Tag Archives: Movies

What’s Up Doc? (1972)

Posted on April 22, 2026 | Leave a comment

By Richard Winters

My Rating: 10 out of 10

4-Word Review: Four bag mix-up.

Judy (Barbra Streisand) is a college dropout who plays con games to get what she wants. She spots stuffy college professor Howard (Ryan O’Neal) in a hotel lobby and immediately sets her sights on getting with him romantically despite the fact that he’s already engaged to Eunice (Madeline Kahn) a very controlling, hyper proper woman. Things further escalate when both Judy’s and Howard’s overnight bags, which are similar, get mixed-up with two other bags at the hotel, one that has expensive jewelry and another with top secret government information.

The genesis for this project started with the novel ‘A Glimpse of Tiger’ by Herman Raucher that dealt with a conman named Luther (Elliot Gould), who is secretly from a rich family and only pretends to be poor and who takes in a teenage runaway named Janice (Kim Darby) whom he teaches on how to commit petty crimes. Elliot Gould, Streisand’s ex, bought the rights to the book and tried to turn it into a movie, but his unruly behavior, he later stated that he was only trying to ‘stay in character’, alienated everyone on the set and had the production shut down after only 4-days of shooting. In an effort to save the project Warner Brothers handed the reins over to Peter Bogdanovich who had been actively seeking something that he could do with Streisand. He decided to turn the conman into a female and then having the male being the square that she traps into her schemes. The rest of the tiger script he nixed as it had a very dark ending and instead converted if over to a screwball comedy similar to Bringing Up Baby, which was a film he had enjoyed growing up.

The result is, in my humble opinion, one of the greatest comedies every made. There are certainly a lot of funny movies out there, but very few hit their punch lines as consistently as this one. Even the best ones will have some misfired gags, or lulls, but here absolutely everything works. It comes together like a lyrical orchestra at a breakneck speed that never lets up.  Even the most minor characters here, some who may just have one brief scene, still get an amusing moment. It’s about as well crafted as you can get while still remaining fresh and hip at the same time.

Streisand is a major asset. Her critics have sometimes complained that she takes herself too seriously, so it’s nice having her in a comedic role where she’s being playfully ditzy and professing obscure facts in a fast cadence. Part of what makes the movie seem so with the times despite borrowing from an old comedy formula is having her character be the one that aggressively chases after the guy. Most if not all movies up to that point always had the female being the one waiting for the guy to notice her and never daring to make the first move. Here though it’s the lady who essentially takes charge and this coupled with her streetwise survival tactics was a nice way to usher in the feminist era and could even be considered ground-breaking.

O’Neal is perfectly cast. I have complained about his acting in my other reviews and even he stated himself in an interview with Piers Morgan that he felt he had only ‘modest talent’ and had just ‘gotten lucky’ for most of his career. Here though I would consider this his best role. The character fits into his real-life personality that tended to be subdued and matter of fact and this plays off well comically with Streisand’s hyper presence. He’s also, let’s face it, quite good looking, so it would make sense why he’s stand out in a crowd to Judy and why she immediately goes after him, which is the movie’s all-important inciting incident.

Madeline Kahn is brilliant in support and in many ways the funniest person in the movie. Why O’Neal would want to be engaged to someone who’s so incredibly uptight, bossy, controlling, and just all around unsexy is a legitimately good question, but with that said she’s still the perfect fiancée from hell that could never be topped. It’s fun too seeing Mabel Alberston in her final film appearance before she had to retire due to Alzheimer’s. She was best known for her TV roles where she played intrusive mother in-laws here though she plays against type as a rich socialite who’s even seen in segment wearing hot pants despite being at the advanced age of 70. Liam Dunn is excellent as well as an elderly judge who tries to make sense of all the chaos at the end. While he looked to be at least 75 he was actually, shockingly only 54.

If there was anything critical to say about the movie, and they’re very minor complaints, it would be the firemen who come in to put out the hotel fire, which was meant to resemble the bumbling keystone cops that I felt was pouring on the pratfall humor too much and not needed. There’s also the scene where FBI agent played by Phil Roth is able to get into a hotel room that wasn’t locked, but there’s no explanation for why a room that had been cleaned and not occupied would be open. There’s the same logic loophole for how Streisand gets into O’Neal’s room. The first time is because he accidentally leaves it open, but how she gets in there the second time when he’s away, is not made clear.

I also didn’t care for the title. It’s connected too much to Bugs Bunny cartoons and doesn’t come off as original. Yes, Judy does use this line when she first meets Howard inside the pharmacy and there is a snippet of a Warner Brother’s cartoon at the very end while they’re on a plane, but it really doesn’t have anything to do with the main story. A good title should clue the viewer into what the main plot is about. Even something as simple as ‘The Four Bags’ or ‘Howard and Judy’ would’ve been better.

My Rating: 10 out of 10

Released: March 9, 1972

Runtime: 1 Hour 34 Minutes

Rated G

Director: Peter Bogdanovich

Studio: Warner Brothers

Available: DVD, Blu-ray, Amazon Video, Tubi, YouTube

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Posted in 70's Movies, Farce, Fast Cars/Car Chase, Movies for the Whole Family, Movies with a Hotel setting, Romance

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The Seduction of Joe Tynan (1979)

Posted on April 10, 2026 | Leave a comment

By Richard Winters

My Rating: 1 out of 10

4-Word Review: U.S. Senator has affair.

Joe Tynan (Alan Alda) is a senator from New York who one day hopes to run for President. He meets with elderly Senator Birney (Melvyn Douglas) urging him to throw his support for a certain Supreme Court nominee that Tynan doesn’t particularly agree with but could help him politically. Tynan then meets with Karen (Meryl Streep) who has done research on the nominee and the two begin an affair. Meanwhile at home Tynan’s wife Ellie (Barbara Harris) is studying to be a therapist while raising their two kids (Blanche Baker, Chris Arnold) mostly alone due to the challenges of her husband’s career. While the two mostly get along there are sporadic differences mainly around Ellie’s openness about having gone through therapy, which Joe fears the general public isn’t open-minded about and could potentially ruin his political chances should he decide to run for high office especially after Ellie brings the matter up during an interview with a newspaper reporter (Marian Hailey).

While Alda has had a great acting career his foray as writer/director has been less than stellar. While his comedies have had some entertaining moments with his best one being The Four Seasons, they’ve always ended up having a shallow flair and seeming like they’re saying more than they really were. Unfortunately, this film, which was his first screenplay that took him over three years to write, is probably his worst. In fact, I wished he has turned this one into a comedy like his others as it might’ve worked in a satirical vein, but having to try and take this all seriously is where it really falls flat.

Alot of the problem is that it acts like that this is some sort of ‘trenchant, searing drama’ that’s enlightening us into the dark, compromising world of politics, but it shows stuff that most people know already. The wheeling-and-dealing is quite predictable as are the moral concessions that the protagonist makes in order to get ahead. Everything gets handled in a very mechanical way where the one-dimensional characters get thrown into dilemmas that are quite manufactured.

The affair between Alda and Streep is the most annoying as it pops-up without much build-up put in simply to work off the stereotype that most rich and powerful people cheat on their wives because they can and therefore this one must go through the paces, but it’s neither shocking or riveting. It’s also hard to care about the main character when he’s so easily swayed. Had Streep been more aggressive and Alda resisted some it might’ve helped, but having Alda jump between-the-sheets with her the first chance they’re alone makes him come-off like a total lout that you want to see fail. His marriage wasn’t all that bad either and seemed genuinely good outside of a little tiff, which can happen in even the best of them, and if that was enough to make him trash his vows then he was morally bankrupt from the beginning and wasn’t ‘seduced’ like the movie makes you want to think.

Spoiler Alert!

The ending, in which Ellie finds out about the other relationship, but this somehow ‘strengthens’ their marriage and makes their bond ‘even stronger’ is complete and utter schmaltzy hogwash. It would’ve been a far better payoff had Ellie gotten on stage and announced into the microphone to the crowd at his campaign rally about what a two-timing jerk he was and thus ruined his career, which I think most viewers would’ve liked to see and given this otherwise benign, trite thing a little edge, which it woefully lacks otherwise.

End of Spoiler Alert!

The performances are pretty good though the usually reliable Streep, who admitted in later interviews that she was on ‘automatic pilot’ while doing it due to the recent death of her fiancé John Cazale, isn’t as effective as she can be and I didn’t care for her southern accent. I did though really enjoy Blanche Baker, the daughter of actress Carroll Baker, who has some strong moments as Alda’s troubled daughter. Harris too is excellent, this marked her last major film role as she decided to enjoyed stage work better, who gives a compelling performance playing for a change a normal person instead of an eccentric, kooky one like she did in most of her other roles. She also ironically has an extended scene with her driving around in a station wagon, which looked quite similar to the station wagon that another character she played in The North Avenue Irregulars drove, which came out the same year as this one.

Rip Torn is also quite engaging where he cooks a spicy southern dish and then challenges the rest to eat it. Alda takes up the offer and is able to down the whole thing without heaving while Torn is forced to run to the bathroom. Would’ve been funnier though had it been Alda who was the one with the bad reaction, or both of them as it really didn’t make sense why Alda, who was not accustomed to that type of food, wouldn’t react to it in the same adverse way.

My Rating: 1 out of 10

Released: August 17, 1979

Runtime: 1 Hour 47 Minutes

Rated PG

Director: Alan Alda

Studio: Universal Studios

Available: DVD, Blu-ray, Amazon Video, YouTube

 

 

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Seven Minutes in Heaven (1986)

Posted on April 1, 2026 | Leave a comment

By Richard Winters

My Rating: 4 out of 10

4-Word Review: Two teens live together.

This review is brought to you by request from ‘somebody’ who also requested that I review Times Square and Uncle Buck, which I will do in the preceding weeks. This one though, while starring several up-and-coming young stars is strangely obscure as the only place to find it streaming is on YouTube and while it does have a DVD issue it’s not on Blu-ray and even more shockingly is not listed in Leonard Maltin’s Movie Listings.

The story revolves around Natalie (Jennifer Connelly) who is left alone for a period of time while her father (Micheal Zaslow) is away on business. While he’s gone she allows her friend Jeff (Byron Thames) to move in since he’s having issues with his stepfather (Marshall Bell). Natalie though is not into him romantically as she’s got a crush on James (Alan Casey) that Natalie’s friend Polly (Maddie Corman) is also into. Polly is initially upset when James goes after Natalie instead of her, but she gets over that when she meets Zoo (Billy Wirth) a male model and professional baseball player.  She even flies all the way out to New York in order to hook-up with him during a baseball series that he is playing there.

On one hand this has a lot of pleasing elements. It’s different from most 80’s teen flicks in that it’s not vulgar, or raucous.  The main character isn’t some mindless, sex starved teen who immediately jumps into the sack with Jeff when he moves in, which is nice. She doesn’t even let a cute guy kiss her, who she is into, when she meets him during aa trip to Washington D.C. She’s quite sensible, as are her friends for the most part, and these characters come-off more like young adults in the making than cartoonish caricatures of out-of-control party animals with no limits like in most other adolescent films from that era.

On the flip side the adults didn’t seem too believable. Her father leaving a teen alone for what seems to be weeks and never bothers to call, or check-in on her seemed hard to fathom. Jeff’s parents behaved in an equally confounding way. They just let him run off and make only feeble attempts to try and ‘win’ him back, but I would think they’d become more assertive when they realized he was living with another teen of the opposite sex unchaperoned, which could presumably lead to unwanted pregnancy, so since he’s under 18, and he certainly looks like he is (he was in fact 15 when this was shot), they’d have the right to demand he come back, or get the authorities involved versus just sitting back and acting like they’re helpless to do much of anything.

I thought Polly’s ‘romance’ with Zoo was a bit off too. For one thing he’s supposedly an adult playing in the major leagues, so hooking up with a teen would be inappropriate. Yes, he does ‘ask her’ if she’s 18 and she does say that she is, but she looks much, much younger (she was 14 when it was filmed), so he should’ve known that she was lying. Of course, maybe he did and didn’t care, but that should’ve been confirmed either way.

The segment though where Polly gets arrested while at the ball game and is hauled away by the cops only to have Bill (Terry Kinney), the team photographer, intervene by pretending to know her to keep her out of trouble is when this thing really jumps-the-shark. If he had some perverse underlying motives, like he wanted to force himself on her sexually when he brought her back to his place, which certainly wouldn’t be good, but at least make some sense, I might’ve understood it, but instead that’s not the case. He brings her to his apartment and then insists she call her parents while allowing her to stay their temporarily, but why do this? What’s in it for him? Does he do this same thing for everybody when he sees them getting arrested? This could also prove to be dangerous for him as well. What’s to say she wouldn’t vandalize his place, or sneak in and steal his credit cards, or money out of his wallet when he’s asleep? Why would anybody want to take such a risk for somebody that they didn’t know? If he had been a teen counselor working with runways/delinquents then it might’ve worked, but the way the scenario gets portrayed here is just downright wacky.

I did like though that the film does bring out an underlying jealousy that Polly has towards Natalie and this causes her to become vindictive. Most other teen movies don’t do it this way. If there’s a ‘mean girl’ involved she’s already the enemy at the beginning, but in reality, friendships, even close ones, can have their share of rivalries and can become strained especially at that age. So, the movie scores on that level, but then ruins it by having them instantaneously become chums again when they bump into each other at the airport without any scene showing them talking through their feelings, which should’ve been necessary.

Connelly is terrific and I enjoyed the moments where she imagines herself as an adult character inside an old ‘B’ movie as well as the scene where she fantasizes of slapping the Vice President across the face, but it gets confusing who the main protagonist is supposed to be. Corman, as Polly, gets almost as much screen time and in certain ways goes through more of a change.

In either case I didn’t find any of to be very involving. The fall scenery is pleasant, and teens are inoffensive, but the storyline is too serene. There was potential for a lot more drama and comedy and the scenarios should’ve been played up more. It starts out cute but becomes increasingly more benign as it goes and completely flat lines by the third act.

My Rating: 3 out of 10

Released: May 9, 1986

Runtime: 1 Hour 28 Minutes

Rated PG-13

Director: Linda Feferman

Studio: Warner Brothers

Available: DVD, YouTube

 

 

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Posted in 80's Movies, Comedy/Drama, Romance, Adolescence/High School

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Slap Shot (1977)

Posted on March 24, 2026 | 4 comments

By Richard Winters

My Rating: 8 out of 10

4-Word Review: Winning by playing dirty.

Reggie Dunlop (Paul Newman) is the aging player/coach of the Charlestown Chiefs a minor league hockey team that’s struggling both in the standings and attendance. Things get even worse when the town’s steel mill goes out of business laying off over 10,000 of its workers. With no one able to afford watching games the team is set to go defunct. Then Dunlop comes up with an idea to attract attention by instilling the Hanson Brothers (Jeff Carlson, Steve Carlson, David Hanson). into the game. The Hanson’s come off like harmless bespectacled nerds, but when they get on the ice, they become a terror by physically beating up the competition in any underhanded way they can. This soon brings fans back and Dunlop hopes this might lead to a sale of the team to sunny Florida and in fact he plants this idea into the local newspaper, but when Dunlop finally does meet the team’s actual owner (Kathryn Walker) she tells him of other plans.

The screenplay was based on writer Nancy Dowd’s brother’s experiences playing for a minor league hockey team in Johnstown, Pennsylvania where the film was actually shot. He would call Nancy up on an almost nightly basis telling her of things that happened, which routinely had him getting beaten-up, which she found ‘sort of fascinating’ and lead to her traveling with him during the season. She started taking notes of the different things she witnessed much of which occurs in the movie including players going into the stands to attack obnoxious fans and fights breaking out before the game evens started.

While the film has become a major cult classic it did only moderately well at the box office when first released. Critics at the time derided the violence and ‘foul language’ as well as the ‘one-dimensional characters’. In Gene Siskel’s case he initially described it as a ‘failure’ only to have him years later watch it again and then call it a ‘terrific film’. What I think the critics missed was that it’s really not about the players, but instead the fans. People living bleak lives working humdrum jobs and how sports can help them escape their otherwise boring lives and the violence they watched at the games was a way for them to vent their frustrations and aggressions and thus acted as a way for them to ‘bond’ with their team.

The best aspect about the movie is Paul Newman who took a big risk doing this as many of his loyal fans, who had started watching him in the 50’s, were turned off by his character’s constant swearing  though I felt this was to his benefit as it allowed him to attract younger fans broaden is acting repertoire. It’s also quite realistic as most athletes really do talk that way and this was one of the first sports films to display that in all of its uncensored glory. However, the most amazing part of his performance is how he plays somebody that could very easily be quite unlikable and in a lot of ways it’s downright shocking how many things he can get away with and still come off as the ‘hero’, or in this case the ‘anti-hero’. Most other actors would flunk at this, but Newman’s able to give this guy an engaging flair that keeps you wanting to cheer for him and see him succeed even as he sleeps around with married women, tries desperately to break-up the marriage of his star player, aggressively promote dirty play even when some of his younger players seem hesitant, and tell off his team’s owner in what has to be one of the most vulgar, politically incorrect lines ever put on film.

My only two complaints with the character are that he’s surprised when the town factory closes when the younger player bets it will, but since Newman’s older it should’ve been him that predicted the closure as he would’ve had more life experience to know that nothing lasts forever while the youthful one would’ve had the wide-eyed optimism. He also wears some goofy looking outfits like plaid pants, elevator shoes, and even a fur coat. Granted these were stylish for the times, but a basic blue-collar guy like him wouldn’t be up on all the fads and would most likely be laughed out of the building by his friends when he walked in wearing some of the stuff that he does.

As for the film’s moral message that seems dubious. It’s almost like saying cheating and violence are good as things continually get better for the team and Newman personally the more it’s inserted into their play. I also felt that the Ned character, played by Michael Ontkean, is a very weak protagonist and besides sitting out games in protest of the fighting does very little. There should’ve been more confrontations between he and Reggie and more attempts to persuade the others not to continue the dirty play. He also treats his wife Lily, played by Lindsay Crouse, who’s wonderful, quite shabbily and I don’t feel he deserved to ‘win’ her back and the tacked-on ‘happy ending’ where they get back together doesn’t jive because if he displayed bad behavior once it’s most likely going to come back at a later point because that’s what’s in his nature.

On the comedy end it’s near perfect. Certainly, the Hanson brothers get most of the laughs, but not so much for their ice antics, but more for their compliant behavior off of it where they display the upmost respect for the coach and team protocol and even play with toy cars during their free time. The person I felt was the funniest was the toupee wearing announcer played by Andrew Duncan, who has no problem with the outrageous fights, but sternly draws the line when it comes to stripping. To a later extent Paul Dooley equally good as the opposing team announcer and also M. Emmet Walsh, who gets so involved in the latest news of the team that he ignores his squabbling children.

The only part where it doesn’t fully work is at the end where the other team brings in their ‘goon squad’ to take on Newman’s guys but the supposed ‘brutes’ come off looking severely aged and silly. It kind of hurts any possible tension when you can plainly see that this young squad could take these old guys, who might’ve been threat 20 years ago, but resemble beer belly 50-year-olds now. The film should’ve cast young muscular men in the parts, which could’ve then instilled a legitimate fear from the other side.

My Rating: 8 out of 10

Released: February 25, 1977

Runtime: 2 Hours 3 Minutes

Rated R

Director: George Roy Hill

Studio: Universal

Available: DVD, Blu-ray, Amazon Video, YouTube

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Posted in 70's Movies, Black Comedy, Cold Climate/Wintertime Movies, Cult, Movies with Nudity, Sports Movies

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Three Fugitives (1989)

Posted on March 17, 2026 | 1 comment

 

By Richard Winters

My Rating: 3 out of 10

4-Word Review: Bank robber becomes hostage.

Daniel Lucas (Nick Nolte) gets released from jail after serving 4 years for armed bank robbery. After getting out he goes to a nearby bank to cash his prison check and inexplicably gets caught up in another robbery when Ned (Martin Short) tries robbing the bank that Daniel is in, in order to pay for a special school to take his daughter Meg (Sarah Rowland Doroff) to since she refuses to talk. When the police surround the building Ned decides to take Daniel hostage in order to escape. Inspector Dugan (James Earl Jones), who was the one who had arrested Daniel for his earlier crimes, is convinced that Daniel has orchestrated this one too and tries chasing him down, so that he can arrest him again.

Hard to believe that such a successful screenwriter like Francis Veber could write such a dud like this, but after the first 10-minutes this thing falls precariously flat. In fact the opening robbery is the only thing in it that is funny and had it stayed on that level, with Daniel and Ned trying to avoid the relentless pursuit of Dugan while Daniel tries to clear his innocence, this might’ve worked, but too much other stuff gets thrown in that dilutes the main concept until it’s not fun anymore.

The introduction of the kid backfires. She is certainly adorable especially the way she goes running and does help lend sympathy to Ned and his motivations, but the cute factor gets laid on a bit too thick and eventually becomes forced. While I may not have a PHD in psychology the concept that this girl at the young age of 5 would just decide to not talk didn’t seem realistic. You can say it was caused by the death of her mother 2 years earlier, but other kids deal with their parent’s death and that doesn’t stop them from speaking. Kids have notoriously short attention spans, so to have her keep up this non-talking for literally years and have it not deeply rooted in some neurological issue was just too much of a stretch. No explanation either for why Nolte’s presence would suddenly get her to start talking again and then when she finally does start to speak, she begins to babble incessantly, which gets to be a problem the other way.

The police are too inept here. There are plenty of other films featuring bumbling cops and some of them can be funny, but here it doesn’t get played for laughs and instead just used as a way to get the characters out of a dilemma. Once an APB gets put out of the robbery and the men’s identity it becomes hard to believe that Ned would still be able to walk the streets in full view of the cops, which he inadvertently bumps into while walking on the sidewalk and even interact with, and not immediately be recognized. The car chases are dumb too. One has them two driving off the road and into a ditch while the police cars speed by, but it wouldn’t be long for the police to realize they’ve gone too far after not spotting them and turn around especially when Ned’s car explodes from the grenade that was left inside, which should’ve immediately signaled their whereabouts to the police. Later, during another chase, Ned is able to easily fool the police by turning under a bridge and parking his car behind another one while the cops go speeding by, but if it’s this easy to consistently dupe the police you wonder how they’re ever able to catch anyone.

Nolte’s okay in his gruff kind of way, but Short is too high strung making his character more tense and anxious than funny. Kenneth McMillan, an excellent character actor whose last film this was, gets stuck with a dumb role involving a veterinarian who apparently is so senile he thinks Nolte is a dog, but to ‘see’ a grown, big guy like Nick as a canine means he’s got far more problems with his mind than just dementia and thus his moments come off as protracted and desperate for laughs that never come.

Spoiler Alert!

The jump-the-shark moment comes at the end when Short finds himself taken hostage by yet another bank robber. While I love irony this concept gives it a bad name and like with everything else in the movie seems thrown in as a way to allow the characters to have a quick convenient way out of their predicament with no concern whether it makes sense or beats astronomical odds. The small sporadic chuckles that you may have does not make up for seating through the rest of it.

My Rating: 3 out of 10

Released: January 27, 1989

Runtime: 1 Hour 36 Minutes

Rated PG-13

Director: Francis Veber

Studio: Touchstone Pictures

Available: DVD, Amazon Video, YouTube

 

 

 

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Posted in 80's Movies, Buddy Movies, Comedy, Remakes, Robbing Banks

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Thank God It’s Friday (1978)

Posted on March 11, 2026 | Leave a comment

By Richard Winters

My Rating: 1 out of 10

4-Word Review: A night at discotheque.

This film was requested for review and was a part of the disco craze that permeated pop culture during the mid to late 70’s. It was released just 6 months after Saturday Night Fever but was nowhere as good and didn’t have the same staying power. The plot revolves around several people who decide to spend their Friday evening at a local L.A. discotheque and the various conversations and ‘adventures’ that they have while inside the place. The main cast is Donna Summer who plays a character named Nicole who tries to ger her ‘big break’ by singing one of her songs while everyone is on the dance floor, but the club DJ (Ray Vitte) goes to great lengths to prevent that. There’s also two underage friends (Valerie Landsburg, Terri Nunn) who sneak into the club in order to win a dance contest, and a married couple (Mark Lonow, Andrea Howard) who go to the club on a lark, but then have their marriage challenged when club owner Tony (Jeff Goldblum) begins aggressively hitting-on the wife while the husband gets side-tracked by a ditzy patron named Jackie (Mayra Small) who gives him drugs that makes him behave erratically.

The biggest shock was that this lame thing was directed by Robert Klane, who burst onto the scene in the early 70’s with the dark comedy classic Where’s Poppa? that was both edgy and inventive and based on his book of the same name, but this has none of that. The dialogue and situations are quite stale, and it was like he was just selling out his career, which did eventually recover when he wrote the script for Weekend at Bernie’s, but this is definitely a black mark.  What’s even more perplexing is that the screenwriter for this, Armyan Bernstein, was able to sell six more screenplays after this one, even though this one displays no writing talent at all and his subsequent scripts that were made in the 80’s all bombed at the box office, but I guess this kind of shows how it’s more who you know in Hollywood that proves who gets the breaks and who doesn’t.

The concept of having an entire movie take place inside one location has a certain appeal, but Klane captures the proceedings in a flat sort of way. It was shot inside an actual club, that has since been torn down and was described by those who went there as a ‘labyrinth’, but I didn’t get that feeling while watching it. Most of it is shot in and around the dance floor, which quickly becomes boring visually. The various ‘dramedies’ of the characters fail to elicit any interest. To some degree you could say this was a realistic look at the club scene as I remember going out to dance clubs in the 90’s in Chicago hoping to pick-up some action, or meet ‘cool new friends’ but coming away disappointed and feeling like it was all overrated and on that level that’s exactly what you get here. The characters come in anticipating way more excitement than they actually receive, but the film still needs to convey this in some sort of compelling way, and it doesn’t.

A good example of this is the married couple, which has some potential, but the characters don’t learn anything, or change. In a good movie/script the main people are supposed to go through a character arch and end up in a different spot, either in an emotional, or intellectual way, or in their situation in life, then they were at the beginning, but the couple leaves the place returning to their ‘happy married’ mindset. However, since the wife was so quick to consider the advances from the club owner and the husband with the young punk girl, that it should’ve rattled them and they should’ve left seriously contemplating whether their marriage was really all that strong.

The same goes for Donna Summer’s character. She spends the entire evening trying to aggressively get her chance to sing. It might’ve worked better had the movie had a parent, or friend being the one that was pushy while Summer stood shyly back and thus made her seem a little less narcissistic. Either way when she finally sing and the crowd loves it, it doesn’t mean much because it wasn’t in front of a record producer, so therefore there was no contract and thus just a fleeting moment in time.

I did like Goldblum and it’s easy to see why out of the entire cast he was the one that had a long a distinguished career though it’s a little confusing why he hits so hard on another man’s wife when he has a plethora of hot women that he has slept with, or willing to sleep with him, so why get so fixated on the one? Debra Winger is an absolute delight too mainly because of her exquisite beauty, which is at the absolute peak here and makes watching the movie more than worth it just for that. In fact, that’s the only reason why I decided to give this one point.

Out of the entire runtime there’s only four mildly diverting moments that stands out. The first is when the lady holding the torch in the Columbia Pictures symbol breaks out into a disco dance. The second, in a scene that the producers strongly considered cutting, is when a guy asks if he can but into a dance that Debra Winger is having with another guy, but instead of continuing the dance with her he goes on with the other guy. The third is a nice dance routine that Marv Gomez has on the rooftops of some parked cars while the fourth consists of Goldblum’s car, a prized possession of his, that falls completely apart.

My Rating: 1 out of 10

Released: May 19, 1978

Runtime: 1 Hour 29 Minutes

Rated PG

Director: Robert Klane

Studio: Columbia Pictures

Available: DVD, Blu-ray, Amazon Video, Tubi, YouTube

 

 

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Harold and Maude (1971)

Posted on March 6, 2026 | Leave a comment

By Richard Winters

My Rating: 9 out of 10

4-Word Review: Falling for older woman.

Harold (Bud Cort) is a young man still living at home with his mother (Vivian Pickles) who is an upper-class socialite that dominates Harold at every turn. Harold resents his mother’s control and thus stages fake suicides as a way to rebel. She in turn devises ways to ‘cure’ him of his death obsession by buying him a new car, which he turns into a mini hearse, setting him up on blind dates and even trying to get him recruited into the army. All of these ploys fail, and the real turnaround doesn’t occur until he meets Maude (Ruth Gordon) a kooky old lady with a carefree spirit. The two nonconformists form a strong bond and eventually a romance. When Harold announces that he plans to marry her it causes shock and disgust with all those who know him.

While this film has become a huge cult hit, there’s even a theater in Essen, Germany where it’s been shown, outside of a 10-week period during COVID, continuously since June 6, 1975, it was a box office flop when first released. Many prominent critics at the time panned it including Roger Ebert who gave it only 1 star out of 4. The two main reasons for this were the ultra-dark humor and offbeat storyline, which might’ve been a bit ahead of its time, but also some of it I suspect had to do with the editing. Director Hal Ashby, who was an editor before he ventured into directing, does a lot of long takes here, which is unusual for a comedy. Usually, humorous films consist of quick takes and a fast pace, but here the jokes particularly Harold’s suicide pranks are very drawn out to the point you don’t really see the joke happening until the payoff. While I loved this approach and consider to be the genius of both the movie and Ashby others especially in that time period could consider it off-putting and confusing as audiences are used to having their comedy spelled out for them and not to have to search for it.

The acting is splendid with the two leads nailing their characters perfectly. Cort was warned that if he took this role, he’d be type casted for ever after and it’s true his career flatlined, but with his slim physical build and unique face his choice of leading parts would’ve been limited anyways. Gordon on the other hand was in the midst of a career resurgence and her appearance here helped cement her for old lady roles for the next decade and a half.

While overshadowed it’s important not to forget the supporting cast, who are all fantastic as well. Vivian Pickles is great as Harold’s domineering mother. The argument could be made that she’s too much of a caricature and they would be right, but the scene where she answers Harold’s dating profile for him really had me laughing. Charles Tyner as the one-armed army recruiter who becomes shocked when Harold gets too enthusiastic about killing is good as is Eric Christmas who becomes physically repulsed when describing how sex might go between a young man and an old lady. Tom Skerrit billed as ‘M. Boorman’ in refence to Nazi war criminal Martin Boorman whom he once joked was probably ‘hiding out as a motorcycle cop’ is highly engaging as an exasperated policeman futility trying to write Maude a traffic ticket.

Spoiler Alert!

On the negative end, while minor, I did feel that Harold’s suicide pranks would be very hard if not impossible to pull off. The opening one which has him dangling from the ceiling with his feet clearly off the floor should’ve logically killed him. The scene where we see him through a window presumably setting himself on fire only to then immediately have him appear in the room is something he would not have been able to pull off alone and would’ve at the very least needed the help of someone else, but the film acts like he did it all on his own.

Maude’s car stealing doesn’t make sense either. She seemingly is able to simply hop into someone’s car and drive off with it like everyone just leaves their car doors unlocked and the keys in the ignition, which isn’t likely. If the explanation was that she was hotwiring them then this should’ve been shown, if even just briefly.

Maude’s suicide at the end was a mistake and I agree with critic Vincent Camby who complained that this made the movie seem ‘hypocritical’. She was a character that was so excited about life that it made no sense why she’d suddenly decide to end it. Some may say that she was haunted by memories of when she was in a concentration camp, but if that were the case then why didn’t she do it already at ag 50, 60, or 70? It also makes her seem selfish as she knew how Harold felt about her and killing herself was going to make him extremely upset and yet her response when he becomes horrified at the news that she’s taken some pills is quite detached like she never bothered to take his feelings into account. She was at the age where she could’ve fallen over dead at any moment from natural causes and the film should’ve ended with her dying that way instead.

My Rating: 9 out of 10

Released: December 20, 1971

Runtime: 1 Hour 31 Minutes

Rated PG

Director: Hal Ashby

Studio: Paramount

Available: DVD, Blu-ray, Amazon Video, Pluto TV, YouTube

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Posted in 70's Movies, Black Comedy, Cult, Offbeat, Romance

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Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me (1971)

Posted on February 26, 2026 | Leave a comment

By Richard Winters

My Rating: 3 out of 10

4-Word Review: Ahead of his time.

Based on the 1966 novel of the same name by Richard Farina the story follows Paps (Barry Primus) who attends college in the ’50’s but behaves more like someone out of the 60’s and finds it challenging dealing with the rigid mind set of the other students. He gets into a relationship with Kristin (Linda De Coff) but it ends in acrimony when he refuses to meet her parents whom he deems part of the WASP establishment. He eventually gets in with Heff (David Downing) and Jack (Susan Tyrrell) who dabble in drugs and convince him to travel down to Cuba just as the Cuban revolution gets underway, which leads to tragic results.

While the novel did have some humor this film has none, which really hurts it. The expectation would be for a lot of irreverence but shockingly that doesn’t come and instead it’s talky that drones on and doesn’t lead anywhere. The opening bit has some comedy as Paps comes onto and makes out with his attractive young new landlord, played by Marian Clarke, but even that flubs because it brings out the sexually carefree culture of the late 60’s, but since this is supposed to be the 50’s it’s out of place and doesn’t help to establish the staid setting that our main character is supposedly feels imprisoned by.

Farina, who sadly died in 1966 just 2 days after his book got published, had far more interesting experiences in real life attending Cornell University during the late 50’s where he befriended fellow classmate Thomas Pynchon and got suspended for getting involved in student protests, but nothing like that gets shown here. At one point Kristin accuses Paps, during one of their spats, that he does nothing but sit around and waste away and that’s the absolute truth. He’s not actively propelling the action and seems like he’s dropping out of his own movie. I was expecting more lively confrontations between he and the other students, but outside of a few snarky comments this never comes to any adequate fruition. The scenic, tranquil landscape, filmed on location in Meadville, Pennsylvania, is the film’s only asset, but otherwise it stagnates badly.

There are a couple of good moments. One involves actor James Noble playing a priest who is duped into coming to Paps room in order to ‘cure’ him of his ‘deadly illness’, which is funny particularly Noble’s tiny pocketbook of candles and crosses that he brings out in order to perform the ‘last rites’. The painting of an ape that scares Paps while he has a drug trip has some diverting camera work though would’ve been better had the ape come to life though with the special effects capabilities of that era it would’ve been difficult. De Coff, who did just one more movie after this before retiring from the business to become an ordained minister, is really refreshing especially her appealing face, which is attractive but without the glossy Hollywood look.

It’s interesting seeing young stars before they were famous including Raul Julia, John P. Ryan, Susan Tyrrell, Zack Norman as a drug dealer, Nicholas Hammond who later became famous for playing Spiderman, and pop music composer/singer Paul Jabara. Bruce Davidson also gets featured in a small bit, but I was surprised he wasn’t made the star since he had a prominent role in Last Summer, which was released before this one was produced, and looked more age appropriate since he was in his 20’s while Primus was already 32. Either way the script doesn’t bring out these co-star’s talents effectively and their presence doesn’t lift the film out of its otherwise deadening pace.

My Rating: 3 out of 10

Released: September 15, 1971

Runtime: 1 Hour 31 Minutes

Rated R

Director: Jeffrey Young

Studio: Paramount

Available: Amazon Video, YouTube

 

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Posted in 70's Movies, College Life, Movies Based on Novels, Movies with Nudity, Obscure Movies

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The Dream Team (1989)

Posted on February 20, 2026 | 3 comments

By Richard Winters

My Rating: 4 out of 10

4-Word Review: Lost in New York

Dr. Weitzman (Dennis Boutsikaris) is a psychiatrist working at a mental hospital who decides to take four of his patients on a ‘field trip’ to watch a Yankees baseball game. The four patients consist of: Billy (Michael Keaton) who suffers from violent impulses, Henry (Christopher Lloyd) who thinks he’s a doctor, Jack (Peter Boyle) who imagines he’s Jesus Christ, and Albert (Stephen Furst) who can only communicate through baseball terms. Things start out okay, but then Dr. Weitzman witness two corrupt cops (Philip Bosco, James Remar) murdering someone and this leads to him being knocked unconscious. With no one to lead them it forces the four to work together to not only find help but also justice for their doctor all while doing it inside the big, scary place known as New York City.

The first act is too reminiscent of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and it doesn’t help things that Christopher Lloyd was in that one too, which does nothing but make you want to watch the original and skip this one completely. The humor is too mild, you might chuckle a bit, but there’s never any laugh-out-loud moment. The doctor is also too damn benign. What made the other one so interesting was that Nurse Ratched, the supposedly ‘normal’ one, was just as goofy, maybe even more so, as the patients she was overseeing and ‘helping to cure’ and it would’ve been nice had this doctor also had some unique aspect versus being so painfully blah.

The biggest issue though it that these guys really aren’t all that ‘dangerous’. Sure, they suffer from delusional traits but nothing that necessarily screams that they need to be institutionalized. In Keaton’s case he comes off as downright rational and only needing therapy in anger management. The rest too are quite gentle and could easily exist, with proper medications, in an outpatient setting and the film should’ve approached it that way. Instead of playing it like this trip was their ‘only’ chance to see the outside world again it should’ve been the first of what could be many trips that would hopefully allow them to reacclimate into society.

The trip thing has some intriguing potential, but ultimately losses its edge when it’s revealed that these characters lived and worked in the city before they had their breakdowns and can easily find their way around as evidenced by Henry going back to where he lived and Jack visiting his old job. Having these guys come from a small town to a big, massive city they’d never been to would’ve offered more challenges and comedy. It’s also confusing why the doctor’s identity isn’t known and he gets placed in the hospital as a ‘John Doe’ because he should’ve had his wallet on him, I don’t remember seeing it stolen by the corrupt cops, and therefore his driver’s license would’ve said who he was.

Spoiler Alert!

The mystery aspect where no one believed their story about the corrupt cops, I actually liked, but everything gets resolved too easily. For one thing I didn’t like Keaton’s girlfriend, played by Lorraine Bracco, playing an integral role in getting the bad guys caught as this was the four’s story and therefore it should’ve been solely up to them to find a solution. Having them get caught and temporarily thrown into jail only to escape was unnecessary and only helps to slow down the pace. There’s also a major loophole in that the four end up ‘disguising’ themselves as doctors in order to get access into the hospital and yet earlier their faces were shown on a televised news report, so most assuredly somebody would’ve seen that broadcast and recognized them and thus their ‘charade’ would’ve come to an end before it ever got going.

The ending is confusing too in that the four are allowed to go on a second field trip, but this time all by themselves without any supervision. What’s to say they’ll ever come back and if they are deemed ‘sane’ enough to go out on their own then why are they even institutionalized in the first place?

End of Spoiler Alert!

On a side note, you get a glimpse of Peter Boyle’s naked buttocks and while I’ve mentioned in other reviews of seeing Dabney Coleman’s and Tim Matheson’s bare ass and considering those to be two of the finest, I did feel Boyle’s deserves nomination as being one of the worst.

My Rating: 4 out of 10

Released: April 7, 1989

Runtime: 1 Hour 53 Minutes

Rated PG-13

Director: Howard Zieff

Studio: Universal

Available: DVD, Blu-ray, Amazon Video, YouTube

 

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Posted in 80's Movies, Comedy, Movies that take place in the Big Apple, Movies with a Hospital setting, Movies with Nudity, Road Movies

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Klute (1971)

Posted on February 16, 2026 | 1 comment

By Richard Winters

My Rating: 8 out of 10

4-Word Review: Detective falls for prostitute.

John Klute (Donald Sutherland) is a private detective who is hired by Peter Cable (Charles Cioffi) to investigate the disappearance of a CEO named Gruneman (Robert Milli). The only clue is an obscene letter found in Gruneman’s office that he wrote to a prostitute named Bree (Jane Fonda). When Klute initially tries to question her, she refuses to help, so he rents an apartment in her building, which allows him to bug her phone. Eventually the two become friendly and even form a bit of a relationship, but Bree is only able to offer a few clues mainly that one of the johns she saw two years ago who used Gruneman’s name beat her up, but when he shows her a picture of the real Gruneman she says he wasn’t the one. This forces Klute along with Bree’s help to try and track down the other prostitute’s that had seen the same john, but their efforts prove mostly futile even as the unidentified killer continues to stalk Bree and appears ready to close in.

Sometimes it’s hard to tell from a script, which was written by two brothers, if it’s going to make for a good movie, or not. This is clearly a great example for how it’s approached directorially can make all the difference. In other hands this could’ve been a blah programmer, but director Alan J. Pakula, along with cinematographer Godon Willis, adds so many stylized touches that it grabs you in from the very beginning and never let’s go. The evocative lighting is particularly impressive as is the editing and Michael Small’s soundtrack who wisely keeps the music subtle using only the light touches of a xylophone to help accentuate the suspense. What’s most amazing though is Bree’s apartment, which was completely constructed on a soundstage, complete with working toilet, but you’d never know it as it has an authentic cluttered, live-in look and realistic outside light and sound ambience coming in from the window making it one of the most believable set designs I’ve ever seen. Even if you’re not into the mystery just watching it for its production values along would be mesmerizing enough.

The acting adds yet another excellent dimension with Sutherland, wearing a boyish looking bowel haircut, disappearing in his role by giving a nuance performance that allows for Bree to get most of the attention. Fonda, who won the Oscar for her work here, is genuinely riveting and she adds a lot to the proceedings that wasn’t in the original script. One great example of this is when Bree listens to a tape recording of another prostitute getting violently attacked. It was written in that her character should respond with a look of fear, but instead Fonda impulsively broke out in tears, which helped to make her more likable when you can visibly see her empathy and emotions towards her peers. The wide mood swings that her character shows seemed quite authentic for that type of person. The romance angle works better than in most movies, as here it comes off more incrementally and not just all of sudden and it’s his unselfish actions that earns her love, but realistically due to their contrasting lifestyles never comes to a full, permanent fruition.

Charles Cioffi is also really good, but surprisingly never got enough credit. What impressed me was how ordinary he looked where he doesn’t stand out at all and could easily be a typical businessman seen anywhere. In most movies someone with a strange, or scary appearance gets cast as the bad guy, but in real life most killers blend in, like this one, and that’s why they’re able to get away with their crimes for as long as they do. I also liked how when he’s stalking Bree there’s a brief look of sadness in his eyes, like there’s a part of him that feels bad for what he’s about to do, which helps to make his character multi-dimensional. My only quibble is I wish we had seen a bit of his private life. Most likely a high corporate type like him would’ve been married and with a family and seeing him playing around with his kids, even briefly, would’ve made his dark side, when it finally comes about, all the more shocking, but still believable as I think there’s plenty of ‘happily’ married family men out there that could still harbor dark fantasies.

The supporting cast has some interesting moments too, which includes Roy Scheider in a rare turn as an antagonist, which he does well in, and Dorothy Tristan in a small, but pivotal part, as a drug tripping hooker. You can also spot Veronic Hamel, as an auditioning ad model, and Jean Stapleton, as a ditzy secretary, playing in minor roles before they became famous.

Spoiler Alert!

My only complaints with the story come mainly during Bree’s therapy sessions. The sessions themselves, especially the performance by Vivian Nathan as the psychiatrist, were well handled and one of the more realistic interpretations of a therapy session put on a film, but Bree’s ‘confessions’ didn’t totally jive. She says she feels ‘most in control’ when she’s doing tricks, but I’d presume it would be the other way. She packs no gun, so what’s to protect her if a guy gets rough? The idea that Cable would’ve been the only client that would have ever gotten violent with her seemed a stretch. Granted she’s a ‘high class’ call girl, but that still wouldn’t make her completely immune from having to deal with the occasional sickie. Rich guys can be dangerous too and sometimes even more so.

Hard to imagine that she couldn’t describe what the violent john who attacked her looked like especially since that was apparently a rare experience, so I’d think that would make him stand out even more so. His face would be so etched on her mind that she’d easily be able to tell Klute his appearance versus here where he just gets somehow forgotten in her mind along with all the rest.  The scene where she meets up with another client and he implies that he has a unusual turn-on that he’d like to play out and whispers it in her ear, but then when the sex does get shown, under the covers, it comes off as quite vanilla and I failed to see where the ‘kink’ was.

I also felt it was a mistake to reveal who the killer was during the second act and having it remain a mystery to the very end would’ve been creepier. The way it gets resolved, where the detectives are able to connect the same typographical error in the obscene notes to other correspondence that Cable had sent to Gruneman, seemed too easy. I just don’t think Cable would’ve been dumb enough not to have spotted that mistake himself before sending out. A better way would’ve had Bree unable to remember the killer’s identity due to him knocking her unconscious during their violent meeting and then struggle through therapy to bring those repressed memories back, which she would’ve eventually been able to do at the end.

My Rating: 8 out of 10

Released: June 23, 1971

Runtime: 1 Hour 54 Minutes

Rated R

Director: Alan J. Pakula

Studio: Warner Brothers

Available: DVD, Blu-ray (The Criterion Collection), Tubi, YouTube

 

 

 

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Posted in 70's Movies, Academy Award Winners for Best Actress, Movies that take place in the Big Apple, Mystery, Thrillers/Suspense

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