Tom McGowan Movies
- 1984
- R
This unusual horror anthology mixed edited-down versions of one unreleased feature and two previously released films (Death Wish Club and The Nightmare Never Ends) with newly shot wraparound footage to create a surreal combination of crazed plotting and grindhouse gore. The framing device consists of God and Satan on a train full of breakdancing teenagers telling each other stories about humans. The first story focuses on an institute for the mentally ill that is really a cover for a black market organ-harvesting operation. The second story focuses on a man who falls for a woman who is part of group of people that attempt suicide for fun. The final story tells the tale of a group of mortals who attempt to stop Satan from returning to earth to begin the apocalypse. Each episode combines deranged plot twists with heaping helpinds of sex and violence, resulting in a film that plays like a lysergic and deranged variant on comparatively sedate horror anthologies like Creepshow. Night Train to Terror didn't enjoy a great deal of box-office success, but has gone on to enjoy a lengthy life on home video, where it continues to astound (and confound) viewers with its blood-spattered weirdness. ~ Donald Guarisco, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Phillip Law, Cameron Mitchell, (more)
- 1983
Tom Conti stars as a drunken Scottish poet who preys upon the lasses of a New England college town by swooning over them with poetry and bedding them with a passion. He'd probably have continued in such fashion for who knows how long, were in not for his encounter with a lovely homespun gal (Kelly McGillis), who sets his head spinning in a lovesick swirl and forces him to get his life on track. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Conti, Kelly McGillis, (more)
- 1981
- R
No less than three directors contrived to piece together this crazy-quilt story (written by Dillinger scripter Phillip Yordan) of a newly-appointed Antichrist who rises up amid a morass of religious wackos, assorted demons, and Nazi war criminals. The identity of this evil agent is discovered by a relentless Nazi-hunter, who eventually convinces a couple of grizzled cops (Cameron Mitchell and original gangster Marc Lawrence) that his story is true. This long-shelved, low-budget occult weirdness was originally seen in condensed form (with the addition of some hokey stop-motion monster effects) in the horror anthology Night Train to Terror and appeared on home video as both Satan's Supper and the aptly-titled The Nightmare Never Ends. Look for Night Court's "Bull," Richard Moll (listed as "Charles Moll" in the credits), as the Nobel-winning (and far-from-bald) author of an atheist manifesto. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
A group of wagon train pioneers who are early followers of the Church of Latter Day Saints find persecution at every turn, as they are run out of each new town they hope to call home. With nowhere else to go, they turn their sites to unsettled lands, where they battle both the environment and the native peoples already living there in order to create the community that would come to be Salt Lake City. Following the band of Mormons on their journey, this drama is based on the real life story of their leader Brigham Young. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide
The Aristocats was the first Disney Studios animated feature to be produced after Walt Disney's death. A wealthy woman leaves her vast fortune to her four cats: the well-bred Duchess and her kittens, Berlioz, Toulouse, and Marie. Jealous butler Edgar, eager to get his mitts on the cats' legacy, abandons the felines in the French countryside. The four lost kitties are aided in their efforts to return home by the raffish country pussycats Thomas O'Malley and Scat Cat. In keeping with a tradition launched by The Jungle Book (1967), The Aristocats is top-heavy with celebrity voices, including Phil Harris, Eva Gabor, Scatman Crothers, Hermione Baddeley, and the ineluctable Sterling Holloway. Assembled by the "nine old men" then in charge of animation, The Aristocats was a commercial success, essentially proving that Disney animated features could succeed without the involvement of the company's founder. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Phil Harris, Eva Gabor, (more)
- 1960
A charming, 48-minute tale in the traditional Disney vein, this animal-filled children's story is about a little lost puppy who was mothered by and adopted into an extended family of raccoons. Naturally, the dog bonds with the furry masked bandits and even when the canine ends up back in the care of his real owner, he cannot forget his adopted family. His sentiments are particularly relevant when he finds himself at the head of a raccoon-hunt. To the credit of director Tome McGowan, the animal sequences are so convincing that there is almost a documentary feel to the story. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- 1959
This episode of Walt Disney Presents details the uneasy relationship between human beings and mountain lions (and cougars, pumas, and panthers) in the Rockies. In typical Disney fashion, the story is told from the lion's viewpoint, as we follow cougar cubs Chimbica and Tawny as they learn to survive and in a treacherous terrain full of unexpected predators. Also seen, again from a animal-eye view, is a typical mountain lion hunt. "Killers of the High Country" was filmed on location in Utah. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Winston Hibler
- 1958
Originally intended as a 4-reel followup to the 1957 "docudrama" short subject The Amazon Trader, Manhunt in the Jungle was extended to feature length in hopes of better bookings. The story is based on the 1928 search for explorer Col. P. H. Fawcett, who disappeared somewhere in the Amazon. Robin Hughes stars as Cmdr. George M. Dyott, the man who organized the searching party for the missing Fawcett (James Wilson). The Warnercolor exterior shots of Peru and the Amazon regions are the highlights of the film. Less successful are the dramatic passages, which look like something out of a junior-high production of Stanley and Livingstone. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robin Hughes, Luis Alvarez, (more)
- 1956
Amazon Trader can best be described as a featurette: at 42 minutes, it's too long for a short subject, but too brief for a feature. The film was designed by Warner Bros. as the first in a series of off-length films, intended for the lower half of double bills. The plot is comprised of four brief playlets, tied together by the narration of the Amazon Trader, played by John Sutton. In the first, a medical student learns first-hand not to dismiss the ministrations of a witch doctor; in the second, a husband-wife team of explorers search for a "lost" tribe; in the third, a female big-game hunter rescues a native boy from a piranha attack; and in the final yarn, a Devil's Island escapee receives his comeuppance at the hands of headhunters. The poor box-office showing of Amazon Trader effectively killed Warners' plans for any follow-up featurettes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Sutton, Maria Fernanda, (more)
