Gerry Crampton Movies

Twenty-seven years after turning one of Rudyard Kipling's best known works into a successful animated musical, Disney returned to the same source material for this live-action adventure, which hews slightly closer to the original source material. Mowgli (Sean Naeleli) is the five-year-old son of a wilderness guide who accompanies his father on a hunting expedition in the jungles of their native India. Mowgli becomes close friends with a British girl named Kitty (Joanna Wolff), whose parents commissioned the hunt, but when a tiger attacks their camp and kills Mowgli's father, the boy is lost in the confusion, and he's left to fend for himself. Mowgli is befriended by the animals of the jungle -- Baloo the bear, Bagheera the panther, and Grey Brother the wolf -- and they develop an unspoken sense of communication as the growing boy learns to live in the wilds. Years later, after growing to adulthood, Mowgli (now played by Jason Scott Lee) once again encounters Kitty (now played by Lena Headey), who is visiting India with her father, Col. Brydon (Sam Neill), a British officer stationed nearby, and her stuffy fiancée Capt. William Boone (Cary Elwes). Kitty and Mowgli recognize each other, and while his powers of speech are rusty, with the help of Dr. Plumford (John Cleese), Kitty and her father are able to return Mowgli to civilization. However, after spending most of his life in the jungle, Mowgli does not feel at home among other people, and while he deeply loves Kitty, he concedes to his rival for her affections. However, Boone and several of his men kidnap Mowgli when they learn that he has discovered a vast treasure in the jungle, and they try to force him to reveal its secrets while fending off the dangers of the jungle which Mowgli understands, but Boone and his men do not. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Behind the black cowl, Gotham City superhero Batman is really millionaire philanthropist Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton), who turned to crimefighting after his parents were brutally murdered before his eyes. The only person to share Wayne's secret is faithful butler Alfred (Michael Gough). The principal villain in Batman is The Joker (Jack Nicholson) who'd been mob torpedo Jack Napier before he was horribly disfigured in a vat of acid. The Joker's plan to destroy Batman and gain control of Gotham City is manifold. First he distributes a line of booby-trapped cosmetics, then he goes on a destruction spree in the Gotham Art Museum while the music of Prince blasts away in the background, and finally he orchestrates an all-out campaign to win the hearts and minds of the Gothamites, hoping to turn them against the Cowled One. Meanwhile, reporter Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger) becomes the love of Batman's life-which of course plays right into the Joker's hands. Photographed by Roger Pratt, designed by Anton Furst, and scored by Tim Burton's favorite composer Danny Elfman, Batman was a monstrous box-office hit, making $100 million in the first ten days of release--$82,800,000 in North America alone. Incidentally, Billy Dee Williams' comparatively small role as DA Harvey Dent was originally designed to set up the sequel, wherein Dent was to convert into master criminal Two-Face; but by the time the producers got around to that character in 1995's Batman Forever, Two-Face was played by Tommy Lee Jones. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This historical drama, based on a novel by John Masters that was in turn inspired by actual events, follows William Savage (Pierce Brosnan), a British agent of the East India Company, as he is sent with his new wife to India in the early 19th century. While Savage holds the unusually progressive view that the people of India are human and deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, he is still a very proper subject of the British empire and behaves accordingly. One night, when he sees a group of seemingly crazed men rob and kill a defenseless woman, he demands to know what has happened. He learns that the killers were members of a bizarre cult called the Thugees; Savage is determined to do something about them, and he works his way into the group by disguising himself as one of their number; however, the more Savage tries to win the trust of the Thugees, the more he must act as one of them, which leads him into a murderous secret life of his own. The Deceivers was produced by Ismail Merchant, his first film with a director other than James Ivory. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this update of James Whale's classic The Bride of Frankenstein, pop star Sting furthers his burgeoning film career by portraying cinema's signature mad scientist. Disgusted by his dim-witted and ugly original creation (Clancy Brown), Dr. Frankenstein sets out to animate an improved version. Though lovely on the outside, Eva (Jennifer Beals) begins her new life as little more than an animal. With the help of his trusty housekeeper (Geraldine Page), however, Frankenstein soon grooms the beautiful zombie into a reasonable facsimile of an upper-class debutante. He's unprepared, however, when his ward displays a mind -- and sexual urges -- of her own. Meanwhile, the good doctor's discarded original creation assumes the name of Viktor and takes to the road. Befriended by an enterprising dwarf named Rinaldo (David Rappaport), Viktor becomes a circus performer but continues to pine after his bride. Connected to her psychically, he soon makes his way back to the scene of their mutual creation. There, he finds the girl embroiled in a love triangle between a callow suitor (Cary Elwes) and Frankenstein himself. In addition to its iconic '80s leads, The Bride boasts a famous supporting cast that includes gay memoirist Quentin Crisp and '60s model Veruschka. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

John Sturges directed this taut adaptation of Jack Higgins' suspense novel about an attempted kidnapping of Winston Churchill by the German high command during World War II. When it is discovered that in November 1943 Winston Churchill is scheduled to spend a weekend in a country home in Norfolk, the Germans plan to kidnap him. Heinrich Himmler (Donald Pleasence), under orders from Hitler, assigns Nazi colonel Max Radl (Robert Duvall) the chore of sneaking the English-hating Irishman Liam Devlin (Donald Sutherland) into the British countryside and arranging for a 16-man task force to be parachuted into the English country town of Sudley Constable, under the auspices of Colonel Kurt Steiner (Michael Caine). The efficient planning works too well, and before long their exactingly perfect timetable begins to come apart. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

This Canadian thriller was also released as The House That Cried Murder. Neurotic newlywed Robin Strasser finds her husband Arthur Roberts in bed with his old flame Iva Jean Saraceni. Robin doesn't get mad-she gets even. Using funds supplied by her wealthy daddy John Beal, the scorned bride turns Roberts and Saraceni's love nest into a dungeon of horror. Despite a near-nonexistent budget, The Bride delivers plenty of solid scares. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After George Lazenby portrayed James Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Sean Connery returned to the tux, gimmicks, and catchphrases of Secret Agent 007 in his penultimate Bond outing, Diamonds Are Forever. Fragments of Ian Fleming's original 1954 novel remain, including the characters of the alluring Tiffany Case (Jill St. John) and fey hitmen Wint (Bruce Glover) and Mr. Kidd (Putter Smith). The remainder of Richard Maibaum and Tom Mankiewicz's script diverges dramatically from the novel, involving Bond in a scheme by the insidious Ernst Blofeld (Charles Gray) to force the world powers to disarm so that he can take over the globe. Folksinger Jimmy Dean shows up briefly as a Howard Hughes-like reclusive billionaire, while Lana Wood (Natalie's sister) participates in one of the film's edgiest cliffhangers. Agreeing to make Diamonds Are Forever only because of the money offered him, Sean Connery parted company with the role for 12 years after this film; he returned to the role once more in 1983, for Irvin Kershner's underrated Thunderball remake Never Say Never Again. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A police investigator is forced to rely on the man he's been instructed to apprehend in this cold war thriller. Sir James Quentin (Christopher Plummer) is a high level negotiator with the British government who is approached by Scobie Malone (Rod Taylor), an Australian detective who has been instructed to arrest Quentin in connection with the murder of his first wife 25 years earlier. Quentin calmly asks Malone if he could wait until he completes his work at a diplomatic conference, and Malone agrees; Quentin even allows Malone to stay at his home with his second wife Shelia (Lilli Palmer). Malone's assignment soon proves to be more complicated (and dangerous) than he expected when he has to save Quentin from an assassination attempt. Quentin must protect a fellow diplomat also targeted by gunmen, and Malone learns that Shelia has a deadly secret. The High Commissioner was also released under the title Nobody Runs Forever. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Number Six learns of an impending assassination, "Plan Division Q," in which the target is the Retiring Number Two (Andre Van Gyseghem). Actually, these plans were deliberately divulged by the New Number Two (Derren Nesbitt), who hopes thereby to discredit Number Six. With no one willing to believe that an assassination is about to take place, Number Six finds that his fate may rest in the hands of a watchmaker (Martin Miller) and his daughter (Annette Andre). Written by Michael Cramoy, "It's Your Funeral" was supposed to have been the 10th episode of The Prisoner, but instead was telecast in England as episode number 11 on December 17, 1967. Its original chronology was restored when it debuted in America on August 10, 1968. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Hill was unfairly subjected to ridicule by the more obtuse "critics" of 1965 who harped on the fact that it starred Sean Connery and, unlike Connery's Bond pictures, had no women in it. Bypassing these cretinous comments, it must be noted that The Hill is an above-the-norm entry in the "military prison" genre. The film takes place during World War II, in a Libyan stockade for incorrigible British soldiers. The camp's brutal Sergeant Major (Harry Andrews) puts his charges to work on grueling, monotonous and pointless projects to break their spirits. When one rebellious inmate dies due to this treatment, the Sergeant Major is reprimanded by Joe Roberts (Connery), who has been appointed as the prisoners' spokesman. The result is that Roberts is likewise subjected to the most demeaning and humiliating of prison chores -- but his spirit, and that of his comrades, is not so easily crushed. Based on a TV play by Ray Rigby, The Hill should never be seen in any form other than its dusty, parched original black-and-white; the currently available colorized version is a crime against humanity. One problem: The British dialects in the first 20 minutes are so thick that an American viewer practically needs subtitles (British critics chalked this problem up not to elocution but to poor sound recording). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Terence Young directed this first of a long line of screen adventures with Ian Fleming's unflappable British Secret Service Agent 007 in a fast-paced, tongue-in-cheek style that set the tone for the rest of the popular series. Sean Connery sets the standard by which all future takers must measure themselves as the insouciant and devil-may-care James Bond. The story concerns Bond being sent to Jamaica to investigate the murders of a British agent and his secretary. During his investigation, he comes into contact with the evil and unscrupulous Chinese scientist Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman) who, living on an island called Crab Key, is hard at work in a nuclear laboratory. Dr. No's scheme is to divert rockets being fired from Cape Canaveral off their charted course and to blackmail the United States to get their rocket launches restored to normal. Helping Bond is Ursula Andress (mostly undressed in a bikini throughout most of the film), as well as bad gals like Zena Marshall, who almost leads Bond to his death in her bedroom, and Eunice Gayson, a Bond pickup in a London gambling house who proves herself a greater adversary than even James Bond can handle. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide