Steve Carver Movies
A directing and writing fellow at the American Film Institute's Center for Advanced Studies in 1970, Carver assisted Dalton Trumbo on Johnny Got His Gun. He began making low-budget exploitationers in the mid '70s, such as the slavery sagas The Arena and Drum and the crime films Big Bad Mama and Capone. Actioners have become Carver's claim to fame, including An Eye for an Eye, Lone Wolf McQuade with Chuck Norris, and River Of Death with Michael Dudikoff. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1994
Justin Lazard plays a crack-cocaine dealer who is caught in a police dragnet. The cops cut a deal with Lazard: they'll let him off the hook if he agrees to be trained as a professional assassin. Not unexpectedly, Lazard finds the police no more trustworthy than his former drug cronies. The last time we saw this story, it was called La Femme Nikita and the leading man was a leading lady. Dead Center is rated R, for several very good reasons. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1990
- R
This jungle adventure features an extremely complicated plot that involves a megalomaniacal Nazi doctor who continues to perform inhuman experiments in the Amazon jungle and helms the Lost City of the Nazis, a mecca for war criminals and new followers. He is pursued by three vengeful people: a former colleague whom he double-crossed near the end of the war, a young woman who saw him murder her father, and an angry American physician, whose daughter the doctor kidnapped after they came to the jungle to help the ailing Indians who are dying from a mysterious disease. In addition to coping with each other, the searchers must also deal with the usual Amazon dangers, including ferocious cannibals, before they can make it to the hidden city and get their revenge. The plot is an adaptation of an Alistair McLean novel. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Dudikoff, Robert Vaughn, (more)
Frank McBain (Gary Busey) is a cop who earned the nickname of "bulletproof" from the dozens of shootings he has survived over his career. He is called on to retrieve a tank held by communists across the border of Mexico. The enemies are cardboard caricatures of Arabs, Russians, and Mexicans led by the evil Colonel Kartiff (Henry Silva). Darlanne Fluegel co-stars with Juan Fernandez and Rene Enriquez in this forgettable feature. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gary Busey, Darlanne Fluegel, (more)
Richard Roundtree stars as tennis-coach Chip Williams in this uneven adolescent comedy. Coach Williams must whip his players into shape for the big tournament in Las Vegas. The Kid (Scott Strader) and his cohorts run wild in Vegas on and off the court as the coach tries to keep the star players out of trouble before the match. Christopher Lee and R. G. Armstrong appear in character roles and Jane Mansfield's daughter Mariska Hargitay is the heroine Nicole. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Scott Strader, Perry Lang, (more)
This exciting disaster film chronicles the raw courage of five ex-cons and their leader when the South American off-shore oil rig they work upon suddenly explodes and only they can stop the ensuing fire. Unfortunately, they must not only deal with the elements, they must also cope with company bureaucracy and greed and their own considerable personal differences. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
In this Spaghetti-western-like martial arts actioner, Texas Ranger J. J. McQuade (Chuck Norris) is up against the weapons-dealer Rawley Wilkes (David Carradine) after Wilkes kidnaps McQuade's partner and daughter and takes them to Mexico. McQuade's personal vendetta is encouraged by the government because Wilkes is hijacking U.S. arms shipments for his illicit weapons deals and the government wants him stopped. After the kidnapping incident, McQuade is assigned Kayo (Robert Beltran) a rookie patrolman, to accompany him in his fight, and he is also joined by FBI-agent Jackson (Leon Isaac Kennedy). Jackson and McQuade track down Wilkes' secret airstrip -- and that is when the fireworks begin. Every weapon known to human technology is brought into the picture as McQuade, also armed with his lethal hands and feet, goes ballistic. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chuck Norris, David Carradine, (more)
The frequently used title An Eye for an Eye was applied to a Chuck Norris martial-arts festival in 1981. Norris plays Sean Kane, a San Francisco cop whose partner is murdered by an Oriental drug ring. Told to keep his distance by his superiors, Kane quits the force and sets out to exact vengeance. When he's not suffering from traumatic nightmares, our hero is single-handedly decimating every one of villain Morgan Canfield's (Christopher Lee) henchmen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chuck Norris, Christopher Lee, (more)
- 1980
- PG
This action drama based around a construction site was a star vehicle for television actor Lee Majors between his two series gigs on The Six Million Dollar Man (1974-78) and The Fall Guy (1981-86). Majors stars as Mike Catton, a former well-regarded construction site foreman who became afraid of heights following a serious accident. When his friend Big Lew (George Kennedy) is killed while trying to rush the completion of an office skyscraper in an effort to beat a greedy bank's threatened foreclosure, Mike goes to work for Big Lew's daughter Cass (Jennifer O'Neill), recruiting a team of top workers to finish the job. Steel (1980) became an infamous picture due to the death of stunt man A.J. Bakunis, who died during the film's production trying to regain his former world's record for the longest stunt fall. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lee Majors, Jennifer O'Neill, (more)
- 1979
- PG
In this exciting road comedy, a WW I veteran attempts to fulfill his dream of being the first to win a transnational motorcycle rally. To assist him, he hires former war buddies. These fellows have a quiet grudge against him because they believe he deserted them during a crucial battle. Still the race begins and en-route, the kindly (and not as cowardly as he seems) racer picks up a beautiful young woman and her son. Romance and adventure ensues as the finish line draws near. The film is also titled Fast Charlie and the Moonbeam. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Carradine, Brenda Vaccaro, (more)
- 1976
- R
It is hard to get more deliriously fever-pitched than the ending of Mandingo -- in which a plantation master is shot and his main slave gets boiled in oil -- but Drum (Mandingo's mangy sequel) certainly tries. Hammond Maxwell (Warren Oates), the late slave-owner's son (from Mandingo), is trying to follow in his father's footsteps and purchases Drum (Ken Norton) and Blaise (Yaphet Kotto) from bordello hostess Marianna (Isela Vega). Marianna is actually Drum's mother, although her lesbian lover Rachel (Paula Kelly) in fact brought up the boy. Thrown into the package to Hammond is Drum's girlfriend Regine (Pam Grier), who was purchased to satisfy the carnal urges of Mr. Hammond. However, Augusta Chauvet (Fiona Lewis), setting her sites on Hammond, has other plans. Drum is such a perfect specimen of slave that neither men nor women can keep their hands off of him. Drum looks stoic until a climactic slave revolt breaks out, guaranteeing more blood and carnage than Mandingo could ever hope to provide. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Warren Oates, Isela Vega, (more)
- 1975
- R
Ben Gazzara stars in this low-level depiction of legendary gangster Al Capone, who rose to command the mob underworld in 1920's Chicago. Born in Brooklyn, Capone joins his first gang at the age of 11. From there, he graduates to the infamous "Five Points Gang" run by Johnny Torrio (Harry Guardino). After moving to Chicago a few years later and wiping out Torrio's crimeboss uncle, Capone becomes Torrio's right hand man. Capone becomes head of the area's prostitution and racketeering business, but, as his mind deteriorates from syphillis, so does his empire. There's not much to recommend here, aside from a surprisingly good appearance by Sylvester Stallone as fellow gangster Frank Nitti. Gazzara is frankly awful in the title role and producer Roger Corman uses stock shootout footage from other gangster films, including footage of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre from his own, earlier movie on the subject. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ben Gazzara, Susan Blakely, (more)
Angie Dickinson essays the title role in Big Bad Mama. This Depression-era crime caper casts the future star of Police Woman as sexy Ma Barker type Wilma McClatchie, who forces her nubile daughters (Susan Sennett, Robbie Lee) into participating in a robbery/kidnapping/murder spree. Wilma seems to be as motivated by the erotic thrill of lawbreaking as she is by the financial gains. She evens hops in the sack with her daughters, as does her common-law husband, played by William Shatner. A sequel appeared in 1987. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Angie Dickinson, William Shatner, (more)
Pam Grier and Margaret Markov reteamed a year after Black Mama, White Mama for this similarly crowd-pleasing exploitation effort. They play Roman slaves who eventually rebel against their male oppressors. Mixing elements from the Italian peplum and the Filipino women's prison movies, The Arena also adds some po-faced feminist theory while still managing to exploit its scantily-clad stars. Italian film regulars Lucretia Love and Rosalba Neri look strangely out of place in a movie filmed in their own country, but fans of drive-in movies should be pleased. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
Steve Carver directs Sam Jaffe in Edgar Allan Poe's classic tale of man who kills his torturous boss and stores the body within the bowels of his own house. Once the deed is done, the young man is driven into madness by his crime, and imagines -- or does he? -- the persistent beating of his victim's heart. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
