Irving Lerner Movies

Martin Scorsese combined the splashy atmosphere of the old studio musical with an unromanticized marriage story in his valentine to Hollywood and the Big Band era. On V-J Day 1945, newly minted civilian saxophonist Jimmy Doyle (Robert De Niro) meets USO singer Francine Evans (Liza Minnelli) at a dance, but she rebuffs every advance that he makes. A day and a hotel lobby meeting later, Jimmy finally wins Francine over after she uses her pop instincts to save his too-jazzy audition at a nightclub. When she goes on tour with Frankie Harte (Georgie Auld) and his Orchestra, Jimmy tracks her down, taking a job with the orchestra to be with her. Together on stage, they make beautiful music; off stage they marry, but the struggle between two artists begins to take its toll. Unable to understand that Francine's needs and talents are just as important as his, and unwilling to compromise his music for security, Jimmy abandons Francine after their baby is born. Separately, the two succeed even more, as Francine becomes a music and movie star, while Jimmy has a top hit and opens a jazz club. When they are reunited several years later, the pair must decide if their relationship is worth another try. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

River Niger is a Tony Award-winning play turned to a movie. It features James Earl Jones as a house-painter/poet who struggles to support his cancer-plagued wife (Cicely Tyson). This is a realistic portrayal of the difficulties encountered in the poverty-stricken ghetto. ~ All Movie Guide

At first glance, we were prepared to designate B Must Die as a hybrid TV feature, consisting of two episodes of either The Outsider or Night Stalker. That's because the star of this obscure entry is Darren McGavin, who also headlined the two aforementioned weekly series. Further research revealed, however, that McGavin's character name in B Must Die is "Pal", which doesn't jive with either Outsider or Kolchak. Then we discovered that the film was a tax-writeoff action drama, boasting a convoluted storyline about a political/industrial rebellion in an unnamed South American country. Patricia Neal and Burgess Meredith costar in B Must Die. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A Native American working for the government must investigate the Indian Commissioner's death. Soon he uncovers the schemes of a wealthy land owner and an assassination plot which will further victimize the local natives. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

Opening with a montage depicting its subject's Civil War exploits, Custer of the West carries us across four years of fighting in less than four minutes of screen time. The Civil War ended, George Armstrong Custer (Robert Shaw) longs for action and to hold onto his rank of general, so General Phil Sheridan (Lawrence Tierney) sends him West, admitting that there will be no nobility to his cause there -- the government and the people want the land, and that means getting the Indians off of it by any means necessary. He arrives in time to see a party of Cheyenne (whom the real Custer never fought) kill a pair of miners by sending them rolling down a long hill in a runaway wagon -- that motif is repeated, in ever more striking, elaborate, and violent fashions, in two subsequent action scenes. Custer organizes his command around Major Marcus Reno (Ty Hardin), depicted as an ambitious officer with a drinking problem, and Captain Benteen (Jeffrey Hunter), a humane officer with a strange, almost mystical streak, who understands the Indians better than anyone else in Custer's command. Also present are Mary Ure as Custer's loving wife and Robert Ryan in a very flamboyant performance as a larcenous sergeant who comes to no good end after being stricken with gold fever. After getting his command into the shape it needs to be -- mostly by running everyone except a lone sergeant into the ground in an extended drill -- he carries out his mission, quietly detesting the motives behind his orders but executing them out to the letter. Regarded as a hero in the East, Custer returns to Washington only to jeopardize his career by testifying about the corruption he's found around him in the West. He is left a political pariah but once more. Sheridan intercedes, again getting Custer posted with the Seventh Cavalry now engaged against the Sioux. He is, by this time, disillusioned with the army that he serves and the politicians and the business interests in whose service it functions. Though he craves the glory that comes with battle, he sees soldiering of the type he is being asked to carry out as little more than organized slaughter, even relying on machines to do the killing in ever more indiscriminate ways with none of the contest between men, of strategies, and arms and resourcefulness -- that was his real joy. The demons and goals that drive him culminate with Custer's disastrous action at Little Big Horn, which is beautifully (if not necessarily accurately) staged, in a stunning visual and aural denouement. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Based on author James T. Farrell's trilogy written between 1932 and 1935 and later combined into a one-volume Studs Lonigan book, this less than two-hour film does not quite do justice to the literary whole. Studs (Christopher Knight) is raised on Chicago's infamous South Side, an Irish kid when prejudice against the Irish was still around and hanging tough was the norm in impoverished neighborhoods. Once he leaves grade school behind and enters high school, a world of "wenching," fights, drinking, and wild parties starts to open up. By 1929, Studs is trapped into a marriage he comes to hate and as the decade of the '30s begins, he is still trying to be as tough as he can. But as he learns, no one can out-tough the Great Depression. At times confusing and histrionic and wordy (not to mention censored to fit a 1960s unspoken coda), Studs Lonigan falls short of the pithy, emotional, rugged world of Farrell's Irish hoodlum. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Michael Higgins plays an outwardly charming young man who befriends Doris Fesette and her two daughters, Jean Allison and Lois Holmes. The family is vacationing in a British resort town, next door to an unoccupied cottage. Higgins sweet talks his way into renting the cottage, so that he may drop in on the family any time he likes. One of those times, he reveals himself to be a homicidal maniac. Edge of Fury is based on Wisteria College, a novel by Robert M. Coates. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Neville Brand receives top billing by default in 20th Century-Fox's Man Crazy. The main characters--three larcenous Minnesota girls who travel to Hollywood with stolen funds--are played by newcomers Christine White, Irene Anders and Coleen Miller. The ladies have a high old time while trying to evade both the law and the man (John Brown) they ripped off back home. Paul Wocynski (Brand) is a shifty type who forces Georgia (White) into marriage when he learns the source of her money. As it turns out, he's one of the few likeable characters in the whole affair. John Brown, who plays the robbery victim in Man Crazy, would soon be blacklisted from films because of his alleged communist ties; radio fans will best remember Brown as Digger O'Dell, the "friendly undertaker" on The Life of Riley. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide