Murray Shostak Movies
- 2000
A remake of the 1973 TV movie of the same name, Satan's School for Girls is set within the grim walls of Fallbridge College for Girls. Hoping to learn the truth behind the "suicide" of her younger sister, Beth Hammersmith enrolls in Fallbridge under the assumed name of Karen Oxford. Our heroine soon learns that the school is in the clutches of a coven of witches called "The Five" -- and that she herself has the right satanic qualities to enable The Five to take over the world. Kate Jackson, who played the leading role of Roberta Lockhart in the original film, is here cast as college dean Olivia Burtis. The "new" Satan's School for Girls was telecast by ABC on March 13, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shannen Doherty, Kate Jackson, (more)
- 1988
- PG
A sheriff struggles vainly to keep the annual Cannonball Run cross-country race from taking place in this comedy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Candy, Peter Boyle, (more)
This was the "unofficial" Liberace biopic, as opposed to the error-ridden "official" Liberace (telecast one week earlier in October of 1988). The star of Liberace: Behind the Music is Broadway actor Victor Garber, who later scored a personal triumph as the devilish Mr. Applegate in the revival of Damn Yankees. Behind the Music is an unauthorized TV movie based on the recollections of the pianist's business manager, giving scriptwriter Gavin Lambert far more leeway in delineating the title character, warts and all. The closing sequences delve much deeper into the AIDS question than was possible in the family-approved Liberace starring Andrew Robinson (who, to be fair, looks more like the real entertainer than does Victor Garber). Liberace: Behind the Music could have descended into tabloidism ("Behind the rumors and the secrets" read the advertising copy), but emerges as a work of conspicuous dignity and (reasonably) good taste. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victor Garber, Maureen Stapleton, (more)
- 1984
Jill Clayburgh stars in Miles to Go as a loving wife and mother. She discovers that she has terminal cancer, and struggles to come to grips with this appalling information. Resigned to her fate, she decides she has to leave "something more than a memory" for her husband (Tom Skerritt) and her daughters (Mimi Kuzyk and Rosemary Dunsmore). She endeavors to solve the various personal difficulties facing her family in the short time she has left-and to do that, she searches high and low for her own replacement! Made for TV, Miles to Go premiered on October 14, 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jill Clayburgh
- 1984
This routine French melodrama features Catherine Deneuve) as Margaux, an unhappily married recording-company executive with two children at home who starts an affair with Jeremy (Christophe Lambert), one of the singers she promotes through her company. Margaux's husband is away in New York working on a book, yet she still tries to hide her affair from her children, unwilling to let anyone know what is happening -- especially her husband. Jeremy's old singing partner Michel (Richard Anconina) misses his friend, who now spends most of his time with Margaux, and on one occasion Michel is forced to go to an important audition by himself. When the audition turns out to be a big success, Jeremy has to make up his mind about both his conflicting partnerships: one with Margaux and the other with Michel. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Catherine Deneuve, Christopher Lambert, (more)
- 1983
Strict behavior codes and the struggle to eke out a living provide a backdrop to this romantic drama set at the turn of the 20th century in rural, northern Quebec. Maria Chapdelaine (Carole Laure) returns to the home of her parents in a remote village, and during the period of one year, has her heart-strings pulled in three different directions at once -- though only one of those directions is what she really wants. She had been promised in marriage to the shy neighboring farmer (Pierre Curzi), whom she has known since they were children, but a suave man-about-town wants to marry her (Donald Lautrec), and a handsome trapper (Nick Mancuso) has fallen in love with her. Maria fluctuates between the trapper and the urban aristocrat, and as events unfold, her indecision leads to tragic consequences. Also filmed by Julien Duvivier in 1934, this story first became popular when published as a novel (by Louis Hemon) in 1913. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carole Laure, Nick Mancuso, (more)
Set in the '30s, Mountie Millen (Lee Marvin) is assigned to track down accused murderer Johnson (Charles Bronson), who has escaped in the high passes of the Canadian Rockies. Johnson, a trapper, has extensive knowledge of wilderness living, but Millen has the resources of the Canadian police at his beck and call. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Bronson, Lee Marvin, (more)
- 1981
- PG
Based on a true story, this film follows the trials and tragedies that befall Walter Reamer (Tom Skerritt) and his wife, Olive (Ellen Burstyn), as they struggle to create a home and raise a family in the brutal Canadian frontier of 1919. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ellen Burstyn, Tom Skerritt, (more)
- 1975
- R
In this melodrama a married woman cannot decide between her lover and her husband. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1973
Logan (Donald Pleasance) is a world-weary prospector living in a remote town in British Columbia. His girlfriend (Kate Reid) has been around the block a few times and is a bit of an opportunist. The two of them listen with some skepticism to New Yorker Mazella (Don Calf, who comes to them with a story about a cache of refined gold hidden in a deserted, tapped-out mine deep in the mountains. He persuades them to go on the trip, and it turns out to be quite an adventure. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1972
The famed Oscar Wilde tale about an unhappy and unfriendly giant is re-told in this animated effort. ~ All Movie Guide
