Chris Robinson Movies

Savannah Smiles is a sweet little film that proved a surprising hit on the Saturday matinee circuit. Mark Miller and Donovan Scott play a pair of good-natured escaped convicts who cross the path of precocious runaway Bridgette Andersen. When Andersen explains that she's hit the road because her wealthy parents neglect her, Miller and Scott decide to hold the kid for a huge ransom. You and I both know that the crooks will turn soft before the end, and return Andersen to her folks without a dollar changing hands, but even predicting the film's outcome cannot diminish its charm. Star Mark Miller, who also scripted Savannah Smiles, is the father of actress Penelope Ann Miller. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A Seminole Indian and Vietnam veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome uses his cold-blooded companions to seek vengeance against the people who killed his father in this horrific frightener from director William Grefe. Tim Ochopee (Chris Robinson) has been deeply scarred by his battlefield experiences. Upon finishing his tour of duty and returning to his home in the Everglades, all Tim wants is to live peacefully in the wilderness with his pet snake "Stanley." Upon discovering that his father has been killed under suspicious circumstances, however, Tim finds Stanley a mate and begins breeding the pair. Before long, Tim has a shack full of hungry snakes just waiting for a decent meal. That meal comes when Tim decides to sick his slithering friends in slimy snakeskin manufacturer Richard Thompkins (Alex Rocco). Infuriated that Tim would refuse his offer to purchase the snakes and transform them into tacky apparel, Thompkins hires a psychotic hitman (Paul Avery) to put the snake-loving vet in the ground. But Thompkins and his volatile gun for hire have underestimated the unusual bond that Tim shares with his snakes. Now, as Tim and his serpents come out to play, the poison begins to flow and the screaming starts. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

The Hawaiians is the sequel to 1969's Hawaii; both films were adapted from the same sprawling novel by James A. Michener. Charlton Heston is top-billed as a sailor who returns to his Hawaiian homestead, only to learn that his grandfather's fortune has been bestowed upon his hated cousin Alec McCowan. As a reprisal, Heston sets up his own pineapple plantation in competition with his cousin. Heston's son John Phillip Law falls in love with the daughter (Virginia Ann Lee) of a Chinese farmer (Mako). The issue of miscegenation rears its ugly head, but by the end of this very long film Heston's family is united by marriage to the Chinese clan. The British title of The Hawaiians was Master of the Islands. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The November 22, 1963, assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy shocked the nation and the world. The brisk investigation of that murder conducted under the guidance of Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren distressed many observers, even though subsequent careful investigations have been unable to find much fault with the conclusions his commission drew, the central one of which was that the assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, acted alone. Instead of satisfying the public, one result of the Warren Commission Report was that an unimaginable number of plausible conspiracy theories were bruited about, and these have supported a sizeable publishing mini-industry ever since. In making this movie, director Oliver Stone had his pick of supposed or real investigative flaws to draw from and has constructed what some reviewers felt was one of the most compelling (and controversial) political detective thrillers ever to emerge from American cinema. Long before filming was completed, Stone was fending off heated accusations of artistic and historical irresponsibility, and these only intensified after the film was released. In the story, New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner) is convinced that there are some big flaws in the investigation of Oswald (Gary Oldman), and he sets out to recreate the events leading up to the assassination. Along the way, he stumbles across evidence that a great many people had reason to want to see the president killed, and he is convinced that some of them worked in concert to frame Oswald as the killer. Among the suspects are Lyndon Baines Johnson (the next president), the CIA, J. Edgar Hoover, and the Mafia. Over the course of gathering what he believes to be evidence of a conspiracy, Garrison unveils some of the grittier aspects of New Orleans society, focusing on the shady activities of local businessman Clay Shaw (Tommy Lee Jones). Garrison's investigations culminate in his conducting a show trial that he knows he will lose and which he is sure will ruin his career in order to get his evidence into the public record where it can't be buried again. This movie won two of the many Academy Awards for which it was nominated: one for Best Photography (Robert Richardson) and the other for Editing (Joe Hutshing). ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

In this exploitation adventure, four female inmates bust out and head for the Everglades, where they face untold dangers. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Film editor Bill Brame directed this violent biker film featuring an intense performance by Bruce Dern as Keeg, the sadistic leader of a vicious gang of cyclists. When Keeg's girlfriend Lea (Melody Patterson) poses nude for an artist named Romko (Chris Robinson), the hooligan goes on a drunken rampage and rips up Romko's sketches, beating the artist severely. Later, Romko retaliates with some beatings of his own, leading to a grisly scene of revenge in which the artist's hands are slowly crushed in a metal vise. Brame's quickly paced film also includes the requisite drugged orgies and a gang-rape. Genre veterans Gary Littlejohn, Scott Brady, and Steve Brodie also appear in this brutal exploitation entry, which is fairly well-cast save for co-executive producer Casey Kasem's notion that he could be believable as Bruce Dern's brother. Trivia buffs should note that Kasem appeared in Brame's Free Grass the same year, and that his production partner for this film was California Lt. Gov. Mike Curb, who went on to lead the musical Mike Curb Congregation. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

Society as we know it may have been lost, but sex and dancing are still in style in this outrageous post-apocalyptic satire. In a not-so-distant future where a variety of environmental disasters have led to the final collapse of Western civilization, sexually ambiguous hipster Ricky G. (Johnny Simone) leads an encampment of rave kids who have created a makeshift city on the outskirts of Winnipeg. One of the community's leading citizens is porn-merchant and disc jockey Sabu (Jeremie Yuen), whose inexhaustible sexual appetite has led him on a mission to seduce 2,000 men before a looming flood destroys the village. Sabu is close enough to hitting the magic number to have chosen the special man he wants to be Mister 2K -- Happy (Craig Sftanas), an attractive if socially inept science buff who is able to communicate with alien life forms. However, Sabu has a rival for Happy's affections -- body-modification advocate and hair stylist Spanky (Clayton Godson), who tries to foil Sabu's plans by abducting Happy. Hey, Happy! was the first dramatic feature from Canadian independent filmmaker Noam Gonick. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Amy Medford (Jenny Agutter) is a dutiful housewife of the early 1900s. But when her husband objects to a wife with a career, Amy leaves her husband and comfortable lifestyle. She goes on to devote her life to teaching sight-and-hearing-impaired students at a tradition-bound special school. This film betrays its Disney-studio origins with an audience-rousing action climax, in which Amy's students take on a team of "normal" kids at a football game. Amy was produced by onetime Hollywood leading man Jerome Courtland. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Mickey Rooney stars in The Ace of Hearts as a zillionaire who offers a fortune to have himself killed. Down-at-heel Chris Robinson takes the job. Is that all there is to it, or is Rooney up to something? The plot isn't bad, but production values are spotty. Ace of Hearts was filmed partly on location in the South Seas. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This somewhat clunkily titled TV movie was an offshoot of producer Quinn Martin's series The FBI. Robert Foxworth plays Depression-era desperado Alvin Karpis, who for nearly five years eluded capture while committing bank robberies, kidnappings and murders. Karpis finally comes acropper when the FBI's J. Edgar Hoover (Harris Yulin) enters the case. Since this film was made long before Hoover became every filmmaker's favorite historical villain, he is depicted in shining-knight terms, a sharp contrast to the loathsome Karpis. Producer Martin had planned to produce six to nine additional TV-movies based on authentic FBI files, but dropped the project after only three entries. The FBI Vs. Alvin Karpis was first telecast November 8, 1974. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Travis Logan, D.A. is a TV pilot film, originally telecast in March of 1971. Vic Morrow heads the cast as Logan, while Hal Holbrook earns "special guest star" billing as a clever murderer. Logan is prepared to go around with Holbrook's defense team when they try to cop an insanity plea. But a little ardent sleuthing reveals a vital trip-up clue in the form of a shotgun pellet. Though Travis Logan, D.A. did not result in a series, its pilot film was far and away superior to most one-shot of its ilk. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Hogan plots to kidnap General Burkhalter as part of a hostage swap that will free Underground leader Hans Wagner (Chris Robinson). Unfortunately, things go awry, and it is Klink who ends up kidnapped. Worse still, negotiations for the release of Wagner fall through when Gestapo decides that Klink is eminently expendable. Also appearing are Ann Prentiss (sister of Paula Prentiss) as Ilse and Dick Wilson ("Mr. Whipple" of TV commercial fame) as Captain Gruber. Written by Bill Davenport, "The Missing Klink" first aired on January 4, 1969. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Not to be confused with the 1987 movie of the same name, this is one of the early films that Tom Laughlin directed before he became famous from his series on Billy Jack, an anti-hero of his time. Laughlin also stars in this uneven teen drama as its only developed character, Christopher Wotan, a high-school athlete who starts out as essentially a normal young man faced with the tyranny of a brutal coach, and the vagaries of romantic and sexual challenges. Because Christopher's father has been trampled by failure and alcohol abuse, questions arise about the son's fate as he takes on life's obstacles. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi