Phil Brown Movies

As indicated by its title, this British miniseries concentrated on the years between the two world wars, when the eminent Winston Churchill (Robert Hardy) was politically out of favor in his own country. Acutely aware of the danger looming in a newly re-armed Germany, Churchill vainly tried to warn his fellow Britishers that Hitler was not a man to be trusted. It was only after the benighted PM Neville Chamberlain (Eric Porter) saw the promise of "Peace in Our Time" blow up in his face that Churchill was ensconced in his proper position as leader of his nation. First telecast in the U.K. in 1981, Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years aired in the U.S. two years later. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Soured on America by his experiences as a POW in Vietnam, General Lawrence Dell (Burt Lancaster) hopes that his government will someday tell the truth about the Southeast Asian debacle, thereby allowing his country to embark upon a healing process. Regarded as a dangerous embarrassment by the higher-ups, Dell is framed on a manslaughter charge and sent to prison. Escaping with three hardened convicts (Paul Winfield, Burt Young, and William Smith), Dell takes over an SAC base, threatening to launch nine Titan missiles if his demands that top-secret Vietnam files be made public are not met. Thus, the fate of the world rests in the hands of the mentally unbalanced Dell, his former superior General MacKenzie (Richard Widmark), and U.S. president David Stevens (Charles Durning). For this picture, Edward Huebach and Ronald M. Cohen adapted Walter Wager's novel Viper Three. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

George Lucas' mythological popcorn movie is a two-hour roller-coaster ride that has passed into movie legend. The story, for the tiny number of people not familiar with it, concerns a farm boy named Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) who discovers that the used robot recently purchased by his family plays back a message from one Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), begging for help from Obi-Wan Kenobi. Luke asks his father's friend Ben Kenobi (Alec Guinness) about this, and he discovers that Ben and Obi-Wan are one and the same. Kenobi tells Luke of the battle of the rebels against the ruling Empire and the spiritual energy called "The Force." Soon Luke, Kenobi, and a mercenary named Han Solo (Harrison Ford) join forces to rescue Princess Leia from the Empire's mammoth warship, the Death Star, controlled by evil genius Darth Vader (David Prowse, with the voice of James Earl Jones). George Lucas has frequently cited the influence of several films on Star Wars, particularly Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress and Yojimbo and John Ford's The Searchers, as well as the original Flash Gordon serials. After Star Wars became a success, Lucas announced his intention to turn the film into a series, originally totalling nine films (later pared back to six). Consequently, most reissue prints now feature the title Star Wars: Episode IV -- A New Hope, with The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983) serving as Episodes Five and Six in the serial, and Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace (1999) going back to the myth's beginnings. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Tom Stoppard and Thomas Wiseman's intricate script for The Romantic Englishwoman credibly explores the notion that a writer can manipulate the people in his life as deftly as he can manipulate the characters in his imagination. The title character Elizabeth, played by Glenda Jackson, is the wife of Lewis (Michael Caine), a novelist. At this point in his life, Lewis thinks in nothing but literary terms: Elizabeth is vacationing in Europe alone, ergo she must be having an affair. Half out of frustration, she confirms her husband's suspicions by romancing German drug dealer Thomas (Helmut Berger). Things get even dicier when Lewis invites Thomas into his home, requesting his technical advice on a screenplay he is working on. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, two men pursue four very valuable women who have tattooed the location of stolen bonds upon their rumps. The Mafia is also in pursuit of the marked women. The two fellows are lead to Rome where the lead character tries to sell the Sistine Chapel to American tourists. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Three years after cinematizing James Joyce's long-censored Ulysses, Joseph Strick mounted an adaptation of another racy literary work -- Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer. Rip Torn plays Miller, an American expatriate author living -- and loving -- in 1920s Paris. The much-vaunted sex scenes were hot enough in 1970 to earn the film an X-rating, and an NC-17 when the film was re-rated in 1992. Ellen Burstyn (then billed as Ellen MacRae) has a few effective scenes as Miller's long-suffering wife, Mona; Phil Kaufman later elaborated on her character in the 1990 film Henry & June. Henry Miller himself appears in Tropic of Cancer, billed as a "spectator." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bonanza's twelfth season commenced on September 13, 1970 with the episode titled "The Night Virginia City Died." Several Virginia City buildings have burned to the ground; the townsfolk are in an uproar, and the local constabulary is apparently helpless. Meanwhile, the Cartwrights have befriended a pretty young stranger named Janie (Angel Tompkins), the new sweetheart of Deputy Clem (Bing Russell). Only the audience knows that the profoundly disturbed Janie is the elusive arsonist whom everyone is seeking. Written by John Hawkins, this episode was specially contrived to "destroy" the old Virginia City sets at the Paramount studios so that the Bonanza company could move into its new home at Warner Bros. "The Night Virginia City Died" also boasted a new Bonanza theme song by David Rose, which would endure until the old theme was brought back by popular demand in 1972. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This satirical fantasy is based upon an Elmer Rice play from 1923. A hard-working office employee is rewarded for his years of slavish devotion to the company by getting fired just prior to retirement and being replaced with an adding machine. Now, with only his nagging wife waiting at home to add more misery to his dreary life, the man has nothing left and goes over the edge. He murders his boss and then goes on trial. He is convicted and put to death. He dies a happy and free man, thinking that he will surely go to Hell. Strangely enough, he ends up in a heavenly waiting area with other killers who are all there to be reassigned to new lives back on Earth. While waiting, he meets his new guardian angel. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This internationally produced war flick represents actor Richard Conte's only directorial effort. Conte casts himself as the leader of a band of Yugoslav partisans. He links up with American officer Rory Calhoun, ostensibly for the purpose of setting up an exchange of prisoners. When it becomes obvious that there's a traitor among the partisans, Conte is forced to reveal Calhoun the true purpose of his mission. American Cross Eagles was also released as Operation Cross Eagles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Bedford Incident was an attempt by Columbia Pictures -- which had previously made Dr. Strangelove and released Fail-Safe -- to tap the well of public anxiety surrounding nuclear weapons and the Cold War one more time. Reporter Ben Munceford (Sidney Poitier) is allowed aboard a navy ship on patrol near the Arctic Circle, under the command of Captain Eric Finlander (Richard Widmark). His job is to observe the ship in action and do an article on Finlander, a hard-as-nails sailor and a dedicated anti-Communist with a patriotic zeal that's extraordinary even in a man of his rank and position. Finlander's main problem, however -- when he's not sparring with the reporter -- is tracking and hunting a Soviet sub that he knows is patroling the same waters. What alarms Munceford (and the audience) is that Finlander acts like there is an actual "hot" war going on; he drives his men mercilessly, up to and past the breaking point, trying to hunt down the submarine and force it to surface, and nothing -- not the questions of the reporter, the angry protests of the newly-arrived medical officer (Martin Balsam), or the quietly voiced concerns of retired U-Boat commander Commodore Shrepke (Eric Portman), aboard as an observer, can get him to relent. Then, when it looks like Finlander has been proved right and has gotten away with his provocation of the "enemy," a mistake by one over-tired young officer (James MacArthur) suddenly unleashes all of the destructive power with which Finlander has been flirting. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Robert Stack stars in this sea-faring historical epic as John Paul Jones, the first great hero of the American Navy. While originally a loyal soldier of the King's army, Jones in time becomes a fervent supporter of the American Revolutionaries, and he volunteers to lead the colonists' ragtag fleet to impressive victories against the British Navy; during a battle against the British ship Serapis, Jones utters the deathless words "I have not yet begun to fight." While his brave and intelligent leadership helps win America its freedom, his appeals to Benjamin Franklin (Charles Coburn) and the other leaders of Congress to strengthen the United States Navy fall on deaf ears; Jones is eventually branded a troublemaker, and in time, he is ordered to Russia, where he is to help guide the fleet of Catherine The Great (Bette Davis). Jones leads the Russian Navy to stunning victories in the Black Sea, reestablishing his reputation as one of the great military minds of his day. John Paul Jones also features a rousing score by the great film composer Max Steiner. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

King Shadov (Charles Chaplin), the newly deposed monarch of a small European country, arrives in New York to face a life in exile. No sooner does he get here, however, than he discovers that his prime minister has stolen the entire royal treasury and departed for parts unknown. Stranded in New York in a luxury hotel without any money, the king tries to adjust to life in America and elicit interest in his plan for the peaceful use of nuclear power. He finds America in 1957 to be too noisy for his taste, however -- a run-in with some rock & roll dancers leads to some slapstick antics, and he doesn't take much to modern movies or the blaring entertainment that goes with them. He meets a pretty young lady (Dawn Addams) in a slightly risqué slapstick encounter in which he is trying to "rescue" her, and she maneuvers him into helping to plug a deodorant on television. The king proves so beguiling on the small screen that he is deluged by offers from advertising agencies, which he rejects at first. But the king soon finds that advertising may be the only thing he can do to earn enough money to keep him living like a king in exile, and he tries to work the system to his advantage, his earnings from television enabling him to remain in the country and push his peaceful nuclear plan. He soon finds the true dark side of life in the United States, however, when he crosses paths with an unhappy little boy (Michael Chaplin, the star/director's own son) whose parents are about to be jailed as part of the anti-Communist hysteria of the period. In the end, the king provides a shelter to the boy but compromises himself in the process, and while he does make the Congressional committee investigating him look foolish, he sees that he has done all of the good that he can do for now in the United States and leaves. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide