Joan Hackett Movies

The Escape Artist represents the laudable directorial debut of cinematographer Caleb Deschanel. Griffin O'Neal, the real-life son of Ryan O'Neal, plays Danny Masters, the offspring of a famed magician. Determined to match his dad's accomplishment, Danny runs into nothing but trouble. His biggest mistake is picking the pocket of the son of a corrupt town mayor. When not running from adults, the boy is being exploited by them. A critic's favorite, Escape Artist has slowly built up a cult following over the years, thanks largely to its eclectic supporting cast, including Raul Julia, Desi Arnaz Jr., Joan Hackett, Teri Garr, Jackie Coogan, Huntz Hall and M. Emmet Walsh. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Playwright Neil Simon made one of his periodic forays into serious themes with the drama The Gingerbread Lady, and while this screen adaptation adds a bit more wit to the proceedings, it remains a change of pace from his usual breezy comedies. Georgia (Marsha Mason) is a successful actress who has just spent 90 days in a rehab clinic in an effort to beat her addiction to alcohol. A number of crises are waiting for Georgia upon her return; her teenage daughter Polly (Kristy McNichol), whom she neglected as a child, wants to move back in, though they still have a ways to go in repairing their relationship. And her ex-husband David (David Dukes), a writer, has just penned a new drama that he wants her to star in -- a fictionalized version of their often-combative marriage. Georgia also has to tend to her best friends, bitter socialite Toby (Joan Hackett) and Jimmy (James Coco), a gay actor who drowns his sorrows in food. Only When I Laugh garnered Oscar nominations for Mason, Coco, and Hackett, while the latter won a Golden Globe for her performance. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In this made-for-TV sequel to When Every Day Was the Fourth of July, a Jewish family fights prejudice in their New England community in the years before World War II. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi

One of the bigger non-cartoon moneymakers for Disney in the 1970s, The North Avenue Irregulars is predicated on the premise of the "Neighborhood Watch" system. Priest Michael Hill (Edward Herrmann), newly arrived on North Avenue, decides to buck the patriarchal notions of his superiors by delegating church responsibilities to the neighborhood women. Since the ladies include Vickie, Jane, Anne, Claire and Rose (Barbara Harris, Karen Valentine, Susan Clark, Cloris Leachman and Patsy Kelly), we're well primed for a surfeit of feistiness. Father Michael entrusts the church funds to Rose, who loses it all at the race track. In trying to retrieve the cash, he comes up against an influential bookie ring, controlled by several of the above-suspicion town officials. The wily priest responds by organizing the ladies of his congregation into the North Avenue Irregulars, a two-fisted crimefighting unit. There's slapstick aplenty within the film's 99 minutes, including the expected comic car crash. North Avenue Irregulars is based on a (drawn-from-life?) novel by the Reverend Albert Fay Hill. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Pleasure Cove taps the Grand Hotel format already being worked to death in 1979 by Love Boat and Fantasy Island. Top-billed Tom Jones plays a crook in disguise who becomes involved in love and larceny at the hideaway resort of Pleasure Cove. There's an all-TV star cast, but the largest roles go to James Murtaugh and Constance Forslund as the resort managers, and Ernest Harada as the funny "gopher" desk clerk. This trio would have been the continuing characters has this TV pilot film been picked up as a weekly series. But Pleasure Cove received precisely two network showings in 1979 before going to busted-pilot purgatory. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this mystery, a female detective finds herself traveling in wildly different circles as she begins investigating the case of a famous nude model who first disappears and then ends up discovered dead. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

An ex-priest helps exorcise the demons that have taken over the residents of an exclusive girls' school in this made-for-TV supernatural thriller. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

After sixteen years of cinematic retirement, Roy Rogers made a surprise return before the cameras in Mackintosh & T. J. Rogers plays Mackintosh, an ageing, tale-spinning ranch hand who befriends T.J., a sullen young boy (Clay O'Brien). The film is low-key, like Rogers himself, and Rogers' faithful fans were gratified to watch him thrash several younger cowpokes who goad him into a fight. Waylon Jennings provides the C&W musical score. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Based on a novel by Michael Crichton, Terminal Man is a sci-fi thriller about a scientist who decides to be the lab rat in an experimental surgery to control his violent tendencies. During the surgical procedure, a miniature computer is implanted in his head. Unfortunately, the mechanism malfunctions, and he becomes a vicious killer. ~ Kristie Hassen, Rovi

This suspense drama features an all-star cast, including Richard Benjamin, Dyan Cannon, James Coburn, James Mason, Ian McShane, and Raquel Welch. An interesting production fact about the film: its screenplay was written by actor Anthony Perkins and lyricist/songwriter Stephen Sondheim. Their careers depend on keeping in the good graces of Clinton (James Coburn), a powerful movie producer. That is why a group of actors, director, agents and other movie professionals (who hate each other) accept an invitation to spend a week on the producer's yacht on the anniversary of his wife's untimely death in a hit-and-run car accident. Once on board, Clinton requires them to play a vicious game which involves each person's revealing a damaging secret about themselves or someone else in the party. When one of the secrets to be revealed involves the hit-and-run murder of his wife, the game turns fatal. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

In this family drama, a newly remarried woman finds herself between a jealous 10-year-old son, and her equally jealous new husband. Things get really rough when her son decides to kill his perceived usurper. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Five Desperate Women debuted as an ABC Movie of the Week on September 28, 1971. Anjanette Comer, Joan Hackett, Denise Nicholas and Stefanie Powers are four of five graduates of an exclusive girl's college, meeting together for a reunion on a remote island. The fifth girl (whose name we'll withhold for suspense purposes) is the one that's murdered first. It appears that an unknown assailant plans to pick off the girls one by one. The survivors must figure out who's doing them in and why before fade-out time. Aaron Spelling was the producer of this middling clichefest. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi