Paul L. Smith Movies

A gunslinging con man develops a tricky scheme to make a killing at a major poker tournament in this comic Western inspired by the popular television show. Mel Gibson assumes the role of Bret Maverick, the handsome rogue who hopes to cheat his way to success. In need of a large stake to enter a major card competition on a Louisiana steamboat, Maverick decides to take advantage of a few small-town poker players. These include the seemingly sweet Annabelle Bransford (Jodie Foster) and the intimidating Angel (Alfred Molina), neither of whom is too happy about their loss. Things become even more complicated for Maverick when the law gets involved, with Marshal Zane Cooper (James Garner, who played the role of Maverick in the original television series) giving chase. A series of stagecoach chases, complicated cons, and gun battles ensues, with Annabelle and Maverick finding time for plenty of flirtation along the way. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi

A kickboxing cop abandons the violent life after he accidentally kills his opponent during a match. After quitting, he heads for the Arizona desert to live alone and occasionally work tracking drug runners for the area sheriff. One particularly wily Mexican drug lord, Santos, has been a real thorn in tracker Joe Highhawk's side, so when he encounters the beautiful Claudia and her simpleton brother Anthony running for their lives because she, an accountant, embezzled $20 million from Santos, he decides to help them. This actioner follows what happens next. Along the way, they encounter all sorts of danger, and double cross until the exciting final standoff between the kickboxer and the villain. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Prison chicks provide the basis for this exploitation film. The tale centers on two young women, one a naive, star-struck midwestern girl, and the other a savvy hitcher, who head for Tinseltown in search of stardom only to find themselves appearing in a soft-core porno flick. Unfortunately they end up arrested and thrown in prison where they are abused by the ubiquitous overbearing chief lesbian guard who forces inmates to become sexual slaves for the millionaires who frequent the penitentiary. Meanwhile, the naive girl's sister refuses to believe the claim that her sister is in Mexico shooting a film, and goes to LA to investigate the situation herself. When she finds out what has been happening, she enlists the aid of a biker and detectives to help her stop the insanity of it all. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The story contained in this bizarre psychological drama/horror movie adds a new dimension to the term "dysfunctional family." It is set in a small town in New Mexico and is told through the eyes of "Sonny Boy," a horribly abused child who was raised by the brutal giant Slue, who rules Harmony with an iron fist and makes his money stealing and fencing televisions. Slue's "wife" and fellow gang member is the cross-dresser Pearl. They get Sonny Boy after their fellow gang-mate Weasel botches a car theft and kills the owners. He brings the car back and that's when they find the baby, whom Slue would have fed to the hogs had not Pearl begged him to let him raise the child. The kid might have been better off dead, for Slue constantly tortures the boy and even sets him afire one day. When not "toughening the boy up," Slue keeps him in a water tower and only feeds him live chickens to give him a craving for fresh blood. Seventeen years pass in this way. One day, Slue gets angry with the town mayor, loads Sonny in an ice cream truck and takes him to visit the town leader. Sonny Boy rushes in and bites the hapless mayor in the neck. From then on, Slue uses the poor teen to terrorize the town. One day, he leaves the boy briefly in a bar where Sonny meets seductive Sandy and is attracted to her. Had Slue not cut out his tongue, to keep Sonny from telling secrets to the police, he would have talked to the girl. Later Slue goes off on a business trip and Weasel and another take Sonny Boy out to kill a prospector for his gold. This is the final straw and the townsfolk finally retaliate. Sonny Boy survives the ensuing massacre and for the first time in his life is given a chance for normalcy and maybe even happiness. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Steven Chase (William Zipp) is a naive jogger who runs across a dying man with a gun in this low-budget action thriller. With his dying breath, the man hands Steven the gun and says "you're it." Steven is now in a deadly urban game of cat-and-mouse as he is chased by a corporate killer known only as "The Chairman" (C.T. Collins). Christine Crowell plays Steven's ill-fated sister, with Bainbridge Scott as heroine Diana Lewis. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Unknowingly, a group of computer-hacking teens tamper with a federal system program in what they think is an innocent enough game of strategy. After they begin relaying deadly instructions, they find it is not merely a virtual game they are playing. ~ Kristie Hassen, Rovi

In this sword and sorcery film, a wimpy college professor Tarl Cabot (Urbano Barberini) is mysteriously thrown into the world of Gor, where he must battle the evil Sarm (Oliver Reed) to save the innocent people of Gor. ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi

Gene Wilder directed and wrote (along with Terence Marsh) this mild farce which is a pale reminder of Wilder's glory days in Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein. Wilder plays ham radio actor Larry Abbot, who takes his fiancee Vickie Pearle (Gilda Radner) out to meet his relations on a gloomy country estate before they are married. The creepy clan is lorded over by the bizarre Aunt Kate (Dom DeLuise), who keeps babbling about a local rampaging werewolf. As Larry and Vickie try to spend a quiet weekend in the mansion, they are assaulted with all manners of spooky goings-on -- the kind of routines that were already growing whiskers when Abbott and Costello first dusted them off over fifty years ago. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

In a slapstick spoof of hitmen and crime stories, the head of a security systems company (Hamid Dana) is bumped off by two gonzo exterminators (Brion James and Paul L. Smith) who have gone from stomping out pesky varmints to stomping out human targets, and one of them does so with gusto. Now the exterminators go after the partner who hired them and his blatantly obnoxious wife (Louise Lasser) and in the meantime frame a poor security guard (Reed Birney) for the murder of the company boss. The tale is told in flashbacks, as the security guard has been tried and convicted and is shown at the beginning, about to be executed. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

In an unusual move, this gangster story features no good guys, telling its tale strictly within the confines of the mob. Steve King (Vince Edwards) is trying to gain control of the cocaine market in one region of his home state of Texas. After borrowing money from a New York mobster, he plans on buying a huge shipment from a druglord named Duval. King's opponents in this underground batle are the mobster Bedford (Billy J. Holman) and a pair of petty criminals (Carey Clark and Gary Lee Love). After the petty thieves steal King's money for the drug buy, Bedford kidnaps Duval, leading to a lot of hard feelings and the inevitable shoot-out. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Another effort from the prolific Australian firm of Crawford Productions, this weekly comedy-drama series focused on young Tam and Steve Henderson (Nadine Garner, Paul Smith) who (briefly) lived with their peripatetic foster father Walter Mullins (Michael Aitkens) in the town of Haven Bay. As Walter sought out a lucrative business in which to invest, the kids were left to their own devices, and their own circle of friends (and enemies). During the series' third season, the title was changed to The Henderson Kids II; having spent two years traveling all over Australia, the family again settled down, this time in the harbor town of Westport. Henderson Kids debuted in 1985, while Henderson Kids II first aired in 1987. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Australia's longest-running sitcom, Hey Dad...! premiered in 1984. Robert Hughes starred as Martin Kelly, a widowed architect who forsook his lucrative business to raise his four kids: Simon (played first by Paul Smith, then by Christopher Mayer), Debbie (Simone Buchanan), and Jenny (Sarah Monahan). The series' "breakthrough" character was Simon's best pal Nudge (Christopher Truswell), who was given most of the big laugh lines. Simultaneously adored and reviled by the Australian viewing public (and, curiously, an enormous success on German television), Hey Dad...! remained on the air for ten years, racking up an astronomical 300 episodes. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi