Reviews

I'm writing this post-mortem...the last original episode ran last weekend. The idea of a medical series about organ transplantation told from different viewpoints (doctors, patients, organ donors, etc.) really appealed to me because I've willed my body for medical research. After I go, my body gets turned over to a medical school! Originally I had signed for organ donation but some technical difficulties (a positive diagnosis for hepatitis B that later turned out to be false) forced me to change plans to whole body donation. This is something I have recommended to everybody who, for one reason or another, can't donate organs. Back to the series...this was a great series with great story lines (dedicated doctors, a person designated to get the organ/organs to be donated, the hospital administration, etc.) and a great cast(Alex O'Loughlin, Alfre Woodard, Katherine Moennig, etc...it deserved more of a chance than it got!! There seem to be indications in other reviews that CBS has been trying to create a series just for Alex O'Loughlin and/or that he can't act...he's just a handsome face!! What I seem to see is that he is from the Tom Selleck/James Garner/Gary Cooper acting school...he's just being himself! The running subplot of how Dr. Yablonski got through medical school (his uncle paid for college with what appeared to be "dirty" money) was also interesting. CBS should've tried this series on another night to see if it could build an audience or stuck with it on Sundays. CBS did that before with other series (Cold Case, also R.I.P.) but couldn't with this one...???!!!

I saw this movie in the late 1970s as part of a double feature with "H.O.T.S"...thus, more T & A than one can shake a stick at! The movie was filmed mostly at the Roadium Swap Meet in Torrance, CA, not even a mile from where I grew up! The Roadium started in the 1950s as a drive-in theater but by the mid 1970s had abandoned movies in favor of being a full time "open air market." Weekend trips to the swap meet were a regular occurrence...it wasn't the nicest place on earth (not very clean, parking issues, dirty toilets, mediocre food, etc.) but one could always find a bargain!! About the movie...I saw it mainly because it was showing with "H.O.T.S" then I recognized the locations in the film (the review in the Los Angeles Times made no mention of that fact). I don't want to spoil anything but how the producers and actors got some of the scenes filmed within the property amazed me!! The film certainly earns its "R" rating (lots of nudity and sexual content; incidental violence). Cheryl Rixon had (according to the ads) been Penthouse Magazine's "Pet of the Year"...I can see why!! Several 1970s/1980s/1990s actors such as Ruth Cox (Nancy Drew, Happy Days, now a professor); Jon Gries (Martin, The Pretender); Debi Richter (Hill Street Blues); as well as Danny De Vito (Taxi, many movies) and his wife Rhea Perlman (Cheers, many TV shows and movies) in what were essentially cameo roles. This movie was a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon (especially with a T & A classic such as "H.O.T.S.") and it would certainly be that on DVD. I give it a "seven" for the curio factor. The Roadium is still there after these years...I just hope they've taken care of the above problems...then maybe more movies will be made there!!!

I first saw this movie in the theater when it came out back in 1980. The country was still getting over the impact of Howard Hughes' death and the will(s) he left to different people, including Melvin Dummar. I saw a lot of myself in Melvin...we always seem to have an idea but it never gets going (he had his Christmas song, I have or have had too many to mention). The story line (Melvin picks up Howard, takes him to the Sands, drops him off, and goes on with his life as a milkman, gas station owner/mechanic, etc. until he's handed the will, being called a liar, two wives, etc.) is as Leonard Maltin put it in his book of movie reviews "a genuine American fable." First wife Lynda (Mary Steenburgen, in an Oscar-winning role) works as a waitress and dancer and later recreates some of that on a talent show (in real life, the Dummars were on "Let's Make a Deal"-note the resemblance between actor Robert Ridgely and Monty Hall). Melvin blows the prize money, Lynda leaves and Melvin moves on with his life (second wife Bonnie, played by Pamela Reed). A will gets dropped on his desk and all Hades breaks loose. An interesting sidelight is that in the 1980's there was a brief TV show called "Lie Detector" in which people were put on a polygraph and allowed to prove they weren't lying. Melvin was on the first broadcast, flunked the polygraph exam and was called a liar-to his face!!! From that he faded into obscurity...??!! This movie is a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon...it's one of the great stories in film history. Mary Steenburgen deserved her Oscar for Best Supporting Actress and Bo Goldman's Oscar-winning screenplay hits home(fact or fiction).

I first saw this movie in the early 1990s right after it came out on video. My then wife worked in a video store and brought new releases home for my second opinion. This movie is riveting...it is a classic docudrama (fiction mixed with fact) and, as I titled my commentary, "we are there." First there are two Oscar-winning actresses (Sissy Spacek and Whoopi Goldberg) and a versatile actor (Dwight Schultz of "The A-Team" proving there's life after that cult series). The gradual mixture of fact (Rosa Parks, Dr. Martin Luther King, the boycott, etc.) mixed with fiction (the bonding between the two women, the way the wife stands up to the husband, etc.) makes this the quintessential docudrama...recommended (required?) viewing for anyone who went through that era!! In some ways it's not just the birth of the civil rights movement, it's the birth of Southern feminism (the daughter could have very well grown up to be any of the women on "Designing Women")!! Again, this movie packs a big wallop to anyone who views it...we, the audience are given a "fly on the wall" viewpoint...we are there!!!

I'll admit to having watched only one episode of this series and that was several months ago. I have my own TV but I also have the only computer in the apartment. My roommate, for reasons I won't discuss here, had HIS computer dismantled a few months ago and uses mine...sometimes he asks to use it and most of the time he just assumes eminent domain and uses it without asking!! Back to Glee...I have tried to watch it on a regular basis but can't with my roommate sitting in the room...he has to watch or have NCIS or NCIS Los Angeles on...so much for watching Glee!! He is slightly homophobic and he would have a definite problem with some of the characters. I see by reading the other reviews that my sister Ruth Ann has made a comment...there isn't much I can add to her comments (having a musical act, having it shut down and having to go on with our respective lives, etc.) except "ditto" and "Amen." Every school everywhere has its music people, drama people, shop people, jocks, techies, etc. We simply wanted to have a family musical act and we got shut/shot down. We tried to get restarted in the mid 1970s but couldn't do anything. Here it is 2010 and I wonder what could have been. Hopefully, I can get to watch some more episodes and get more of an opinion...the "9" is for the one episode I got to watch!!

I saw this movie in a theater in the fall of 1974. It was the first R-rated movie I ever saw! The movie was advertised in TV, radio and newspapers as being released for a week to qualify for the Oscars as a documentary (the critic who reviewed it for the L.A. Times had a big issue with that, but still gave the film a lukewarm review). All the classic "bloopers" (Uncle Don, sports and news reporters, even Orson Welles' "War of the Worlds") are here...all packaged into a feature film. The other reviewer is right...you won't see any of this on TV...not without the bleeper button and the editor's scissors!! Lots of nudity and profanity...the commercial announcer said "you'll laugh for hours!" Indeed...I can still remember scenes from this movie 36 years later!! One would think it'd be out on video/DVD but it doesn't seem to be...one would think with the "blooper" series of the 1980s and the reality series of the last few years it'd be available...maybe it's a legal issue...??!! Get it resolved and give us the bloopers!! As Kermit Schafer said, "To forgive is human, to err is divine!!"

I first saw this (like most of the other reviewers) as an made-for-TV movie in 1976. It was a typical Friday night diversion...put the brain in neutral, sit down and watch. Deborah Raffin (model-turned-actress famous for her looong hair) and Lynne Moody (nice lady later on Soap and Hill Street Blues) play two college coeds driving through the South when the car breaks down. They run afoul of the local law and end up in the county work farm for 30 days. Things only get worse and worse until a mixed ending (good news and bad news...I won't spoil it...some others already did). A great supporting cast including a lot of "good guy/girl" actors/actresses in "bad guy/girl" roles (Chuck Connors as the sheriff; Ralph Bellamy as the judge; Robert Reed as the warden; Tina Louise, Fionnula Flanagan, Lana Wood and Della Reese as guards/prisoners/trusties; etc.). This movie was an emotional experience in 1976 and the impact stayed with me for quite a while (ABC ran an advisory saying it might not be for all viewers and it may give a bad image of Southern justice). Fast forward to the early 1990s...my now ex-wife was working in a video store and brought this film home as one of her "victim movies" (she liked women-in-peril movies). What a difference 14 years makes!! This movie had all the added features described elsewhere (lesbian love scenes, nudity, strong language, etc.)...it amplified the movie I saw in 1976. Another reviewer was right...this would've made a good drive-in movie. If rediscovered, it could be set next to "Caged Heat" and "Chained Heat" as a great movie of its genre. The "9" is for both versions blended together. Leonard Maltin gave this a "below average" rating...it's much better than that. It's the type of film parents could watch with their children and say (sarcastically) "look what can happen to bad girls."

The other reviewer (RobNels2000) needs to do his homework. "Parenthood" was originally conceived as a TV series, became a movie and then became a TV series! The 1990 series (Ed Begley Jr., Jayne Atkinson, William Windom, etc.) didn't work despite having some great talent behind it (Ron Howard and Brian Grazer plus at least five others credited as executive producers). Now it's back...new cast, same situations. Three generations and lots of subplots. A truly great ensemble (Craig T. Nelson and Bonnie Bedelia, Peter Krause and Lauren Graham, etc.). Many people are going to compare this to "Modern Family" but "Parenthood" was around first...as a movie and TV series. Lauren Graham is doing very well stepping in for Maura Tierney...she got her training on Gilmore Girls. Craig Nelson, having been an military pilot, football coach and police chief, now gets to play a tough dad/granddad (although my dad could've given him some lessons). The venerable Bonnie Bedelia (many movies and TV series) has aged well to play the mom/grandmom. Add in Peter Krause ("Sports Night," "Six Feet Under," and " Dirty Sexy Money") and there's four solid actors right up front. The big difference between "Parenthood" and "Modern Family" is that "Parenthood" is more drama than comedy. Ironically, I've never been a parent myself but grew up with parents similar to Mr. Nelson and Ms. Bedelia. Let's give this series a few weeks and see where it goes. One suggestion...if and when Maura Tierney gets better, bring her on in a guest role as another daughter. I gave this a 10 for the ensemble and the plot lines!! NBC can go home again!!

This movie was made in the area where I lived and grew up in California. I can still remember when it was being filmed and eventually released in the mid 1970s. H. B. Halicki, a Gardena, CA car parts dealer, made this film on a shoestring budget. He got the cooperation of every city in the South Bay and Harbor area of Los Angeles County except, ironically and tragically, his hometown of Gardena! The Gardena police department wouldn't cooperate with him and, reportedly, fired a sergeant over his cooperating with Halicki. The local paper, the Gardena Valley News, also took a few hits from the Gardena P.D. over their publicizing of the movie. The movie was made by a Gardena resident and business owner, for crying out loud!! After the movie was released, it was a modest success and became something of a cult film. I saw it twice in the theater and recognized all the places where the movie took place...again, every place in the area but Gardena. This movie has a nice feel to it...as one critic put it "like a Howard Hawks film." Halicki went on with his life and career, making the movie "Junkman" in the early 1980s (I saw that too...cool movie). Tragically, he died in the late 1980s in an accident while trying to put together a bigger budget remake of "Gone in 60 Seconds"...it would've been interesting to see what he could've done rather some Hollywood version with Nicolas Cage and other actors (Angelina Jolie, Robert Duvall, etc.) in cameo roles. This shows what some people can do with an idea, a little money and some film. One last thing though...what kind of a name is Maindrian??!!

From what I've read over the years, Parenthood was conceived as a series in the late 1980s but never got picked up by the networks. It was then turned into a movie and, after the movie was a hit, relaunched as a series...??!! The series came and went despite a great cast of TV actors (any couple can relate to Ed Begley Jr. and Jayne Atkinson as parents and/or William Windom and Sheila McRae as grandparents, not to mention Leonardo DiCaprio and Thora Birch among the children). Add into this Ron Howard and his partner Brian Grazer and at least five other people credited as executive producers. This show should've clicked as a series but it didn't...??!! 20 years later, it's back...different cast and the same producers...let's see what happens this time around!! This was a great series that should've worked. My wife and I saw the movie and every episode of the series and, as previously stated, we related to the Begley-Atkinson couple. Let's see if 20 years have changed things.

I remember watching this show every day it was on! Apparently, I was one of a small group watching as it was quickly put on hiatus and then subsequently cancelled! Pat Bullard defended his hosting a talk/variety show by saying he'd been a standup comedian and then worked as a writer and producer on "Roseanne" and "Grace under Fire" (regarded as two of the biggest war zones on television.) The show started off like the "Mike Douglas Show" with Pat and his guests sitting in a circle of chairs. Early guests included Jerry Springer and Sally Jessy Raphael (whose shows were produced by the same company) and had the same features as any other talk/variety show. Then the show went on hiatus. When it came back Pat was sitting behind a desk, had a painted-on smile, guests were interviewed one-on-one, and the show lost its initial edge. The show limped along to its 106th and final episode and, as a final exit, footage was shown of no less than Ed McMahon telling Pat he "had the same personality as (Johnny) Carson!" What a sendoff! Pat moved on...in fact he went back to "Grace under Fire" and then on to other things. This is the type of show daytime TV needs...we had it for a while with Bonnie Hunt, Tony Danza and Megan Mullally...network executives never know a good thing when it's there.

I remember this show from the summer of 1975 with a lot of fond memories. The premise seemed to be (in at least one episode) that the cast were tourists on a studio tour. They got left alone and decided to play around and put on their own show. Each of the performers had his/her own "shtick" and played it to the hilt (Wayland Flowers and his lady puppets, at least three celebrity impersonators, beauty queen Kathrine Baumann and her gymnastics act, standup comics such as Billy Crystal, etc.). Each episode featured Madame or Jiffy lipsynching a song while another cast member sat and reacted (a funny bit, like it or not). My friends and I watched and were in hysterics at some of the routines...they were that funny. The other reviewer (thus far) who made the remark that Rod Serling died "just in time" needs to know that Mr. Serling had a droll wit about him (evident in many Twilight Zone and Night Gallery episodes) and that a comedy series would have been a good change of pace. It's very sad he never got that chance. Most of the performers went to success in TV, movies, etc while some others just went on. Something like this is needed on Saturday nights in 2010.

I saw this TV movie when it first aired. The Los Angeles Times reviewer said in advance that it was not any good and advised readers not to watch so as to prevent a third movie! I watched anyway mainly because the then Los Angeles Rams had beaten the Cowboys in the playoffs the previous week and, in doing so, changed the script. All references in the script to "the Super Bowl" had to be redubbed "the playoff game"-after all, the Cowboys weren't going! The only problem was that on screen the lips were saying "Super Bowl" while the overdubbing said "playoff game!" Watch any badly dubbed foreign movie and you'll see what I mean! Back to the movie...standard story line about America's most famous sideline attraction...lots of familiar TV actors...it's two hours of your life that you'll never get back! I saw the movie a few years later and the sound still said "playoff game"...???!!! I gave this movie a six just for the trivia aspect...I'm surprised more viewers haven't mentioned it.

I saw this film on a Saturday afternoon and it really packed a wallop. As someone who was brought up on "Leave It to Beaver," "Father Knows Best," "Ozzie and Harriet," etc., etc. I was ready to have any image of those series deflated very quickly. The images (in chilling black and white) of the perfect small town with perfect families and perfect people brought back memories of the above shows (What DID Ozzie do for a living?!) and a few others. Who didn't want parents or friends (or a life) like the ones in the movie?! The cast (among them a pre-Spiderman Tobey Maguire, William H. Macy, Joan Allen, Reese Witherspoon, Jeff Daniels, Marley Shelton, J. T. Walsh in his last role as the town leader, etc.) was one of the best ensembles ever assembled. Everybody had their big moment on screen. Add to this echoes of "To Kill A Mockingbird," "The Wizard of Oz," as well as touches of the above noted TV series and one has a great movie experience. This one had me thinking for days afterwards and it'll have you thinking too.

I first saw this movie in the late sixties at a neighborhood theater. The Park Theater in Gardena, CA was the world's most expensive movie theater...50 cents to get in and 50 dollars for new clothes! Back to the movie...this was one of the best movies of its type and its year. Paul Newman gave one of his greatest performances (Oscar nomination) and had one of the best supporting casts of any movie of any kind. George Kennedy won his Oscar after years of journeyman work; Oscar winner Jo Van Fleet gave a great cameo performance as Luke's mom; and that ensemble of fellow prisoners and prison officials...?! Just watch the movie, pause at intervals and look at that cast (Wayne Rogers, Joe Don Baker, Harry Dean Stanton, Strother Martin, on and on and on). Great scenes and/or quotes (who can forget the floor walker explaining what will get someone "a night in the box," the girl washing the car, the egg eating challenge or the warden's legendary statement to Luke toward the end of the movie, etc., etc.). The IMDb section on Goofs said this movie showed 60s era money when it was set in another era...??!!... this movie, from all indications, was set in the 60s. Leonard Maltin said in his book of movie reviews that this film shows that "chain gangs haven't changed much since Paul Muni was on a chain gang." Amen. Again, this is one of the greatest movies of its type and should be in every film buff's collection.

I saw this movie on TV in the mid 1980s. The story hits home in several ways. I attended Robert E. Peary Junior High School in Gardena, CA in the 1960s and from day one we were indoctrinated that "Peary was the first man to reach the North Pole," "Accept no substitutes," "He's it and that's that," etc., etc. Then, during Negro (1960s, remember) History Month, we found out that Matthew Henson did most of the grunt work but, because of his skin color, didn't get any credit (we were never able to get anything at the school named for him). Finally, in the summer of 1966 (my first after starting at Peary), I made my annual visit to my grandparents where my grandmother told me that Dr. Cook was a distant cousin of hers (at least a second cousin). When I brought this up with some of my teachers and classmates at Peary, I suddenly found myself at the top of the Special High Intensity Treatment (S.H.I.T.) list and, for the remainder of my time at Peary, received all the Special High Intensity Treatment that could be dished out on an individual. Teachers and students alike hated me for disrespecting the legacy of Admiral Peary when, simply enough, I was related to a woman who was related to Dr. Cook. Back to the movie...there was a lot of criticism of the casting. All-American good guy and "King of the Miniseries" Richard Chamberlain played Dr. Cook while All-American tough guy Rod Steiger played Admiral Peary. The story seemed to match the real life events...Dr. Cook claimed to have gotten there first but was discredited...Admiral Peary got the credit when, in reality, someone else did most of the work. Again, this movie was a good way to spend two hours...but it did open some emotional scars. For years (even into high school) I was treated as a pariah until it eventually subsided and life went on.

I gave this a 10 because it's the best film of its kind...a good old-fashioned T & A film in the shadow and spirit of "Animal House." I saw this with a similar film called "Swap Meet" and both were good of their type...a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Let's be honest...there are more breasts in this movie than one could imagine for an R-rated movie. From beginning to end, they just seem to keep showing up on screen (sunbathing scenes, bedroom scenes and, of course, the climactic football game). Also, a memorable kissing booth (kiss me, Clutz!) Everybody seems to be having a good time in their roles (several Playboy Playmates, Danny Bonaduce, several familiar TV and movie actors, etc.). The only complaint I have to register is that Lisa London's character is called by her last name "O'Hara" and not a good 1970s name like "Olivia" (or even Ora or Ona or O...??!!). I saw this again in the late 1980s with my now ex-wife (pretty well endowed herself) and she couldn't believe I was actually enjoying the movie!! She was probably jealous!! Again, this movie is a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon...just don't think too hard!

I saw this movie on the late show on a local TV station. Nothing else looked interesting, so I stayed with it. Only a character played by Vincent Price could conceive such a device and process! Despite some truly disgusting sequences (the butcher shop fight, the zombification of several characters and the heartbreaking ending), this was a pretty good movie. Not perfect, but a great way to spend two hours in the wee hours of the night. A good cast (the always solid Treat Williams, Joe Piscopo of Saturday Night Live for comic relief, Lindsay Frost in a tragic role, Keye Luke, and, of course, Vincent Price). This movie earns its R rating for some truly graphic violence and gross out scenes. Again, an interesting concept that could (should) possibly see its way to a sequel...??!!