Murray Langston Movies
Comic lead actor, onscreen from the '80s; he has also produced. ~ All Movie Guide
- 2002
- R
- Add Confessions of a Dangerous Mind to QueueAdd Confessions of a Dangerous Mind to top of Queue
Chuck Barris is best known to most Americans as the guy who used to host The Gong Show. He was also the creator and producer of The Dating Game, The Newlywed Game, and a handful of other successful game shows in the 1960s and 1970s. But was he also a hired killer working with the CIA? That's the take-it-or-leave-it premise of Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, based on the memoir of the same name by Chuck Barris. Barris (Sam Rockwell) grows up dreaming of success in show biz and winning the hearts of beautiful women, but early on, he meets with plenty of resistance from both women and the television industry, despite writing the hit tune "Palisades Park" and scoring a job with Dick Clark on American Bandstand. The 1960s proves more fortunate for Barris; he meets the love of his life, Penny (Drew Barrymore), and sells ABC on the idea of The Dating Game. However, after the show has made him wealthy and successful, Barris is approached by the mysterious Jim Byrd (George Clooney), a CIA agent who wants to recruit Barris as a covert operative. Barris finds the notion of playing spy games intriguing and agrees, but soon discovers what Byrd and his partners really want is for Barris to assassinate uncooperative figures around the world. Soon, Barris finds that his life has been all but taken over by Byrd and another CIA agent, the mysterious and sexy Patricia (Julia Roberts). As he hops the globe, killing people in the name of American security (using his status as a Dating Game chaperone as a cover), Barris learns that the KGB has discovered his not-so-little secret and that his own life is in great danger. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind marked the directorial debut of actor George Clooney, working from a screenplay adapted by Charlie Kaufman from Barris' book. Dick Clark, Dating Game host Jim Lange, frequent Gong Show panelist Jaye P. Morgan, and Gene Gene Patton appear as themselves. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sam Rockwell, Drew Barrymore, (more)
An overweight, childish pizza delivery boy (Vic Dunlop, who wrote the movie) desperately wants to become a stand-up comic. One day he swallows a tiny alien who had become stuck in his cereal, and he becomes a popular Sam Kinison/Don Rickles-type insult comic. He also becomes a coke-snorting alcoholic and eventually turns into a slimy, murderous monster. Believe it or not, this is a comedy! ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vic Dunlop, John Hazelwood, (more)
- 1992
- NC17
Poor Michael Moore is one messed-up screenwriter who is more depressed than usual when his girl friend abruptly dumps him. His life forever changes when he saves a diminutive old man from street thugs. The little man has magical powers and as a reward for Michael's kindness gives him a notepad. This is no ordinary pad for anything Michael writes upon it will come true. This comedy-adventure follows what happens when the writer begins to use it. First he scrawls his wish that the lovely bank teller Diane Jacobs will enter his life. Unfortunately, he should have been clearer for they meet after they are both abducted by bank robbers. Fortunately, Mike has his trusty pad and they get out of the situation. Next he makes the mistake of telling his avaricious sister Jody about the magic pad. Wanting all of the family fortune for herself, she promptly plans on getting him declared insane. A trip to the courtroom ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
This is almost a follow-up to its relative The Exorcist, since it stars Linda Blair, also the leading lady in the '70s head-spinner tale. In Repossessed, a grown-up Blair plays a housewife who becomes possessed by the Devil while watching TV. Leslie Nielsen plays Father Mayii, who gets called to exorcise the intrusive being. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Linda Blair, Leslie Nielsen, (more)
- 1989
- PG
When her grandfather the mortician goes on holiday, a young woman must run the family business. The comedy begins when she goes through grandpa's books and finds out that he is a wanted man and is nearing bankruptcy. Hoping to save him, the clever girl comes up with a few crazy ideas and begins staging extremely creative funerals. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1988
- R
In this comedy, a reporter (Linda Blair) poses as a homeless person in order to write a piece about the street people of Los Angeles. When the reporter befriends a couple of the people she meets on the street, she ends up getting emotionally involved in her work. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Linda Blair, Murray Langston, (more)
- 1987
In this wacky comedy, the Unknown Comic is the host of an amusing special presentation. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
In this drama, Barney Ingram (Mickey Rooney) is a gambler who's lost his money, only to discover his favorite horse Lightning has been stolen. A young woman with severe vision problems named Stephanie (Isabel Lorca) is the only one able to ride Lightning to a sure victory. A group of tough-talking gangsters have taken the horse but suggest some kind of a deal can be cut. If Stephanie, with the help of a feisty and sharp stable owner (Susan George), can manage to pull off a victory in an upcoming horse race, she will be able to get the money for the surgery that could restore her sight, with plenty left over for everyone else. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mickey Rooney, Susan George, (more)
- 1985
- R
Goofy medical students have all kinds of rip roaring fun pulling crazy pranks such as scaring first year students by pretending to be cadavers. When the hijinks accelerate, the dean of the school tries to stop them. Filled with vulgarity, sexist and bathroom humor, the film's director Rod Holcomb, not wanting to take responsibility for the film, billed himself as "Allen Smithee," the official pseudonym of the Directors Guild. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Parker Stevenson, Geoffrey Lewis, (more)
- 1985
This adult-oriented comedy video features several funny vignettes. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Essentially a knock-off of the "Police Academy" series, this slapstick comedy tells the idiotic tale that contains humor to offend just about everyone as it tells the story of a milque-toast cop who moonlights at night as a paper-bag wearing stand-up comic who unfortunately gets mistaken for a paper-bag wearing bank robber. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Linda Blair, Pat Paulsen, (more)
Director Jackie Kong, who later made the cult favorite Blood Diner (1987), directed this terrible monster movie for exploitation pioneer Bill Osco, who stars under the pseudonym "Rexx Coltrane." The plot concerns a mutant child who has become a monster after being exposed to toxic waste in a small Idaho town. Mortimer (Osco) wants to investigate a series of disappearances, only to have his efforts stymied by the town's mayor (José Ferrer), who is worried about the potential economic impact on the local potato industry. This abysmal horror film was made in 1980 and shelved for three years despite a cast which includes Oscar winners Ferrer and Dorothy Malone, Martin Landau, and Kinky Friedman. Other featured performers are Ruth Buzzi, Murray Langston ("The Unknown Comic"), and Kenny Rogers' wife (at the time), Marianne Gordon. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Martin Landau, José Ferrer, (more)
- 1982
Song, dance, sketches and plenty of comedy are featured in this burlesque-style film featuring Don Rickles and Don Adams. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- 1980
During the 1970s, the Gong Show was a game/talent show phenomenon. With equal measures of parody, camp and pure lowest-common denominator exploitation, it presented a bizarre assortment of talented and untalented contestants (for example, the musician who played his trumpet with his bellybutton) making their bid for stardom, and a ridiculous prize of $516.32 while three rambunctious minor celebrity judges looked on offering scores for acts they liked, or instantly stopping showing disapproval by pounding furiously on a large Chinese gong. The co-creator, producer and acid-witted but smarmy daytime host of this tawdry kitsch pastiche was Chuck Barris (AKA "Chuckie Baby"). This attempt at a serious drama chronicles a day in his hectic life as he tries to prepare a new episode of his crazy show. As he deals with a seemingly unending string of increasingly freaky acts, the pressure begins to get to the sensitive, caring (as portrayed in the film) Barris and by the day's end he becomes a true lunatic. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chuck Barris, Robin Altman, (more)
- 1979
- PG
The short-lived roller-disco craze of the late 1970s served as inspiration for this dated comedy, which follows the patrons of a popular roller-disco palace as they prepare for a major race. Naturally, the climactic showdown features a wholesome, upright hero (Greg Bradford) facing the fearsome challenge of a leather-clad villain (a pre-fame Patrick Swayze). ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Scott Baio, Flip Wilson, (more)
Long heralded as the west coast's best place to catch the hottest comedians on their ascension to superstardom, Los Angeles, California's The Improv is one of the best-known comedy clubs in the world. The comics featured in Koch Records Best of the Improv series have since gone on to become household names, but are shown while still climbing the ladder of success. Best of the Improv, Vol. 5 includes sets by Ellen Degeneres, D.L. Hughley, and Richard Belzer. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Max Alexander, Richard Belzer, (more)
