T-Tz Movies

Take Her, She's Mine (1963)  Frank Michaelson, well respected President of the Pacific Pallisades Board of Education, is appearing in front of a Board hearing addressing the issue of the widespread public outcry asking for either his dismissal or resignation because of a series of salacious front page newspaper stories, complete with photographs, on his recent goings-on. In addressing these unsubstantiated charges, Frank attributes all the incidents on his eldest daughter, Mollie Michaelson, now just shy of her twentieth birthday, no longer being the sweet child he had always pictured her as, but now rather a desirable young woman. Frank and his wife Anne first noticed Mollie blossoming into such when she went away to college, first to Hawthorne, a girls' college in New England, and then to a prestigious art school in Paris. In Frank noticing Mollie becoming a desirable woman and her leaving home happening at the same time, Frank admits that he had troubles letting go of Mollie and thus he did whatever he felt he needed to to protect her, even if she didn't really want or need that help. His problems were compounded by his encounters with a slightly off kilter Englishman he met in Paris, and many, including some paparazzi, believing that he is American actor James Stewart.

Take the Money and Run (1979)  Clumsy Virgil Starkwell was bullied when he was a child. Then he decides to play cello, but without any musical talent, the loser joins a street gang and ends up in prison. When he escapes, he meets laundry worker Louise and lies to her, telling that he plays cello in the symphonic orchestra. He is arrested in a hold up and Louise finds him in prison. He breaks out and flees with Louise to another state. He tries to be honest but he is incapable to fit in any job. When he finally finds a job position suitable for him, he is blackmailed by a colleague and returns to his criminal life. But his heists are disastrous and he always ends in prison.

Allen's first cut was deemed to be decidedly unfunny, including his death scene in a slow-mo hail of bullets, like Bonnie and Clyde. Producers Jack Rollins and Charles H. Joffe convinced him to sit with top editor Ralph Rosenblum to see what could be salvaged. The first thing Rosenblum did was cut out the gory ending, then he restructured the film completely, and generally tightened up Allen's loose narrative. This effort transformed the finished film into a comedy classic. Rosenblum subsequently became Allen's editor of choice on most of his next films, including Bananas, Sleeper, Love and Death and Annie Hall.

Taken (2008)  Seventeen year-old Kim is the pride and joy of her father Bryan Mills. Bryan is a retired agent who left the Central Intelligence Agency to be near Kim in California. Kim lives with her mother Lenore and her wealthy stepfather Stuart. Kim manages to convince her reluctant father to allow her to travel to Paris with her friend Amanda. When the girls arrive in Paris they share a cab with a stranger named Peter, and Amanda lets it slip that they are alone in Paris. Using this information an Albanian gang of human traffickers kidnaps the girls. Kim barely has time to call her father and give him information. Her father gets to speak briefly to one of the kidnappers and he promises to kill the kidnappers if they do not let his daughter go free. The kidnapper wishes him "good luck," so Bryan Mills travels to Paris to search for his daughter and her friend. 

Intense action movie from start to finish.  Well done. 

The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009)  In early afternoon, four armed men hijack a subway train in Manhattan. They stop on a slight incline, decoupling the first car to let the rest of the train coast back. Their leader is Ryder; he connects by phone with Walter Garber, the dispatcher watching that line. Garber is a supervisor temporarily demoted while being investigated for bribery. Ryder demands $10 million within an hour, or he'll start shooting hostages. He'll deal only with Garber. The mayor okays the payoff, the news of the hostage situation sends the stock market tumbling, and it's unclear what Ryder really wants or if Garber is part of the deal. Will hostages, kidnappers, and negotiators live through this?

Good movie, not quite great but well acted.

The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)  The 1950s. Manhattan lavatory attendant, Tom Ripley, borrows a Princeton jacket to play piano at a garden party. When the wealthy father of a recent Princeton grad chats Tom up, Tom pretends to know the son and is soon offered $1,000 to go to Italy to convince Dickie Greenleaf to return home. In Italy, Tom attaches himself to Dickie and to Marge, Dickie's cultured fiancée, pretending to love jazz and harboring homoerotic hopes as he soaks in luxury. Besides lying, Tom's talents include impressions and forgery, so when the handsome and confident Dickie tires of Tom, dismissing him as a bore, Tom goes to extreme lengths to make Greenleaf's privileges his own.

Tank Girl (1995)  Tank Girl (Rebecca) and her friends are the only remaining citizens living in the wasteland that is Earth, where all the remaining water is controlled by Water and Power, the mega corporation/government that runs the territory. While incarcerated at W + P, Tank Girl and her new friend Jet Girl break out and steal... a tank and a jet. After meeting some mutant kangaroo/humans, and rescuing her little girl (adopted by her friends), the kangaroos and the girls kick Water and Powers' butt.

Based on the comic book.

Taps (1981)  An announcement that the venerable Bunker Hill Military Academy, a 141 year old institute, is to be torn down and replaced with condos sets off the young cadets led by their stodgy commander. Under the command of a student cadet major, the cadets seize the campus, refuse entry of the construction crews and ultimately confront the real military.

Prior to the production of the film, the key actors -Timothy Hutton, Sean Penn, Tom Cruise and others - were required to participate in a 45-day-long period of orientation with the students of Valley Forge Military Academy. They were given uniforms, borrowed from their real life counterparts at the school and given authentic military haircuts. They slept in campus barracks and were subjected to the same rigors and hardship that all Valley Forge cadets went through. While most of the actors enjoyed and excelled at their orientation, Cruise opted to leave the training for the comforts of a nearby hotel until filming began.

Taxi Driver (1976)  Travis Bickle is an ex-Marine and Vietnam War veteran living in New York City. As he suffers from insomnia, he spends his time working as a taxi driver at night, watching porn movies at seedy cinemas during the day, or thinking about how the world, New York in particular, has deteriorated into a cesspool. He's a loner who has strong opinions about what is right and wrong with mankind. For him, the one bright spot in New York humanity is Betsy, a worker on the presidential nomination campaign of Senator Charles Palantine. He becomes obsessed with her. After an incident with her, he believes he has to do whatever he needs to make the world a better place in his opinion. One of his priorities is to be the savior for Iris, a twelve-year-old runaway and prostitute who he believes wants out of the profession and under the thumb of her pimp and lover Matthew.

Jodie Foster was 12 years old when the movie was filmed, so she could not do the more explicit scenes. (Her character was also 12 years old.) Connie Foster, Jodie's 19-year-old sister when the film was produced, was cast as her body double for those scenes.

Teahouse of the August Moon (1956)  One year after world war II, Captain Fisby is sent to the village Tobiki in Okinawa to teach the people democracy. First step is to build a school - but the witty folks know what they really want. They tell him about their culture and traditions - and persuade him to build something they really want: a teahouse. Fisby has a hard time to break this to his superiors.

This is great satire about America trying to Americanize another culture.  Paul Ford's character has a great line, "These people are going to learn to be free if I have to shoot everyone of them."

The Terminator (1984)  In the future, Skynet, a computer system fights a losing war against the humans who built it and who it nearly exterminated. Just before being destroyed, Skynet sends a Terminator back in time to kill Sarah, the mother to be of John Connor, the Leader of the human resistance. The terminator can pass for human, is nearly indestructible, and has only one mission, killing Sarah Connor. One soldier is sent back to protect her from the killing machine. He must find Sarah before the Terminator can carry out it's mission

Terms of Endearment (1983)  Aurora and Emma are mother and daughter who march to different drummers. Beginning with Emma's marriage, Aurora shows how difficult and loving she can be. The movie covers several years of their lives as each finds different reasons to go on living and find joy. Aurora's interludes with Garrett Breedlove, retired astronaut and next door neighbor are quite striking. In the end, different people show their love in very different ways.

Nominated for 11 Academy Awards and won five.  Incredible supporting cast.  This is a bitter-sweet movie that can be enjoyed on many levels.

Ten Commandments (1956)  To escape the edict of Egypt's Pharoah, Rameses I, condemning all newborn Hebrew males, the infant Moses is set adrift on the Nile in a reed basket. Saved by the pharaoh's daughter Bithiah, he is adopted by her and brought up in the court of her brother, Pharaoh Seti. Moses gains Seti's favor and the love of the throne princess Nefertiri, as well as the hatred of Seti's son, Rameses. When his Hebrew heritage is revealed, Moses is cast out of Egypt, and makes his way across the desert where he marries, has a son and is commanded by God to return to Egypt to free the Hebrews from slavery. In Egypt Moses's fiercest enemy proves to be not Rameses, but someone near to him who can 'harden his heart'.

Terror by Night (1946)  Holmes is hired by Roland Carstairs to prevent the theft of the Star of Rhodesia, an enormous diamond owned by Carstairs' mother, Lady Margaret. Believing the diamond will be stolen on a train trip from London to Edinburgh, Holmes deftly switches diamonds with Lady Margaret while in her compartment. Soon after, Roland is murdered and the fake diamond is stolen. Red herrings abound as Holmes, aided by Dr. Watson and Inspector Lestrade, discover the murderer's hiding place and deduce that long-time foe Moriarty's henchman Colonel Sebastian Moran is somehow involved in the crime.

Thelma and Louise (1991)  Louise is working in a fast food restaurant as a waitress and has some problems with her friend Jimmy, who, as a musician, is always on the road. Thelma is married to Darryl who likes his wife to stay quiet in the kitchen so that he can watch football on TV. One day they decide to break out of their normal life and jump in the car and hit the road. Their journey, however, turns into a flight when Louise kills a man who threatens to rape Thelma. They decide to go to Mexico, but soon they are hunted by American police.

Kind of road trip movie meets Falling Down.  Incredibly well done but very intense.

Then struggling actor George Clooney auditioned five times for Ridley Scott for the part of J.D. that went to Brad Pitt.

There Will Be Blood (2007)  The intersecting life stories of Daniel Plainview and Eli Sunday in early twentieth century California is presented. Miner turned oilman Daniel Plainview is a driven man who will do whatever it takes to achieve his goals. He works hard but he also takes advantage of those around him at their expense if need be. His business partner is his son H.W., who in reality he "acquired" when H.W.'s biological single father, who worked on one of Daniel's rigs, got killed in a workplace accident. Daniel is deeply protective of H.W. if only for what H.W. brings to the partnership. Eli Sunday is one in a pair of twins, whose family farm Daniel purchases for the major oil deposit located on it. Eli, the local preacher and a self-proclaimed faith healer, wants the money from the sale of the property to finance his own church. The lives of the two competitive men often clash as Daniel pumps black gold. 

There's Something About Mary (1998)  Ted was a geek in high school, who was going to go to the prom with one of the most popular girls in school, Mary. The prom date never happened, because Ted had a very unusual accident. Thirteen years later he realizes he is still in love with Mary, so he hires a private investigator to track her down. That investigator discovers he too may be in love with Mary, so he gives Ted some false information to keep him away from her. But soon Ted finds himself back into Mary's life, as we watch one funny scene after another.

Outrageously funny comedy.

A montage of scenes from the film as well as outtakes involving the cast lip-syncing to The Foundations' song "Build Me Up Buttercup" runs during the end credits.

They Shoot Horses, Don't They (1969)  Gloria is a young woman of the Depression. She has aged beyond her years and feels her life is hopeless, having been cheated and betrayed many times in her past. While recovering from a suicide attempt, she gets the idea from a movie magazine to head for Hollywood to make it as an actress. Robert is a desperate Hollywood citizen trying to become a director, never doubting that he'll make it. Robert and Gloria meet and decide to enter a dance marathon, one of the crazes of the thirties. The grueling dancing takes its toll on Gloria's already weakened spirit, and she tells Robert that she'd be better off dead, that her life is hopeless - all the while acting cruelly and bitterly, alienating those around her, trying to convince him to shoot her and put her out of her misery. After all, they shoot horses, don't they?

Holds the record for the movie with the most Academy Award nominations without a nomination for Best Picture: 9.

The Thing (1982)  In the midst of the Antartican snowfield, the scientists and workers of a small American research base are shocked when a helicopter begins to circle their camp, chasing and shooting at a dog. When the helicopter is destroyed and the passengers are killed, the dog is let into the base and the American's begin to wonder what has actually happened. The helicopter has Norwegian markings, must be from the Norwegian base not too far from their own. A team of Americans are sent to the Norwegian base and find out what has happened. On arrival, they find that the place has been totally destroyed. They also discover a mangled body that looks as though it was once that of a person, which they bring back with them for further study. It is only then that the clues begin to add up; the dog morphs horribly into a strange creature that attacks the researchers. They manage to fight it off, but they come to a terrible conclusion: an alien with the power to transform and take the appearance of anybody else is amongst them. Who is infected already, and who can be trusted? Helicopter pilot J.R MacReady sets out to find the answers to exactly that.

The film was originally banned when released in Finland.

At the beginning of the film the Norwegian with the rifle is the second unit director and associate producer as well as Kurt Russell's (then) brother-in-law, Larry J. Franco. According to John Carpenter, on the commentary track, Franco is not speaking Norwegian but making up the dialog. "Schmergsdorf" as Carpenter puts it. The subtitles, however, give the impression he is speaking Norwegian. The words spoken are actually understandable for Norwegians. Albeit broken Norwegian, the line goes: "Se til helvete og kom dere vekk. Det er ikke en bikkje, det er en slags ting! Det imiterer en bikkje, det er ikke virkelig! KOM DERE VEKK IDIOTER!!" This translates to: "Get the hell outta there. That's not a dog, it's some sort of thing! It's imitating a dog, it isn't real! GET AWAY YOU IDIOTS!!"

The Norwegian dog in the film was named Jed. He was a half wolf/half husky breed. Jed was an excellent animal actor, never looking at the camera, the dolly or the crew members. Jed, however, is NOT the dog seen in the beginning chase scene, where the Norwegian is trying shoot him. Per Carpenter's commentary, this was another dog painted to look like Jed.

The flesh-flower that attacks Childs is actually an incredibly detailed effect. Its petals are 12 dog tongues complete with rows of canine teeth. Effects designer Rob Bottin dubbed it the "pissed-off cabbage".

This movie has become part of the culture in Antarctica. It is a long standing tradition in all British Antarctic research stations to watch The Thing as part of their Midwinter feast and celebration held every June 21.

The Third Man (1949)  An out of work pulp fiction novelist, Holly Martins, arrives in a post war Vienna divided into sectors by the victorious allies, and where a shortage of supplies has lead to a flourishing black market. He arrives at the invitation of an ex-school friend, Harry Lime, who has offered him a job, only to discover that Lime has recently died in a peculiar traffic accident. From talking to Lime's friends and associates Martins soon notices that some of the stories are inconsistent, and determines to discover what really happened to Harry Lime.

This movie is on almost everyone's best movie list.  Watch it to see why.

Thor (2011)  The reckless Thor (Chris Hemsworth) son of Odin (Anthony Hopkins), challenges his brother's claim to the throne of Asgard. To teach him humility , Odin casts the young warrior down to Earth to live among humans. Robbed of his powers, Thor falls in love with a scientist Jane Foster (Natalie Portman). While Thor's brother; Loki usurps the throne of Asgard for evil gain and plans revenge, Thor's love for Jane and his lessons of humility turn him into the true hero and legendary and immortal warrior-defender of the peoples of the Earth saving them from destruction.

Good picture inspite of the over enamoration of the special effects.  I am no Norse scholar but nothing I read as a boy claimed that Loki was Thor's brother.  Most legends have Loki as an outsider challenging the gods claiming to be more clever than they are.  Clearly this is the pilot for many more Thorlike movies.

One of the Thor myths had him coming to earth and having sex with a maiden (that generally means virgin).  Then Thor vanished.  About a month later, he realized that she probably had no idea who he was.  So he appeared to her in a godlike stance, hammer in hand poised for battle.  In a loud voice he announced, "I am Thor!"  She looked at him, rose slowly and said, "Your thor?  I was tho thor I couldn't thet down for a week."

Three Coins in the Fountain (1954)  American girls dream of finding romance in Rome, but there is none for secretaries, Anita tells her replacement at the USDA. But Maria soon meets Prince Dino de Cessi at a party at her boss's home who invites her to fly to Venice in his private plane. Frances, who has been in Rome for 15 years as the secretary of a successful American writer who talks a lot like George Bernard Shaw and is just as elusive as Professor Henry Higgins in "My Fair Lady," tells her at first to say "no" and then decides that together they can handle the man nicknamed the predatory prince. Coins tossed in the Trevi Fountain can indeed work magic.

Awesome love story.

Three Days of the Condor (1975)  Joe Turner, code name Condor, works as a reader for Section 17 - fronting as the American Literacy Historical Society - of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The section's readers read everything that is published to see if the material is being used or planted by national security agencies for the US or enemy regimes in actual operations. The office for the section, which is comprised of eight people in total, is located in a nondescript but secure building in New York City. After returning to the office from a lunch food run for which he initially left the building through an unofficial entrance/exit, Condor finds that all six of his colleagues at work that day, including his girlfriend Janice Chon, have been executed, their dead bodies strewn throughout the office. The seventh has been murdered in his home. Not knowing any of his superiors outside the section, Condor slowly begins not to trust the organization itself. After a botched attempt to bring him in, Condor decides to go on the run and try and figure out what is happening on his own. In his quest, Condor kidnaps a young, seemingly lonely woman named Kathy Hale, who, despite being scared by what is happening, eventually believes Condor's story and decides to help him. He also believes the executions have something to do with the tall Alsatian accented man he keeps encountering, and the last report he wrote and submitted to his superiors outside the section.

This is a very good spy movie sort of a template for Enemy of the State.  And, it reads almost exactly like a chapter from Ludlum's Book The Borne Identity.

Thirteen Conversations About One Thing (2001)  The lives of a handful of unrelated people are forever changed through chance encounters. They include Gene English, an insurance company manager whose unhappiness with life is exacerbated by a drug addicted and petty criminal son, Raymond; Troy, a young defense attorney with a hard line view of any improper activity, that is until he himself is the cause of the impropriety; Dr. Walker, a physics professor who is in an unsatisfying marriage; and Beatrice, a young woman just starting her adult life working as a house cleaner and who has always had a fateful but positive view of life. Each wonders about what their life would have been like if certain events didn't take place, and wonders about how to achieve true happiness.

Throw Momma from the Train (1987)  Larry Donner, a college teacher, has been having difficulties writing since his former wife, Margaret, ruined him by stealing his novel which consequently became a best-seller. He does not hide his hatred for Margaret, upsetting his girlfriend Beth Ryan, who is an anthropologist teacher in the same college. While teaching Creative Writing classes, he is stalked by a student, Owen, who wants to know his opinion about his crime tale. Larry tells him that he did not like it, and explains that in every mystery tale, the murderer should eliminate the motive and establish an alibi, otherwise he would get caught. Furthermore, Larry suggests that Owen watch Hitchcock's movies to understand the structure of a suspenseful story. Owen, who wants to kill his detestable mother, watches "Strangers on a Train" and misunderstands Larry's advice, believing that his teacher wants to swap murders to eliminate the motive. Owen travels to Hawaii and while in a ship, Margaret falls overboard vanishing in the sea and is considered dead. However, Larry does not have an alibi and becomes the prime suspect, while the deranged Owen presses him to kill his mother as part of their supposed deal.

This is a very funny crime caper that has a tender side.

Anne Ramsey who played Momma died shortly after the movie was completed.

Thunder Bay (1953)  In 1946, ex-Navy engineer Steve Martin comes to a Louisiana town with a dream: to build a safe platform for offshore oil drilling. Having finessed financing from a big oil company, formerly penniless Steve and his partner Johnny are in business...and getting interested in shrimp-boat captain Rigaud's two lovely daughters. But opposition from the fishing community grows fast, led by Stella Rigaud. Other hazards include sabotage, a hurricane...and a treacherous board of directors.

Thursday (1998)  A former L.A. drug dealer has moved to Houston to make a new life for himself as a married architect. He has not explained to his working wife all of his past.  They are trying to adopt a child. One Thursday everything falls apart when he is suddenly visited by one of his former cohorts who comes carrying drugs. Discovering the dope, the architect flushes it down the drain. This sets up a series of tough customers seeking the dope and the money including a Rasta hit-man, an ex-lover Dallas who ties him up and rapes him, a criminal called Billy with a penchant for torture, and a rogue cop.

A lot like Pulp Fiction in that there is lots of violence.

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THX 1138 (1971)  In an undefined future, a dystopian underground society is oriented to production and consumption in the malls. The population is controlled by drugs and people do not feel affection or sympathy for others. Sexual intercourse is absolutely forbidden and roommates are chosen by a computer. Faceless androids are responsible for the surveillance of the behavior of the dwellers and people pray in Unichapels for their god OMM 0910 that responds through recorded electronic messages. The worker THX 1138 handles radioactive materials in a factory and lives with his roommate LUH 3417. When she decides to stop using drugs, she becomes lucid and replaces the drugs of her partner for harmless pills. THX becomes emotional again and falls in love with LUH. He plans to escape with LUH to the superstructure, where they expect to live in freedom. But when SEN 5241 manipulates the computer to live with THX, he reports a complaint to the authorities and SEN is arrested. When THX commits a mistake in his work, the Powers That Be discover that THX and LUH are not taking drugs and having sexual intercourse and they are sentenced to be imprisoned in a weird white place. THX and SEN plan to escape with SRT and THX discover that LUH was killed by the authorities and he decides to find the way out to the surface.

Shortly after THX steals a police car, and shortly before his fellow escapee crashes the one he tries to steal, you can hear someone on the radio say, "I think I ran over a wookie back there on the expressway."

George Lucas apparently named the film after his San Francisco telephone number, 849 1138 - the letters THX correspond to letters found on the buttons 8, 4 and 9.

The extras on the DVD include the shaving of the heads of the lead actors.  This was filimed at the Exploratorium.

Time After Time (1979)  It's 1893 London. Futurist H.G. Wells believes that the future holds a Utopian society. He also believes in time travel. He has just built a time machine which he is displaying to a group of skeptical friends, including surgeon Dr. John Leslie Stevenson. Unbeknown to Wells or anyone else among that circle, Stevenson is better known to the public as Jack the Ripper. Just as the police are about to capture Stevenson, he uses the time machine to escape, with Wells being the only one who knows what happened to him. Not telling anyone except his trusting housekeeper, Wells follows Stevenson in order to capture and bring him back to face justice. Where Stevenson has gone is 1979 San Francisco. There, Wells is dismayed to find that the future is not Utopia as he had predicted. But Wells is also picked up by a young woman named Amy Robbins. As Wells and Amy search for Stevenson, Stevenson conversely is after Wells to obtain the master key to the time machine. As Stevenson continues his murderous ways, he will stop at nothing to achieve his desires, which places Amy in danger.

Time Bandits (1981)  A young boy's wardrobe contains a time hole. Through this hole an assortment of short people (i.e. dwarfs) come while escaping from their master, the supreme being. They take Kevin with them on their adventures through time from Napoleonic times to the Middle Ages to the early 1900s, to the time of Legends and the Fortress of Ultimate Darkness where they confront Evil.

Just a delightful movie.  Gives you a chance to relive your dreams both good and bad.

Time Machine (1960)  On January 5, 1900, a disheveled looking H.G. Wells - George to his friends - arrives late to his own dinner party. He tells his guests of his travels in his time machine, the work about which his friends knew. They were also unbelieving, and skeptical of any practical use if it did indeed work. George knew that his machine was stationary in geographic position, but he did not account for changes in what happens over time to that location. He also learns that the machine is not impervious and he is not immune to those who do not understand him or the machine's purpose. George tells his friends that he did not find the Utopian society he so wished had developed. He mentions specifically a civilization several thousand years into the future which consists of the subterranean morlocks and the surface dwelling eloi, who on first glance lead a carefree life. Despite all these issues, love can still bloom over the spread of millennia.

Time Machine (2002)  Based on the classic sci-fi novel by H.G. Wells, scientist and inventor, Alexander Hartdegen, is determined to prove that time travel is possible. His determination is turned to desperation by a personal tragedy that now drives him to want to change the past. Testing his theories with a time machine of his own invention, Hartdegen is hurtled 800,000 years into the future, where he discovers that mankind has divided into the hunter - and the hunted.

This is yet another convolution of H.G. Wells tale.  Hartdegen does travel in time.  He desperately seeks to answer the question: can you change the future.  His attempts to rescue his love have failed, but he is driven by desperation into the future.  This was a good plot twist but then it simply bogged down and launched into some very good special effects an less of a well told tale.

A Time to Kill (1996)  In Canton, Mississippi, 10-year-old Tonya Hailey is viciously brutalized by two white racist rednecks -- James Louis "Pete" Willard and Billy Ray Cobb. Almost immediately after Tonya is found and rushed to a hospital, Pete and Billy Ray are found at a roadside bar, where they had been bragging about what they did to Tonya. Tonya's understandably distraught and enraged father, Carl Lee Hailey, remembers a case from a year ago, when four white men raped an African-American girl in a nearby town, and got acquitted. Carl is determined to not let that happen in this case. While deputy Dwayne Powell Looney is escorting Pete and Billy Ray up a flight of stairs to a court room, Carl emerges from the building's basement with an assault rifle, and he kills Pete and Billy Ray for what they did to Tonya. Carl is later arrested at his house by African-American sheriff Ozzie Walls, and Carl is scheduled to be placed on trial. Despite the efforts of the NAACP and local African-American leaders to persuade Carl to choose some of their high-powered attorneys, Carl wants to be represented by his friend Jake Tyler Brigance, who has a wife named Carla and a daughter named Hannah. Presiding over the trial is white judge Omar Noose, and the prosecution attorney is Rufus Buckley, who would like nothing more than to win the case and swim in the publicity that a win would generate, because Rufus realizes that a murder conviction could help him gain higher office. Helping Jake on the case are his former law professor Lucien Wilbanks, fellow attorney Harry Rex Vonner, and law student Ellen Roark. Ellen has had experience with death penalty cases, and that's exactly what Rufus may be seeking. To start things off, Noose denies bail and denies Jake's petition for a change of venue. Carl has also been fired from his job. Billy Ray Cobb's brother Freddie Lee Cobb wants revenge on Carl, so Freddy gets the help of the Mississippi branch of the KKK, led by Mississippi grand dragon Stump Sisson. Carl's wife Gwen tells Carl that a doctor has said that because of Pete and Billy Ray, Tonya's reproductive organs are damaged enough to where she won't be able to have kids when she grows up. That night, a KKK member is found trying to plant a bomb under Jake's porch. Jake's secretary Ethel Twitty and her husband Bud are also attacked by the KKK. Still, Jake, Harry, Lucien, and Ellen continue to help Carl. On the day the trial begins, there is a riot outside the court building between the KKK and the area's African-American residents, and Stump Sisson is killed by a molotov cocktail that was dropped from a roof by one of Carl's sons, who was not seen dropping it. Freddy and the KKK start burning crosses throughout Canton, and one of the crosses burns Jake's house down while Jake and his family are not home. As a result, the National Guard is called to Canton to keep the peace during the trial. But Freddy is not about to let that stop him. While Freddy continues his efforts to get revenge on Carl for Billy Ray's death, Carl's attorneys put everything they've got into Carl's defense.

Based on John Grisham's book by the same title.  The move is great the book awesome and by far Grisham's best work.

The Time Traveler's Wife (2009)  When Henry DeTamble meets Clare Abshire in a Chicago library they both understand that he is a time traveller, but she she knows much more than this about him as he has not yet been to the times and places where they have met before. He falls in love with her, as she has already with him, but his continuing unavoidable absences time travelling - and then returning with increasing knowledge of their future - makes things ever more difficult for Clare.

This is a well told nonlinear movie.  Many won't like it because you need to hold on to many details.  I have watched it three times now.  It helps.  I suspect the book helps the reader understand the true frustration of Clare dealing with her husband's ailment.

After filming was done, Eric Bana started filming Star Trek, a role which required him to shave his head. However re-shoots for The Time Traveler's Wife were needed, but production was put on hold so Eric's hair could grow out. It took so long that the movie's release date was pushed back by nearly a year.

Tin Cup (1996)  Roy 'Tin cup' McAvoy, a failed pro golfer who lives at the run-down driving range which he manages with his sidekick and caddy Romeo in the West Texas tin pot town of Salome, ends up signing over ownership to a madam of 'show girls' to pay off debts. His foxy novice golf pupil, female psychiatrist Dr. Molly Griswold, turns out to be the new girlfriend of McAvoy's sarcastic one-time college golf partner, slick PGA superstar David Simms, who drops by to play into Roy's fatal flaw: the inability to resist a dare, all too often causing him to lose against lesser players, in this case gambling away his car. Falling for Molly, Roy decides to become her patient; in order to earn her respect, he decides to try to qualify for the US Open, after starting off as Simm's caddy 'for the benefit of his experience'. His talent proves more then adequate, but over-confident negligence of risks.

Tin Men (1987) Is set in 1960s Baltimore and takes us in the world of aluminum siding sales focusing on two very different men in that profession. BB Babowsky is a smooth-talking hustler and ladies man whom scams naive and comely women sales pitches. Ernest Tilley is a loser who can't make a sale no matter how hard he honestly (or dishonestly) tries. Tilley also has a serious gambling problem and squanders what little money he makes on horse races and card games which puts a rife between him and his long-suffering wife Nora. Because of Tilley's addition to gambling, he is heavily in debt to various creditors and the IRS. BB and Tilley's paths cross in the opening scene when they collide with each other in their cars. With both blaming each other for the accident, their feud soon escalates into a full-scale, two-man war between them with Nora getting drawn into it. However, both BB and Tilley's world begins to crumble when a government probe investigates their sales history and threatens to shut them down for good.

Having lived in the era of real life tin men, I have seen these and other tactics of high pressure sales men.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)  A year after he was forced into retirement, ex-spy George Smiley is called back by a Cabinet office official when information comes to him that there may be a Soviet spy, a mole, at the very top of the British secret service. Smiley had been forced out along with Control, the head of spy agency, after a disastrous mission in Hungary where a colleague, Jim Prideaux, was shot. It was also an unhealthy time in the secret service, known affectionately by its members as the Circus, with several senior officers having developed a new source of information in the USSR but refusing to share that person's identity. Smiley agrees to return and in the course of his examination learns that the secret secret Soviet source has become the mainstay of the service, one that they soon plan to use to get at US intelligence information. Smiley soon realizes that the Soviets have turned the service inside out.

Titantic (1997)  After winning a trip on the RMS Titanic during a dockside card game, American Jack Dawson spots the society girl Rose DeWitt Bukater who is on her way to Philadelphia to marry her rich snob fiancé Cal Hockley. Rose feels helplessly trapped by her situation and makes her way to the aft deck and thinks of suicide until she is rescued by Jack. Cal is therefore obliged to invite Jack to dine at their first-class table where he suffers through the slights of his snobbish hosts. In return, he spirits Rose off to third class for an evening of dancing, giving her the time of her life. Deciding to forsake her intended future all together, Rose asks Jack, who has made his living making sketches on the streets of Paris, to draw her in the nude wearing the invaluable blue diamond Cal has given her. Cal finds out and has Jack locked away. Soon after wards, the ship hits an iceberg and Rose must find Jack while both must run from Cal even as the ship sinks deeper into the freezing water.

Good movie, great performances, too long, great special effects.

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)  Based on Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize winning book of 1961.  Through the eyes of "Scout," a feisty six-year-old tomboy, Mockingbird carries us on an odyssey through the fires of prejudice and injustice in 1932 Alabama. Presenting her tale first as a sweetly lulling reminiscence of events from her childhood, the narrator draws us near with stories of daring neighborhood exploits by she, her brother "Jem," and their friend "Dill." Peopled with a cast of eccentrics, Maycomb ("a tired and sleepy town") finds itself the venue of the trial of Tom Robinson, a young black man falsely accused of raping an ignorant white woman. Atticus Finch, Scout and Jem's widowed father and a deeply principled man, is appointed to defend Tom for whom a guilty verdict from an all-white jury is a foregone conclusion. Juxtaposed against the story of the trial is the children's hit and run relationship with Boo Radley, a shut-in who the children and Dill's Aunt Rachel suspect of insanity and who no one has seen in recent history. Cigar-box treasures, found in the knot hole of a tree near the ramshackle Radley house, temper the children's judgment of Boo. "You never know someone," Atticus tells Scout, "until you step inside their skin and walk around a little." But fear keeps them at a distance until one night, in streetlight and shadows, the children confront an evil born of ignorance and blind hatred and must somehow find their way home.

Nominated for eight Academy Awards; won three.

Robert Duvall's film debut.  He stayed out of the sun for six weeks and dyed his hair blond for the role of Boo Radley who, according to the story, spent much of his life as a recluse. The character of Arthur "Boo" Radley is based in part on Harper Lee's recollection of Alfred "Son" Bouleware, who lived with his parents in a dilapidated, mostly boarded-up house just a few doors away from the Lee home. He was kept secluded in the house by his father, following a vandalism incident in which young Alfred was involved. Described in the book and in the movie as leaving the house only at night because the sun hurt his eyes, this would indicate that Boo Radley was a person of Albinism (lack of pigment in the skin, in the hair, and in the irises of the eyes.)

Tootsie (1982)  Michael Dorsey is an unemployed actor with an impossible reputation. In order to find work and fund his friend's play he dresses as a woman, Dorothy Michaels, and lands the part in a daytime drama. Dorsey loses himself in this woman role and essentially becomes Dorothy Michaels, captivating women all around the city and inspiring them to break free from the control of men and become more like Dorsey's initial identity. This newfound role, however, lands Dorsey in a hot spot between a female friend/'lover,' a female co-star he falls in love with, that co-star's father who falls in love with him, and a male co-star who yearns for his affection.

Great supporting cast.  This was the first movie I saw by myself after my second divorce.  I saw it in Albuquerque in early November 1983.  I had just returned from an interview in Ellensburg, WA.  I was convinced that they were hiring someone else and the movie was a treat before returning to Socorro.  They did hire me BTW.  The previous solo movie trip was in September 1960 when I saw Elmer Gantry while in basic training at Lackland AFG in San Antonio, TX.

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Top O' the Morning (1949)  One bright morning, the villagers near Blarney Castle, Ireland hear terrible news: the famed Blarney Stone has been stolen. Enter Joe Mulqueen, singing insurance investigator from New York. The lovely daughter of police sergeant McNaughton soon catches Joe's eye, and oddly enough Joe fulfills an ancient prophecy of who her lover will be. Meanwhile, Joe does find time to do a little investigating.

Top Secret (1984)  American rock star Nick Rivers teams up with the lovely Hillary Flammond to escape capture by the East German High Command. They don't have long, as Rivers and Flammond must try to find her father, in order to stop him from creating the ultimate super weapon, known as 'the Polaris Mine'. A host of characters join them, including Déjà Vu and Chocolate Mousse.

This time Zucker and Abrams are spoofing, most notably, Elvis films and WWII spy movies. Val Kilmer stars as Nick Rivers, a handsome American 50s-style rock and roll singer. While performing in East Germany, he falls in love with a beautiful heroine and becomes involved with the French Resistance.

Incredibly funny movie.

Topper (1937)  The funloving Kerbys, stockholders in the bank of which henpecked, stuffy Cosmo Topper is president, drive recklessly once too often and become ghosts. In limbo because they've never done either good or bad deeds, they decide to try a good one now: rehabilitating Topper. Lovely, flirtatious Marion takes a keen personal interest in the job. Will Topper survive the wrath of jealous ghost George? Will Mrs. Topper find that a scandalous husband isn't all bad?

Tora, Tora, Tora (1970)  In 1941 the Japanese are at odds with the United States on a number of issues which they are attempting to resolve via their Washington embassy. In case this diplomacy fails, the military are hatching plans for a surprise early Sunday morning air attack on the U.S. base at Pearl Harbour. American intelligence is breaking the Japanese diplomatic messages but few high-ups are prepared to believe that an attack is likely, let alone where or how it might come.

At least part of the Japanese fleet was at Kwajalein before the attack.  Tora means tiger in Japanese and has led to many legends, but the reality is that the code for success was to-ra which was easy for the pilots to key in Morse code.  Lee Embree took the very first pictures of Japanese Zeros in action over Pearl Harbor.  He was arriving from the states on a  convoy of unarmed bombers.  He shot a picture of Zero as it passed in the opposite direction.  Mr. Embree lived in Port Angeles after the war.  He was a frequent presenter at Rotary and Chamber events.

Torn Curtain (1966)  Professor Michael Armstrong is heading to Stockholm to attend a physics conference accompanied by his assistant-fiancée Sarah Sherman. Once arrived however, Michael informs her that he may be staying for awhile and she should return home. She follows him and realizes he's actually heading to East Germany, behind the Iron Curtain. She follows him there and is shocked when he announces that he's defecting to the East after the US government canceled his research project. In fact, Michael is there to obtain information from a renowned East German scientist. Once the information is obtained, he and Sarah now have to make their way back to the West.

According to the book It's Only a Movie, Hitchcock said: "There was an ending written which wasn't used, but I rather liked it. No one agreed with me except my colleague at home [his wife Alma Reville]. Everyone told me that you couldn't have a letdown ending after all that. Paul Newman would have thrown the formula away. After what he has gone through, after everything we have endured with him, he just tosses it. It speaks to the futility of all, and it's in keeping with the kind of naiveté of the character, who is not a professional spy and who will certainly retire from that nefarious business."

Alfred Hitchcock cameo, early in the film he is sitting in the hotel lobby with a baby on his knee. He transfers the baby to his other knee, and then rubs his knee, as if disdainfully looking at something the baby has done to it.

Total Recall (2012)  Douglas Quaid is a factory worker with a beautiful wife living in a futuristic world where the majority of the earth has been rendered uninhabitable. For Quaid, Rekall (a process by which false memories are implanted into a subjects head) seems like just the "getaway" he needs. Quaid finds himself thrust into the midst of a global conspiracy when the procedure to implant a secret agent mission into his memory goes wrong - or does it?

The announcer in the holographic advertisement for Rekall says, "We can remember it for you." The film is loosely based on a short story by 'Phillip K. Dick' called, "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale."

This is a remake of 1990 version.  Critics liked it better.  I liked this one better.  Both were long on action and short on character development.  I liked the acting better in 2012 version.

Tower Heist (2011)  Josh Kovacs is the manager of a residential apartment in New York. He is close to all the tenants, especially Arthur Shaw, a financier. One day Shaw is arrested by the FBI for fraud. Josh thinks it's a misunderstanding that can be resolved. But later he learns that the employees' pension which he asked Shaw to handle is gone. When one of the employees tries to kill himself, Josh's views of Shaw change. He goes to see him and loses his temper. He loses his job. The FBI agent in charge of Shaw tells him that Shaw might walk and recovering the pension fund is unlikely. She tells him that it's been rumored that Shaw has 20 million laying around if he needs. Josh thinks he knows where it is. So with two other employees who also lost their jobs and an evicted tenant, they set out to get into Shaw's penthouse to get the money. But they realise they need the assistance of someone who knows what they are doing. So, Josh asks a guy he knows is a thief named Slide to help them.

Starts out as a good caper movie then struggles trying to decide whether to be funny or serious and achieves neither; still the stars are fun to watch.

Towering Inferno (1974)  Doug Roberts, Architect, returns from a long vacation to find work nearly completed on his skyscraper. He goes to the party that night concerned he's found that his wiring specifications have not been followed and that the building continues to develope short circuits. When the fire begins Michael O'Halleran is the chief on duty as a series of daring rescues punctuate the terror of a building too tall to have a fire successfully fought from the ground burns.

The 70s had many movies about disaters.  This movie combined two books in attempt to have a great film.  Epic fail.  The all star cast is worth looking at but that is about the only thing redeeming.

The First Interstate Tower in downtown Los Angeles was completed the same year this film was released (1974). 14 years later, in May of 1988, the FI Tower experienced a real-life fire which burned out 4 1/2 floors , ruined many floors above with smoke and floors below with water, and closed the building for almost five months. The fire happened late at night, when only a few dozen people were in the building, and no crowds, traffic or other demands on water hampered firefighters. Only one death occurred, when someone used an over-ride key to force an elevator to the floor where the fire had started, and perished much as was shown happening to elevator riders in the film. The Los Angeles Herald ran side-by-side photos of the actual fire and the fire from The Towering Inferno on its front page the following day. The story of the real fire was told in the TV film Fire: Trapped on the 37th Floor.

The Toy (1982)  On one of his bratty son Eric's annual visits, the plutocrat U.S. Bates takes him to his department store and offers him anything in it as a gift. Eric chooses a black janitor who has made him laugh with his antics. At first the man suffers many indignities as Eric's "toy", but gradually teaches the lonely boy what it is like to have and to be a friend.

Good story line, not exceptionally well executed.

Toys (1992)  An eccentric toymaker's last wish is that his brother takes over the running of the business. The brother is a military General, and is out of touch with toymaking, and out of touch with reality too. The business should really have been given to Leslie, who was much more like his toymaking father. When the General starts making weapons instead of toys, Leslie decides to take action.

Critics panned this but it is a good movie.

Toy Story I (1995)  A little boy named Andy loves to be in his room, playing with his toys, especially his doll named "Woody". But, what do the toys do when Andy is not with them, they come to life. Woody believes that he has life (as a toy) good. However, he must worry about Andy's family moving, and what Woody does not know is about Andy's birthday party. Woody does not realize that Andy's mother gave him an action figure known as Buzz Lightyear, who does not believe that he is a toy, and quickly becomes Andy's new favorite toy. Woody, who is now consumed with jealousy, tries to get rid of Buzz. Then, both Woody and Buzz are now lost. They must find a way to get back to Andy before he moves without them, but they will have to pass through a ruthless toy killer, Sid Phillips.

Charming movie for kids and adults who are young at heart.

Toy Story II (1999)  The story picks up sometime after Toy Story I left off. Andy is having a yard sale. A broken toy penguin named Wheezy is thrown in a selling box. In a rescue attempt, Woody gets Wheezy back. Unfortunately, Woody is left behind in a box and is stolen by a greedy toy collector. In an all-out rescue mission, Buzz and the gang try to get Woody back. Adding to the conflicts is the toy collector is soon selling Woody to Japan.

Good sequel.

Toy Story III (2010)  Andy is now seventeen years old and is going to college. His mother presses him to decide the fate of his toys, and Andy decides to leave them in the attic, with the exception of Woody that he intends to bring with him. However Andy's mother donates them by accident to the Sunnyside Daycare. The toys are welcomed by Lotso Bear but sooner they discover that the children mistreat them. Further, they are imprisoned in the daycare by Lotso and his gang. But Woody discovers the intention of the evil bear and returns to the daycare to organize the escape of his friends.

Trains, Planes and Automobiles (1987)  All that Neal Page wants to do is to get home for Thanksgiving. His flight has been cancelled due to bad weather, so he decides on other means of transport. As well as bad luck, Neal is blessed with the presence of Del Griffith, Shower Curtain Ring Salesman and all-around blabbermouth, who is never short of advice, conversation, bad jokes, or company. And when he decides that he is going the same direction as Neal.

We all know people who are hard to enjoy up close.  These two are trapped in a desperate attempt to be home with family for the holiday.

Transamerica (2005)  Southern Californian Bree Osbourne, formerly Stanley Chupak, has finally received the news for which she has been waiting: she has been approved for male-to-female sexual reassignment surgery. But before Margaret, her therapist, will allow her to go through with the surgery scheduled in a week's time, Bree has to deal with an unresolved problem from her past. Bree gets a telephone call from a seventeen year old man named Toby Wilkins, who is looking for Stanley, his biological father. Toby is in a New York jail, having been supporting himself by petty crime and hustling. Stanley/Bree knew nothing about Toby before the telephone call. Toby apparently is all alone in the world, with his mother having committed suicide and being estranged from his stepfather in Tennessee. Masquerading as a Christian social worker, Bree, not telling him either of her true identity or her transgender status, bails Toby out of jail and tells him she will take him to Los Angeles, where Toby has aspirations of becoming a porn actor and reconnecting with his biological father. As Bree and Toby take their trans-American journey which includes some interesting encounters along the way, Bree has to decide what is best for Toby while having the foremost goal of making it back to Los Angeles for the scheduled surgery.

Not knowing the film would be such a success, most of the wardrobe and props were donated to charity and thrift stores after production wrapped.

Transformers (2007)  A long time ago, far away on the planet of Cybertron, a war is being waged between the noble Autobots (led by the wise Optimus Prime) and the devious Decepticons (commanded by the dreaded Megatron) for control over the Allspark, a mystical talisman that would grant unlimited power to whoever possesses it. The Autobots managed to smuggle the Allspark off the planet, but Megatron blasts off in search of it. He eventually tracks it to the planet of Earth (circa 1850), but his reckless desire for power sends him right into the Arctic Ocean, and the sheer cold forces him into a paralyzed state. His body is later found by Captain Archibald Witwicky, but before going into a comatose state Megatron uses the last of his energy to engrave into the Captain's glasses a map showing the location of the Allspark, and to send a transmission to Cybertron. Megatron is then carried away aboard the Captain's ship.

Average teen angs movie gets interrupted by special effects scifi movie.  Still worth seeing.

Travellers and Magicians (2003)  The two men embark on parallel, if separate, journeys. Their yearning is a common one--for a better and different life. Dondup, delayed by the timeless pace of his village, is forced to hitchhike through the beautiful wild countryside of Bhutan to reach his goal. He shares the road with a monk, an apple seller, a papermaker and his beautiful young daughter, Sonam. Throughout the journey, the perceptive yet mischievous monk relates the story of Tashi. It is a mystical fable of lust, jealousy and murder, that holds up a mirror to the restless Dondup, and his blossoming attraction to the innocent Sonam. The cataclysmic conclusion of the monk's tale leaves Dondup with a dilemma--is the grass truly greener on the other side?

This is one of the best movies ever.  It touches on the hopes and dreams of all of us.  It is funny, tender, bitter-sweet view of life.

The Treasure of Sierra Madre (1948)  Dobbs and Curtin meet up in Mexico, and go to work for a contractor, Pat McCormick, who takes them away to remote site and tells them they will be paid when the job is finished. When they are finished, they return to town to find McCormick to get their wages. McCormick gives them a few dollars, and says he'll just go to the bank and pick up the payroll for them. Dobbs and Curtin then meet up with an old prospector, who claims the hills are still full of gold, and if they can get the cash, he'll go with them. They eventually get the cash from McCormick after a little "persuasion", and all three set off for the hills as good friends, but will they return that way ?

I saw this movie when I was five years old and like it, but I didn't really understand it until I saw it again as an adult.

Triplettes of Belleville (2003) Madame Souza raises her grandson Champion and tries to make him happier with a baby dog, Bruno. However, the boy remains sad, and the grandmother gets a tricycle for him. The boy gets excited with the gift, and trained by Madame Souza along the years, he finally competes the Tour de France. When Champion is kidnapped by two MIBs from the French mafia, Madame Souza and Bruno travel to Belleville to rescue him, with the support of the elder singers, the Belleville Sisters.

Incredibly well told tale full of humor, sadness, suspense and a struggle to survive and find happiness.

True Grit (1969)  In 1880, in Dardanelle, Yell County, the farmer Frank Ross heads with his employee Tom Chaney to Fort Smith to buy some ponies. However, he is murdered by Chaney that steals his money and flees to the Indian Territory. Frank's teenager daughter and book keeper of the family business Mattie Ross travels with one employee to bring the body of her father back home. Before meeting the undertaker, they see the hanging of three men sentenced by the tough Judge Parker. The stubborn Mattie seeks out the sheriff that tells her that he does not have authority in the Indian Nation. She asks who the best Marshall is and the sheriff recommends Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn, an old big fellow with eye pad that has grit to bring criminals from the Indian Territory. Mattie hires the drunken Rooster and when they are ready to depart, the Texas Ranger La Boeuf visits Rooster and tells that there is a huge reward for Tom Chaney in Texas for the murder of a senator. La Boeuf joins Rooster and Mattie and the unlikely trio begins their dangerous journey seeking out Tom Chaney in the Indian Territory.

John Wayne had met singer Karen Carpenter on a college show he hosted prior to the shooting of this movie. Wayne was so impressed that he wanted Carpenter cast in the role of Mattie Ross.

Henry Hathaway later said he hated Glen Campbell's performance, which he described as wooden, and claimed the singer was only cast so he could have a hit with the theme song which would help promote the film.
 

True Lies (1994)  Harry Tasker leads a double life. At work he is a government agent with a license to do just about anything, while at home he pretends to be a dull computer salesman. He is on the trail of stolen nuclear weapons that are in the hands of fanatic terrorists when something more important comes up. Harry finds his wife is seeing another man because she needs some adventure in her life. Harry decides to give it to her, juggling pursuit of terrorists on one hand and an adventure for his wife on the other while showing he can Tango all at once.

Good comedic spy tale.

Twelve Chairs (1970)  A treasure hunt. An aging ex-nobleman of the Czarist regime has finally adjusted to life under the commisars in Russia. Both he and the local priest find that the family jewels were hidden in a chair, one of a set of twelve. They return separately to Moscow to find the hidden fortune.

Worth seeing because of the director, Mel Brooks, but far from a great film.  Based on a Russian story.

Twilight (1998)  A retired ex-cop and private detective (Newman) who lives with a rich actor (Hackman) who is dying from cancer and his actress wife (Sarandon) gets mixed up in murder when he is asked to deliver blackmail money. He walks into a 20 year old case involving the mysterious disappearance of the actress's former husband. James Garner appears as another ex-cop who also does occasional errands for the couple.

Entertaining piece of fluff.

Twins (1988)  Julius and Vincent Benedict are the results of an experiment that would allow for the perfect child. Julius was planned and grows to athletic proportions. Vincent is an accident and is somewhat smaller in stature. Vincent is placed in an orphanage while Julius is taken to a south seas island and raised by philosophers. Vincent becomes the ultimate low life and is about to be killed by loan sharks when Julius discovers that he has a brother and begins looking for him.

Two Rode Together (1961)  The cynical and corrupt Marshal Guthrie McCabe has a comfortable life in Tascosa, receiving percentages of deals. His lover Belle Aragon owns a saloon with a brothel and has just proposed to marry him. However, Guthrie is summoned by the US Army Major Frazer that sends a troop commanded by his friend First Lt. Jim Gary to bring him to the Fort Grant. When Guthrie meets Major Frazer, he explains that the relatives of prisoners of the Comanche tribe are pressing the army to bring them back home, but the soldiers can not trespass the Indian lands due to a treat with the Comanche. The mercenary Guthrie demands a large amount to negotiate with Chief Quanah Parker the freedom of the white captives. Guthrie travels with Lt. Jim Gary and they rescue the two last captives, a teenager that has been raised by the Comanche and a young woman, Elena de la Madriaga, who has been the woman of the leader of the Buffalo Shields Stone Calf for five years.