Andre Rosey Brown Movies
The "exchange murders" plot gambit, played with utter solemnity in Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train, is used as the launching pad for raucous laughter in Throw Momma From the Train. Director/star Danny DeVito plays Owen Lift, a middle-aged bachelor, totally dominated by his gorgon mother, played with hilarious ferocity by Anne Ramsey. Billy Crystal co-stars as Larry Donner, a creative-writing professor, saddled with a vituperative, thoroughly despicable ex-wife, Margaret (Kate Mulgrew). Signing up for Larry's writing course, Owen has trouble at first with character development and construction in his stories. Larry recommends that Owen watch a screening of Strangers on a Train, which he considered a model of tight, concise storytelling. Owen is so entranced by the film that he decides to emulate Strangers star Robert Walker. That is, Owen wants Larry to bump off his mother, in exchange for Owen's murder of Margaret. Without being asked, Owen does away with Margaret (or so it seems), then hounds Larry to the point of killing "Momma." This being a comedy, the actual consequences of the swap-murder plot aren't nearly as calamitous as in the Hitchcock film. Cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld would apply the "black humor" lessons learned in Throw Momma From the Train for his own directorial debut, The Addams Family (1991). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Danny DeVito, Billy Crystal, (more)
- 1987
In the first episode of a two-part story, McCall (Stepfanie Kramer) and an informant are gunned down during a police investigation of a prostitution ring operating out of RV's on the Los Angeles Freeway. Working on available evidence, Hunter (Fred Dryer) becomes convinced that a notorious pimp named Big Jack Hemmings ordered the hit. As McCall hovers between life and death, Hunter heads to Mexico in search of Big Jack--and it seems a certainty that only one of the two men will come back alive! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1987
- R
This uneven comedy came and went quickly in commercial release. An American triathlete (Mark Neely) trains for an upcoming event, with the main competition coming from a pretty Russian exchange student (Terry Farrell). Billy Barty excels in his character role as a diminutive Russian, and the slapstick rivalry between the two event announcers and some sight gags help but fail to bring this feature to the finish line. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mark Neely, Terry Farrell, (more)
A year after appearing in the box-office sleeper Shanghai Surprise, pop superstar Madonna starred in the screwball comedy Who's That Girl? She plays Nikki Finn, who is being released from prison after serving a four-year sentence for a murder she didn't commit. Meanwhile, wealthy lawyer Loudon (Griffin Dunne) is about to get married that afternoon to the snobby Wendy (Haviland Morris), the daughter of Simon Worthington (John McMartin). Worthington does not approve of the wedding and he wants Nikki out of town as soon as possible, so he sends Loudon to collect Nikki and take her to the bus station. Instead, the flamboyant Nikki seeks her revenge while trying to find out what happened to her friend Johnny, which causes Loudon a lot of trouble. Naturally, wild action ensues -- some of it involving an escaped Cougar belonging to Loudon's boss, the millionaire animal collector Montgomery Bell (John Mills) -- and Loudon having to choose between the prim Wendy and the unpredictable Nikki. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Madonna, Griffin Dunne, (more)
- 1986
On his deathbed, a syndicate hitman confesses that it was he who killed Hunter's mobster father fifteen years earlier. No sooner has Hunter (Fred Dryer) digested this news than he learns that the man who put out the contract was his father's former partner--still very much alive. To prove the culprit's guilt, Hunter must locate a prostitute (Kay Lenz) who has vital information before the homicidal ex-partner can strike again. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The TV prints of this entertaining melange whittled down the film's original self-serving title (Motown king Berry Gordy was the producer), and settled on merely The Last Dragon. Taimak stars as an African American martial-arts whiz, so devoted to his hobby that he dresses and behaves in what he thinks is true Chinese fashion. Taimak falls in love with sexy veejay Vanity. Gangsters intrude on both their lives when crook Julius J. Carry III tries to promote his talentless protegee into rock stardom. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
