by Harold Robbins, comes this family drama from director Edward Dmytryk. Adapted for the the screen by John Michael Hayes, the film follows the events that befall Luke Miller (Michael Connors) when he discovers that his daughter, Danielle (Joey Heatherton), has been arrested for murdering his ex-wife Valerie's (Susan Hayward) new lover. As Danielle's trial unfurls, and the sordid events of the family's past are brought into the open, Luke is forced to address and relive several of the painful events that led to the family's present state. Also starring Bette Davis as Valerie's mother and a pre-Star Trek DeForest Kelley, Where Love Has Gone netted Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn, the songwriters behind the film's title song. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi