Helter Skelter (DVD)
This made-for-television, graphic docu-drama of the grisly Tate-La Bianca murders in Hollywood, California was based on Vince Bugliosi's novel.
This made-for-television, graphic docu-drama of the grisly Tate-La Bianca murders in Hollywood, California was based on Vince Bugliosi's novel. Over the course of the film's three hours, it chronicles the events that led a group of impressionable young women to become cold-blooded killers under the authority of notorious maniac Charles Manson.
NR"
Director: Tom Gries
ACTORS: Steve Railsback, Marilyn Burns
Those Calloways (DVD)
Based on the novel by Paul Annixter, THOSE CALLOWAYS tells the story of Cam Calloway (Brian Keith), a New England preservationist and fur trapper. Along with his son, Cam dreams of buying a nearby lake to turn into a refuge for migrating geese. He finds, however, that making the dream come true requires much more money than he has, and even greater ingenuity in getting around the real estate developers. The situation turns violent when Cam and son move into a cabin on the property, and an attempt is made on his life. Can Cam stop the development of this pristine area and carry out his lifelong wish to help the environment?NR"
Director: Norman Tokar
ACTORS: Brian Keith, Vera Miles, Brandon De Wilde, Ed Wynn, Walter Brennan
Don`t Be a Menace... (DVD)
An antidote to the 1990s spate of urban coming-of-age films. The tale of a black youth sent to live with his father in the `hood, this spoof parodies the key elements of such serious movies as Boyz N the Hood, Menace II Society and Juice. R"
Director: Paris Barclay
Monkey Monkey Bottle of Beer, How Many Monkeys Have We Here (DVD)
The Broadway Theatre Archive presents another program in its series of televised plays from the 60s to the 80s. This oddly titled play has an equally mysterious setting where five women wait for their children to be returned to them after a two month experiment that is never fully explained.NR"
ACTORS: Rosemary DeAngelis
Gods and Monsters (DVD)
Based on Christopher Bram`s novel FATHER OF FRANKENSTEIN, Bill Condon`s semi-fictional 1998 sleeper stars Sir Ian McKellen in a fantastic performance as director James Whale (FRANKENSTEIN, BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, SHOW BOAT). It is 1957, and Whale is living in semiseclusion in Southern California with his scrutinizing maid, Hannah (Lynn Redgrave). His health is failing, and he is able to do little but lounge around and contemplate his younger days--his many male loves, his days in WWI, and the film world that has forsaken him. When Whale first gazes upon his musclebound gardener, Clay (Brendan Fraser), however, it is the beginning of an unusual (and platonic) friendship. Seasoned with multiple flashbacks to the sets of his films and to the battlefield, GODS AND MONSTERS is a haunting and touching look at the life of a man who was at the top of the Hollywood hierarchy but soon found himself out of favor--and the offbeat friendship he formed in his final days. McKellen and Redgrave were both nominated for Oscars, and the film garnered one statue for Best Adapted Screenplay.R"
Director: Bill Condon
ACTORS: Ian McKellen, Lynn Redgrave, Brendan Fraser, Lolita Davidovich, David Dukes
