Carmine Caridi Movies

This breathlessly paced high-tech thriller stars Sean Connery as Anderson, a career criminal who's just been released from his latest prison term. Seeking a quick financial turnover, Anderson uses mob funding to finance an ambitious robbery. With a gang of expert thieves, Anderson sets about to rob every wealthy tenant of a fancy East Side apartment building. What he doesn't know is that every move he makes is being monitored and taped by several law-enforcement agencies, who hope that Anderson will lead them to the Mob kingpins. Though the film may look like a "comment" on the Watergate break-in, The Anderson Tapes actually preceded that third-rate burglary by nearly two years. The Anderson Tapes boasts an impressive supporting cast, many of whom play wildly against type, including Alan King as an aging and infirm Mafia don. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this sex farce, two middle-aged pairs of aspiring swingers rent a ]summer cottage in Martha's Vineyard. There they sit around discussing the pros and cons of having affairs. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Francis Ford Coppola's legendary continuation and sequel to his landmark 1972 film, The Godfather, parallels the young Vito Corleone's rise with his son Michael's spiritual fall, deepening The Godfather's depiction of the dark side of the American dream. In the early 1900s, the child Vito flees his Sicilian village for America after the local Mafia kills his family. Vito (Robert De Niro) struggles to make a living, legally or illegally, for his wife and growing brood in Little Italy, killing the local Black Hand Fanucci (Gastone Moschin) after he demands his customary cut of the tyro's business. With Fanucci gone, Vito's communal stature grows, but it is his family (past and present) who matters most to him -- a familial legacy then upended by Michael's (Al Pacino) business expansion in the 1950s. Now based in Lake Tahoe, Michael conspires to make inroads in Las Vegas and Havana pleasure industries by any means necessary. As he realizes that allies like Hyman Roth (Lee Strasberg) are trying to kill him, the increasingly paranoid Michael also discovers that his ambition has crippled his marriage to Kay (Diane Keaton) and turned his brother, Fredo (John Cazale), against him. Barely escaping a federal indictment, Michael turns his attention to dealing with his enemies, completing his own corruption. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

James Toback made his screenwriting debut with this taut drama, loosely adapted from the story by Dostoevsky. Axel Freed (James Caan) is an intelligent and well-respected professor of literature at a noted New York university, who uses great writing as a springboard for examining moral and philosophical issues in his class. But when he's not in front of the chalkboard, Axel has a serious problem -- he's hopelessly addicted to gambling. Axel will bet on almost anything, and while he lives for the heady rush of winning, it doesn't happen all that often, and Axel's latest losing streak has put him in debt to his bookies to the tune of $44,000, more than a college professor could hope to pay in 1974. Even after tapping his mother (Jacqueline Brookes), his grandfather (Morris Carnovsky), and his girlfriend (Lauren Hutton) for cash, Axel still owes thousands to his bookie Hips (Paul Sorvino), who is quickly losing his patience with Axel, especially when he learns after he finally scored a major winning streak, rather than paying off his bills he used the money to keep gambling ... and lost it all, leading to visits from an increasingly threatening series of underworld "collectors." The Gambler also features supporting performances from Burt Young, James Woods, and M. Emmett Walsh. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Crocker (Kevin Dobson) reluctantly, and regretfully, launches an investigation of his old high school pal Benny Morino (James Sutorius). An ex-convict, Benny had promised to go straight, but is now suspected of extortion and murder--and his lavish lifestyle and hair-trigger temper would seem to be proof of his guilt. Brad Dexter, best remembered as one of The Magnificent Seven in that 1960 film classic, appears as the head of a particularly insidious protection racket. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Determined to avenge the death of his brother, racketeer Hackford (Jack L. Ging) recruits teenager Billy Sherbak Jr. (Barry Miller) to do his dirty work. Hackford knows that even if Billy is arrested, he will serve a light sentence because he's a minor. After two men are killed, Billy is charged with both deaths--but Kojak (Telly Savalas) is certain that at least one of the killings was committed by someone else. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This made-for-television film, an unusual collaboration between hard rock group Kiss and children's television kings Hanna Barbera, became one of NBC's highest-rated programs of 1978. The plot, reminiscent of the average episode of Scooby-Doo, begins with crazed inventor Abner Devereaux (Anthony Zerbe) getting fired from his job at California's Magic Mountain amusement park for ignoring safety standards in his quest to create bigger and better attractions. Devereaux retreats to his underground lab and plots a revenge scenario that coincides with the arrival of rock group Kiss (playing themselves) to perform a concert at the park. Using his knowledge of animatronics, Devereaux creates android duplicates of Kiss and uses them to create havoc. However, he soon discovers he's in for a fight because the group has secret talisman amulets that give them special powers. Thus, the stage is set for a superhero-style showdown between Kiss and Devereaux's squad of animatronic henchmen. Although it is a live-action effort, Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park is cartoonish in the extreme as it dishes out plenty of bad jokes and low-budget special effects. It was a considerable ratings success, but also unfortunately branded Kiss with a "kiddie group" image that took years to shake. As a result, the members of the group consider Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park an embarrassment. Nevertheless, it remains a cult favorite with the group's fans and aficionados of odd television. ~ Donald Guarisco, All Movie Guide

In the conclusion of a two-part story (originally telecast as a single "TV movie"), glamorous socialite Kendall Warren (Lauren Bacall) insists upon helping Jim (James Garner) track down the mysterious assailant who has been trying to kill her--and to find out why she has been thus targetted. This case hits a snag when the most likely suspect, gangster Tommy Minnette (Carmine Caridi), ends up murdered himself. And what has become of Princess Irene (Dana Wynter), the woman who hired Jim to protect Kendall in the first place? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This two-part episode (originally telecast as a single two-hour "TV movie") was a byproduct of Robert Altman's theatrical feature H.E.A.L.T.H, in which costars James Garner and Lauren Bacall hit it off so well that Bacall asked to play a guest role on Garner's TV series. The screen legend is cast as Kendall Warren, jet-setting best friend of Princess Irene Rachevsky (Dana Wynter). When it becomes obvious that someone is trying to kill Kendall, the Princess asks Jim (James Garner) to investigate. The trail of clues leads to a lethal costume party, capped by the inevitable arrival of Jim's perennial "bete noire" Lt. Chapman (James Luisi). And keep an eye out for that celebrated socialite "Lord Evelyn Martin"--who looks an awful lot like our old friend Angel (Stuart Margolin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Inspired by a true story, Prince of the City stars Treat Williams as a Manhattan detective who agrees to help the US Department of Justice weed out corruption in the NYPD. Williams agrees on the assurance that he'll never have to turn in a close friend. Wired for sound, Williams almost immediately stumbles upon a police conspiracy to smuggle narcotics to street informants in order to insure cooperation. While this might be condonable in a stretch, the fact is that the many cops are using the drugs on their own, and are also highly susceptible to bribes. Williams gets the goods on the miscreants, but in so doing he breaks the "code" and becomes a pariah to his fellow officers. As we learn in the unsettling final scene, Williams will always be considered a "fink," even by honest cops. Prince of the City is too long for its own good, but its opening expository sequences and its final twenty minutes more than compensate for the duller stretches. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

For years, Tony Banta (Tony Danza) has driven a cab to finance his dream -- that of being a champion boxer. Also, for years Tony has spent more time flat on his back than in the center of the ring. Now, the time has come for Tony to give up his dream -- or at least, that is the conclusion of his friends, his doctor, and the boxing commission. Will Tony listen to this advice, or will his pride score a knockout over common sense? ~ All Movie Guide

This routine comedy is about a series of misadventures during a family vacation at the beach and stars John Candy (who died of a heart attack while filming in Mexico in 1994) as John Chester and Karen Austin as his long-suffering wife Sandy. When the family leave for what turns out to be a pretty decrepit shack on a public beach, Jack eventually locks horns with the owner of this dubious piece of real estate, and their conflict terminates in a boat race in which Jack and his motley crew are at first glance, and even second, no match for the others in the race. In the meantime, there are plenty of skits with Jack dressed as anything from an ample, unintentional likeness of a geisha to the normal tourist dude in a Hawaiian shirt. His wife and daughter tackle their own problems, related to sex in one way or another, mostly another. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Adapting the themes of the 1948 film Mr. Blandings Builds his Dream House, this comedy stars Tom Hanks as Walter Fielding, who with his love Anna (Shelley Long) decides to buy a suburban New York home for next-to-nothing. Both Anna and Walter are willing to fix what ails the house and since they are both successful professionals, that should not be too difficult. Unfortunately, what ails the house might be terminal as the rest of the film chronicles the battle between the couple and the disintegrating structure. Construction workers come in to make matters either worse or better -- or both. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide