Yoram Globus Movies
A leading figure in the Israeli filmmaking industry since the 1960s, filmmaker/producer Yoram Globus, working closely with his cousin Menahem Golan, produced more than 150 films. The duo came to the U.S. in 1979 and began producing independent films, including Love Streams(1984) and Barfly(1987). Ten years later, Golan and Globus dissolved their partnership and Globus took over as chief of Pathe International. In 1990, Globus was appointed president of MGM/United Artists. ~ MaryAnn Henry, All Movie Guide
In Rappin', Mario Van Peebles is John Hood, a con who when released from jail goes back to his neighborhood to find his girl shacked up with a nasty gang-leader named Duane (Charles Flohe). Duane is on the take with a corrupt contractor who plans to tear down Hood's neighborhood and he and his gang serve as ruffian rowdies who help evict the tenants. John Hood will not put up with this nonsense; he throws a community rap session and gets everybody aligned against the bad guys. His rappin' is so ratin' that he impresses a record company and wins his gal back. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edye Byrde, Rony Clanton, (more)
Director Tobe Hooper adapts Colin Wilson's edgy novel The Space Vampires in this in this horror/sci-fi epic with a cult following. The story concerns a joint British-American space probe of Hailey's Comet. Inside the comet, the astronauts, headed by Carlsen (Steve Railsback), find a spaceship that contains the dead bodies of several aliens, along with the naked bodies of three human-like creatures in suspended animation. They bring the aliens aboard the ship for examination, but the specimens are sloppily guarded and soon the trio spread contagion among the population of the ship. Returning to earth, the beautiful space vampire (Mathilda May) escapes into London and begins to feed of the bodies of the unwary Britons, turning the city into a zombie-populated wasteland. It is now left for Carlsen to stop the vampire invaders. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steve Railsback, Peter Firth, (more)
Michael Winner ups the ante once again in Death Wish 3. Any pretense of Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) having a career in architecture is completely gone. Kersey's new career appears to be as a professional vigilante, blowing away muggers, rapists and thieves off the mean streets -- or as he terms it "thinning the herd." Back in New York City, Kersey, with his usual luck, arrives just in time to find an old friend dying after a vicious beating by a multi-cultural gang of thugs. The cops arrest Kersey, but it just so happens that police chief Richard S. Shriker (Ed Lauter) is like Kersey with a badge: "I'm the law, and that means I get to violate your civil rights." He makes a deal with Kersey: he can go free as long as he keeps the cops informed of his death counts. Kersey grunts in agreement and proceeds to move into a decaying tenement building in the middle of a bombed out gang war zone. The building is populated by a group of elderly tenants who are terrified by the neighborhood gang warfare. Kersey declares his own personal war on the neighborhood gang, led by a frenzied leader named Fraker (Gavan O'Herilhy), who wears a reverse Mohawk hair-style. As Kersey devises booby traps and trip-wire bombs to confound the gang, the senior citizens gleefully take pot shots at the wounded gang members from their windows. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Bronson, Deborah Raffin, (more)
- 1985
- R
An softcore film featuring sado-masochism and bondage, Hot Chili concerns four teen-age boys who go to work at an exclusive Mexican spa. In spite of the orders of the manager, they are soon sexually involved with innumerable buxom and in sometimes kinky guests, ranging from a Nazi to a swinging elderly couple from Texas. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Schillaci, Allan J. Kayser, (more)
- 1985
- R
In this teen comedy, the employees at a posh hotel go to war with the resort's snooty guests. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Debra Kelly, Bronson Pinchot, (more)
Russian director Andrei Konchalovsky's second American film may well be the only existential adventure flick in Hollywood history. Two prisoners, Manny (Jon Voight) and Buck (Eric Roberts), escape from a desolate Alaskan maximum-security facility. They hop aboard a speeding train, making a clean escape. But the engineer has suffered a heart attack, and the train goes out of control. To prevent a disastrous head-on collision, the railroad heads decide to derail the runaway train, killing its occupants to save the lives of hundreds of others. Once Manny catches on to what's happening, he tries to jump off the train, only to be talked out of such a foolhardy act by railroad employee Sara (Rebecca DeMornay). As doom approaches, Manny apparently goes mad, viciously preventing any attempts to stop the train or rescue its passengers: if he's to die, and if the others are to be saved, it will be on his terms, or no terms. Runaway Train was slated as a project for Akira Kurosawa in 1970, but for various creative and scheduling reasons, it remained on the back burner for 15 years. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jon Voight, Eric Roberts, (more)
This red-baiting action film stars Chuck Norris as Matt Hunter, a retired CIA agent who lives in the Florida Everglades. A communist invasion of Miami brings Hunter out of retirement to fight the encroaching hordes led by everyone's favorite low-budget bad guy, Richard Lynch. The film is extremely jingoistic, presenting the evil communists staging an invasion on Christmas, demolishing a church, and attempting to blow up a school bus full of children. From the same school of thinking which produced Rambo and Red Dawn, this film at least features some convincing gore by makeup wizard Tom Savini (Friday the 13th), working on his third gig for director Joseph Zito. Zito and Savini returned with Red Scorpion. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chuck Norris, Richard Lynch, (more)
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
- Starring:
- Michael Dudikoff, Steve James, (more)
- 1985
- R
Nine Las Vegas showgirls are chosen to go fight terrorists in the Middle East (by distracting them?) in this under-par action drama with some nudity and sexual encounters. The son of a diplomat has been kidnapped by Arabs -- as usual cast in the role of villains -- who want to get their hands on the secrets for constructing a special nuclear weapon. It is the mission of the showgirls, should they accept it, to rescue the hostage, get a tan, and jump into that large shared bathtub as often as they can. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bainbridge Scott, Glen Hartford, (more)
- 1985
In 1938 Berlin, Gudrun Landgrebe, wife of Nazi functionary Kevin McNally, begins taking art lessons. She makes the acquaintance of another student, Japanese ambassador's daughter Mio Takaki. Soon afterwards, the two women begin a passionate lesbian affair. This leads to a chain reaction of disaster and tragedy, culminating with the inevitable intervention of the Gestapo. Despite the film's galloping sexual passions, The Berlin Affair is an exercise in aloofness, keeping the characters at arm's length-surprising, considering that the director was Liliana Cavani, auteur of the erotic classic The Night Porter (1974). The film was based on The Buddhist Cross, a novel by Junichiro Tanizaki. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gudrun Landgrebe, Kevin McNally, (more)
- 1985
- PG
Neither the idiotic title Detective School Dropouts nor the film's alternate cognomen Dumb Dicks are worthy of this easy-to-take crime comedy. David Landsberg stars as a likeable schlemiel who is addicted to detective stories. He links up with down-and-out gumshoe Lorin Dreyfuss (brother of Richard--and also, with David Landsberg, the co-writer of this film), hoping that some of Dreyfuss' so-called expertise will rub off on him. This far-from-dynamic duo soon find themselves embroiled in an Italian family feud, a kidnapping, and a murder charge. One of the few Golan/Globus films to lose money, Detective School Dropouts has happily found an enthusiastic audience thanks to multiple cable-TV showings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Landsberg, Lorin Dreyfuss, (more)
The action in this routine adventure film would be modeled on the enormously successful Indiana Jones but it is too much, too fast, too deja vu. It all starts when Jessie Huston (Sharon Stone, before stardom) talks adventurer Allen Quatermain (Richard Chamberlain) into helping her find her father, an archaeologist. He has been kidnapped in Africa by a Turk (John Rhys-Davies) and a German colonel (Herbert Lom) who are determined to extract the secret location of King Solomon's mines from the stubborn man. As Jessie and Quatermain head off into the unknown, there are crocodiles, lions, and other human beasts to conquer before the father or the mines hove into view. A sequel was soon to follow. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Chamberlain, Sharon Stone, (more)
Though there are several actors in Fool for Love, two share the majority of screen time: Sam Shepard as Eddie, and Kim Basinger as May. May toils away at a fleabag motel; Eddie is her former love, long absent. Unexpectedly re-entering May's life, Eddie picks up where he left off, and soon the couple is alternately bickering violently and making love with equal fervor. Peripheral characters include Harry Dean Stanton as a boozed-up bum, Martha Crawford as an aristocratic would-be murderer, and Randy Quaid as the current man in the heroine's life. This one-two punch of iconoclastic playwright Sam Shepard and unconventional director Robert Altman proved a failure at the box-office and with critics. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sam Shepard, Kim Basinger, (more)
- 1985
- R
While the first Missing in Action film told of a rescue mission by ex-POW Colonel James Braddock (Chuck Norris), the second concerns his original stay in a Vietnamese prisoner camp. The camp is governed by the crazed Colonel Yin (Soon-Teck Oh), who forces the POW's to grow opium for French drug runners and tries to get them to admit to and sign a long list of war crimes. Braddock must escape the camp and liberate his fellow prisoners to have any hope of surviving. The third installment in the series, Braddock: Missing in Action 3, was released three years later. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chuck Norris, Soon-Teck Oh, (more)
- 1985
- R
The vicious drug-related killings of young pre-teen boys are the fuel that moves this mystery-actioner into high gear. After Annunziata (Angela Molina) opens up a hostel with her friend Antonio (Daniel Ezralow) she is saved from being raped by a Camorra (organized crime) boss when the gangster is suddenly killed. The killer escapes before Annunziata is able to see who it was. Following this murder are several others and always with the same "signature" -- a needle through one of the testicles of the victims. Everyone suspects a drug war is on because the slain men are cocaine-heroin pushers. In a subplot, Annunziata's young son is forced to run drugs (underage children cannot be prosecuted), making him the next candidate for murder. As the drug dealers continue to be killed off, the identity of the killer -- or killers -- slowly becomes obvious. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ángela Molina, Harvey Keitel, (more)
- 1984
Robert Mitchum plays as U.S. ambassador to Israel whose efforts at reaching a peace agreement with the Palestinians run afoul of the somewhat questionable ambitions of security advisor Rock Hudson. Meanwhile, Mitchum's wife Ellen Burstyn embarks upon an affair with a PLO leader. When this fact comes to Mitchum's attention, he refuses to pay the prescribed "hush money", sparking a deadly chain reaction. You may need a microscope to discern this, but The Ambassador was adapted from Elmore Leonard's crime novel 52 Pick Up. Though a more faithful-to-the-source cinemazation of the Leonard book was lensed in 1986, The Ambassador remains the better of the two versions. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Mitchum, Ellen Burstyn, (more)
- 1984
The innate morality of a ballet teacher is under attack in this message movie about the evils of a society that refuses to protect a potential victim because no violence has yet been committed against her. While this premise is worthy, director Raphael Rebibo's protagonists tend to be cardboard cut-outs, either very good or very bad. Ronit (Anath Atzmon), a divorced ballerina with a young son, witnesses a woman being raped. Outraged, she decides to testify against the rapist in court, but the accused man's brother, a gangster, begins to threaten her when she refuses to accept a bribe to not testify. He is careful never to leave any proof of his threats or his violence and succeeds in terrifying Ronit, who is under pressure from her ex-husband and current boyfriend to forget about testifying. With nowhere to turn for help, she faces a very difficult decision. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anat Atzmon, Uri Gavriel, (more)
- 1984
When first released as Grace Quigley, this odd little black comedy proved too fey and quirky even for the most devoted fans of Katharine Hepburn. The star plays the title character, an old, worn-out woman with nothing to live for. Accordingly, she hires professional assassin Seymour Flint (Nick Nolte) to kill her, albeit gently. As she ponders the prospect of a peaceful death as opposed to a miserable life, Grace convinces Seymour to murder not only herself, but all other poor souls who have grown tired of life. As it turns out, there are several people who'd be willing to pay for this "courtesy," and soon Grace and Seymour, together with his ditsy girlfriend Muriel (Kit Le Fever), are conducting a land-office business! Entered into competition at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival, Grace Quigley made no impression whatsoever. Screenwriter A. Martin Zweibeck withdrew the film, recut it to his satisfaction, and reissued it as The Ultimate Solution of Grace Quigley. Though this version was a marked improvement over the original, the film was still not quite the Harold and Maude-like "cult favorite" that everyone hoped it would be. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Katharine Hepburn, Nick Nolte, (more)
- 1984
- R
This violent follow-up to the sadistic actioner The Exterminator (1980) again features Johnny Eastland (Robert Ginty), a Vietnam vet who is triggered into vengeful killing when his dancer girlfriend (Deborah Geffner) is first badly beaten and permanently crippled and later murdered by a gang of street thugs led by "X" (Mario Van Peebles). Johnny dresses up in a special uniform and helmet, grabs a flamethrower, and aided by Be Gee (Frankie R. Faison), a former vet turned garbageman, the two incinerate their way through the rest of the film. Like other Death Wish clones, this film is derivative, violent, and mindless. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Ginty, Mario Van Peebles, (more)
The time-worn clash between the rich and poor, brought out by switched identities, is the ploy used here to put a streetwise kid into an upper-crust prep school. Palmer (Dana Olsen) does not want to stay at school for his final year, but he needs to graduate in order to receive his mega-buck trust fund. Eddie (Judd Nelson) is a New Jersey native, used to the streets and handling trouble when it comes -- except Eddie's bookie is after him for a bad debt, and when Eddie jumps the prep school's fence to escape his creditor, he almost knocks down Palmer. From that serendipitous meeting, the two decide to swap identities -- or partly so. Eddie will become Palmer and get good grades in the last year of school, for the sum of $10,000 at graduation. And Palmer will go off on his own planned vacation. Eddie soon learns the ways of the rich and famous, but he is quickly back to crap games and porno movies, this time initiating his new schoolmates into that lifestyle and gaining popularity along the way. What follows is a series of misadventures as the bookie shows up at the school to demand his due from Eddie, Eddie falls in love with the daughter of the school's patron, and Palmer comes back. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Judd Nelson, Jonna Lee, (more)
- 1984
In this emotional roller coaster ride, Robert Harmon (John Cassavetes) is a street-wise, sometimes obnoxious writer currently working on a book about the seamier side of buying/selling love, and Sarah Lawson (Gena Rowlands) is an emotive wife and mother struggling through a divorce and custody battle. When Sarah lands on Robert's doorstep with her suitcases, it seems at first that she has returned to her husband. Robert has several women staying at his place (research sources!), but when his real ex-wife arrives with their young son, he sends the women packing. Sarah, it turns out, is Robert's sister. As the two work out their own live's hurdles -- Robert, the unaccustomed father with his 8-year-old son, and Sarah, trying to cope with her custody battle and its results -- their way of handling adversity and personal burdens becomes the real subtext of the film. This film won the Golden Bear Award at the 1984 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gena Rowlands, John Cassavetes, (more)
- 1984
Based on the novel by Agatha Christie and set in the late 1950s, this unevenly told film starts when Dr. Arthur Calgary (Donald Sutherland) comes back to England after two years on an Antarctic expedition and discovers that the man he is searching for has been executed for murder. At the beginning of his expedition he had given a ride one night to a hitchhiker and accidentally ended up with his address book. To his horror, the hitchhiker's mother was killed on that night, and he had been the alibi that would have saved him from execution. Spurred on by his sense of shock and guilt, Calgary makes contact with the family and is put off by their disinterest in finding the real killer. It seems that the mother had many enemies among her close family members: her husband was having an affair, there was a blackmail scheme in the works, and many felt that she had already excluded them from any inheritance. Although the acting is uneven and the plot may seem predictable or contrived to non-Christie readers, the story retains interest, and Dave Brubeck's jazz score adds a special dimension to the proceedings. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donald Sutherland, Christopher Plummer, (more)
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
- Starring:
- Lucinda Dickey, Adolpho "Shabba Doo" Quinones, (more)
Breakdancing, hip-hop, rap, and a good time are the main stars of this standard teen movie about youths trying to raise money to save their community club from being razed for a shopping mall. Ozone (Adolfo Quiñones) and Turbo (Michael Chambers) are two master breakdancers who have started a community club to teach other teens how to manage the acrobatics of the dance without literally breaking anything. Their efforts create some choreographed, group breakdancing that is rather innovative. But an evil developer (Peter MacLean) sees their property as ideal for a shopping mall project -- and a crooked politician is willing to back him up for a fee. As the teens do their best to raise money to keep their center, some are also battling with restrictive parents or trying to ease into romantic liaisons that offer their own challenges. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lucinda Dickey, Adolpho "Shabba Doo" Quinones, (more)
- 1984
Russian director Andrei Konchalovsky's first American film is a romantic tale about an American war veteran whose dreams of his childhood sweetheart are countered by a less sunny reality. John Savage stars as Ivan Bibic, who has returned home to a small town in Pennsylvania, having suffered a nervous breakdown as a P.O.W. During the war, he would dream about his fiancee back home, Maria Bosic (Nastassja Kinski), imagining their forthcoming perfect marriage. At one point, Ivan is told, "You dreamed about her too long. She lives in your dreams, not in your body." And it's true -- his dreams do not equal his reality. Maria and Ivan marry, but Ivan finds that he cannot make love to the flesh and blood Maria. Knowing she was actively pursued by men in town during the war, Ivan courages her to take lovers. Maria does so, having affairs with another GI, Al Griselli (Vincent Spano), and a passing drifter named Clarence Butts (Keith Carradine). But after spending the night with Clarence, Maria becomes pregnant, and Ivan's love for her is sorely tested. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nastassja Kinski, John Savage, (more)
