Michael-Douglas Movie Reviews

How the hell did Chuck Norris become a star I mean the guys like 50 and he's so slow. I can't stand guys like him Steven Segal and Van Damme.

Chuck Norris made his starring Debut in this slightly hokey action film about a trucker who's brother gets caught in a one horse speedtrap of a town called Texas City. The DVD was mastered well with both wide and full screen versions. My only complaint is a lack of a trailer and the misprint of the time on my copy of the disk. How they lost 20 minutes of movie on the case is a mystery to me, as the movie really is 85 minutes, not 65.

For all Chuck fans this one is a must. Its got all you'd expect from a Chuck film....loose plot, bad acting, continuity problems, and shaky premises. But aside from all that its hillarious from its lewd intro song to the earth shattering dialogs, "Drink Trucker?", thoughout the film. If you want to have some fun this one is a must see!

How the hell did Chuck Norris become a star I mean the guys like 50 and he's so slow. I can't stand guys like him Steven Segal and Van Damme.

Chuck Norris made his starring Debut in this slightly hokey action film about a trucker who's brother gets caught in a one horse speedtrap of a town called Texas City. The DVD was mastered well with both wide and full screen versions. My only complaint is a lack of a trailer and the misprint of the time on my copy of the disk. How they lost 20 minutes of movie on the case is a mystery to me, as the movie really is 85 minutes, not 65.

For all Chuck fans this one is a must. Its got all you'd expect from a Chuck film....loose plot, bad acting, continuity problems, and shaky premises. But aside from all that its hillarious from its lewd intro song to the earth shattering dialogs, "Drink Trucker?", thoughout the film. If you want to have some fun this one is a must see!

Crime of the Century fails much in the same way the system of justice failed in the prosecution of for the kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh's baby in the 1930s, not enough evidence.

I know Mark Rydell (On Golden Pond) to be an extremely sensitive filmmaker and stage director, his motivation here, I'm sure was to present an alternative to Hauptmann's guilt, to entertain ideas that the prosecution may have erred. The evidence was only circumstantial, of the course the crime was horrible, but Hauptmann's execution may have been more a result of public outrage than guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

And he may be right, based on everything I've read, he probably is right. Unfortunately all the probabilities in the world add up to nothing on screen. After only a couple of suppositions the viewer gets so lost in the ultimate goal of the story that he loses interest. I've watched this film 3 times, and lost interest every time.

What a waste of terrific actors, including Stephen Rea, J.T. Walsh, Michael Moriarty, Vyto Ruginis, Barry Primus, and Allen Garfield.

Without closure, as long we as know as little as we do about what actually happened, maybe this story is best left to the true-crime section of the local bookstore, or Investigative Reports, Dateline, or 20/20. Told this way, in this medium it's a sad waste of time.

Before there was OJ there was the Lindbergh Case. Charles Lindbergh jr., was
kidnapped from his home in March 1932 and despite the payment of $50,000
ransom he was never seen alive again. Some time later his body was found less
than a mile from his home leading to speculation that he never survived the
actual kidnapping. For over a year the case went unsolved until a German
immigrant was found to be spending the ransom money.

When arrested the immigrant, Bruno Richard Hauptmann, was initially evasive.
He finally stuck to a story that he had acquired the money from a fellow
immigrant who left him a box for safekeeping while on a voyage back to
Germany. When that man died in Europe owing Hauptmann money, he opened the
box and discovered the cash. Figuring that this would serve as repayment
Hauptmann hid the money not telling his wife or other friends owed money by
the dead man. The police found this story unlikely and coupled with
Hauptmann's initial falsehoods under questioning they became convinced that
Hauptmann had been the killer and kidnapper of the Lindbergh baby.

The case gave the nation and the world the first "Trial of the Century". A
circus like atmosphere existed outside the courtroom with food and souvenirs
for sale to the excitable crowd. The evidence presented was circumstantial
but convincing to the jury. The defense maintained that much of it was
doctored or coerced by the police; this was not convincing to the jury. The
verdict was guilty and the sentence was death.

Hauptmann was subjected to the ultimate penalty in 1936. But since that date
the datable has raged on. There are many who are remain convinced by
Hauptmann declarations of innocence and believe that he was railroaded to
protect the careers of those who could not find the real killers. The more
mainstream view holds that Hauptmann was in fact guilty of participation in
the kidnapping.

This movie is firmly on the side of Hauptmann. He is shown as an immigrant
who is always hustling for a better life for his family who is chosen as a
convenient victim for the justice establishment. His view of how he got the
money is taken as fact and his brave stance maintaining his innocence costs
him all possible lenience. Hauptmann's wife insists that 'the truth shall
set you free' and is determined to prove that her husband was innocent of the
crime.

It is hard to say that any movie with Isabella Rossellini is not the best,
however this movie does have some serious flaws. While made in the 90s the
producers seem to feel that it was necessary to have the actors act like it
was a 1930s gangster movie. Most of the 'bad guys' (The police and DA) are
just a little too into playing the tough guys and a little too uninterested
in discovering the facts of the case. It sets a jarring note that continues
throughout the whole movie.

It is possible that there were shady dealings and a rush to judgement. But
some facts are indisputable. Hauptmann was found possessing $14,000 of
ransom money. He did lie to the Police and the Lindbergh baby was dead.
Some facts are undoubtedly lost to history forever, but this does not give
the producers the right to make them up and then package them as history.

I know little about the Lindbergh kidnapping, and was shocked at the content of this video. I thought it was difficult in several respects: over-acted by the "heavies" (except, of course, Michael Moriarty), blatantly one-sided, and simplistic. However, I was drawn in and very interested in the simplistic, blatant script and found myself alternately puzzled, angry, and enraged. At my age, I admit to surprise in feeling such strong emotion at a display of justice/injustice in America, but this film hooked me and makes me feel naive again. I will read more about this case; therefore, using the yardstick of intellectual curiosity, I give it a "5". It also entertained me at 4 a.m., so despite the over-acting I'll give it an overall "4".

Either the original or transfer was terribly faulty but picture was poor. Aspect changed from moment to moment. Focus was a bit bleary and night shots were too dark to tell what was going on. And the story, it almost seemed like there were scenes deleted as story line had a very jerky feel to it. As a collector of western films, can only say this ranks among the worst I have purchased.

Have no idea what the guy who complained about the picture being fuzzy, shifting quality and looking chopped up was drinking the night he viewed this movie. Picture quality was excellent and saw no sign of it being chopped up. An excellent western.

Kirk Douglas is "The Indian Fighter" Johnny Hawks, who returns to the West after the end of the Civil War to lead a wagon train bound for Oregon. Along the way there is the threat of an Indian war stirred up by bad guys Wes Todd (Walter Matthau) and Chivington (Lon Chaney), a couple of whiskey traders who are after gold on Indian land. The Indians in question are led by Red Cloud (Eduard Franz), the Sioux chief who tried to keep the white man from taking over his people's land. Johnny is smitten with Onahti (Elsa Martinelli), the chief's daughter, who distracts him enough from his job to put the wagon train and the local military outpost at risk when Red Cloud's brother is killed.

This 1955 western was filmed on location in Oregon by director André De Toth and the beautiful scenery along with composer Franz Waxman's evocative helps elevate "The Indian Fighter" to above average status. Given the time and genre, some of the scenes between Hawks and Onahti are quite risqué. In the end this is more of a Western romance than a Western action film, and with its inherent sympathy towards both the Indians and the environment, De Toth has made an extremely atypical Western. Elisha Cook has a nice supporting role as Briggs, a character who learned photography from Matthew Brady during the Civil War and has come out West to capture the grandeur of the landscape, and there are several moments when De Toth's has the camera provide the sort of beautiful panoramic shots that Briggs would aspire to take. Not a great Western but there is a lot here that warrants fans of the genre taking a long look.

Trivia Note: Diana Douglas, the wife of Kirk and mother of Michael Douglas at that point in hsitory, plays settler Susan Rogers, who has her eye on Hawks but ends up with hardy Will Crabtree (Alan Hale, Jr.). I remember the actress from playing Professor Tyler on "The Paper Chase." This was the only film the two appeared in together and certain an interesting choice given they each have different love interests.

Loosely connected sequel to Sometimes They Come Back and Sometimes They Come Back Again plays the Thing from Another World game as a military rescue team (of only two people!?!) is dispatched to an Antartic drilling station. Seems the miners broke through to hell...and something wants out. For low budget schlock this plays fairly well, no real surprises, but director Daniel Zelik Berk manages to craft an eerie moment or two amongst all the to be expected satanic hokum.

This is a pretty good horror flick, I rented it a while back and it was pretty enjoyable.

I could see where the director/producer was trying to elevate the film up from its "Creature Feature" underpinnings with an interesting plot, and he/she succeeded in some respects. Unfortunately, the obviously small budget of the film coupled with it's setting kept the film from being really interesting.

This movie reminds me of the low budget suspense movies from guys that are now famous studio directors. It kept me on the edge of my seat. The ending could be better - my guess is that the production ran out of money.

There are a lot of cheesy TV movies out there, so I don't know why this one was poorly reviewed. I had even talked to someone at Donna Mills' production company who said that she was very unhappy with this movie. Donna Mills was NOT, however, involved as a producer of this production. While some projects have come through her own production company, she was hired soley as an actress for this one.

I thought that it was very well done. Donna Mills has her usual glamour, and Michael Ontkean is very good in this role. It is suspensful and creepy, and at the risk of sounding pretentious, it is very well edited. I also liked the music. Sure, the conclusion is a little cheesy, but hey, it's a TV movie! Louise Fletcher is also in this, who is always wonderful. I enjoyed the "look" of this movie, it's worth the price, and some very good acting. Donna's not a great actress, but she's just great at playing Donna Mills!

This thriller is unfortunately nothing more than middle-class. The story is very good and the viewers surely expect more than they can see then ! Some scenes turn out to be very exicting but this doesn't save this movie to become a little disappointing at all. Donna Mills fans (like me) will enjoy it, but she deserves better !

As a fan of the Stepford Wives, I looked forward to watching this movie. I was disappointed only because it would have been so much better had the men been replaced by robots, like the original movie and novel, rather than being "conditioned" in a clinic. The fact that someone could make a robot exactly like a real human and replace them, is far scarier but anyway..........

The Stepford Husbands, is a very good movie. It could have been a whole lot better, for example casting someone other than Donna Mills as the heroine. But it does still insight the original disturbing thought, of a society that creates partners to perfection. I always said they should do one for the husbands! I'm sure my mum would send my dad to that clinic!

Like the Stepford Children starring Barbara Eden, this movie uses sterotypical marital problems to justify why the men should be changed. It works in some places and not in others, as the story is being rushed along for the discovery of what happens to the men.

The poor blokes get tubes stuck down their throats and tubes put into their navel, painful!:) and worst of all, they have to do yoga! Basically the movie works very well, capturing some of the paranoia from Ira Levin's novel The Stepford Wives, while still adding new enjoyment into a new story. Worthwhile buying, especially if you are a stepford fan!

OK, folks, it's a "good news/bad news" situation. The bad news is that this is really a bad movie. A REALLY bad movie. Our heros arrive in Ruritania (which reminds me more than anything of the Grand Duchy of Fenwick, but that's a different movie...) when (wait for it) their railroad car inadvertantly decouples from the train and rolls sloooooowly to a stop in the boondocks of what is supposed to be?? Eastern Europe?? Never mind - it's just a show, and you should really just relax. The locals are, um, different. Maybe it's because they are all zapped by gamma rays (you know, the kind that turned mild-mannered Bruce Banner into The Incredible Hulk) at an early age, turning them into either geniuses or goons.

So - what's the GOOD news, you ask? This is essentially virgin territory for your own riffing! Get this tape, invite over some pals, and have a do-it-yourself Mystery Science Theater! Believe me, it isn't good for anything else. It's filmed in painfully depressing black and white, has scenery reminiscent of the local slag heap, pot holes big enough to drag solar systems through, surprisingly old and unattractive male protagonists, cheesy and short-lived special effects, in short - PERFECT for that hard-to-kill rainy Saturday afternoon. END

"The Gamma People" is a 1956 science fiction/horror film that can be described as a cross between "1984," "The Boys From Brazil," "Night of the Living Dead," and "Brigadoon" (sorry, I am really into offering up such comparisons this week). American reporter Mike Wilson (Paul Douglas) and his English photographer, Howard Meade (Leslie Phillips) are on a train bound for Salzburg to cover the music festival when their car becomes uncoupled, ends up on an abandoned spur, and rolls all the way to the Kingdom of Gudavia, nestled somewhere in Eastern Europe behind the Iron Curtain. The two unwanted visitors discover a weird confluence of strange people and events. There are military types in costume uniforms lend by a bungling kommandant named Koerner (Philip Leaver), a young boy named Hugo (Michael Caridia) who clearly has Hitler as a role model, an even younger piano protégé named Hedda (Pauline Drewett), strange monstrous figures walking the streets, a beautiful fraulein scientist named Paula Wendt (Eva Bartok) riding a horse, and Bronoski (Walter Rilla), a brilliant scientist who prattles on about the wonderful effects of Gamma rays on improving the human species. Oh, and there turns out to be a castle. Mike likes Paula, feels sorry for Hedda, declares Hugo to be strange, and worries that Boronski is fooling around too much with the Gamma rays (keep in mind that this film was made years before Stan Lee used Gamma rays to create the Incredible Hulk). Meanwhile, the original music by George Melachrino underscores every scene with tension and peril even when the plot is unclear and the acting misses the moment.

It is not that "The Gamma People" is MST3K fodder because it is so bad, but rather because it is just not good (yes, there is a difference). For example, there is a point where Hedda and her father try to escape from Gudavia and Hugo's harsh critique of her piano playing, taking a horse over the mountains. But of course the bad guys show up to foil their escape. A moment later Mike shows up, apparently just out for a nice little walk so he can smoke a cigarette, even if it means wearing a suit and tie and hiking a couple of miles out of town up the side of a mountain. Then again, it is amazing how many characters happen to pop up during this scene out in the middle of nowhere.

John Gilling's film will really remind you of "Night of the Living Dead" in its visual style and the acting (tilted camera angles, groups of characters moving in an exaggerated manner, etc.), which I guess is not surprising for a man who directed "Mother Riley Meets the Vampire" and wrote the script for "Trog." Perhaps the strangest thing in the film is Paul Douglas as the hero. I mean, this is an actor I associate with baseball comedy movies like "It Happens Every Spring" and the original "Angels in the Outfield," and not as some sort of action hero. Douglas seems like a fish out of water in "The Gamma People," but then everybody seems out of place in this rather ambitious low-budget Fifties science fiction/horror film. Certainly worth a look, 'The Gamma People' is not quite up to cult classic status.

"The Gamma People" is excellent rainy, Saturday afternoon science fiction/horror fare. Two journalists on their way to a music festival in Salzburg accidentally arrive in the unknown Kingdom of Gudavia (somewhere in Eastern Europe), where mysterious deaths occur, brown-shirted bully boys run amok in the village and hideous goons lurking in the shadows diverts our heroes from their planned itinerary. This movie and its goons gave me the creeps as a child. Not a perfect film, but a highly entertaining and enjoyable one.

Check the production credits and you will see some notable names: Irwin Allen ("Lost In Space") and Albert Broccoli (James Bond films) are executive producers. Syd Cain art designer for such films as "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" and "Frenzy" provides his touch in the creation of a diabolical mind-control laboratory. Cinematographer Ted Moore, who filmed many of the early James Bond films, captures the essence of the film in dark, black and white German expressionistic tones. The lyircal music score by George Melachrino also adds to the fantasy atmosphere of the mysterious Kingdom of Gudavia and its secrets. Paul Douglas and Leslie Phillps are not your stereotypical leading men, yet they add heroic style and aplomb to the solving of Gudavia's dark secrets. Walter Rilla plays the Mabuse-like evil scientist Brononski with diabolical grace. Philip Leaver as the bungling Commandant Koerner lends comic relief to ease the 1984 nightmarish tension of the film.

The movie gave away most of its plot, which makes it predictable and uninteresting. The actors are perhaps at best B-rated in term of acting abilities. Don't waste your time.

Better movie than first thought. Simple, but makes a good statement I thought. Good actors as well for the most part. A good commentary on certain things.

my niece, lee ann moses was an extra in this film at the high school scene. i did not watch this movie until i moved back here from idaho 12 years later. but after i watched it, i was highly impressed. the film stuck in my head. it has a very good meaning. as soon as i watched this film i saw the lady actress in alot of movies. who knew? lol. but who is the guy? he's cute but where is he? why did don most pick my town i wonder. well im glad he did. it put us on the map once again. see this movie. you'll never forget it. thanks don.

When Hulk Hogan wasn't bodyslamming wrestlers in the WWF or WCW, he liked to try his hand at acting. In this two-hour pilot to the syndicated TV series, Hogan is R.J. Spencer, a Navy Seal with an elite super boat called "Thunder" that can fly across the ocean at almost light speed. Paired with zany sidekick, Bru, the two battle drug dealers, jewel theives, and of course, the Cuban government. There is one enemy too powerful though as the government won't fund their boat and they could lose it. Meanwhile, a snobby hotel owner, Megan Whittaker (Felicity Watterman) could lose it all if she isn't married before a certain date. This sets up an indecent preposal where Spencer and Megan agree to get married.

This one has it all from old wrestlers like Brutus Beefcake and Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart to sexy supermodel Carol Alt as a cocktail waitress. Don't forget Charlotte Rae as Megan's aunt. It doesn't get much better than this. Look out for a super realistic heat-seeking missle.

well...i loved thunder in paradise as a kid and now it is a great trip through memory lane to be able to see it again

Bull!!!! Tell me who bought this so I can go Hit them on the head with a tack hammer because they are a RETARD

This movie is the best out of all three of the series. It is full of action and adventure. The boat is awesome with a million different gadgets in it. The actors and actresses are great. I rank it 5 stars. No wonder it is worth so much money!