Bob Simmons Movies

Dreamworks SKG's second feature-length animated film blends comedy and drama in an unusual historical adventure. Two genial swindlers working as stable hands stow away with Cortez, the legendary Spanish conquistador, as he searches for El Dorado, the lost City of Gold. Luck smiles on the two con men, and they happen to find a settlement in Mexico that they believe is El Dorado; however, while the two exotic strangers are at first embraced by the Mayan people, they've also arrived just in time to be offered up as the next human sacrifice. The Road to El Dorado was directed by Don Paul, who helmed the first DreamWorks animated feature, The Prince of Egypt; Will Finn, a featured animator on Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin; Bibo Bergeron, who worked on Ferngully: The Last Rainforest; and David Silverman. It features new songs by Elton John and Tim Rice, and the voice cast includes Kevin Kline, Kenneth Branagh, Rosie Perez, Edward James Olmos, and Armand Assante. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In this adaptation of Ian Fleming's 1955 novel, James Bond (Roger Moore) must thwart Sir Hugo Drax (Michel Lonsdale), who plans to wipe out all of humankind and replace it with a super race that he has cultivated in a massive space station. The film's Bond girl in the case is American secret agent Holly Goodhead, intelligently played by Lois Chiles. "Jaws," the steel-mouthed henchman played by Richard Kiel in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), makes a return appearance in Moonraker, turning good guy (complete with a girlfriend of his own) in the process. Bernard Lee makes his last appearance as "M" in what was up til this point, the most costly of James Bond's 1970s escapades. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Audiences loved him as a Berber sheik in the historical saga The Wind and the Lion, so who better to play a Saudi Arabian minister of state who wants to make peace with Israel during the Arab oil embargo of 1976 than Sean Connery? Connery plays Khalil Abdull-Muhsen, a peace-mongering diplomat who wants to sign a mutual assistance pact with Israel and sell Saudi oil to needy nations at cost. The object of his pipe-dream plan is to free those needy nations from the East-West conflict. Unfortunately, the world is not ready for such starry-eyed idealism, and before you can say "Tiger in your tank," Khalil finds himself the victim of choice for a network of Arab terrorist groups. The terrorists clearly have the pick of the litter at the casting office, for Khalil finds himself pursued by the frisky and beautiful Bryn Mawr graduate and cool-as-a-cucumber terrorist Nicole Scott (Cornelia Sharpe). ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Roger Moore makes his first appearance as "Bond...James Bond" in 1973's Live and Let Die. Bond is dispatched to the States to stem the activities of Mr. Big (Yaphet Kotto), who plans to take over the Western Hemisphere by converting everyone into heroin addicts. The woman in the case is Solitaire (Jane Seymour in her movie debut), an enigmatic interpreter of tarot cards. The obligatory destructive-chase sequence occurs at the film's midpoint, with Bond being chased in a motorboat by Mr. Big's henchmen, slashing his way through the marshlands and smashing up a wedding party. Clifton James makes the first of several Bond appearances as redneck sheriff Pepper, while Geoffrey Holder is an enthusiastic secondary villain. The title song, written by Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney, provides the frosting on this 007 confection. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Peter Yates directed this quirky World War II war drama starring Peter O'Toole as Murphy, an Irishman who survives the torpedoing of a merchantman ship off the jungle coast of Venezuela by a German U-boat. Murphy is rescued by French oil engineer, Louis Brezon (Philippe Noiret), who reluctantly takes Murphy to a nearby Quaker mission hospital. Nursed back to health by a missionary nurse (Sian Phillips), Murphy himself nurses a grudge against the German U-boat that blew up the British merchant ship. Meanwhile, a pilot is brought to the mission whose plane had been shot down by the Germans. He begs Murphy to find his airplane to keep it out of enemy hands. But after the pilot dies, Murphy has another idea -- to find the plane, locate the hated U-boat, and blow it to smithereens. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

In this western adventure, Shalako (Sean Connery) leads a hunting expedition in the wilds of New Mexico. There they run across an Apache camp where the Countess Irina (Brigitte Bardot) is being held hostage. When the Indians retaliate by destroying the camp of the European aristocrats, Shalako must use his wiles to battle the Indians and the jealous members of his own hunting party. The camp is robbed by Fulton (Stephen Boyd), who runs off with the wife of Sir Dagget (Jack Hawkins). Lady Boyd (Honor Blackman) leaves her rich husband in a dramatic split decision prompted by the marital discord between her and her pompous husband. Shalako leads the survivors through dangerous mountain terrain, engaging in climactic hand-to-hand combat. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Terence Young directed this first of a long line of screen adventures with Ian Fleming's unflappable British Secret Service Agent 007 in a fast-paced, tongue-in-cheek style that set the tone for the rest of the popular series. Sean Connery sets the standard by which all future takers must measure themselves as the insouciant and devil-may-care James Bond. The story concerns Bond being sent to Jamaica to investigate the murders of a British agent and his secretary. During his investigation, he comes into contact with the evil and unscrupulous Chinese scientist Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman) who, living on an island called Crab Key, is hard at work in a nuclear laboratory. Dr. No's scheme is to divert rockets being fired from Cape Canaveral off their charted course and to blackmail the United States to get their rocket launches restored to normal. Helping Bond is Ursula Andress (mostly undressed in a bikini throughout most of the film), as well as bad gals like Zena Marshall, who almost leads Bond to his death in her bedroom, and Eunice Gayson, a Bond pickup in a London gambling house who proves herself a greater adversary than even James Bond can handle. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

In this WW II adventure, five brave Allies endeavor to escape from an Italian POW camp in North Africa. They succeed, but their trials are not over as they must still cross the burning Libyan desert to get safely behind Allied lines. En route they are captured by a Nazi-loving sheik. The sheik takes considerable time to decide the fate of the escapees; in that time, the five manage to escape again. This time they kill their captors. The film is also titled No Time to Die. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

A man running away from his problems escapes conventional reality with the help of a band of pirates in this offbeat fantasy. Manuel (Manuel Mesquita) is a musician who is short on money and behind on his tax payments. Eager to leave his troubles behind, he spies a 15th Century pirate's ship and impulsively jumps on board. Throwing in his lot with the sea-going bandits, Manuel discovers they're an unusual bunch, searching for a strange but powerful substance called plutex and possessing the ability to become invisible, adopt new languages, or fashion strange gizmos at will. But matters of principle and opinion lead to conflicts among the crew, and Manuel searches for a way to follow his own path while doing right by his friends. A Espada e a Rosa (aka The Sword and the Rose) was the first feature film from director Joao Nicolau. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi