Maurice Duke Movies

This instructional video features five of baseball's most accomplished players. It features former L.A. Dodger's coach Tommy Lasorda, who demonstrates and discusses some of the game's most important playing skills. Don Sutton, elected to the Hall of Fame in the late '90s, shares important pitching hints while Eric David demonstrates some critical outfield techniques. Wally Joyner, who played for both the Atlanta Braves and the San Diego Padres, shows viewers some strategic batting skills. Bill Russell explains how players can master the infield position, and the Dodgers' Steve Yeager shows how the ball can be caught under a variety of challenging circumstances. ~ Elizabeth Smith, Rovi

Unless viewers are especially fascinated by the outré dance craze of the early '60s known as the "twist," there is nothing exceptionally compelling about this music-filled drama, except maybe Louis Prima and his non-dancing performances. The thin storyline is centered on the nightclub belong to Prima's character, Louis Evans. Evans is about to lose his place because the upstairs tenants in the building -- a group of shady characters -- want all that twisting downstairs to go away. June Wilkinson is Louis' girlfriend Jenny. She and just about everyone else in the cast twist through the 76-minute running time. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Though Mickey Rooney is listed as coproducer of Jaguar, the star of the proceedings is East Indian actor Sabu, here cast as a young South American. Though raised in a civilized atmosphere, Juano (Sabu) cannot quite shake the savage instincts of his jungle-bred forefathers. When he is falsely accused of three murders, Juano is willing to believe that he committed the crimes thanks to the influence of a powerful narcotic. It turns out that our hero has been set up as a fall guy, but he goes through hell and back before he can prove his innocence. Jaguar was scripted by John Fenton Murray, who later specialized in such TV sitcomery as McHale's Navy. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Atomic Kid strives mightily to wring laughs from the otherwise humorless topic of atomic radiation. Mickey Rooney (who also produced the film) and Robert Strauss play a couple of brainless prospectors who stumble upon a A-bomb testing site. Led to believe that the area is rich with uranium, Strauss goes off to stake a claim, while Rooney relaxes in a "test" house. Before long, a bomb is dropped, a mushroom cloud sprouts in the desert. . .and Rooney emerges from the rubble unharmed. Later on, however, our hero discovers that he's so full of radiation that he glows in the dark, which makes him both dangerous and world-famous. The plot then veers into Cold War territory as Rooney routs a nest of Soviet spies, led by Robert Emmet Keane. The leading lady of the proceedings is Elaine Davis, Mickey Rooney's then-wife (her marital status, transitory though it may have been, was emphasized in the film's opening credits) Believe it or not, this monumentally unfunny comedy was based on a story by Blake Edwards. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Evidently Monogram had high hopes for the modestly produced Disc Jockey, else why would the studio release the film through its "prestige" subsidiary Allied Artists? Songstress Ginny Simms stars as Vickie Peters, an unknown selected for stardom by radio deejay Mike Richards (Michael O'Shea). It is Richards' contention that he can create a singing star exclusively through exposure on disc-spinning radio programs, without resorting to that upstart medium called television. Along the way, Mike falls in love with Vickie, though she has eyes only for her manager Johnny (Tom Drake). Guest stars in this pleasant bit of fluff include Russ Morgan, Tommy Dorsey, George Shearing, Nick Lucas, Herb Jeffries, Sarah Vaughan, The Weavers, Foy Willing and the Riders of the Purple Sage, and a veritable legion of real-life disc jockeys. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi