Orwin Harvey Movies
Clint Eastwood, hot off of his Academy Award win for Unforgiven, directed this small character study, appearing in the guise of a cops-and-robbers action picture. The film takes place during the fall of 1963. Eight-year old Phillip Perry (T.J. Lowther), the son of a devout Jehovah's Witness mother, is staying home while all the other children are out trick-or-treating. But then prison escapee Butch Haynes (Kevin Costner) appears in his kitchen. Needing a hostage to aid him in his escape from jail, he grabs Phillip. Phillip curiously looks up to Butch and willingly accompanies him. Butch gets rid of his fellow escapee after he tries to molest the child, and Butch and Phillip take to the Texas highway, on the run from the cops. The cop in pursuit in this instance is Police Chief Red Garnett (Clint Eastwood), riding in his sleek Populux Airglide trailer -- his "mobile command headquarters." On the road with Garnett is Sally Gerber (Laura Dern), a pushy pre-feminist criminologist, along with a creepy federal agent who is an expert sharpshooter. Butch is not particularly anxious to make it to the Texas borderline, and neither is Garnett in any particular hurry to catch Butch. As Butch and Phillip form a father-son attachment, the paths of Butch and Garnett gradually come together, in time for a final confrontation, after which Garnett confesses, "I don't know nothing. I don't know a damn thing." ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Kevin Costner, Clint Eastwood, (more)
The boiling point is mighty low in this tepid action programmer. Wesley Snipes plays Jimmy Mercer, a Treasury agent whose sting operation goes bad. Engineered by Ronnie (Viggo Mortensen), a dull-witted but sadistic ex-con, the operation not only fails, but one of Jimmy's colleagues is killed by Ronnie in the process. As punishment, Jimmy is exiled to Newark, where he is given seven days to find the man responsible for the death of the officer. Meanwhile, slimy con-man Red (Dennis Hopper) has Ronnie deceived into thinking that Mercer is a big-time crook with influential connections. Red does this to enlist Ronnie's aid to participate in a third-rate crime spree. When Ronnie and Red begin their two-man crime wave, Jimmy is in relentless pursuit behind them. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Wesley Snipes, Dennis Hopper, (more)
Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern play a pair of lovers on the run in David Lynch's surrealist road movie Wild at Heart. Cage's Sailor Ripley is a violent ex-convict with an Elvis Presley fixation who falls in love with Dern's Lula Pace Fortune, the daughter of a rich, but mentally unstable, Southern belle named Marietta (Diane Ladd, Dern's real-life mother). Just after Sailor is released from prison, where he was jailed for brutally killing one of Marietta's thugs, he and Lula take off on a wild cross-country trip, pursued by his parole officer, her mother, criminals, bounty hunters, and detectives. Along the way, Sailor and Lula have a lot of sex, share their pasts, share their respective obsessions for Elvis and The Wizard of Oz, and meet a lot of bizarre characters, including a seedy ex-marine (Willem Dafoe) who persuades Sailor to participate in a bank robbery. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi
- Starring:
- Nicolas Cage, Laura Dern, (more)
- 1987
- PG
When young Chuck Murdock (Joshua Zuehlke) visits a nuclear missile site, he learns that one bomb would destroy the earth in less time than it would take a piece of silverware to drop from his hand to the floor. This information sends the sensitive boy into existential angst. Wondering why anybody should do anything when the world can be destroyed so quickly, and hoping to raise consciousness about nuclear weapons, Chuck quits his Little League team. He gains a little bit of local press. One of those stories is read by NBA star "Amazing Grace" Smith (Alex English), who is so moved by the boy's story that he too quits playing his sport. This produces a great deal of national press, as well as a handful of stars from other sports that decide to join the ranks of Amazing Grace and Chuck. Some powers that be in the sports world, as well as the government, do not look kindly upon these "strikes" and set about to end the movement. Amazing Grace and Chuck came near the end of a cycle of nuclear anxiety films that included Testament, The Day After, and Threads. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jamie Lee Curtis, Alex English, (more)
Leonard Maltin wasn't alone when he noticed similarities between Goonies and the 1934 Our Gang comedy Mama's Little Pirate. Adapted by Chris Columbus from a story by Steven Spielberg, the film follows a group of misfit kids (including such second-generation Hollywoodites as Josh Brolin and Sean Astin) as they search for buried treasure in a subterranean cavern. Here they cross the path of lady criminal Mama Fratelli (Anne Ramsey) and her outlaw brood. Fortunately, the kids manage to befriend Fratelli's hideously deformed (but soft-hearted) son (John Matuszak), who comes to their rescue. The Spielberg influence is most pronounced in the film's prologue and epilogue, when the viewer is advised that the film's real villains are a group of "Evil Land Developers." The musical score makes excellent use of Max Steiner's main theme from The Adventures of Don Juan, not to mention contributions by the likes of Richard Marx and Cyndi Lauper. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sean Astin, Josh Brolin, (more)
Barret Oliver stars as robot boy Daryl (Data Analyzing Robot Youth Lifeform). The film begins with an intense chase through hairpin mountain roads as a helicopter chases after a racing automobile and the driver of the car shoves a young boy out of the door. The child is rescued and is adopted by Joyce (Mary Beth Hurt) and Andy (Michael McKean) Richardson, a well-meaning, childless couple. It is only after the Richardsons have adopted Daryl and find that the child can't stop hitting home runs that they realize their adopted son is, in fact, a robot. The Richardsons decide to take Daryl back home -- home being a top security research facility where scientists Dr. Jeffrey Stewart (Josef Sommer) and Ellen Lamb (Kathryn Walker) have "given birth" to the boy robot. Once at the research facility, the Richardsons realize that government forces are determined to destroy Daryl and anyone who knows about him. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Mary Beth Hurt, Michael McKean, (more)
Firestarter is based on a bone-chilling novel by Steven King. Drew Barrymore plays Charlie McGee the young daughter of Andrew (David Keith) and Vicky (Heather Locklear) McGee, who years earlier had been guinea pigs for a top secret experiment. As a result, Charlie has acquired the unenviable ability to start fires simply by thinking about fires. Charlie is pursued over hill and dale by The Shop, a secret government organization bent upon using her skills for nefarious purposes. The special effects are undeniably startling, even when the script and dialogue are straight out of the funny papers (it's hard to keep a straight face during the New York Times final shot!) The high-priced cast--including George C. Scott, Art Carney, Louise Fletcher--seems to be having a grand ole time. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- David Keith, Drew Barrymore, (more)
In The Toy, director Richard Donner and screenwriter Carol Sobieski update the 1976 Pierre Richard farce Le Jouet as a vehicle for comedian Richard Pryor. Pryor stars as out-of-work journalist Jack Brown, who's hit with the sudden realization that his idle book writing won't pay a 10,000-dollar sum necessary to keep his house from going to auction. Desperate, he is improbably hired as a cleaning lady in the offices of rich businessman and newspaper magnate U.S. Bates (Jackie Gleason). Running afoul of Bates' quick temper, Jack gets the axe, but is later spotted goofing around in a Bates-owned toy store by Bates' bratty son, Eric (Scott Schwartz), who's spending his annual week together with his estranged father. Taking his father's offer that he may have "anything in the store" quite literally, the spoiled kid asks for Jack as his personal toy for the week. Initially unwilling to be treated as a possession, Jack soon agrees after Bates offers to pay him enough to climb out of debt. When Eric's idea of fun includes dumping buckets of booby-trapped oatmeal on Jack's head and riding down the stairs of his father's mansion with Jack riding shotgun in a miniature car, it tests both Jack's patience and his resolve. But Jack discovers that Bates is ignoring Eric, which strengthens the bond between them and prompts them to seek revenge on the big jerk. ~ Derek Armstrong, Rovi
- Starring:
- Richard Pryor, Jackie Gleason, (more)
The USS Nimitz, a modern-day nuclear-powered aircraft carrier captained by Kirk Douglas, passes through a time warp and finds itself at Pearl Harbor on December 6, 1941. Douglas is all for preventing the infamous Japanese attack by unleashing the 1980s technology at his disposal. But wait--if history is inviolate, what will happen to future events if the attack doesn't come off? For nearly two hours, pros and cons are volleyed back and forth by Douglas, by ambitious senator Charles Durning, and by concerned observer Martin Sheen. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Kirk Douglas, Martin Sheen, (more)
- 1979
- PG
The beloved novel by Anthony Hope is shown here in its sixth film adaptation. In this story, Peter Sellers is Rudolf IV, the reigning monarch of the tiny nation of Ruritania. One day, while flying in a hot air balloon, a champagne cork sends him plummeting to his death. The rightful heir, who is to be crowned Rudolf V (also Peter Sellers), is kidnapped by Duke Michael (Jeremy Kemp), who is next in line for the throne. Luckily, the good guys find Syd (Peter Sellers once again), a London taxi-driver who closely resembles the kidnapped heir. While impersonating the monarch-to-be, Syd falls in love with the prince's fiancee Princess Flavia (Lynne Frederick). Neither a box-office nor a critical success, this amiable 1979 swashbuckler nonetheless features fine performances by Peter Sellers, who died in 1980. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Lynne Frederick, (more)
- 1967
Iconic 1960s starlet Francine York guest stars as Niolani, the Amazonian ruler of a nation of female warriors. Intending to colonize the Robinsons' planet, Niolani has her minions kidnap John (Guy Williams, Will (Billy Mumy), Don (Mark Goddard, Dr. Smith (Jonathan Harris) and the Robot, forcing them into slave labor to prepare for the arrival of more colonists. Meanwhile, the womenfolk--Maureen (June Lockhart), Judy (Marta Kristen) and Penny (Angela Cartwright)--are treated like royalty, the better to brainwash them into parroting Niolani's credo "Female is Everything--Male is Nothing". ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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