Reviews

16 Reviews
Sort by:
Filter by Rating:
Gunsmoke: Liar from Blackhawk (1957)
Season 2, Episode 38
5/10
Worst Episode of the Series
13 April 2022
I didn't think there was an episode I've never seen of Gunsmoke, but this is it....and now that I've seen it, I know why....it's not shown very often, because it is terrible ! The story is stupid, it doesn't make sense, and none of the guest star characters are appealing. I'm not going to explain the plot, because all the other reviewers have done that thoroughly and well. All I'll do is give you my opinion, which is that it is the worst episode of the series. It must be a very early episode, because Mat and Kitty look so young ( not Doc, he looks exactly the same ). The only interesting thing is seeing Denver Pyle look so young and acting so serious ! I miss his comedic genius, as Brisco Darling in the Andy Griffith Show. I agree with another reviewer, that Strother Martin's character was really useless here.
0 out of 6 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
Doc Elliot: And All Ye Need to Know (1973)
Season 1, Episode 1
10/10
This Is True Love !
9 April 2016
Warning: Spoilers
I agree with the previous reviewer 100 % ! This is the most touching piece of drama I have ever seen in the entire history of television, and I was born the year that television came into existence, 1949...so when I say I've seen it all, I 've seen it all !

I would just like to add a little more of the plot....Jenny was born blind, and had no relatives other than her parents. So when her parents died, they asked this man ( " the toad " ) to marry her so that there would be someone to take care of her. There were no blind schools in Appalacia, no foster homes. So when Doc Elliot informed the couple that her blindness was due to cataracts and could be removed by surgery, her husband was terrified. Even though he was a rube, he was smart enough to know that she probably would leave when she saw him. But he really did love her and wanted what was best for her, so he consented to the operation.

I will never forget the final scene, when she returns home from the hospital and faces him for the first time. When he finally gets the courage to come before her, we the viewers are holding our breath.....Jenny sees him, then closes her eyes, comes close to him and feels his face with her hands like she used to when she was blind...then a smile spreads over her face, and she says with happiness, " you haven't changed " ! ! Then they fall into each others arms hugging and kissing. It was the greatest piece of acting I've ever seen, and if I ever meet Mills Watson or Meredith Baxter at a Nostalgia Convention, I am going to tell them so.
0 out of 0 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
Gravity (2013)
4/10
No Beginning, No Ending
23 February 2014
I agree with another reviewer who said Gravity is "visually stunning"...especially in 3-D, the outer space scenery is just beautiful.

However, to me and my two friends who sat through this, plot-wise, it was boring and frustrating. There are only two characters, Sandra and George, and all they do is float around, drifting, drifting, drifting. I only know that George's character is a veteran astronaut " in command of his last flight before retiring", from reading this on IMDb...I do not KNOW THIS from seeing the movie, because the movie EXPLAINS NOTHING !! I also know that Sandra is a medical engineer " on her first ever space mission " only from reading IMDb, not FROM SEEING THE MOVIE, because the movie explains nothing ! The 90 minutes that we saw, was great for a middle of a movie, but there was no beginning and no ending. We wanted to see Sandra and George at home first, or at the space center, to learn who they are and what they will be doing in space. And at the end, we wanted to see a rescue party save Sandra and see her home...we wanted a resolution.

I only recommend this movie to people who are big fans of either Sandra Bullock or George Clooney.
1 out of 3 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
5/10
Party Girl Lives To Regret It
29 December 2013
Temple Drake is a flamboyant flirt who likes to lead men on, and then say " NO " ! She is the grand-daughter of a prominent judge, so this kind of behavior is scandalous, for the times. An attorney in her grandfather's court is in love with her, and she says she's been in love with him since childhood, but she loves the life of a Party Girl more.

One night she leaves a party with a drunk guy who drives too fast and crashes the car. They are found by Trigger, a lowlife bootlegger, which is the least of his crimes...he is also a rapist and murderer, as Temple will soon find out. She and the drunk driver are invited into a house, with a motley group of Trigger's cohorts. The Drunk Driver is happy to accept the invitation, as he wants another drink...but Temple insists she'll wait outside, as she senses trouble. Eventually, she is forced inside, as it starts to thunderstorm, as it does in all those creepy old Boris Karloff movies.

Temple is witness to repulsive deeds by this Trigger, including the murder of a young boy who was trying to help Temple. He arranges for an innocent man to go on trial for the murder, and the trial attorney is the one in love with Temple.

Temple is afraid to take the witness stand, because the scandal of her being involved with these criminals would be too hard on her Grandfather.....can the attorney who loves her convince her to take the stand, free an innocent man and get the true heinous criminal off the streets ?? Will she do it ? ! Buy the DVD and see !
4 out of 7 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
3/10
Beautiful Singing, Awful Acting
8 June 2010
I completely agree with previous reviewer Don Miller. I just saw this film on the Encore Western Channel, and was laughing at how shoddy and hokey it was. I was curious to see Eddie Dean, because I 've always heard the name but never actually saw him. Well, my curiosity has been satisfied. He's not much to look at, extremely skinny like Barney Fife, and his acting is extremely amateurish. But, he's got two things going for him: 1) he has a beautiful singing voice, and 2) a beautiful horse. And now for the story....he plays an Indian agent who finds an orphaned Indian boy, appearing to be no more than 5 years old. He dresses him in Cowboy clothes, cuts his hair with a bowl, and plans on adopting him. All the characters fall in love with the boy, as do we. Eddie gets him a tiny pony to ride, and he dazzles us with his riding rodeo tricks. He seems to have no problem losing his parents and adapting to the white man's ways. And then, it all comes to a screeching halt when the outlaw shoots this lovable child in the back. I couldn't believe, that in a hokey, light-hearted musical, they would show the murder of a tiny child in this horrible way. So if Encore shows this again and you decide to give it a try, remember you've been warned.
0 out of 0 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
2/10
Miss America Shares Her Story
3 December 2009
This was a made-for-TV movie starring 1992 Miss America Carolyn Sapp playing herself, as she tells the story of the physical abuse she suffered at the hands of her tough football player boyfriend.

It was courageous of her to do this, as it was not common back then for celebrities to reveal sordid details of their personal lives, as it is today.

However, I have to report, that Miss Sapp is the worst actress in the world, even playing herself ! The director must have been tearing his hair out, trying to get a decent line reading out of her. She sounded like a first grader reading out of a Dick, Jane, and Sally book.

An interesting aspect of this film is seeing how the pageant works. But I found it unrealistic, that in the story they show all the pageant officials slobbering over Miss Sapp, as if she were the most magnificent contestant ever in the whole history of the Pageant. Well, she was not any more beautiful than the other winners, and without the makeup and gowns, she was not glamorous looking at all.

It is not surprising that this telemovie was never shown on TV again, nor is it available on video or DVD.
1 out of 1 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
Three's Company: Secret Admirer (1980)
Season 4, Episode 23
10/10
A Poignant Episode
4 April 2008
Warning: Spoilers
This is the most touching and poignant episode of the entire series. It guest stars Barry Gordon, a former child star who I recently saw on an episode of " Leave it to Beaver " as a little friend of Beaver's whom they discover is from a troubled family, also a very poignant episode. Here he plays the "Secret Admirer" of Chrissy's, who has been sending her flowers and gifts. The three roommates are titillated by this, and go through great measures to discover who the admirer is. Of course it is assumed that he will be a handsome dashing prince. When he finally shows up at their door, answered by Jack and Janet, they discover a shy, Woody Allen-nebbish kind of guy. They think Chrissy will be devastated and take pains to hide him from her. But to their surprise, they hit it off well, and Chrissy is not only kind to him, but informs Jack & Janet that she has enjoyed talking to him very much and is glad they will be friends. Turns out, he is the guy at the newspaper stand in the lobby of the building where Chrissy works, and has always admired how sweet and kind she is when he sees her coming to work. The episode ends with Jack telling Chrissy how beautiful she is, on the inside. I agreed, and looked at Chrissy differently after seeing this episode.
13 out of 16 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
1/10
You Call This A Holiday ? ! ?
29 December 2007
Warning: Spoilers
While purchasing another Deanna Durbin movie on DVD at Amazon, I saw this title and it peaked my curiosity. I wondered why, with two such great stars as Gene Kelly and Deanna Durbin, I had never heard of this movie before. So I ordered it...I watched it....and now I know why I 've never heard of it before. It is terrible. It is the worst performance ever, in the careers of both Gene and Deanna. And, as other reviewers have said, it has absolutely NOTHING to do with Christmas...nor is it a musical. Gene doesn't dance a single step, and the only time Deanna sings is when she is expressing undying passionate love for this vicious, psychopathic murderer she is married to.

In the opening scene, we are introduced to two military men having a conversation about the upcoming nuptials of one of them. We grow to like these two men, and I felt cheated, because one of them we never see again, and the other, the engaged one, merely serves for the rest of the movie as a body for Deanna to tell her story to. In this scene we learn that he is taking military leave to visit his fiancé, when he receives a "Dear John" letter saying she has married someone else. He is devastated, and plans to go back home anyway to confront her. Due to bad weather, the plan has to stop in New Orleans, where he meets Deanna in a sleazy night club. The proprietor is the enchanting Gladys George. Deanna tells him (and us) how she met Gene...they were sitting next to each other at a symphony concert. She was captivated by his shy, "aw shucks" demeanor. They married and moved in with his very strange mother, played by Gale Sondergard, who horror movie fans will know very well. Gene and Gale are the creepiest mother & son team since Sante and Kenneth Kimes.

The are blissfully married for 6 months. All of a sudden, he starts displaying signs of criminal behavior, and starts abusing Deanna...but still she stands by him! Before you know it, the police come looking for him, and he is on trial for murder. Deanna and Mom sit together in the courtroom, and when the guilty verdict is read, Mom turns to Deanna, slaps her in the face and declares her responsible for sonny going to jail. Needless to say, she kicks her out of the house.

Now Deanna has to find work, so she gets a job singing at Gladys George's sleazy nightclub. Eventually, Gene escapes from prison and hides out in the nightclub to kill Deanna, because he assumes since she's working there, that she must be sleeping with all the patrons. The unbelievable part of this plot, is that when she sees him hiding in the back room, she runs to him with open arms, ready to run off with him ! I really hate to make you watch this to find out the ending, but we're not allowed to give "spoilers"....

You know, I always believed that even the greatest of stars made some clinkers in their careers that we never see....and this film is proof!
7 out of 17 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
Georgy Girl (1966)
One Of The Silliest Movies In Silly Movie History
19 October 2003
I was a teenager in the 60's so I love films from that era, I am a huge Fan of Lynn Redgrave, and grew up hearing the " Georgy Girl " song...so it is amazing that for some reason I never saw the movie, until last night on TNT Movie Classics hosted by Robert Osborne. From Osborne's description of her in his opening narration, I expected her to be the shyest, frumpiest and fattest girl on the planet. Well, that is NOT the case ! She wasn't shy at all, in fact, she was friendly, vivacious, and had a great sense of humor, which is probably the reason why James Mason 's character was attracted to her. And as for her looks, granted she was not as glamorous as her roommate Charlotte Rampling (but who is ??), but she was NOT fat, they just gave her a plain hairdo and dressed her in baggy clothes.

Well, I say this film is silly because certain things just didn't make sense to me. For example, Georgie's roommate Meredith (Charlotte Rampling), is the meanest, nastiest, most selfish character I have ever seen, who refers to her own baby as "it" and "that".....so I absolutely cannot comprehend why Georgie is SO DEVOTED TO HER ! !

So devoted, that I thought they were sisters at first, and was shocked to find out they were only roommates. If my roommate treated me the way she treated Georgie, she and her baggage would be thrown out the window. Also, James Mason's character claims to be 49 years old, but he looks 69. And I don't know why everyone is so impressed with Alan Bates, he acted in this movie like a low-budget porno star.
10 out of 21 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
Gunshy (1998)
YEAH, GET ME A GUN SO I CAN KILL THIS THING
13 August 2002
I found this direct-to-video disaster on the "bargain bin" table at my local video shop, used former rental for $3.00...and it wasn't worth it. I was attracted to the cover because I am a huge William Petersen fan, not only because of " CSI ", but because I saw him in person on stage in NYC a few years and he was fantastic ! But his talent is wasted here....the acting, not only his, but everyone's, is so bad, so corny, so melodramatic, so over-the-top, that it looked and sounded like the " Saturday Night Live " cast doing a spoof of 50's gangster movies ! And I couldn't believe Diane Lane's character....she was a NURSE....it is extremely unbelievabe and unrealistic that a NURSE, trained to heal the sick and care for people, would be in love with and live with a gangster who beats people and cuts off their toes with hedgeclippers...I certainly would not want her nursing me...I thought of selling this on Ebay, but I 'd feel guilty ...I 'll just throw it out.
3 out of 8 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
Keep Them Shut! Don't Open...EVER ! !
1 July 2002
I agree with every single word of prior reviewer " TKARSJEN2" of Minnesota...in fact, I would go so far as to say he/she was being KIND !

What more can I add, except that this so-called film is ATROCIOUS ! !

I 'm sure all the guys went to see it in hopes of seeing Nicole nude....which you do, but believe me, it is done in a very unflattering, unappealing way...in the opening, the couple is getting ready for a party, and the camera shows Nicole rising from the toilet...do we really have to see Nicole on the can ??? Not a pretty sight, not even for her.

And the sub-plots were so stupid...when Tom goes to a costume shop to rent something for the sex club, we witness a scene of the shop owner angry at some old men ogling his daughter, really yelling at them as any father would....then later, when he returns the costume, we see that she's prostituting herself to them with the father as her pimp...(wow, Dad had quite a change of heart)

There was only one amusing scene in the whole thing...Tom goes to a hotel to get some info from the desk clerk, whose back is to him when he enters....the gay clerk is played by Alan Cumming, the stage actor who played Joel Grey's role in Cabaret on Broadway...and the look on his face, when he finally turns around and gets an EYEFUL of TOM, is Hilarious ! ! But this is only one moment, and not worth having to suffer through the rest of this God-Awful thing.
0 out of 1 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
Abduction of Innocence (1996 TV Movie)
8/10
Beautifully Acted Film for TV
25 June 2002
I don't know if this made-for-TV film is based on a true story, but it was very interesting...a typical kidnapping tale with an unusual twist. Clare Steves is the daughter of the richest man in town, in fact, everything in the town is named after him. She is a typical high school girl who wants to go to parties and act in the school play. But her father wants her to only study so she can get into the most prestigious school. When she lands the lead in the school play, he is against it and upset that this project will take time away from her studies. He is not a bad father, but his strickness causes a rift between them, and the mother is uncomfortably between them. She gets kidnapped and tortured by brutal classmates who want her father's money....when they are caught and she is released, they admit to their deed, but claim that she was in on it to get a share of Daddy's money..in fact, they claim that it was indeed HER idea to get revenge on him ! So SHE IS ON TRIAL FOR HER OWN KIDNAPPING !! Both parents are supportive, although Dad has some doubts.

I watched this primarily because I am a big Fan of Dirk Benedict, who plays the father....this is a new type of role for him, and he looks fabulous! I didn't like Lucie Arnaz as his wife, though, she doesn't seem like his type. And Katie Wright's performance, as the daughter, was very poignant.
6 out of 8 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
When Your Lover Leaves (1983 TV Movie)
I would have left her myself ! !
10 April 2001
I disagree with IMDB, this is not a comedy....I bought the video because I am a huge Dwight Schultz fan, and he is the only saving grace of this badly written, badly acted film. Valerie Perrine's character is supposed to be the sympathetic heroine, but i HAD NOTHING BUT CONTEMPT for her childish behavior, and the way she treated Richard Reese (Schultz) was inexcusable...a review I read said that he was a crazy guy she was forced to go out on a blind date with, but I found that not to be the case...SHE WAS THE CRAZY ONE! The only interesting thing about watching this is seeing Dwight Schultz and Ed ONeill ( Al Bundy, the folk-hero of "MARRIED WITH CHILDREN"), LOOKING SOOOOOOO YOUNG AND ADORABLE ! !
3 out of 7 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
1/10
Watching ?? Not this trash ! !
18 November 2000
Warning: Spoilers
Well, I notice IMDB has not offered any plot info...that's because it's not possible to do that without sounding vile and disgusting...because that's what this movie is...VILE AND DISGUSTING !! I watched it because I am a humongous Fan of Chris Noth, whom I have met in person and he is a great guy...but if I ever meet him again, I will have no qualms about asking him whatever posessed him to star in something so awful. He plays a former child prodigy who is now a brilliant doctor, who spends his spare time running over small children with his car, with the intent of maiming and crippling them...this is not a "spoiler", because all this is made very clear from the begining...sickening enough?? Oh, it gets better...he is manipulated into doing this, by his incestuous sister, who threatens to with-hold sexual favors from him if their latest victim fails to die...even Clive Barker couldn't write anything so hideous. Please, if you want to see Chris Noth in something worthy of his talent, rent "Teddy Roosevelt and The Roughriders"
4 out of 6 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
A "DELIVERANCE" KNOCK-OFF
12 July 2000
You thought "Deliverance" was painful ?! It is a walk on the beach compared to "Hunter's Blood" !! I remember seeing it in the theater when it opened in 1987, I went because I had been a big fan of Clu Gulager who played Billy the Kid in the 60's TV Western "The Tall Man"...so people over the age of 50 will recognize him, but the next biggest name in this is Joey Travolta, who, unlike his brother, has zero talent. Their fight against the demented rednecks is very suspenceful, but I have to warn you that there is a very graphic, stomach-turning scene...have fun!
7 out of 12 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
The Charmings (1987–1988)
"THE CHARMINGS" WAS UTTERLY CHARMING ! !
14 December 1998
This TV Sit-com was just adorable, and Christopher Rich (Miller from Murphy Brown) was the ideal Prince Charming ! ! The idea was that Snow White, her husband Prince Charming, and their children, plus evil step-mother and her talking mirror, were thrown into modern society, thanks to a spell from the step-mother which went awry.....it was similar to 'BEWITCHED", in the sense that we had the fun of seeing our favorite fairy-tale and mythological characters come to life as a result of different spells going awry each week. Paul Winfield was a riot, as the talking mirror who threw caustic insults at the vain step-mother....(think Niles and Miss Babcck on the Nanny).....I am a-waiting for Nik at Nite, or TV LAND to re-run these...and you should, too ! !
9 out of 10 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Recently Viewed