Melanie Mayron Movies

Michael Schultz directed this kinetic, hyperventilating comedy (scripted by Joel Schumacher) concerning the crazed events that go on within a single 10-hour period at a Los Angeles car wash. The cast of colorful car-wash employees includes Lonnie (Ivan Dixon), an ex-con; Duane (Bill Duke), a militant black activist; and Lindy (Antonio Fargas), an obnoxious homosexual. Sully Boyar plays Mr. B, the frazzled car-wash owner who has to deal with his screwball employees along with his over-educated slip of a son, Irwin (Richard Brestoff), who quotes Mao and wants to radicalize the workers. Also along for the wash and wax are Miss Beverly Hills (Lauren Jones), with a wild assortment of wigs; Marsha (Melanie Mayron), the distracted car wash secretary; a mad bomber (Prof. Irwin Corey), who is terrorizing the neighborhood; and Daddy Rich (Richard Pryor), the founder of the Church of Divine Economic Spirituality, who sports a gold limousine. Danny de Vito, Brooke Adams and others were originally in the cast but their scenes were ultimately deleted. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

This is a modern-day retelling of the Cinderella fairy tale. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

Wesley Snipes is battling bad guys in the air again, this time with parachutes, in this action-packed suspense thriller. Pete Nessip (Snipes) is a Federal Marshall who, teamed with his brother Terry (Malcolm-Jamal Warner), is escorting criminal computer genius Earl Leedy (Michael Jeter) to a new prison facility. Pete, Terry, and Earl are on a jet en route to Earl's new lockup when terrorists attempt a daring hijacking; Terry is killed in an explosion aboard the plane, and suddenly Earl is missing. Pete discovers that a team of sky-diving outlaws, led by former DEA agent gone bad Ty Moncrief (Gary Busey), have snatched Earl from his flight and spirited him away for a special raid on Washington D.C.; Ty and his men intend to take advantage of an obscure rule in which the normally restricted airspace in Washington D.C. is open to parachute enthusiasts on July 4. Eager to avenge his brother's death and put both Ty and Earl behind bars, Pete recruits sky-diving expert Jessie Crossman (Yancy Butler) to teach him how to infiltrate Ty's team of sky-bound criminals. Superb aerial stunt work highlights this film; please note that Pete's last name is an anagram for the leading man's last name. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A fairly faithful remake of Disney's earlier feature of the same name, this version first aired on television. Gaby Hoffman stars as Annabelle, a girl who thinks her mother has an easy life. Her mother Ellen (Shelley Long) thinks Annabelle's life is the better of the two, and after an argument one Friday morning, the two magically switch personalities. After much mayhem and confusion, the two learn that the grass is not really greener on the other side of the fence. Actress-turned-director Melanie Mayron directed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

One of the first fictional efforts by former documentary maker Claudia Weill, Girlfriends focuses on a pair of roommates, Susan Weinblatt and Anne Munroe, played by Melanie Mayron and Anita Skinner. Anne gets married, leaving the plump, insecure Susan alone for virtually the first time in her life. A mild flirtation with a rabbi leads to a whole new life for Susan when she becomes a portrait photographer for Jewish weddings and bar mitzvahs. Claudia Weill wrote the (presumed) autobiographical screenplay with Vicki Polon. Filmed in New Jersey, Girlfriends was an expansion of a short subject subsidized by the American Film Institute. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Heartbeeps stars Andy Kaufman and Bernadette Peters as domestic robots who fall in love and run off together. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

A secretary turns small-scale revolutionary in this satiric comedy drama from director Jamie Babbit. Anna (Melonie Diaz) is a woman in her early twenties who has recently graduated from college but is still figuring out what she wants to do with her life. Anna works as a receptionist for a plastic surgeon, but has mixed feelings about how he manipulates women's negative self-image for profit. Anna is also single and a lesbian, and is having a hard time meeting new women after breaking up with her latest girlfriend. One evening, Anna sees a woman spray painting graffiti on the side of the building where she works, encouraging women to not get breast enlargement surgery; Anna is intrigued and introduces herself. The vandal is Sadie (Nicole Vicius), the leader of a group of lesbian counter-cultural pranksters who call themselves "C*nts in Action," or the CIA. Sadie takes a liking to Anna and invites her to join fellow members Shulamith (Carly Pope), Aggie (Lauren Mollica), and Meat (Deak Evgenikos) as they deface billboards and put up homemade sculptures of feminist icons in public parks. Anna likes the CIA and their aggressive style, and she is strongly attracted to Sadie; eventually, they sleep together, but Anna soon learns Sadie already has a longtime companion, Courtney (Melanie Mayron), and she begins to wonder if she can support every position the CIA has embraced. Itty Bitty Titty Committee was voted Best Feature Film at the 2007 South by Southwest Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Melanie Mayron guest stars as Doris, the astrologer sister of the Buchmans' dog-walker, Nat (Hank Azaria). When Doris offers to draw up charts for the Buchman family, Jamie (Helen Hunt) is reluctant to cooperate -- and not without good reason. Originally slated to air in the U.S. on February 4, 1997, this episode was bumped to March 11 due to an unexpected pre-emption (though it ran on Canadian TV on February 4, as scheduled). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Costa-Gavras's tense political drama opens in an unspecified South American country (though clearly intended to be Chile) in the throes of a military coup. American activist Charles Horman (John Shea), who has been a thorn in the side of the country's military ever since his arrival, suddenly disappears. In trying to find out what has happened, his wife Beth (Sissy Spacek) is stonewalled, not only by the ruling junta but by the American consulate. His father, staunchly patriotic Ed Horman (Jack Lemmon), joins Beth in her search. Ed and his daughter-in-law have never seen eye to eye politically, and he refuses to entertain the notion that his son's disappearance might be part of a larger conspiracy or cover-up. But as the days grow into weeks, Ed comes to the shattering conclusion that he and his family have been betrayed by the American government, on behalf of the "friendly" South American dictator who holds his people in a grip of iron. Adapted by Costa-Gavras and Donald E. Stewart from a book by Thomas Hauser, Missing was inspired by the true story of the late Charles Horman. In spite of (or perhaps because of) condemnation from certain high-ranking officials in the Reagan administration, the film went on to win an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, as well as nominations for Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Actress. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this suspenseful drama, a military transport crashes en route from Iceland to Newfoundland thereby stranding the surviving crew and passengers in an unforgiving, frozen wasteland. As repeated rescue attempts fail due to bad weather, equipment failure, and other problems, the plane's injured captain (Richard Chamberlain) must somehow keep his cold, hungry and injured survivors calm and their spirits up. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The made-for-television Playing for Time debuted on September 30, 1980. Vanessa Redgrave stars as Fania Fenelon, a Jewish cabaret singer working in Paris at the time of the Nazi invasion. Shipped to the Auschwitz death camp in 1944, Fenelon is certain that she is as doomed as all the other prisoners. But SS camp matron Shirley Knight has other plans: she orders Fenelon and several other female inmates with musical ability to form themselves into a prisoner's orchestra. They are to perform for the benefit of those who are herded into the gas chambers--a "humane" means of easing the condemned into the next world. As much as she despises her work, Fenelon and her fellow musicians continue to play, lest they too be exterminated. The film raises several questions about courage, guilt and survival at any price, but the most controversial aspect was the casting of anti-Zionist Vanessa Redgrave as Fania Fenelon. Like many others, the real-life Fenelon (who died in 1988) was vehemently opposed to Redgrave's appearance in the film. Playing for Time won Emmy Awards for Redgrave, scriptwriter Arthur Miller, supporting actress Jane Alexander, and as Outstanding Dramatic Special. Redgrave's husband Tony Richardson was the original director, but he bowed out and was replaced by Joseph Sargent., who himself was replaced by Daniel Mann (the only one credited) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide