Yoram Globus Movies

Wealthy metallurgist Harry Mitchell (Roy Scheider) lives to regret his extramarital affair with pretty young Cini (Kelly Preston). A trio of vicious blackmailers (John Glover, Robert Trebor, Clarence Williams III) show Mitchell a videotape of his most recent roll in the sack with Cini. They demand a huge amount of hush money, but Mitchell calls their bluff, going so far as to tell his politicially ambitious wife Barbara (Ann-Margret) about the affair. But the extortionists haven't even gotten started yet. Tying Mitchell to a chair, they force him to watch a tape of Cini being horribly murdered-with the evidence arranged so that Mitchell will be accused of the crime. But Mitchell remains firm in his refusal to pay up, whereupon he mounts a "fight fire with fire" plan all his own. 52 Pick Up was based on a novel by Elmore Leonard, which was previously filmed in 1984 as The Ambassador. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

During World War II, a sergeant tries to lead his division against German commander Rommel in the desert of North Africa. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

After receiving a mysterious gold piece, Quatermain travels to Africa to find his brother, who is searching for a lost white tribe. In his search, Quatermain discovers a lost civilization. This film is a follow-up to King Solomon's Mines. ~ All Movie Guide

In American Ninja, Michael Dudikoff plays American "GI Joe" who, based in the Philippines, gets hip to a crooked arms racket involving none other than the military itself. There's no end to the rib-cracking opportunities Dudikoff encounters as he knee-knocks his way through a host of bad guys as he rescues a lady in distress and ventures to thwart the thieving arms vendors. ~ All Movie Guide

In this mystery, Peter Ustinov reprises the role of Hercule Poirot, the fussy and flower-tending detective from Belgium created by Agatha Christie. In 1937, Mrs. Emily Boynton (Piper Laurie) is on an archeological dig in Palestine; she inherited the wealth of her recently deceased husband and feels little inclination to share it with her relatives. When she turns up murdered, there are plenty of logical suspects among the people who hated Emily, so which one did the deed? It's up to Poirot to find out. The supporting cast includes Lauren Bacall, John Gielgud, and Carrie Fisher; the film was Ustinov's sixth go-round as Poirot. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Produced in the Autumn of the Golan-Globus collaboration, Avenging Force serves as a vehicle for American Ninja costar Michael Dudikoff. Cast as a retired secret service agent, Dudikoff runs up against a sinister right-wing political organization called the Pentangle. He comes to the aid of his best friend Steve James, a black political candidate who has become a target for the Pentangle's henchmen. Impressed by Dudikoff's martial arts skills, the Pentangle leaders try to convince him to join their cause-and to ensure his cooperation, they kidnap his little sister Alison Gereighty. Avenging Force concludes with a violent Enter the Dragon-style mano y mano squareoff between Dudikoff and the Pentangle flunkeys. The film's finale is "open" enough to allow for a sequel, which has yet to appear. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This live-action version of the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast stars Rebecca De Mornay as the woman who learns to see the charm and love beneath the exterior of a boorish beast who imprisons her in his castle in order to collect a debt from her father. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

In a semi-erotic film almost universally lamented, Bo Derek, last wife of the late John Derek (who wrote, directed, and photographed Bolero), plays Ayre, a virginal young woman who, on graduating from an exclusive British boarding school, is determined to find the right man for her first sexual encounter wherever he might be in the world. Rich enough not to venture forth alone, she brings along her friend Catalina (Ana Obregon) and the family chauffeur (George Kennedy). Ayre first travels to an Arab country where she meets an ideal lover, a sheik (Greg Bensen) who offers to deflower her but falls asleep almost immediately (he was, after all, reciting lines from this script). Giving up on the sheik, Ayre goes on to Spain, where she meets the toreador Angel (Andrea Occhipinti) who is even better than the sheik because he manages to stay awake. Unfortunately, after she has succeeded in her quest, the perils of Angel's profession are brought home when he is gored in a sensitive location -- the arena, of course. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The first major breakdancing film, Breakin' stars Lucinda Dickey as a dancing student who dislikes the hidebound regimen of her demanding teacher. She breaks free from terpischorean tradition when she befriends a bunch of street kids devoted to breakdancing. Within a year of its release, Breakin' spawned a sequel, Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The British Business as Usual stars Glenda Jackson and John Thaw as the husband-and-wife managers of a boutique. When a huge store chain purchases Jackson and Thaw's establishment, chain executive Eamon Boland is sent to check out the place. It seems, however, that he's more interested in checking out pretty boutique employee Cathy Tyson. Jackson slaps a sexual harrassment charge on Boland, who uses this contretemps as an excuse to fire her from her own store. Down but not out, Jackson conducts a determined public campaign to get her job back and to put Boland in his place. Business as Usual makes no bones about its anti-Margaret Thatcher, anti-Big Business political stance. While this aspect of the film might be lost on American viewers, the plight of Glenda Jackson's character is all too familiar. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In a post-apocalyptic world, killer-for-hire Gibson Rickenbacker (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is hired to escort a cyborg--which contains valuable information on a cure for a deathly plague--to its research center. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

In Tel Aviv, Israel, in the early 1960s, a Jewish family still chafes from the wounds it endured in the Holocaust. So begins Israeli director Hanan Peled's period drama Dear Mr. Waldman (AKA Michtavim Le America, 2006). At the center of the family unit stands 10-year-old Hilik, who sees it as his mission to pool his resources with those of his brother and help their parents bury the nightmare of the concentration camps. The father, Moishe's, trauma may be more deep-rooted than it appears, however; not only is he unable to free himself from the grip of the Holocaust, he lives with the persistent delusion that his son from his first marriage evaded murder in the camps, fled to a new life in America, and took a position as John F. Kennedy's assistant. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide