David Harvey Movies

Stepping Out might be considered a textbook exercise in screenwriting cliche: take Mavis Turner (Liza Minnelli), a woman who "coulda been a contenda" had she pursued her dreams of appearing on Broadway; give her an evening job at a converted church teaching tap; mix in a motley crew of left-footed cardboard-cutouts too rhythmically challenged for her to train; add a charity performance organized by a snooty old ruler-of-the-world-type (Nora Dunn) who thinks they're too klutzy to participate; watch the motley crew turn into a well-oiled dance machine in time to steal the show, prove the snob wrong and overcome their personal problems along the way (not to mention Mavis')...and somehow, in spite of it all, it actually manages to be a rather entertaining film. The entire production is so cheesy and exaggeratedly "Broadway" that it provides more than its share of amusement, intentional or otherwise; the fact that Minnelli turns in an infectiously good-humored performance doesn't hurt, either. ~ Jeremy Beday, Rovi

This slow-moving occult thriller has Pamela Sue Martin and hubbie Tim Matheson menaced by a coven of witches when they move to an island off the coast of Massachusetts. Director Carl Schenkel -- who went on to make the interesting Knight Moves -- does the best he can with a tedious script and a lot of miscasting, but it doesn't make the movie any more interesting. It looks like a who's who of '80s sitcoms, with Woody Harrelson, Jeff Conaway, and Inga Swenson along for the evil doings, but some viewers will be rolling on the floor when they see Leave It to Beaver's Barbara Billingsley as a 300-year-old witch. The highlight of the film is an exploding church, which may just be loud enough to wake you up so you can rewind the tape. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

This 1981 performance film embodies an act of speculative imagination: What thoughts ran through the mind of legendary country and western singer Hank Williams, Sr. (1923-53), as he lay dying in the backseat of his Cadillac, en route to a concert in Ohio, on December 31, 1952? Playwright Maynard Collins imagined that he fantasized about playing one last gig as an awareness of his impending death sunk in, and that concert - the one that never happened - gets a full visualization in this film of the popular Canadian cabaret show. Using the ride in the Cadillac as a narrative framing device, director David Acomba places his emphasis squarely on the stage fantasy, where Williams - here played by country singer "Sneezy" Waters - delivers a succession of the crooner's best known and loved songs, including "Kaw-Liga," "Lovesick Blues" and "Your Cheatin' Heart". Waters projects Williams's down-home charm, both backstage and in his interaction with the audience, and enables the audience to see directly into the soul of this self-destructive and emotionally beleaguered young man. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi