Donald Shebib Movies

Based on James Fenimore Cooper's classic novel, this adventure follows a mid-18th-century British scout through the wilderness on a mission to sneak into a French fortress. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The most notable thing about this Italian drama, set in British East Africa (Kenya) during WW II, is it's scenery. It follows the factual adventure of an Italian POW, Franco Distassi, interred in a British camp run by African subjects. The camp is close to Mount Kenya, one of the most challenging peaks for mountain-climbers. The chief officer, Major David Farrell, a recent widower and unambitious officer, wants to climb Mount Kenya. He is also interested in a lovely local widow. He has failed in his attempts for both the mountain and the woman. POWs Franco Distassi challenges Maj. Farrell to a climb. He and a partner, Enzo, create a plan, which may involve an escape, to place the Italian flag at the summit and then sneak back to camp. Franco dislikes the notion of planting the flag, but persists in the endeavor after Enzo must quit. He is pursued by the enraged and envious Major. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

1990's Little Kidnappers was a remake of the 1954 British film of the same name. Two Canadian orphans (Leo Wheatley and Charles Miller) are starved for affection. Their cantankerous, self-absorbed grandfather (Charlton Heston) pays very little attention to them. The boys "borrow" a baby so they can raise it as their very own, while the real parents--and the police--scour the countryside in search of the missing infant. This location-filmed version of The Little Kidnappers premiered over the Disney cable channel on August 17, 1990. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Climb is an authentic-looking reenactment of a treacherous 1953 mountain-climbing expedition. Dr. Karl Herrligkoffer (James Hurdle), whose half-brother was killed in 1932 while attempting to scale the 26,000-foot Himalayan peak Nanga Parbar, leads a German/Austrian expedition up the same mountain two decades later. Herrligkoffer's volatile partner in this mission is headstrong mountaineer Herman Buhl (Bruce Greenwood). The film is as much a story about the conflict of temperaments between Herrligkoffer and Buhl as it is about the climb itself. Donald Shebib wrote and directed this Canadian-made "open air" adventure. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Margot Kidder and Annie Potts star in this distaff buddy picture concerning two friends undergoing a series of misadventures in their love lives. Potts plays Bonnie Howard, the wife of Stanley (Robert Carradine), an immature child/man who irresponsibly spends most of his time racing cars and getting drunk. Bonnie also happens to be pregnant, but the father of her unborn child does not happen to be Stanley. Rather than hit Stanley in the face with that fact, she decides to leave him. As she heads for town to obtain an abortion, she runs into the foul-mouthed man-hunter Rita Harris (Margot Kidder in a blonde wig and tight pants). The two characters get involved in a number of vignettes, with the humor arising from the contrast between the streetwise Rita and the relatively innocent Bonnie. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

The Northern Canadian wilderness is the background for the fight for survival of 2 prejudiced men after their military plane crashes. (AKA Men of Steel) ~ Rovi

Get Back is a "loser" film: not a film that is itself a loser, but one about losers. Michael Parks and Chuck Shantana play a couple of over-aged surfers who sit around wondering why life has passed them by. With nothing else to occupy their time, the duo stages a holdup. The two have a falling out over leading lady Bonnie Bedelia, who is frankly too good for either of them. Though the protagonists seem doomed from the start, they still manage to evoke audience empathy. Filmed in Canada, Get Back's U.S. distribution was limited to festival showings and TV exposure. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Two men in their mid-twenties chase their dreams to the big city with tragic results in this acclaimed piece of low-key neorealism from Canada. Joey (Paul Bradley) and Peter (Doug McGrath) are best friends from a small town in Nova Scotia. With jobs scarce and prospects slim at home, Joey and Peter decide to pack up their meager belongings and head west to Toronto, where they're convinced better luck awaits them. Joey's uncle refuses to take in the travelers, and Peter's friends turn out to be short on job leads, but after a few rough nights, Joey, a practical sort, lands a job loading cases in a ginger ale bottling plant. Peter has aspirations toward better things, but it quickly becomes obvious he lacks the education or the temperament for office work, and before long he's hefting cases alongside Joey. For a while, the guys get along on their 80 dollars a week, and Joey finds a girlfriend in Betty (Jayne Eastwood), a pretty but tough-talking waitress. Peter has his eyes on Nicole (Nicole Morin), a beautiful woman who works in the plant's office, but after he gathers up the courage to take her out on the town, Nicole rejects his advances and he's left alone and humiliated. When Joey learns that Betty is pregnant, the two marry, but within a few weeks, both Joey and Peter are laid off, thanks to a seasonal slowdown, and their new lives begin to slip through their fingers. Shot in 16 mm on a shoestring budget, Goin' Down the Road became an unexpected critical success in both Canada and the United States and was named the best English-language Canadian feature of the century by the Toronto-based newsweekly MacLean's. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi