Vanishing Point (DVD)
An ex-racecar driver gets high on Benzedrine and leads the police on a hectic chase.
An ex-racecar driver gets high on Benzedrine and leads the police on a hectic chase.
R"
Director: Richard C. Sarafian
ACTORS: Barry Newman, Dean Jagger, Cleavon Little, Paul Koslo, Robert Donner
Halls of Montezuma (DVD) Fox War Classics Richard Widmark stars as Lt. Carl Anderson, a tough Marine officer who has been ordered to take a patrol and capture prisoners who must be interrogated about a Japanese experimental rocket-launching facility in the Pac...
Richard Widmark stars as Lt. Carl Anderson, a tough Marine officer who has been ordered to take a patrol and capture prisoners who must be interrogated about a Japanese experimental rocket-launching facility in the Pacific Islands. His platoon is split between weary veterans like Lt.Gilfilan (Richard Boone) and Pidgeon Lane (Jack Palance), and nervous recruits such as Coffman (Robert Wagner) and Cpl. Stuart Conroy (Richard Hylton). Despite his own ailments, Anderson must motivate this group of individuals to work as a unit.
NR"
Director: Lewis Milestone
ACTORS: Richard Widmark, Jack Palance, Robert Wagner, Jack Webb, Karl Malden
Straight Out of Brooklyn (DVD)
Trapped in a world of desperation, drugs and constant danger, Dennis is desperate to escape. Though encouraged by his parents to go to college, Dennis has run out of patience. Joined by his equally frustrated friends, they plan a heist. But robbing the neighborhood`s most ruthless drug dealer makes Dennis and his buddies targets for revenge. Winner of a Special Jury Recognition award at the Sundance Film Festival.R"
Director: Matty Rich
ACTORS: Lawrence Clifford, Mark Malone
The Tavern (DVD)
Walter Foote`s debut film is a witty, charming, and very frightening look at the trials and tribulations two would-be entrepreneurs must endure as they try to turn their recently purchased bar into a success. Cameron Dye stars as Ronnie, a young bartender who jumps at the opportunity when a tavern owner named Kevin, who claims he`s moving to Florida, offers to sell him his bar. After scraping together cash from various sources and enlisting the help of his friend Dave, whose spouse (Cho) is immediately skeptical, Ronnie steadies himself to try and get past the first year of business, during which about 90 of new bars close. While Ronnie enjoys the attention he`s receiving from one of his female customers, he and Dave are hit by setbacks from cutthroat competitors and some of their more questionable money lenders right form the start, making the two realize that managing a bar is a incredibly difficult and risky venture. Full of smart dialogue and excellent acting, THE TAVERN an wonderfully entertaining film that should be required viewing for anyone entertaining notions of starting their own business.NR"
Director: Walter Foote
ACTORS: Cameron Dye, Kevin Geer, Greg Zittel, Margaret Cho, Carlo Alban
Return of the Secaucus Seven (DVD)
After spending several years writing B-movie scripts (PIRANHA, LADY IN RED) for Roger Corman`s New World Pictures, John Sayles directed his debut feature, THE RETURN OF THE SECAUCUS SEVEN, on a budget of $60,000. Because the budget dictated that the film employ few technical frills, Sayles decided to create an ensemble piece, like Robert Altman`s NASHVILLE, so that the characters` interweaving stories would carry the film along.
Sayles`s debut deals with seven friends who were political activists in the 1960s. Reunited in their mid-30s for a weekend gathering, the friends reveal their struggles with love, art, money, political commitment, and everyday life. Sayles made the film as an audition piece, not realizing that the film would become a hit in art houses. The success of the film inspired THE BIG CHILL, which also depicts the reunion of a group of former 1960s radicals, though Sayles points out that the characters in that film are much more upwardly mobile. Made before the establishment of Robert Redford`s Sundance Institute, Sayles`s first film demonstrated the viability of independent filmmaking in the 1980s.R"
Director: John Sayles
ACTORS: Bruce MacDonald, Maggie Renzi, Mark Arnott, Gordon Clapp, Adam Lefevre
