Claire Brennan Movies

Loosely based on former policeman Joseph Wambaugh's humorous novel, The Choirboys determinedly explores the stunted interior lives of a large crew of callous, bigoted L.A. policemen. These men get together to lend one another emotional support. However, the means they choose for this do not enhance their sensitivity or their judgement. When one of them has a really bad day, he asks his buddies to come to "choir practice," and they get together for alcoholic benders of fairly epic proportions. When one of them accidentally shoots a homosexual teen cruising a city park, everyone (including higher-ups) gets called on to help with the cover-up. The Choirboys, which was a critical and box-office failure, had an impressive cast list, including such well-known performers as Blair Brown, James Woods, Randy Quaid, Lou Gossett Jr., Perry King and Charles Durning. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Adapted from Alice Childress' inspirational novel of the same name, director Ralph Nelson's sentimental addiction drama tells the story of an intelligent yet alienated ghetto youth seduced into the world of hard drugs. Unable to stand being in the same apartment as his gruff but caring foster-father Butler (Paul Winfield), inner-city high school student Benjie (Larry B. Scott) opts to pass the time smoking grass and drinking with his good friend Jimmy Lee (Kenneth Green) and small-time drug dealer Carwell (Erin Blunt). Before long Benjie is hooked, and hanging out with local pusher Tiger (Kevin Hooks) in order to get the hard stuff. Increasingly alienated from both his foster-father and his grandmother (Helen Martin), young Benjie must rely on the assistance of a caring social worker (Claire Brennan) in order to stay clean and get back on his feet. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The scene is a high-rise hotel in midtown San Francisco. Confronted by mobsters who are angry because he refused to throw a fight, an aging boxer manages to beat up two of his assailants and throw the third out the window to his death! Arriving on the scene to investigate the killer, Stone (Karl Malden) and Keller (Michael Douglas) conduct a room-by-room search for the fugitive boxer, who is now on the run from cops and crooks alike--and is presently hiding in the same room with a pair of adulterous lovers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Planet Earth was the second of three look-alike attempts by Star Trek maven Gene Roddenberry to launch a futuristic TV series for the 1970s (the first was 1973's Genesis II, and the third was 1975's Strange New World). John Saxon stars as Dylan Hunt, who awakens from suspended animation in the year 2133. The "big war" has come and gone; one of the few surviving pockets of 20th-century civilization is the city of PAX. This 2-hour pilot film details Hunt's adventures in this Brave New World when he is captured and enslaved by a society run by women. He is rescued by the scientists of PAX, presumably as a means of getting Roddenberry's series off the ground. But except for this film, first aired April 23, 1974, Planet Earth never got into orbit. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though he has been accused of killing his wife, mental patient Walter Carr (Earl Holliman)--who has no memory of the crime--is certain that she is still alive and that he has been framed for her murder. Escaping custody, Walter goes on a tortuous odyssey to find the truth, committing various small crimes along the way. As Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) pursues Walter, even he begins to wonder if his quarry is the victim of a miscarriage of justice. As it turns out, however, a murder has indeed been committed--and the killer is a lot closer than Walter ever imagined. Directed by series costar Philip Abbott, this is the final episode of The F.B.I.'s fifth season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This entertaining sexploitation update of Freaks from producer David Friedman and director B. Ron Elliott (using the pseudonym "Byron Mabe") has its moments for sympathetic viewers. Jade (Claire Brennen) is a diner waitress who wants success at any price, so she joins a traveling carnival despite her old boss's warning that "You're going all the way down!" Before long, Jade is married to the carnival owner (Bill McKinney of Deliverance) and having an affair with a ferris-wheel operator named Blackie (exploitation director Lee Raymond). Jade likes the money but hates the carnival freaks, so when a midget named Shortie (Felix Silla) informs McKinney of her affair with Blackie, she vows revenge. Predictably, McKinney confronts Blackie and gets stabbed to death, so Jade inherits the carnival. She fires Shortie and starts treating her former friends badly, leading the freaks to attack her one night and surgically transform her into a hideous monster. The film ends with Jade's old boss from the diner laughing at her as she is exhibited as a sideshow freak. An amusing diversion, though it is obsessed with phallic snake symbolism and isn't even a fraction as good as its 1932 model. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide