Ben Frank Movies
- 1989
In the first episode of a two-part story, Jason's mom Irma (Jane Powell) invites the family to join her on a luxury cruise. Normally, Jason (Alan Thicke) would be delighted, but on this occasion he's steamed: Irma plans to cap the cruise by wedding her current boyfriend Wally (Robert Rockwell). Elsewhere, the presence of 20 gorgous female Swedish athletes on board ship proves to be sheer bliss for Ben (Jeremy Miller)--but a major roadblock in the relationship between Mike (Kirk Cameron) and Julie (Julie McCullough). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1989
In the conclusion of a two-part story, the Seavers are still on board a luxury cruise ship, where Jason (Alan Thicke) has managed to sabotage the planned wedding of his widowed mom Irma (Jane Powell) and her current boyfriend Wally (Robert Rockwell). But after realizing how much he has hurt his mother, Jason desperately tries to reunite the couple. Meanwhile, the off-and-on relationship between Mike (Kirk Cameron) and Julie (Julie McCullough) crystallizes in spectacular fashion. This is the final episode of Growing Pains' fourth season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1988
This provocative drama based on the tragic life of Shauna Grant, chronicles the events that lead up to her untimely death and her change from All-American teen-ager to drug-addicted porno star. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
This attempt at parodying a world of hookers, child pornographers, and drug cartels never quite gets off the ground. Though these topics are not inherently amusing, director Penelope Spheeris takes the plot of Hardcore as a springboard and develops a few parallel stories that are meant to be funny. Pauline Stanton (Trish Van DeVere) is desperately hoping to rescue her daughter Lori (Robin Wright) who is working for the evil Walsh (Frank Gorshin) as a call-girl. As some policemen work on trying to get the goods on Walsh and send him up for white slave trading, another policewoman is involved in trying to bring down a child pornographer in her neighborhood. Yet another cop, detective Romero (H.B. Haggerty) is after a New York mob boss. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ronny Cox, Frank Gorshin, (more)
- 1986
- R
Two young men hit the road to Hollywood, CA to look for money, fame, and the wild life in this youthful comedy. Tucker "Downer" Downs tires of his boring job as a clerk in a women's fashion outlet and heads West. He also hopes that he will find his father, who disappeared 24 years before. En route, Downs hooks up with wasted video addict/hustler Ben Frank. Together they have many adventures during their trek to Tinsel Town. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ben Frank, De Waldron, (more)
In this made-for-television drama, a former-CIA agent is called back into to service to stop a megalomaniacal scientist's killer robot from assassinating the President and other major political figures. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1985
The career of boxer Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini is the subject of the made-for-TV biopic. Doug McKeon plays Mancini, while Robert Blake co-stars as his father, Lenny Mancini. An excellent pugilist in his own right, Lenny's career is cut short by his wartime service. Son Ray carries on the tradition into the 1980s, battling his way towards the WBA crown. Heart of a Champion's executive producer was Rocky star Sylvester Stallone, who (it says here) staged the boxing sequences. This heartwarming "do it for the old man" effort was first telecast May 1, 1985. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Blake, Doug McKeon, (more)
Paul Kersey's (Charles Bronson) self-appointed one-man vigilante squad goes bi-coastal in Michael Winner's sequel to his Death Wish. Kersey has taken up residence in Los Angeles, but lunatic violence follows him across the country like toilet paper sticking to his shoe. Kersey's Spanish cook is immediately gang-banged and killed, while his daughter, still suffering from a catatonic stupor after her brutal rape in the first film, finds herself raped yet again. Vincent Gardenia as New York detective Frank Ochoa, reprises his role from the first film here -- traveling to Los Angeles to locate Kersey but finding death waiting for him off a LA freeway ramp. After all this mayhem, Kersey cannot cringe in hiding for long, and once again he loads up his tube socks with rolls of quarters and goes hoodlum hunting. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Bronson, Jill Ireland, (more)
- 1982
- PG
This dismal sci-fi comedy is based on a novel by Kurt Vonnegut and features Jerry Lewis and Madeline Kahn in dual roles as wealthy, respected parents who give birth to two gigantic, and ugly twins. The appalled parents try to keep them hidden away for they do not know that their "children" are really alien ambassadors who have come to help make the Earth a better place. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jerry Lewis, Madeline Kahn, (more)
Foxes details the exploits of four teenage San Fernando Valley girls as they drink, dope and sleep their way into oblivion. Jeanie (Jodie Foster, in a standout performance), the most grounded of the quartet, deals with her burned-out working-student-mother (Sally Kellerman, also excellent) while playing mother to her cohorts; Annie (Cherie Curie), a promiscuous drug-vacuum, attempts to dodge her psychotic police officer-father while partying round the clock; Madge (Marilyn Kagan), an overweight tag-along, who tries desperately to fit in with her wilder friends; and Deirdre (Kandice Stroh); an insecure liar and also-ran. While the performances (particularly the aforementioned) are good, and the direction is solid, the script doesn't seem to go anywhere; maybe that's the point, though, since neither do the characters in their vacuous, instant-gratification-based existences. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jodie Foster, Scott Baio, (more)
This mix of drama, camp, and brutal violence is anchored by the performance of Nicholas Worth. Worth plays Kurt Smith, a sweaty, balding maniac who strangles women with a stocking, raping and mutilating them during and after death. A Vietnam veteran, Smith prowls the streets of Hollywood posing as a photographer, then sells his violent porn to sleazy smut-peddler Sam (Porky's star Chuck Mitchell). At home, Smith lifts weights and tells off his dead father, whose abuse was obviously one cause of his mania. Sometimes he calls the radio show of psychiatrist Lindsey Gale (Flo Gerrish), posing as a Puerto Rican named Ramon and asking for advice about his headaches. Dedicated cop McCabe (James Westmoreland) has no luck solving the case until Smith murders one of Dr. Gale's patients, in an unforgivably sick scene. The patient (Paula Warner) was molested by her father, which Smith overhears. When he breaks into her house that night, Smith ties her up while cooing, "Daddy loves his little girl," and pouring hot wax on her as she cries into her teddy-bear. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Westmoreland, Flo Gerrish, (more)
- 1979
Starbuck (Dirk Benedict) is charged with the murder of rival Viper pilot Ortega (Frank Ashmore). With the full weight of evidence against him, Starbuck finds few that are willing to believe his protestations of innocence. One of those few, however, is his best friend Apollo (Richard Hatch), who doggedly sets about to prove that the authorities have arrested the wrong man--and in the process, Apollo uncovers an unusually vicious blackmail scheme. "Murder on the Rising Star" was later combined with the Battlestar Galactica episode "The Young Lords" and reissued as the two-hour "TV movie" Murder in Space. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Hatch, Dirk Benedict, (more)
- 1977
Season Three of Quincy M.E. gets off to a running start when Quincy (Jack Klugman) is interrupted during a nocturnal romantic rendezvous by the sudden arrival of his old friend Carl Hopwood, an investigative reporter. It is obvious that Hopwood has been beaten and mutilated, but before Quincy can find out what has happened, his friend dies. Rushing the body to the police morgue, Quincy performs an autopsy without witnesses and personally records the vital lab data. The next morning, Quincy returns to the morgue to find that the body has disappeared...and with it all evidence that an autopsy ever occurred. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1977
Several deaths have occurred at Valleyview Sanitarium--which in and of itself is not unusual, in that most of the patients are very old and very ill. Even Quincy (Jack Klugman) is persuaded that the recent, slightly mysterious death of an elderly man was simply a coronary rather than foul play. But when a much-younger patient dies under similar circumstances, Quincy changes his mind and launches an investigation--and in the process confronts a self-styled "Angel of Mercy" who is practicing wholesale euthanasia. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1976
While investigating an insurance claim on behalf of the posh Brend Air Health Club, Jim (James Garner) finds himself in the middle of a sting operation involving Federal agents and illegal gunrunners. It all begins when an undercover Fed mistakes Jim for a police officer, an error which briefly affords Lt. Chapman (James Luisi) the opportunity to put Jim behind bars for keeps. Of course, our hero manages to wriggle out of this predicament, but his troubles are still far from over! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1976
While Beth (Gretchen Corbett) is stuck in jail on a contempt-of-court charge, Jim agrees to do some leg work on behalf of Beth's client Arnold Bailey (Joseph Campanella), who has been accused of income-tax evasion. Unfortunately for both Jim and Beth, Bailey is connected with the Mob. . .and has been systematically stealing funds from the "organization". Tied in with all this chicanery is corrupt union official Fred Metcalf (Richard Venture), whose murder may well be a prologue for Jim's own demise. In a neat bit of casting, the head mobster in this episode is played by Frank Campanella, the brother of guest star Joseph Campanella. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1976
With this episode, Richard Hatch "officially" becomes a series regular in the role of Dan Robbins, the brash new partner of veteran SFPD homicide detective Mike Stone (Karl Malden). The case at hand involves Larry Dobbs (Howard Duff), the wealthy father of a girl who has been raped and murdered. Placing no faith in the authorities, Dobbs posts a million-dollar reward for the capture of suspected rapist Don Wilton (Maxwell Gail), dead or alive. This action transforms virtually the entire Bay Area population into a mob of greedy vigilantes--and it is up to Stone and Keller to stop the resulting wave of violence, which gets even worse when the desperate Wilton begins striking back at his pursuers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1975
- R
Three female prisoners are liberated by a vengeful woman in this thriller. The woman is angry after her husband is murdered; she uses the fugitives to find the murderers and slay them one-by-one. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1975
The convicts in a maximum-security prison have developed a diabolically clever method to smuggle drugs in and out of the institution, using as their "mules" the prisoners' wives who show up on visiting day. When one of the convicts resists getting involved in the drug traffic, his wife on the "outside" is murdered in a laundromat. Hoping to rout the smugglers and prevent further murders, Stone (Karl Malden) and Keller (Michael Douglas) focus their investigation on convict's wife Rita King (Stefanie Powers)--who defiantly refuses to cooperate. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1974
- PG
Two Miami beach bums become notorious cat-burglars in this lively crime drama that is based on a true story. After successfully committing a series of burglaries of some of Miami's wealthiest, the two get bored and decide to steal the Star of India sapphire from the American Museum of Natural History, New York. One of the actual thieves, Allan Kuhn, served as the technical advisor. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Live a Little, Steal a Lot and You Can't Steal Love were both alternate titles for the fact-based crime caper Murph the Surph. In the early 1960s, a "celebrity beach bum" named Jack Murphy--aka Murph the Surph--helped mastermind the stealing of the Star of India sapphire from the American Museum of Natural History. The film concentrates on the sociopathic pre-theft activities of Murphy (played by Don Stroud) and his partner in crime Allan Kuhn (excellently impersonated by Robert Conrad). The hollowness of Murph and Kuhn's Miami Beach lifestyle is offset with their never-ending search for "kicks"--the last of which earned them both stiff prison terms. Live a Little, Steal a Lot successfully plays its material for laughs throughout, but in the end both erstwhile criminals seem more pathetic than amusing. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Conrad, Don Stroud, (more)
- 1974
A robbery gang comes to the attention of homicide detectives Stone (Karl Malden) and Keller (Michael Douglas) when the crooks murder a fellow gang member. Going undercover, Keller tries to determine if there is a link between the criminals' activities and a sultry nightclub singer. Lola Falana makes a rare dramatic appearance as the songbird in question, who happens to have been the murdered man's sweetheart. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1973
Officer Jim Reed (Kent McCord) is intrigued and Officer Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) is irritated by the voice of the new police dispatcher. Though she comes across as sexy and alluring, the newcomer is also rather confusing: it seems that no one can understand what she's saying or where she's sending them. Tonight's case log marks the return of police informer TeeJay (Robert Donner), who leads the cops to arrest a gunman at a movie studio; and a radical terrorist seems to be building up quite an illegal arsenal. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
William Windom guest stars as Elias Devon, a criminal mastermind whose activities have aroused the attention of the FBI. Thanks to some clever subversion by the Feds, Devon begins to lose control of his gang members. Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) hopes that he can sow enough seeds of suspicion within the gang's ranks to force Devon into betraying himself--but there are few unexpected developments along the way. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1971
The Partridges come to the rescue of brothers A.E. and Sam Simon (Richard Pryor, Louis Gossett Jr.), the owners of an inner-city Detroit nightclub called the Fire House. Seems that local loan shark Heavy (Charles Lampkin) is living up to his name, exerting pressure to put the Simons out of business. The happy-ending wrapup occurs at a fundraising block party, where the white-bread Partridges perform such soul tunes as "Bandala", and little Danny (Danny Bonaduce) manages to organize a group of sinister-looking street fighters into an orchestra! Reportedly, this episode was designed as the pilot for a potential series starring Richard Pryor and Louis Gossett Jr. (Wonder whatever happened to those two guys?) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
