Walter Coblenz Movies
Which is more important -- loyalty to your friends, or making your dreams come true? A young girl is forced to make that difficult choice in this comedy-drama set in the early '50s. Elizabeth Wakefield (Sally Andrews) is a 12-year-old girl growing up in the small New Zealand town of Middleton. Elizabeth is fascinated by her namesake, the newly crowned Queen Elizabeth II, and when word gets out that The Queen may be visiting New Zealand, the schoolgirl sparks a letter-writing campaign to invite The Queen to Middleton, with the help of her best friend, Annabel (Anna Sheridan). The good news is that Elizabeth's plan works, and The Queen will indeed visit Middleton, but the bad news is it's not certain if Elizabeth will get to meet her. Elizabeth's father, John (Mark Clare), runs the town's biggest business, a cheese factory, and it looks like The Queen may pay the factory a visit, but Mrs. Hobson (Liddy Holloway), a pretentious sort who heads the ladies' gardening club, believes the local Rhododendron Trust might be a destination more befitting the Royal Family (it doesn't help that Mrs. Hobson has been having an affair with the mayor). Amidst all this confusion, a local eccentric makes her opinions known in a series of public rants -- Hira Mata (Vicky Haughton), a elderly woman of Maori descent who still holds a grudge against the British for the death of her grandfather at the hands of English colonials almost a century ago. Elizabeth gets to know Hira, and comes to the conclusion she's not as crazy as most folks have led her to believe, and she decides to stand by her new friend when Hira Mata is accused of vandalism, even if it might prevent the visit of her beloved Queen. Her Majesty was the first feature film for director Mark J. Gordon. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sally Andrews, Vicky Haughton, (more)
A low-level criminal and a struggling newsman become unlikely partners in this comedy. Franklin Hatchett (Chris Tucker) is a fast-talking hustler who runs a small time ticket-scalping business. A TV news story by reporter James Russell (Charlie Sheen) brings Franklin's business to the attention of the police, and he finds himself under arrest. While being transported by police bus from one lock-up to another, Franklin is handcuffed to Raymond Villard (Gerard Ismael), a high-level jewel thief from Europe. Villard's henchmen stage a raid in which they explode the vehicle, killing most of the passengers (including two cops), but freeing their partner. Franklin is able to escape but learns that he's now wanted as a cop killer. Hoping to clear his name, Franklin approaches Russell with a deal -- if he'll hide him from the police and help him prove that he had nothing to do with the deadly explosion, he'll give the reporter an exclusive story, which could help Russell boost his sagging career. Money Talks also features Heather Locklear as Russell's fiancée Grace, and Paul Sorvino as Grace's father, who is quite impressed by Franklin's story that he's related to Vic Damone. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chris Tucker, Charlie Sheen, (more)
- 1995
Made for television, Not Our Son is the tragically true story of the "Seattle Specter", who at one time was designated the worst serial arsonist in US history. Over an astonishingly short period, the "Specter" was responsible for over 100 fires--one of them resulting in the deaths of several senior-home residents. What no one knew, until it was nearly too late, was that the elusive firebug was a profoundly troubled teenager named Paul Kenneth Keller (played, in a masterpiece of contra-casting, by Neil Patrick Harris). Ultimately, it was up to Paul's family to determine his fate--a decision that forced them to choose between love and duty, and to suffer the pangs of ceaseless guilt in the process. Inspired by an article in The Reader's Digest, Not Our Son first aired March 3, 1995 (it has originally been slated for January 31 that same year). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1993
Mimi Leder, director of several 1990s action-adventure flicks directed this made-for-television drama. Melissa Gilbert-Boxleitner stars as Marion Ravinel, a wife who conspires to kill her husband with the aide of his ex-lover. The film is based on the story featured in several movies, including Diabolique. Gilbert-Boxleitner's real-life husband Bruce Boxleitner stars as her abusive husband. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Melissa Gilbert, Bruce Boxleitner, (more)
John Goodman is cast as the Sultan of Swat, whose excesses -- especially drinking -- and private demons can (in this context) be excused in view of his genuine love of baseball. The facts never get in the way of a good story for screenwriter John Fusco; we're even offered the umpteenth rehash of "Little Johnny", the largely fanciful tale of the invalid boy who promises to get well if Babe hits him a homer (as in Pride of the Yankees, the cured Johnny makes return a appearance as grownup). The most amusing fabrication is the casting of narrow James Cromwell as the Babe's orphanage mentor Brother Mathias, who in real life weighed 300 pounds. Many of the characters are composites, notably Bruce Boxleitner's Jumpin' Joe Dugan. At least Ruth's two wives--Trini Alvarado as Helen, who suffers Babe's many peccadilloes and dies under strange circumstances, and Kelly McGillis as Claire, who keeps Babe on a very short leash-are depicted with a modicum of accuracy. The baseball sequences are well handled (though there could have been less slo-mo) while Elmer Bernstein's charmingly old-fashioned musical score is right in tune with the film's approach to its subject. The Babe is rated PG; had this been the whole truth and nothing but, and R rating would probably have been in order. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Goodman, Kelly McGillis, (more)
On his 81st birthday, grandpa George Burns, bemoans the fact that he's wasted his life, and wishes he had it to do all over again. He gets his wish when he and his 18-year-old grandson Charles Schlatter are involved in an auto accident. When he awakens, Burns' personality has been transferred to Schlatter's body, and vice versa! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Burns, Charlie Schlatter, (more)
Young, ambitious high school students Darcy Elliot (Molly Ringwald) and Stan Bobrucz (Randal Batinkoff) have a hitch thrown into their plans to attend college and pursue professional careers when they discover that Darcy is pregnant. Deciding against abortion or adoption, the couple decides to carry the child to term and to try to raise it themselves; however they are unprepared for the myriad of decisions and responsibilities that they are forced to deal with. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Molly Ringwald, Randall Batinkoff, (more)
In this thriller, sisters Charlotte (Judith Ivey) and Lucy (Jennifer Jason Leigh) Bonnard reside in the Louisiana home left to them by their parents. As Charlotte cares for her troubled younger sister, the two make a living by renting out rooms in the huge, gloomy mansion. However, when Matt Rutledge (Eric Stoltz) comes to stay, he stumbles across a number of the Bonnards' dark secrets that were best left hidden. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eric Stoltz, Jennifer Jason Leigh, (more)
This is an eerily prescient family adventure starring Kate Capshaw as Andie, a frustrated NASA astronaut who's never actually been into outer space. Her husband, flight controller Zach (Tom Skerritt), is sympathetic, but he can't influence her place in the rotation. Andie is assigned to train a group of intelligent high school students at the summer science camp called Space Camp, which is run by NASA and supervised by her husband. There she meets her campers: Kevin (Tate Donovan), a blasé, horny teenager; Tish (Kelly Preston), an airhead with a photographic memory; Kathryn (Lea Thompson), an arrogant pilot; obnoxious youngster Max (Joaquin Phoenix); and scientist-in-training Rudy (Larry B. Scott). While testing the solid booster rockets aboard a real shuttle, the team is blasted into space accidentally. Without enough air, the discordant team pulls together, each discovering hidden talents. The "Challenger" space shuttle disaster in January 1986 was bizarrely similar to the events depicted in Spacecamp, with far more horrific results. Its release date pushed back several months because of the tragedy, the film was still a painful reminder to the public of the national calamity, and it consequently grossed only about $10 million at the box office. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kate Capshaw, Lea Thompson, (more)
In this subtly humorous, alien-invasion film by Michael Laughlin, who co-wrote the screenplay with William Condon, the aliens infiltrate a small Midwestern town in 1958 and beam the "spirits" of several of the townspeople up to their spacecraft in little blue bubbles, while they settle into the bodies of their new farm personae. But Margaret (Diana Scarwid), one of their number, leaves for life and marriage in New York and has a daughter Elizabeth by her earthling husband Charles Bigelow (Paul LeMat), a professor. After two decades or so go by, the aliens opt for returning to their home planet, but they have to first go to the city dressed as farmers and round up Margaret and her daughter. Soon Charles figures out what is going on with the help of the tough, optimistic Betty Walker (Nancy Allen), a reporter for a tabloid paper, and the two head to the town where it all started.The light contrast between the bucolic '50s and the street-wise '80s gives way to a few shocking scenes of repugnant aliens in transformation with formidable special effects. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Le Mat, Nancy Allen, (more)
- 1981
- PG
An orphan grows up to become an Old West legend as the story of the Lone Ranger comes to the big screen in this western saga featuring Christopher Lloyd and Jason Robards. Orphaned as a young boy, John Reid struck up a lifelong friendship with a loyal Indian boy named Tonto. Years later, Reid has become a lawyer and returned to the west in order to ensure that vicious murderers such as the Cavendish gang are brought to justice. Having previously murdered Reid's parents, the Cavendish gang proves that they still rule this lawless land when they launch an ambush that leaves the lawyer serious wounded and his Texas Ranger brother dead. Nursed back to health by his old friend Tonto, Reid dons a mask and sets out to pursue justice anonymously atop his faithful horse Silver. His timing couldn't be better, either, because the Cavendish gang is about to carry out their most ambitious misdeed to date by kidnapping President Ulysses S. Grant (Robards). Upon learning that the president has been abducted by the most violent gang in the Wild West, the Lone Ranger sets out to settle an old score while rescuing the man who will steer the fate of a nation. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Klinton Spilsbury, Michael Horse, (more)
Joseph Wambaugh's The Onion Field is based on an actual 1963 case. L.A. plainclothesmen Karl Hattinger (John Savage) and Ian Campbell (Ted Danson) routinely investigate a pair of suspicious types, Greg Powell (James Woods) and Jimmy Smith (Franklin Seales). Unexpectedly, Powell pulls a gun on the cops, then forces them into a deserted onion field, where he kills Campbell in cold blood. Hattinger manages to escape, and through his eyewitness account, Powell and Smith are arrested. But that is not that. Thanks to their knowledge and manipulation of the quicksilver legal system, Powell and Smith manage to evade prosecution for years. Meanwhile, Hattinger goes through hell on earth, tortured with guilt over the fact that he lived while Campbell died so ignominiously. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Savage, James Woods, (more)
Conspiracy film specialist Alan J. Pakula turned journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's best-selling account of their Watergate investigation into one of the hit films of Bicentennial year 1976. While researching a story about a botched 1972 burglary of Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate apartment complex, green Washington Post reporters/rivals Woodward (Robert Redford, who also exec produced) and Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) stumble on a possible connection between the burglars and a White House staffer. With the circumspect approval of executive editor Ben Bradlee (Jason Robards), the pair digs deeper. Aided by a guilt-ridden turncoat bookkeeper (Jane Alexander) and the vital if cryptic guidance of Woodward's mystery source, Deep Throat (Hal Holbrook), Woodward and Bernstein "follow the money" all the way to the top of the Nixon administration. Despite Deep Throat's warnings that their lives are in danger, and the reluctance of older Post editors, Woodward and Bernstein are determined to get out the story of the crime and its presidential cover-up. Once Bradlee is convinced, the final teletype impassively taps out the historically explosive results. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford, (more)
- 1973
Joseph Wambaugh, the ex-cop turned novelist whose Police Story began its TV run in 1973, was responsible for the like-vintage TV miniseries The Blue Knight. William Holden stars as Bumper Morgan, a 50 year old cop on the verge of mandatory retirement. Morgan's last four days with the LAPD are packed with incident, notably the trackdown of the brutal murderer of a prostitute. Lee Remick plays Morgan's faithful lady friend, who is anxious for her man to retire but who will tolerate no criticism from anyone of the job the police are doing. Emmies went to William Holden, director Robert Butler and editors Marjorie and Gene Fowler Jr., while Lee Remick received an Emmy nomination. The film itself is derivative at times (one chunk of dialogue is lifted bodily from the Jane Fonda vehicle Klute), but otherwise is as realistic a portrayal of police work as TV censors would allow in 1973. Originally telecast in four one-hour installments, Blue Knight was cut to 103 minutes for syndication; a second Blue Knight TV movie, filmed in 1975 and starring George Kennedy as Bumper Morgan, served as the pilot for a short-lived TV series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1973
Created by Earl Hamner, A Dream for Christmas is set in the 1950s. African-American minister Will Douglas (Hari Rhodes) moves his family from Arkansas to the Watts section of Los Angeles to take charge of an impoverished church. The attendance, at least at first, is as poor as the congregation. Worse still, the church is slated to be demolished. But it's close to Christmas, a time when miracles have been known to happen. Featured in the all-black cast are Beah Richards, Lynn Hamilton, Robert Do'Qui, Juanita Moore, and Clarence Muse. Appropriately enough, A Dream for Christmas originally aired on December 24, 1973. It was originally designed as the pilot for a never-sold TV series titled The Douglas Family. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
"What do we do now?" Director Michael Ritchie and executive producer/star Robert Redford satirically explore the machinations and manipulations of media-age political campaigns in this cynical political drama. Rumpled left-wing California lawyer Bill McKay (Redford), the son of a former governor (Melvyn Douglas), is enlisted by campaign maestro Marvin Lucas (Peter Boyle) to challenge Republican incumbent Crocker Jarmon (Don Porter) for his Senate seat. McKay agrees, but only if he can say exactly what he thinks. That approach is all well and good when McKay does not seem to have a chance, but things change when his honesty unexpectedly captivates the electorate. As McKay inches up in the polls, Lucas and company start to do what it takes to win, leaving McKay to ponder the consequences of his political seduction. Working without studio interference from a script by Jeremy Larner, a speechwriter for 1968 Presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy, Ritchie enhanced the behind-the-scenes realism of Larner's insights with a realistic, cinéma vérité approach. He orchestrated a campaign parade for "candidate" Redford that drew such a considerable unstaged audience that local politicians wanted to draft Redford for a real election. Redford's resemblance to the telegenic Kennedys, and his character's resonance with the future career of California governor Jerry Brown, only emphasized how close to the bone The Candidate was (and is). Released the fateful year of Richard Nixon's reelection, the film garnered accolades, if not substantial box office; Larner won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay and thanked the "politicians of our time" for inspiration. Creating a documentary fiction about the semi-truths manufactured to market a candidate, The Candidate shrewdly exposed the effects of the media on the increasingly cynical political process, posing unanswerable questions that have become all the more pressing with every soundbite-ruled election. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Redford, Peter Boyle, (more)
Director Michael Ritchie's ongoing satirical spin on the American Dream is dressed up in quasi-documentary fashion in Downhill Racer. Robert Redford stars as an Olympic-grade skier, whose talent is matched only by his aloof self-involvement. As the cocksure Redford rises to the top of his class, he discards any emotional attachments that might impede his progress, ranging from girlfriends to his own father. When Redford finally attains his goal in life, the thrill of victory is an empty one indeed. The cold-bloodedness of Redford's character may have worked against Downhill Racer at the box office; on the other hand, Ritchie's similarly structured political satire The Candidate offered a "warmer" Redford -- but it, too, was a box-office disappointment. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Redford, Gene Hackman, (more)
