Alana Stewart Movies
- 2011
An armed courier flees from Japanese gangsters and a vengeful Armenian art dealer while attempting to raise the money to stop the banks from foreclosing on his mother's home. Military veteran Shane is still reeling from the horrors he witnessed on the battlefield when he returns home to learn that his mother just received a foreclosure notice. In desperation, Shane accepts a job as a courier, and begins using his father's vintage '67 Mustang to make his deliveries in style. Once Shane has proven himself, his boss sends him to pick up a shipment of cash to pay for a rare work of art. Later, at a truck stop, Shane comes to the aid of a beautiful girl, and winds up on the winning end of a gun battle with a vicious Japanese gangster. Now the gangster's vengeful father isn't the only one looking for Shane, and getting out of this predicament will require using every survival tactic the retired solder learned while he was fighting for his country overseas. Delivered garnered a Special Jury Award and Best Supporting Actress honors for Alana Stewart at the 2011 Houston WorldFest . ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Michael Madison, Alana Stewart, (more)
Informed by a Chicago police detective that her sister Diane has recently gone missing in Tijuana, Mexico, successful lawyer Nadine Roberts (Poppy Montgomery) travels south of the border on a desperate mission to locate her lost sibling, and instead finds her sanity slipping amidst an unsetting series of strange circumstances. Immediately after learning that her sister has disappeared, Nadine informs her husband James (Adam Kaufman) that she will be leaving for Mexico, and will not return until she discovers what fate befell Diane. While Tijuana Detective Campos (Jose Yenque) is adamant that Nadine return home immediately and leave the search to the authorities, she outwardly rejects his advice -- instead choosing to navigate the labyrinthine streets with instinct as her only guide. Later, after waking in a strange hotel room, Nadine has a series of bizarre run-ins with such mysterious figures as idiosyncratic hotel clerk Victor (Danny Pino) and enigmatic Old Tijuana matriarch Mrs. Gonzalez (Patricia Reyes Spindola). Driven near the point of insanity due to the indecipherable language spoken by Victor and Mrs. Gonzalez, Nadine is momentarily snapped back to reality due to the surprise appearance of her husband James. But no one can be trusted when the only thing dividing dreams from reality is a single, spare thread, and now Nadine is about to discover what really lies in that mysterious zone between life and death. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Poppy Montgomery, Adam Kaufman, (more)
A boy makes the acquaintence of a 500 pound gorilla, and the two become fast friends. ~ Rovi
- Starring:
- Gil Gerard, Kevin Dobson, (more)
Director Jonathan Demme made one of his more conventional movies with Swing Shift, an examination of life on the American home front during WWII. Goldie Hawn, who also served as the film's producer, stars as Kay, a woman who takes a job on the line at a plant producing war planes after her husband goes off to fight in Europe. One of her coworkers is her best friend Hazel, played by Christine Lahti, whose performance earned an Oscar nomination and a New York Film Critics award. Kay falls in love with another coworker, Lucky (Kurt Russell), who couldn't enlist because of a weak heart. Kay's husband Jack (Ed Harris) comes home on leave and finds out that his wife has betrayed him. Lucky then decides to pursue Hazel, driving a wedge between the two best friends. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi
- Starring:
- Goldie Hawn, Kurt Russell, (more)
- 1984
- R
In this mindless movie aping the 1960 hit about teens out for sun, surf, and sex, the "boys" are at the beach in Fort Lauderdale, Florida -- the destination of thousands of U.S. university students on their spring break and the destination of the four female protagonists here. After arriving, Jennie (Lisa Hartman) has to decide whether she really cares for Camden (Daniel McDonald), a nerdy musician, or the jock Scott (Russel Todd); Carole (Lorna Luft) has been unexpectedly followed to Lauderdale by a boyfriend; Sandra (Wendy Schaal) falls in love with a cop when she is arrested; and Laurie (Lynn-Holly Johnson) is simply out for a good time with anyone, or everyone. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Lisa Hartman, Russell Todd, (more)
Wanda Hendrix is awfully cute as a WAVE officer who is endlessly pursued by lascivious men. Ex-airmen Edmond O'Brien, Johnny Sands and Steve Brodie spend most of their time chasing Wanda about, but she manages to keep them at arms' length. You see, she only has eyes for her boyfriend Dick Erdman, who is on the lam from vengeful millionaire Rudy Vallee. But it's O'Brien who ends up with Wanda, after nearly getting pounded into hamburger in the boxing ring as a means of proving his love. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Edmond O'Brien, Wanda Hendrix, (more)
- 1946
Its title notwithstanding, there's precious little female epidermis on display in PRC's Queen of Burlesque. Real life stripteaser Rose la Rose is cast in the title role, a burleycue "peeler" named Blossom Terraine, but the storyline is carried by Evelyn Ankers and Carleton Young, as exotic dancer Crystal McCoy and her journalist boyfriend Steve Hurley. When Blossom is murdered backstage, Crystal is suspected of the killing, prompting Hurley to try to prove her innocence. David Lang is credited with the original screenplay, which bears more than a passing resemblance to the 1943 Barbara Stanwyck starrer Lady of Burlesque. The working title for Queen of Burlesque was Ladies of the Chorus, which would be recycled as the title of the 1949 musical which served as the starring debut of Marilyn Monroe. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Evelyn Ankers, Carleton Young, (more)
