John Saxon Movies

Though we didn't see it acknowledged in the opening credits, Baby Doll Murders is a reworking of the 1964 Victor Buono vehicle The Strangler. There's a killer on the loose, preying upon beautiful young women. At the scene of each crime, the police find a damaged baby doll. Detective Jeff Kober detects a subtle pattern emerging. Alas, it leads to the inescapable conclusion that the next victim will be the wife of Kober's partner. Expectedly exploitational, Baby Doll Murders is not bad of its kind. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This slick-looking but rather dreary science fiction twist on the vampire genre introduces a crash-landed alien who enters the aged, dying body of Max Page (Robert Sampson. Suddenly, Page's health takes an amazing U-turn. Max soon rises from his deathbed and checks out of the hospital with newfound vitality and a nagging thirst for the estrogen-laced blood of ovulating women (an original, if disgusting, twist on vampirism). Fearing for his family's safety, he flees for San Diego, stopping every other day to prey on more women, until he grows youthful enough to be played by another actor (Joseph Culp). Meanwhile, a gruff FBI agent (John Saxon, in a permanent state of gruff after a lifetime of cop roles) investigates. The one-note material is enlivened a bit by some familiar "B"-movie faces -- including the lovable Michael J. Pollard -- but very little is done with the premise of the alien's estrogen requirements, other than to show Max sniffing around in some rather inappropriate places. Adept "B"-movie buffs can spot Re-Animator director Stuart Gordon and his wife, actress Carolyn Purdy-Gordon, in cute cameos. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Honest small-town cop Wings Hauser is weighed down by personal problems. This fact must be put on the back burner when crooked businessman John Saxon commits murder. Though the identity of the killer is never in question, Saxon manages to buy everybody off except Hauser. In order to collar the criminal, the sheriff must overcome his emotional difficulties-and keep one step ahead of a frame-up concocted by Saxon This modest melodrama offers good work from distaff cast members Frances Fisher, Patty D'Arbanville and Margaux Hemingway. Deadly Conspiracy was also released as Frame Up. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Piecing together exciting film footage of martial arts performances, Deadliest Art demonstrates the reasons for the popularity of martial arts combat in visual entertainment. The history of the art, including basics of the Eastern philosophies that govern it, provides insight along with the demonstration of various types of martial arts fighting. Touching on the skills and frame of mind necessary to perform feats of this kind, this film showcases the beauty of defense without weapons, as well as special techniques required to incorporate the use of weapons, and the ways in which the martial arts have been showcased in the film industry. ~ Sarah Sloboda, All Movie Guide

In this crime drama, murder begets vengeance and violence ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

When Will Colton (David Hasselhoff) journeys back to his home town, he is shocked to discover that a gang of motorcycle thugs have killed his family and taken over. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Jessica (Angela Lansbury) heads to wine-growing country to help wealthy vintner Salvatori Gambini (Eli Wallach) celebrate his 75th birthday. Unfortunately, Gambini's fractious family isn't in a celebratory mood, and the festivities come to a grim climax when a corpse is found in the wine cellar. In her efforts to solve the mystery, Jessica is heartbroken over the likelihood that she might have to turn an old and cherished friend over to the authorities. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the quest to find out whatever prompted a rat to emerge in their newspaper's bathroom, Pam Weiss (Catherine Bach) and Sharon Fields (Charlene Dallas) head down to the tunnels that begin in their building's basement. They imagine all sorts of scenes from horror movies, but instead discover a bunch of murderous real-estate developers. Their delectable looks notwithstanding, the two newswomen show off some admirable martial arts skills as they stop the bad guys from having their way with them. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

The best of the Elm Street sequels, this creepy, surreal fantasy features terrific effects, a fine young cast, and an air of grim fatalism that sets it apart from its giggly successors. Patricia Arquette stars as Kristen, whose nightmare leads to a slashed wrist which looks suspiciously like a suicide attempt. She is placed in a hospital psychiatric ward with a group of six other troubled teens who all dream about the same horribly burned man (Robert Englund) trying to kill them. Perhaps the most unusual thing about this picture, however, is the unexpected depth of sadness running through it. There are some achingly sweet moments in this otherwise frightening film which, though not disruptive, are impossible to analyze. The first and most bizarre of these is Heather Langenkamp's entrance, which inexplicably causes most viewers to get misty-eyed, and there are several similar scenes throughout the film. One answer can be found in the sensitive direction of Chuck Russell, who emphasizes the tragedy and utter hopelessness in these kids' lives and manages to wring some unexpectedly perceptive turns from his cast. This is a film in which a great deal of care was obviously lavished on individual scenes (the sets are outstanding) and performances. The results are well worth repeated viewings, and prove that sequels don't necessarily have to be inferior films. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

In a complex sci-fi tale set at some point in the not-too-distant future, an evil industrialist named Francis Turner (John Saxon) has created Paco Querak (Daniel Greene), a cyborg who is 70% robot and 30% human. Paco has been programmed to murder a blind ecologist whose environmental activism does not sit well with Turner's bottom-line motivation. But once he is set up to do his job, the 30% human component in Paco only permits him to injure the ecologist, not kill him. With the local police (and eventually just about everyone else) after him, Paco detours to Arizona to look for his true identity. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Writer-director Richard Brooks' final film features a weak script and poor acting but high energy direction in a tale of compulsive gambling in Las Vegas. Ryan O'Neal stars as Taggart, a sports reporter obsessed with gambling. As Taggart gets deeper and deeper into debt, he compounds his problems with assorted loansharks and gambling operators. Taggart has already lost his wife because of his compulsive gambling, but he takes up with big-timer Charley (Giancarlo Giannini), hoping to make a killing and settle the score. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Jessica (Angela Lansbury) arrives in Hollywood, where her first mystery novel "The Corpse Danced at Midnight" is being made into a movie. Unfortunately, Jessica is displeased by the decision of film producer Jerry Lydecker (John Saxon) to "juice up" her novel with heavy doses of sex and violence, and she makes no secret of her outrage. Thus it is that Jessica ends up on the suspect list when the highly unlikable Lydecker turns up murdered. John Astin, later a series semi-regular in the role of Cabot Cove real estate agent Harry Pierce, is here cast as Ross Hayley. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide