Robert Dorfmann Movies

It's Greek versus Geek once again in this sequel to the broad comedy Assault of the Party Nerds. Evil but slow-witted frat boy Bud (Christopher Dempsey) hasn't changed much in the five years since he graduated from college -- he somehow convinced his well-meaning former girlfriend, Muffin (Michelle Bauer), to marry him even though he's doing more than his share of fooling around on the side and her father, Randolph (Burt Ward), has given Bud a job in the family business. However, Bud and Randolph's duplicitous secretary, Heady (Tane McClure), have hatched a plan to take Randolph's business away from him. Randolph is certain Bud is up to something, so he calls in a private detective to follow him; the detective turns out to be none other than Richie Spencer (Richard Gabai), Bud's "Party Nerd" nemesis from his college days. While Richie digs up the dirt on Bud, he also signs on to help another client, Norm Witherspoon (Arte Johnson), who has a hunch his wife, Tina (Rhonda Shear), is being unfaithful to him. Assault of the Party Nerds 2: The Heavy Petting Detective also features Linnea Quigley and Robert Dorfmann. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The autobiography of Henri Charriere, one of the few people to successfully escape from the notorious French penal colony of Devil's Island, served as the basis for Papillon. Steve McQueen plays the pugnacious Charriere (known as "Papillon," or "butterfly," because of a prominent tatoo), incarcerated--wrongly, he claims--for murdering a pimp. He saves the life of fellow convict Louis Dega (Dustin Hoffman), a counterfeiter who will later show his gratitude by helping Charriere in his many escape attempts, and by smuggling food to Charriere when the latter is put in solitary confinement. One breakout, which takes Charriere and Dega to a leper colony and then to a native encampment, is almost successful, but Charriere is betrayed (allegedly because he stopped for an act of kindness) and back the prisoners go to French Guiana. Years later, Dega is made a trustee and is content with his lot, but the ageing, white-haired Charriere cannot be held back. A tribute to the unquenchability of the human spirit, Papillon brought in an impressive $22 million at the box office. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The legendary French comedian Jacques Tati returns as his most famous character, the bumbling M. Hulot, in this gentle but pointed satire of 20th Century car culture. In Trafic, Hulot is working as a designer for a major French automotive firm and is struggling to finish his latest project in time for an international auto show in Amsterdam -- a compact recreational vehicle that features everything from an electric razor and a collapsible couch to a built-in barbecue grill. While the car is completed shortly before the show opens, it doesn't run just yet, so Hulot and his mechanic (Tony Knepper) load the car into a truck and with an American public relations officer (Maria Kimberly) in tow, they hit the road for Holland. But what should be a simple trip from Paris to Amsterdam becomes increasingly complicated thanks to flat tires, breakdowns, traffic jams and multi-car pileups, and the well-intentioned M. Hulot does little to make things easier. Trafic began as a collaboration between Tati and Dutch filmmaker Bert Haanstra, but Haanstra dropped out of the project mid-way through production due to disagreements with Tati, and the great comedian finished the project on his own. Trafic proved to be one of Tati's final screen projects; his last theatrically released feature, Parade, was a shot-on-video homage to they heyday of French vaudeville and was primarily devoted to showing off his talents as a mime. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This English-language French production, directed by Rene Clement is a psychological/spy thriller, and features an excellent score by Gilbert Becaud. Faye Dunaway is Jill, the wife of a former industrial spy (played by Frank Langella). Her husband's employers are not perfectly reconciled to his retirement, however, even though he is firm in his refusal to rejoin them. As the film proceeds, we discover that Jill is a nervous sort, and the spymasters seek by various means to take advantage of her nervous temperament in order to induce her husband to work for them again. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Corey (Alain Delon) is the young gun in the French underworld who has just been released from prison. Escaped convict Vogel (Gian-Maria Volonté) hides in the trunk of Corey's car. The two enlist the help of an alcoholic former cop (Yves Montand) for an elaborate jewelry-store robbery. Police inspector Mattei (Bourvil) whom Vogel escaped in the beginning of the film is on the case trying to recapture the criminals. He is not opposed to using blackmail techniques to get answers out of the unwilling witnesses and criminals brought in for questioning. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

This Costa-Gavras thriller stars Yves Montand as an East European government functionary, inexplicably imprisoned by his Communist superiors. He is not told why he has been arrested, nor has his wife (Simone Signoret) been informed of his fate. Undergoing psychological torture, Montand is grilled about his wartime activities. At the end of his rope, Montand agrees to sign several papers that are thrust before him. He eventually discovers that he's to be a defendant in a "show trial" conducted by his government. He never knows the whys and wherefores of the whole affair -- nor does the audience. The Confession was based on the true story of loyal Communist Arthur London's unjustified purge trial of 1951. Despite the film's confusion, Costa-Gavras' Kafkaesque view of the world, in which the individual is overwhelmed by events that he can't possibly begin to understand, struck a responsive chord in the chaotic early '70s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This comedy concerns an inventor (Robert Dhery) of a boat who is fired by his violent, irascible boss when the project is completed. The boat, christened Le Petit Baigneur, is wanted by the Boss (Louis De Funes), who pulls out all the stops to possess the coveted craft. Author-actor-director Dhery wrote this story especially for the comedic styling of De Funes, one of Frances most popular comedians at the time of the feature's release. His "slow burn" is reminiscent of American actor James Finlayson, who perfected the technique in the silent-film era and continued his success in countless films, usually being tormented by the antics of Laurel and Hardy. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

A young female film editor specializes in discovering why other women degrade themselves in pornography and prostitution. She has a relationship with a boring artist, and her life is uneventful until she encounters an older, more worldly art dealer. The man shows her his photographs and she is mesmerized by a picture of a naked woman in chains. The man tries to hide the photo, but she is insistent on seeing it. The man admits this is how he gets aroused, by taking pictures of the bound beauties. The woman asks to come to a photo session where she is repulsed and intrigued at the same time. She leaves, but later returns to the man at his office and becomes hooked on his sadomasochistic voyeurism and begs to become the next model for his camera in the upcoming photo session. He brings in another woman and the session degenerates into a lesbian love fest that the man eagerly captures on film. Shamed, debased and degraded, she pulls her car onto a train track and contemplates her demise. Injured but not dead, she is straddled in her hospital bed when the man comes to visit. She goes into a psychedelic hallucination dream sequence in which her sexual escapades flash before her eyes as the man and her artist boyfriend engage in fisticuffs. Yikes! ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

This engaging comedy concerns the tattoo on the back of a military nobleman and the wily art dealer who covets the work of art. The Count (Jean Gabin) has a Modigliani tattoo, and when Mazeray (Louis De Funes) sees it, he wishes to add it to his art collection. The Count only wishes to retire to a life of good wine and fine food, but the maniacal Mazeray will stop at nothing to obtain the Modigliani, even if it means skinning the Count alive. Gabin and De Funes combine their legendary comedy stylings that have long endeared them to film fans far beyond their native France. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In this WWII comedy, a French POW escapes and hides at an inn. After the war, he stays at the inn to help the innkeeper, whom he has become involved with, rather than return to his wife. When the innkeeper's husband shows up ten years later, the POW goes back to his wife, whom he finds married to the chef at the cafe he ran. His wife refuses to sleep with the chef until a divorce is granted. The chef returns home to Normandy, thinking that he is out of luck, but the POW follows him and tells him that if he takes responsibility for his wife and the cafe, he will grant the divorce. The POW's loneliness is relieved when the innkeeper tells him that her husband has gone to Siberia and they are free to get married. ~ Steve Huey, All Movie Guide

Les Tricheurs (The Cheats) was director Marcel Carne's first film after a two-year absence from the screen. On the surface, the film is a gallic variation of an American "j.d." film, with young, aimless teenagers being led astray by jazz music rather than Rock 'N' Roll. But there's much more to the story than that: Carne's youthful characters are not so much people as symbols of the postwar relaxation of worldwide manners and mores. In anticipation of the "hippie flicks" of the 1960s, the main characters indulge in a great deal of sex, but abstain from true love and commitment, citing these things as irrelevant in a world full of instant gratification. Of the cast, Pascale Petit stands out as a trendy young girl whose willingness to follow the crowd leads to tragedy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

One of the first films to see the horrors of war through the eyes of children, Forbidden Games was a critical smash, winning prizes from the New York Film Critics, the British Academy, and the Venice Film Festival. Adapted by Francois Boyer, director Rene Clement, and two others from Boyer's novel, the story focuses on Paulette (Brigitte Fossey), a five-year-old refugee from Paris taken in by a peasant family after her parents are killed during a bombardment of a civilian convoy. Michel Dolle (Georges Pujouly), the family's 11-year-old son, becomes her best friend, and they create a cemetery in which Paulette's dog is interred, along with other animals and insects, some of whom the children kill themselves. The Dolle family is too busy feuding with the Gouards, their neighbors, to notice the absence of the children. Eventually, authorities locate Paulette and insist that she be placed in an orphanage for legal adoption. Unsentimental and yet heartbreaking, Forbidden Games demonstrates the strategies of children who witness war to deal with the constant presence of death. It's also a bitter condemnation of the selfishness of adults who could offer their charges more love and protection. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide