dtucker86 Reviews

The Verdict (1982)

Frank is so unlikeable

[8/10 · 19 April 2024]

I enjoy legal movies just as much as the next person (The Caine Mutiny and Inherit The Wind are my favorites). Paul Newman won an Oscar nomination for this film playing a down and out lawyer named Frank Galvin who has fallen on hard times (and into alcoholism as well). Once an important lawyer he has only had four cases in three years losing them all. We see him going to funerals and giving out his card. He spends the first part of the film playing pinball in a bar while telling dirty jokes in a dumb Irish brogue. Jack Warden, always a great character actor, plays his former partner who offers him one last chance at redemption a case involving a young comatose women who suffered permanent brain damage during childbirth at a large Catholic hospital. Galvin finds himself going up against the hospitals high price lawyer played by James Mason (I always think of him in North By Northwest he makes a slimy bad guy). The Verdict is technically a good film with a satisfying ending but my problem is that Newman's character is so unlikeable. He really isn't that good of a lawyer and spends a good part of the film bumbling around like Inspector Clouseau and making a fool of himself in court. Its only at the end that he pulls a rabbit out of a hat and gives a brilliant summation and a surprise witness comes forward to pull his case out of the fire. By the way, Bruce Willis is one of the spectators in the courtroom as Newman sums up his case.

Mr. Saturday Night (1992)

Buddy was a yutz!

[4/10 · 12 April 2024]

I have been a big fan of Billy Crystal ever since I saw City Slickers and When Harry Met Sally. In most of his movies, and in interviews I have seen with him he comes across as the most likeable kind of guy. This movie was such a big let down for me because so many have called it Crystal's materpiece. He directed and co wrote it as well as starred and in many ways did a great job. He handled the dramatic shifts in time in the movie very well and got a great performance out of David Paymer as Buddy's long suffering brother but Crystal made one mistake. This movie is supposed to be a funny tear jerker where you feel sorry for Buddy but he is such an unlikeable character a mean bully to everyone around him that Don Rickle's wouldn't even like him. If you want to see Billy at his likeable best watch City Slickers.

The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour: Glenn Ford, Carroll O'Connor, Robert Merrill, Harvey Korman, Steve Martin (1971) Season 2, Episode 1

Brings back memories

[10/10 · 8 April 2024]

The first show that I ever have clear memories of watching is the Sonny And Cher show. It brought back a lot of memories watching a lot of the clips on youtube. They certainly don't make them like that anymore the variety shows like theirs and Carol Burnett's featuring a little bit for everybody from songs to sketches to surprise guest stars. This episode does a clever spoof of All In The Family that had just come on the air. It is done as an opera (!) called All In The Familius featuring legendary opera star Robert Merrill as Archie Bunker, Cher as Edith and Sonny and a young Terri Garr as Mike and Gloria. Of course Carroll O'Connor does a cameo as a knife wielding censor.

The Americanization of Emily (1964)

Good people involved in one bad movie

[10/10 · 7 April 2024]

Everybody loves Julie Andrews don't they? James Garner was one of the most popular actors in tv history and Paddy Chayefsky is seen as the greatest movie and tv writer next to Rod Serling. They starred in and wrote this film and I had such high expectations so my question is where did it go wrong? First of all Jim Garner is famous for playing likeable heroes and I couldn't accept him as a selfish coward in this film. He is a man of few words and I could tell he was uncomfortable with the long monlogues he had to deliver. I like war movies just as much as the next guy but I like them where they show the military as heroes here we see a bunch of the brass living high on the hog and getting drunk while the poor soldiers are getting ready to charge Normandy beach. If you want to see a good movie with Garner watch Tank or Muphys Romance, if you want to see a good Julie Andrews movie watch Mary Poppins and if you want to see writer Chayefskys best work watch the Hospital or Network. Sorry folks this is a bad film.

Nova: The Case of the Bermuda Triangle (1976) Season 3, Episode 20

A wonderful special

[10/10 · 28 March 2024]

I hadn't seen this special since I was about nine years old and it first came on and was so happy to find it again on youtube. It has aged very well and is still just as relevant today because there are still those fascinated by the "mystery" of the Bermuda Triangle. This show really points out that there is no mystery. A writer named Larry Kusche is interviewed and debunks so many of the myths. He pointed out that the Bermuda Triangle really came about when a pulp magazine writer coined the phrase for an article he wrote and so many just parroted his falsehoods. Kusche pointed out that ships and planes disappear all over the world NOT just in the triangle. It is a huge area that is traveled every single day is it any wonder? Kusche even pointed out that statistically the Bermuda Triangle is one of the safest areas to travel through. Get the facts people!

Spaceballs (1987)

Not as funny as Blazing Saddles

[7/10 · 22 March 2024]

I was never much of a science fiction fan but since Mel Brooks made this film I thought I would give it a try. It was the only one of his films I haven't seen. Its actually passably funny but just not as good as Blazing Saddles or Young Frankenstein. You have to really be a science fiction fan to catch a lot of the "in" jokes and gags in the film where they mock Alien and Planet of the Apes and also Brooks has a clever piece in the film where he mocks the movie executives who do all kinds of merchandising to make extra money with these sci fi hits. John Candy does a great job and steals the show from Bill Pullman andn Rick Moranis (from Ghostbusters and Honey I Shrunk The Kids) has a ball spoofing Darth Vader. Spaceballs is good for a laugh but for grade A Brooks watch Blazing Saddles or Young Frankenstein.

A Night in Heaven (1983)

Mediocre

[4/10 · 17 March 2024]

Hollywood can be a cruel place where one can go from the top of the mountain to the bottom of the barrel in a heart beat. John G. Avildsen is a good example. He directed Jack Lemmon in his Academy Award winner performance in Save The Tiger and the first Rocky film and then he became infamous for directing John Belushi's last film neighbors and THEN this lowbrow film about male strippers. Christopher Atkins had achieved pop stardom in 1980 with The Blue Lagoon where he starred with Brooke Shields. According to all accounts he is a good guy but made it more on looks then talent. He plays a big feeling college student who moonlights as a male stripper and has a torrid fling with his much older teacher played by Lesley Ann Warren. They are definitely an unlikely couple and despite a few steamy scenes you don't believe two people like this would ever connect. I disliked Atkin's character and my favorite part was where he got his comeuppance at the hands of her outraged husband after he found out about said affair.

Inside Story: False Witness (1989) Season 9, Episode 7

I changed my mind he is guilty

[10/10 · 17 March 2024]

Doctor Jeffrey MacDonald's case is the most litigated in American history. It has been going on now for 54 years. When the murders of MacDonald's wife and two children happened at Fort Bragg, the Vietnam War was still going on, Richard Nixon was President and J. Edgar Hoover was FBI director. The case spawned a best selling book and miniseries called Fatal Vision that convinced many people of Jeffrey MacDonald's guilt in this horrific crime. Was Jeffrey MacDonald an innocent victim who saw his family murdered before his eyes or was he an evil cold blooded killer with a psychopath's charm. I saw this special in 1989 and it convinced me of MacDonald's innocence at the time but I now think he was guilty. He pulled the wool over a lot of people's eyes including me but now I know better. I'm glad that justice was served and he will die in prison.

Sherlock Holmes: The Hound of the Baskervilles: Part One (1968) Season 2, Episode 4

A competent Doctor Watson

[10/10 · 13 March 2024]

The Hound Of The Baskervilles is the most beloved of all the Sherlock Holmes stories. I first read it when I was in the fourth grade. The most famous version is of course the one with Basil Rathbone as Holmes. I was lucky enough to watch this version with Peter Cushing as our favorite detective. Cushing did a Holmes series of which only five episodes survive and this is one of them. Despite the fact it was obviously shot on a low budget it is very entertaining and Cushing makes for a very enjoyable Holmes (even though Jeremy Brett was shoulders above). The other thing I like about this is that they play Watson as an intelligent and able person (even though he isn't as brilliant as Holmes). In the Rathbone movies they played him as a bumbling dolt! Oh and yes Cushing gets to say "The game is afoot Watson!"

Revenge for a Rape (1976 TV Movie)

Mannix goes Charles Bronson!

[10/10 · 13 March 2024]

Death Wish came out two years before this tv film was made and it made people think it was cool to be a vigilante taking the law into your own hands. Perhaps Revenge For A Rape is a cautionary tale for anyone thinking about following Charles Bronson's example. TV legend Mike Connors (Tightrope, Mannix) stars as Travis a likeable guy and a loving husband with a pretty (and much younger) wife. They arrive at a national park during hunting season and while he is away from their campsite she is raped by three "deliverance" like rednecks causing her to miscarry. Connors is enraged when the sheriff (played by Robert Reed) tells him the might get away. After his distraught wife points out three strangers in a crowd, Connors goes from nice guy to savage as he hunts them down through the woods killing them one by one (at one point he even does a Butch Cassidy like leap off a cliff) HOWEVER the three men he's chasing and killing are totally innocent. His wife identifies the three real culprits and in the end Connors is about to be arrested and go to prison for life. This is one of those few tv films that doesn't have a happy ending.

I, Tonya (2017)

What a sad life

[10/10 · 11 March 2024]

Margot Robbie was wonderful as Sharon Tate in Tarantino's Once Upon A Time In Hollywood and she does another great job here as the most infamous figure skater of all time. The sad thing about Tonya Harding is that if she had behaved herself, trained the right way and above all avoided her criminal act, she could have gone down as one of the BEST figure skaters of all time. Her tale should be a cautionary one that fame doesn't buy you happiness. There is not a single likeable character in this film from Tonya's wretched excuse for a mother, to her idiotic abusive husband and finally to Tonya herself. Watching this movie is like watching a train wreck and it is depressing. Yes Tonya Harding brought on her own downfall but in the end you feel sorry for her because lets face it from day one she just never had a chance for a happy life.

Who Killed 'Winter Kills'? (2003 Video)

Behind the scenes of a forgotten gem

[10/10 · 1 March 2024]

Winter Kills is one of the most underated movies of all time. It deserves to have a revival where people realize how darkly brilliant it is (like the Manchurian Candidate did). This is one of those films where the story behind how it got made is almost as fascinating as the movie itself. Actually Winter Kills has a lot in common with Apocolypse Now because its a MIRACLE that it even got made with all of the problems that went on behind the scenes from drug use to difficulties with funding. William Richert did a fine job directing but his career went nowhere after that and its a shame (he directed a movie with River Phoenix in it). Richard Condon wrote the Manchurian Candidate and also wrote the novel Winter Kills. He was a master of dark satire.

Tales from the Crypt: Maniac at Large (1992) Season 4, Episode 10

A little gem

[10/10 · 26 February 2024]

Tales From The Crypt was a popular show on HBO back in the 1990s and has retained an enormous cult following. This is the first show that I have watched and it really grabbed me. What a fine bunch of people were involved in the making of this show from the acclaimed actress Blythe Danner to "Rocky" composer Bill Conti and the piece de resistance is that this episode is directed by the legendary John Frankenheimer (the guy who made The Manchurian Candidate, Frankenheimer began his career as a live tv director in the 1950s). Danner is Margaret a mousy timid librarian who is having a terrible night at work. She has to deal with obnoxious customers (including English rock star Adam Ant who is a wonderful ham as a weird customer who loves talking about serial killers). She also has to put up with a drunken library guard (played by Clarence Williams III) and a newspaper headline telling about a serial killer on the loose. Frankenheimer is the master of suspense and keeps us guessing until the end who the killer is and SUPRISE its Margaret herself. It just goes to show you that those quiet ones are the ones you have to watch out for.

The New Gidget: Gilligidge Island (1987) Season 2, Episode 1

A nostalgia lover's dream episode

[10/10 · 24 February 2024]

I am probably one of the few living people who still remembers The New Gidget that aired from 1986 to 1987. Caryn Richman took over the role that launched Sally Field's career as our favorite beach bunny now all grown up and married to Moon Doggie (played by Little House On The Prarie's Dean Butler) she is also raising her orphaned niece. This episode features Gidget and her family going on a ahem "three hour tour" aboard the SS Minnow 2. Oh and who do you suppose is the Captain of this mighty vessel? Ha ha. Alan Hale evidently had a great sense of humor in spoofing his Skipper character. There is a running gag where Moon Doggie keeps goading him with "You look awful familiar aren't you the Maytag repair man, aren't you Mister Whipple? Wait a minute your that guy from Gilligan's island!" no kidding Sherlock. There is stock footage of the storm that sank the Minnow and we see Gidget and her family and Captain Hale marooned on a deserted isle where they have to fight off natives before being rescued and oh the end is so wonderful featuring a cameo by Bob Denver. What a happy ending.

Chesty: A Tribute to a Legend (1976)

John Ford's last film

[10/10 · 17 February 2024]

This documentary is the last work by legendary director John Ford. Lieutenant General Lewis "Chesty" Puller was the only Marine in history to win five Navy crosses (the award is second to the Medal of Honor). To this day, he is the most decorated Marine in the history of the Corps a legend who is revered as the greatest leatherneck of all time. Narrated by John Wayne, this film takes us through Puller's amazing life from his days as a boot on Parris Island to his brave service in World War II and Korea. Puller was loved for his bravery and his firm but caring leadership. For example, he once found out his base didn't have an enlisted club and he immediately had one built and gave the Marines a three day pass with free beer! Is it any wonder they all loved him so much! Of course he took them on a twenty mile hike afterwards. What this documentary doesn't mention is the sad story about Puller's son Lewis Jr. Who was horribly wounded in Vietnam losing his hands and both of his legs. After a long struggle with alcoholism he took his own life in 1994.

The President Must Die (1981)

I have seen it

[10/10 · 12 February 2024]

I was always a big fan of the "Sunn Classic" documentaries as a kid and was delighted that they are all posted on YouTube. Yes, they are dated, cheesy and even laughable today but still enjoyable. I particularly liked The Mysterious Monsters the one they did on Bigfoot and Beyond and Back and Beyond Deaths Door which were about near-death experiences. However, there was one "lost" Sunn classic film and this is it. It got nary a release in 1981 probably because of the attempted assassination of President Reagan. Next to London After Midnight and the King Kong "spider pit" scene this should go down as the most famous lost film of all time. However, James Conway the director was kind enough to send me a video of it on line recently and The President Must Die is a very enjoyable documentary about the Kennedy assassination and the various theories about who was involved even though its over forty years old and the technology was primitive back then it still holds up very well. Brad Crandall, who narrated many of the other Sunn films, is on hand here to take us through that terrible day and who might have been responsible. The movie opens with Kennedy's inauguration and then moves onto the grim procession of his funeral as the credits play. There is a touching tribute to Kennedy as we are reminded the Kennedy years were years of youth with a promise of a future filled with hope. Narrator Crandall then takes us through a straightforward "Dragnet" style narrative of Kennedys arrival in Dallas and the murder followed by Oswald's arrest and his murder by Jack Ruby. An interesting footnote about this film is that it is the first to feature the infamous Zapruder footage showing the assassination in all its horror. The movie details the farce of the Warren Commission and what a bunch of lies its report was. I for one consider it an insult to my intelligence for the Warren Commission to ask me to believe their ridiculous single bullet theory that one shot made two holes in Kennedy and Connally and came out intact and also it would have had to have stopped twice and turned in midair! No wonder they call it the magic bullet. This movie covers all of the theories about who could have been involved from the Cubans to the Russians to organized crime but the sad thing is we will never know the truth behind President Kennedy's murder.

The Spirit of Dark and Lonely Water (1973 TV Short)

They couldn't have picked a better voice

[10/10 · 29 January 2024]

If I had been a kid growing up in England back in the 1970s I think that listening to this commercial would not only have kept me from going anywhere near deep water but would have left me afraid of water for life. Donald Pleasance does a masterful job speaking in the eerie voice of an evil spirit who lures children near deep water. Even though this short is only a few minutes long it is as scary as any full length horror movie. I don't think that it could be made today because the political correctness darlings would say it would be too traumatic for small children. Donald Pleasance will always go down as the best Bond villian and as Doctor Loomis in the Halloween series.

Roseanne: Inherit the Wind (1989) Season 2, Episode 1

Becky cut the cheese!

[10/10 · 27 January 2024]

I wanted to share a bit of trivia with all of you out the Burton Gilliam was the first actor to flatulate onscreen in Mel Brooks classic Blazing Saddles and even though it happens off camera Becky Connor is the first tv character to kill the canary as well and gosh darn she does it in front of the whole school WOW AMAZING great job Becky! This episode is a real classic and the writers who came up with the idea to have Becky poot in school should be in the tv writers hall of fame next to Rod Serling, Paddy Cheyevsky and the writers who created Quincy ME. This episode with Becky cutting a fart is tv history right up there with the premiere of All In The Family ha ha ha ha!

Quincy M.E.: Dying for a Drink (1982) Season 8, Episode 4

A good episode but not great

[7/10 · 3 January 2024]

This was during the final season of Quincy when the show was winding down and it was just "very good" and not brilliant like it had been. Doctor Lorraine Linderman played by Ina Balin (who had been on other episodes) is a colleague of Quincys who has been making lots of mistakes lately and taking Friday off sooner and sooner and coming in on Monday later and later oh gee chug a lug what could the problem be. Quincy is unusually preachy in this episode especially when he upbraids Lorraine's coleagues for not being sympathetic enough. Actually, and I can't put my finger on it, Lorraine just rubs me the wrong way she comes across as very unlikeable. Quincy tries to get her help and gets her into a group and it LOOKS like its going to be a happy ending, but her husband decides to leave her. He is a total jerk who wouldn't get her help and admitted he was cheating on her. In the end at what is supposed to be a party in her honor.a tearful Astin breaks the news she has killed herself. This is one of the few episodes that did not have a happy ending and in a way it made it more hard hitting and realistic. If only they had made Lorraine more likeable!

The Goodies: Kung Fu Capers (1975) Season 5, Episode 7

Poor Alex Mitchell

[10/10 · 18 December 2023]

On March 24, 1975 one of the most bizarre deaths in history took place when a fifty year old bricklayer in England named Alex Mitchell literally laughed himself to death after watching this episode of "The Goodies" a popular UK sketch comedy show similar to Monty Python. The episode involves one of the characters demonstrating a new form of karate called ecky thump which involves smacking someone with a sausage (or a pudding as it is called in England). I decided to watch this episode and see what it was about it that had literally killed a man. I found it very bizarre and didn't even laugh once! I guess the British have a different sense of humor then us Yanks. Oh well at least Alex Mitchell died happy.

Room 222: If It's Not Here, Where Is It? (1971) Season 2, Episode 24

Pathetic and living in the past

[10/10 · 17 November 2023]

I'm a retired Soldier and I guess I should feel more compassion for Monty Harris the main character in this episode. He was a nonenity at Whitman and then spent two years in the Marines serving in Vietnam and getting out with a medical discharge. Even though he is nineteen years old he comes back to Whitman instead of going to adult night courses to get his high school education finished. He is so outdated and doesn't know anybody. Life has moved on and he is pathetically stuck in the past. He even tries out for baseball hoping to become the jock star he never was until Pete tells him it is time to grow up and move on with his life leaving high school behind. Monty is a real jerk and you don't feel sorry for him at all. The "Alice Johnson comic relief" aspect of this episode involves her teaching a home economics class having them make bannana skin pie and revealing that she is a true baseball fan whose father still calls her "lefty"

Room 222: El Genio (1969) Season 1, Episode 15

Alice's first big mission

[10/10 · 13 November 2023]

Alice Johnson was always my favorite character on Room 222. She was the kind of teacher you always hoped you got idealistic, kind hearted (not to mention very cute). In this episode our favorite student teacher gets her first important task. Robert Salazar is a Mexican student who is very bright but indifferent about going to college and school in general. He comes to life during an in class discussion about the Battle of the Alamo and Alice decides to take him under her wing and persuade him to go to college. However, her good hearted idealism is shattered when he decides not to go and settles on a simple life of a gardner. There is a good scene where she talks to Robert about trying even if you are afraid to fail.

Room 222: First We'll Eat, Then We'll Strike (1969) Season 1, Episode 6

School bond issues are a pain

[10/10 · 13 November 2023]

This was one of those early episodes with an annoying laugh track and its particularly inappropriate here because it involves a school bond issue that will slash a lot of programs at Walt Whitman affecting everything from textbooks to lab equipment. The teachers have a meeting and good old Mister Dragon the immortal drone puts everyone to sleep with his seven page petition until good kind hearted Alice Johnson nominates Pete to be the head of a committee formally protesting the issue (boy with a friend like Alice Pete sure does not need any enemies). The teachers stage a peaceful protest outside the school and even get to sing the Walt Whitman High song. The saddest part of this episode is where we see Mister Kaufman's world weary cynicism where he talks about the lonely role of a high school principal.

Room 222: Cheating (1971) Season 2, Episode 14

Honesty is the best policy!

[10/10 · 12 November 2023]

This episode didn't make a lot of sense to me in some ways. It seems like the writers waste so much of it with the kids arguing about the virtues of dishonesty and how if you want to get far in the world that it behooves you to cheat! Glen is unfairly punished by an autocratic teacher when a friend asks him for an answer on a test. He is worried that failing the test will keep him from getting into a prestigious tech school. The same "friend" later gets a copy of the make up final and Glen confers with Pete and Kaufman about it (as if a teenager in high school wouldn't know that cheating is wrong!). He does the right thing in the end but doesn't get into that school. At least he was honest about it.

Room 222: Now, About That Cherry Tree (1971) Season 2, Episode 15

Did she or didn't she?

[10/10 · 12 November 2023]

Mister Dragen was never one of my favorite characters on Room 222. He was a dour old wet blanket stick in the mud, the kind of teacher every student prayed that he would not get. In this episode, he is particularly unpleasant as Pam one of Pete's prize students, and a wonderful artist, is chosen for a scholarship to a prestigious arts school. However, Dragen claims that he cannot remember signing her application thus putting her future in jeopardy. Pam is angry and bitter and Dragen acts like a petulant child even turning in his resignation. The two reconcile at the end but it is never resolved whether he signed the application or not. That was the problem I have with this episode.