Tara Buckman Movies
- 1992
- R
The man with the granite mug (Ray Sharkey) appears as Stoneface, a crook who has stashed his ill-gotten loot in the trunk of a Rolls-Royce which two unsuspecting guys have "borrowed" from one of their uncles. The fellows, of course, are unaware that there is loot in their car trunk; they're on their way to a modeling contest where one guy's girlfriend is a hot model. The two bozos soon get involved in an all-out chase when Stoneface wants his dough back. ~ All Movie Guide
When an experiment to send three volunteers to another dimension fails, only one comatose survivor is brought back. However, when the scientists discover that the volunteer carried a deadly creature back with her, they must struggle to destroy the creature before it destroys them. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jan-Michael Vincent, Paul Koslo, (more)
- 1990
- R
In this softcore feature, former porn star Marilyn Chambers plays a movie star who has carefully recorded all her erotic adventures. Unluckily for her, this diary falls into the unfriendly hands of a reporter. Luckily for her, he doesn't know who wrote the diary, as she has concealed everyone's identity. Unluckily, the reporter and his girlfriend are persistent investigators. Luckily for Ms. Chambers' fans, her erotic attractions are still potent as she recreates a (softcore) version of the encounters in the diary. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marilyn Chambers, Tara Buckman, (more)
- 1988
- R
After discovering they have photographed an actual murder taking place, a couple of Venice Beachies attempt to solve the crime in this mystery-comedy. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mark Hennessy, Scott King, (more)
- 1986
- R
In this James Bond parody, the evil villain is also an evil villainess, Velvet Von Ragner (Gene Simmons), an androgynous, leather-bound cross-dressing criminal genius out to finish off all of L.A. by contaminating the city's water supply. Standing in the way of his/her success is undercover agent Drew Stargrove (George Lazenby), but he does not stand for long. Once he has been slain, his son Lance (John Stamos) takes up the fight assisted by Danja Deering (Vanity) who has the requisite sex appeal for her job. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Stamos, Vanity, (more)
Offended parents and others protested this slasher film when it was released in 1984 because it portrays Billy (Robert Brian Wilson) as a toy-store Santa Claus who goes on a rampage and axes people to death while still in his Santa garb. Four sequels prove the adage that there is no such thing as bad publicity. When Billy was just a boy he saw someone dressed as Santa murder his parents at Christmastime. Billy's stint in an orphanage did nothing to unwarp his mind (he is tied to his bed for "misbehavior"), and when he starts playing Santa in the store -- much against his wishes since he is deathly afraid of both Christmas and Santa Claus, he first only frightens the children who come to see him. Then his mind snaps, and he repeats the scene he saw as a child, on one person after another, in full gory color. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gilmer McCormick, Toni Nero, (more)
Burt Reynolds and director Hal Needham team up for the fourth time, this time bringing an all-star cast of characters on a cross-country car race in the vein of 1976 release The Gumball Rally. The police are the least of the Cannonballers' worries as they push the pedal to the metal in a race from Connecticut to California. Reynolds stars as J.J. McClure, a speed-loving racer disguised as an ambulance driver to outsmart the police. He is paired up with Dom Deluise, who plays his dimwitted sidekick Victor and who, on occasion, dons the suit of Captain Chaos. Rat Packers Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr. join the lineup as Ferrari-driving priests, while martial arts expert Jackie Chan takes on one of his first U.S. film roles driving a souped-up Subaru. Among the many other stars are Roger Moore doing a parody of his 007 character, complete with secret devices and weapons, Farrah Fawcett as Pamela, a woman McClure and Chaos pick up, and Jamie Farr as a deranged Islamic sheik. Jack Elam joins the cast as a crazed proctologist along for McClure's ambulance ride, and Needham makes a cameo as a patient. ~ Rachel Koetje, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Burt Reynolds, Roger Moore, (more)
- 1980
This 3-hour TV adaptation of the 1932 Aldous Huxley novel is set 600 years in the future. In this "well- ordered" society, the citizens are required to take mind-controlling drugs, sex without love is compulsory, and test-tube babies are commonplace because of a ban on pregnancy. Keir Dullea heads the cast as Thomas Grahmbell, "director of hatcheries". Not everybody is satisfied with society's lack of humanity and feeling; the loudest dissidents are free-thinking poet Heimholtz Watson (Dick Anthony Williams) and brilliant oddball Bernard Marx (Bud Cort). An injection of new "old" ideas are brought in by "primitive" John Savage (Kristoffer Tabori), who lives on an Indian reservation which still honors 20th century values. Meanwhile, Linda Lysenko (Julie Cobb) becomes a natural mother--and in so doing becomes a criminal. In keeping with the style of the original book, the script's newly-minted characters are given names of pop-culture icons (Disney, Maoina, Stalina, and so on). Brave New World was first telecast March 7, 1980. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1979
Former stuntman Hal Needham employed several of his old professional comrades in his made-for-TV Death Car on the Freeway. Shelley Hack plays a TV reporter investigating a series of freeway murders. Some demented van driver is swerving around and about, killing female motorists. This being Los Angeles, Shelley has at least a million suspects-daily-to choose from. This otherwise standard thriller is pepped up by the presence of several TV veterans, including George Hamilton, Frank Gorshin, Peter Graves, Dinah Shore, Harriet Nelson, BarbaraRush and Abe Vigoda. Director Needham also turns up in a cute supporting role. Death Car on the Freeway first aired September 25, 1979. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1979
An episode of the television series, in which Buck tries to free an unjustly jailed woman, who mistrusts him, while being pursued by an android guard. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1979
Performing an autopsy on a teenage prostitute who has committed suicide, Quincy (Jack Klugman)characteristically takes a personal interest in the case. It seems that the victim had been killed after seeing "Uncle Harry" (Alan Manson), the man who led her into prostituation, persuading an even younger girl to appear in a pornographic film. Taking it upon himself to break up an insidious kiddie-porn ring, Quincy simultaneously tries to save a group of runaway kids from falling into the clutches of the "Uncle Harrys" of the world. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1979
Originally telecast September 25, 1979, Hart to Hart was the pilot film for a series which officially debuted three days earlier. Robert Wagner and Stephanie Powers play the fabulously wealthy, blissfully happy married couple Jonathan and Jennifer Hart. He's a conglomerate CEO, she's a mystery author; together they solve crimes whenever their schedules allow. In this first escapade, the Harts tackle the case of a friend's death at a fancy health spa. Lionel Stander is on hand as the Harts' gravel-voiced general factotum Max. The closing sequence of Hart to Hart includes a cameo appearance by Robert Wagner's real-life wife Natalie Wood, billed under her real-life name Natasha Gurdin. Coincidentally, the supporting cast features Wagner's future wife Jill St. John. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1979
Peforming an autopsy at the request of a grieving family, Quincy concludes that a 17-year-old girl died in a botched abortion. Further evidence indicates that Ronald Shafer (John Dehner), the doctor who performed the surgery, was drunk at the time. But in his efforts to learn all the fact, Quincy is stymied by Shafer's colleagues and friends, who form a protective wall of silence around the veteran surgeon. The supporting cast includes two TV-series favorites from the 1960s, Anne Francis (Honey West) and June Lockhart (Lassie, Lost in Space). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1979
Made for TV, The Man in the Santa Claus Suit jumped the gun a bit by premiering December 23, 1979. The title "character" is threefold: John Byner, Gary Burghoff and Bert Convy all don Santa suits for various reasons. Byner is a fugitive tramp, Burghoff a lonely schoolteacher, and Convy a divorced father estranged from his young son. Unifying their three stories is top-billed Fred Astaire, who pops up in eight different roles (or seven different roles, if you don't count his "surprise identity") and sings the title song. The moral, as ever, is that Christmas is what you make of it: if you're merry, then you'll have a merry Christmas. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1979
Dennis Weaver plays Daniel Stone, a Joe Wambaugh-style LA cop turned novelist. The pressures of his new career cause a rift between Stone and his superior officer Pat Hingle, and also puts additional barriers between Stone and his estranged wife Mariette Hartley. The fact that Stone's partner Roy Thinnes is sweet on Hartley only compounds the complications. The plot, involving the mysterious murders of several top crime bosses, somehow finds time to accommodate a guest appearance by Steve Allen (as "Himself"). When Stone became a TV series of three months' duration in 1980, only Dennis Weaver and Pat Hingle were retained from this pilot film; a new character, Stone's young partner, was added to the fold (the part was played by Dennis Weaver's son Bobby). Stone was the brainchild of Rockford Files mentor Stephen J. Cannell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Following the blockbuster success of Smokey and the Bandit, Burt Reynolds, Sally Field and director Hal Needham reunited to make the very similar Hooper, an action-laced comedy about a Hollywood stunt man who enters a dangerous rivalry with a younger stunt man. Hooper (Reynolds) and the younger stunt man (Jan-Michael Vincent) compete in a series of increasingly complex stunts in order to earn the title of "the greatest stunt man alive." Hooper is lightweight, mindless fun that doesn't have much story, but it is a stronger film than Smokey and the Bandit, largely because the characters are somewhat stronger. Everyone involved looks like they're having fun; the good-humor translates on screen. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Burt Reynolds, Jan-Michael Vincent, (more)
- 1978
This 1978 TV movie was the first of two pilots for a cop series titled--yes--Two-Five The title refers to a woebegone Big City precinct where all the malcontents and misfits on the force are transferred. The latest arrivals at Two-Five are undercover cops Don Johnson ("introduced" in the ad copy as a "bright new comedy star") and Joe Bennett, who have recently capped their many mistakes by arresting the mayor's mother during a gambling raid. The boys try to toe the line, but those pesky criminals just won't go away, most notably a drug kingpin whom Johnson and Bennett have been trying to nail for years. The Two-Five was followed in 1979 by another 90-minute pilot with the same title and the same cast, but with a different director (Jules Irving). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Rollercoaster was a by-product of the brief "Sensurround" craze of the 1970s. Nutsoid Timothy Bottoms sabotages an amusement-park roller coaster, killing several innocent revelers. After several other acts of terrorism, Bottoms (whose character is credited as Young Man) presents his demands to the authorities via audio tape: one million dollars, or he'll stage five roller-coaster disasters simultaneously in five different parks. Because detective Harry Calder George Segal evinces a grudging respect for the elusive extortionist, Bottoms declares that only Detective Calder will be permitted to deliver the money. Thus the stage is set for an explosive climax, which during the film's original run was accompanied by the Sensurround effect, a gimmick that electronically caused the filmgoer's chairs to begin shaking and vibrating during the "thrill scenes." As with most disaster flicks of the era, Rollercoaster is top-heavy with "guest stars," including Richard Widmark, Henry Fonda, Harry Guardino, and Susan Strasberg. Watch for 13-year-old Helen Hunt as Detective Calder's spunky daughter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Segal, Richard Widmark, (more)
- 1977
The formal title for this TV mini-series was Harold Robbins' 79 Park Avenue, just in case you might mistake it for William Makepeace Thackeray's 79 Park Avenue. Originally presented in three parts, this adaptation of the Robbins best-seller stars Lesley Ann Warren as Marja Fludjicki, a Depression-era tenement girl who is accused of murdering her drunken stepfather. Part One details how Marja's "crime" was justifiable; she'd been raped by the bounder. Parts Two and Three would trace Marja's progress from teenaged prostitute to elegant, high-priced Park Avenue Madam--and mob mistress. Forced by circumstance into a life of prostitution, Marja marries Las Vegas high-roller Ross Savitch (Marc Singer). Ross is bumped off by the Syndicate, leaving Marja in the lurch. Marja rebounds from tragedy to become a federal witness against the Mob. 79 Park Avenue was first telecast on October 16, 17, and 18, 1977. Though all the names are changed, it isn't hard to discern the Bugsy Siegel story in this video equivalent to eating a whole box of chocolates in one sitting. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1977
While in the middle of delicate negotations to ransom the fabled Borland Diamond from a gang of thieves, Jim ( is pestered by the Wronko family, an annoying pack of tourists from Peru, Indiana who have parked their RV next to Jim's trailer. The Wronkos end up in the thick of things when one of the thieves stashes the diamond in Jim's barbecue grill. Unaware of the danger they're bringing upon themselves, the tourists steal the grill and high-tail it to California--with both hero and villain hot on their trail! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1977
Hero worship takes a sinister turn when emotionally disturbed cab driver Lawson (James Sutorius becomes obsessed with his idol, a controversial nighttime radio talk host. Convinced that the radio personality is speaking directly to him, Lawson vows to become the man's faithful lieutenant, eliminating the "enemies" of society in a violent fashion. Kojak (Telly Savalas) must somehow catch up with the demented cabbie before he strikes again. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
