82% (3)  The Secret of NIMH  82 min,  G,  [Animation, Adventure, Drama, Family, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Thriller]  [Don Bluth]  [16 Jul 1982]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 76%,   Rotten Tomatoes: 96%,   Metacritic: 76%,   External Reviews
Awards:  1 win & 2 nominations.
Actors:  Arthur Malet, Derek Jacobi, Dom DeLuise, Elizabeth Hartman
Writer:  Robert C. O'Brien (novel), Don Bluth (story adaptation), John Pomeroy (story adaptation), Gary Goldman (story adaptation), Will Finn (story adaptation)
External Links:  Wikipedia  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb     Language:  English    Country:  USA
Plot:  Mrs. Brisby, a widowed mouse, lives in a cinder block with her children on the Fitzgibbon farm. She is preparing to move her family out of the field they live in as plowing time approaches, however her son Timothy has fallen ill, and moving him could prove fatal. Mrs. Brisby visits The Great Owl, a wise creature who advises her to visit a mysterious group of rats who live beneath a rose bush on the farm. Upon visiting the rats, Brisby meets Nicodemus, the wise and mystical leader of the rats, and Justin, a friendly rat who immediately becomes attached to Mrs. Brisby. While there, she learns that her late husband, Mr. Jonathon Brisby, along with the rats, was a part of a series of experiments at a place known only as N.I.M.H. (revealed earlier in the story as the National Institute of Mental Health). The experiments performed on the mice and rats there boosted their intelligence, allowing them to read without being taught and to understand things such as complex mechanics and electricity. The rats and Mr. Brisby escaped from N.I.M.H. and came to live on the Fitzgibbon farm. The rats created a home for themselves under Mrs. Fitzgibbon's rose bush, creating an elaborate habitation of beautiful chambers, elevators, and Christmas lights. However, the rats are unhappy in their dependence on the humans, who they are stealing electricity from, and have concocted a plan to leave the farm and live independently. Because of her husband's prior relationship with the rats, they agree to help Mrs. Brisby move her home out of the path of the plow. However, the evil Jenner and his unwilling accomplice Sullivan, who wish to remain beneath the rose bush, yet plot to kill Nicodemus during the move.
Rotten Tomatoes:   Frustrated with the Walt Disney studio's reluctance to produce full-length animated films, Don Bluth and a number of animators left the studio in the early '80s with the intent of creating movies in the style of Disney's classics. The Secret of NIMH is the first film Bluth produced after leaving the studio. Adapted from Robert C. O'Brien's acclaimed children's book Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of N.I.M.H., the film is about a widowed mouse whose home is threatened; also, one of her children is gravely ill. On her way to find help, she discovers NIMH, a secret society of highly-intelligent rats who have escaped from a nearby science lab. The rats help the widow to protect her family and home. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi
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75% (3)  The Beguiled  105 min,  R,  [Drama, Thriller, War]  [Don Siegel]  [28 May 1971]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 72%,   Rotten Tomatoes: 88%,   Metacritic: 66%,   External Reviews
Actors:  Clint Eastwood, Elizabeth Hartman, Geraldine Page, Jo Ann Harris
Writer:  Albert Maltz (screenplay), Irene Kamp (screenplay), Thomas Cullinan (from the novel by)
External Links:  Wikipedia  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb     Language:  English, French    Country:  USA
Plot:  During the civil war, injured Yankee soldier, John McBurney is rescued on the verge of death by a teenage girl from a southern boarding school. She manages to get him back to the school, and at first the all-female staff and pupils are scared. As he starts to recover, one by one he charms them and the atmosphere becomes filled with jealousy and deceit.
Rotten Tomatoes:   In this film, Clint Eastwood plays a wounded Union soldier during the Civil War who takes refuge in a prim Southern girl's school overseen by Geraldine Page. He soon discovers that the ladies' hospitality had a hidden agenda: the love-starved students wish to use Eastwood as a nonstop sex machine.
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68% (3)  Walking Tall  125 min,  R,  [Action, Biography, Crime, Drama, Thriller]  [Phil Karlson]  [22 Feb 1973]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 70%,   Rotten Tomatoes: 75%,   Metacritic: 60%,   External Reviews
Actors:  Dawn Lyn, Elizabeth Hartman, Joe Don Baker, Leif Garrett
Writer:  Mort Briskin, Stephen Downing
External Links:  Wikipedia  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb     Language:  English    Country:  USA
Plot:  A surprise hit when it premiered, Walking Tall carried the theme of one man standing up for his sense of right and wrong. Selmer, a small town in southwest Tennessee, served as the authentic background for the bio-pic of the heroic southern Sheriff. Joe Don Baker did an admirable job with the role, and the hugely violent film was a surprise hit. Former Sheriff Pusser himself was set to potray himself in the sequel, but he died in a car crash as he as returning from his contract signing in California. The sequel was filmed using Swedish actor Bo Swensen, and a Final Chapter triquel told of Pussers' demise. While the Walking Tall franchise will never be on any list of Classic Film, the original is a great slice of Americana, Circa '70s. It made Bakers' career and perhaps kicked the 'southsploutation' genre of that decade into gear.
Rotten Tomatoes:   This film is the unabashedly manipulative story of real-life Tennessee sheriff Buford Pusser. Pusser can either be regarded as a tireless champion of justice or a baseball-bat-wielding hooligan. When the town baddies seek vengeance by killing Pusser's wife, the you-know-what really hits the fan!
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90% (2)  A Patch of Blue  105 min,  Unrated,  [Drama, Romance]  [Guy Green]  [10 Dec 1965]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 80%,   Rotten Tomatoes: 100%,   External Reviews
Awards:  Won 1 Oscar. Another 3 wins & 15 nominations.
Actors:  Elizabeth Hartman, Shelley Winters, Sidney Poitier, Wallace Ford
Writer:  Elizabeth Kata (novel), Guy Green
External Links:  Wikipedia  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb     Language:  English    Country:  USA
Plot:  Accidentally blinded by her prostitute mother Rose-Ann at the age of five, Selina D'Arcey spends the next 13 years confined in the tiny Los Angeles apartment that they share with "Ole Pa", Selina's grandfather. One afternoon at the local park, Selina meets Gordon Ralfe, a thoughtful young office worker whose kind-hearted treatment of her results in her falling in love with him, unaware that he is black. They continue to meet in the park every afternoon and he teaches her how to get along in the city. But when the cruel, domineering Rose-Ann learns of their relationship, she forbids her to have anything more to do with him because he is black. Selina continues to meet Gordon despite Rose-Ann's fury, who is determined to end the relationship for good.
Rotten Tomatoes:   Shelley Winters won an Academy Award for her searing performance as Rose-Ann d'Arcy in A Patch of Blue. The star, however, is not Winters but Elizabeth Hartman, cast as d'Arcy's blind, sensitive daughter, Selina. A venomous prostitute, Rose-Ann treats both Selina and grandfather Ole Pa (Wallace Ford) like dirt. Fortunately, Selina finds a way out via the kindly Gordon Ralfe (Sidney Poitier), who befriends Hartman and tries to open up doors for her previously closed by her selfish mother. Despite the objections of the bigoted Rose-Ann and of Gordon's brother Mark (Ivan Dixon), a bond stronger than physical love is forged between Gordon and Selina. Brilliantly avoiding gooey sentiment throughout, A Patch of Blue was adapted for the screen by director Guy Green, from the novel Be Ready with Bells and Drums by Elizabeth Kata. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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72% (2)  You're a Big Boy Now  96 min,  TV-MA,  [Comedy, Drama, Romance]  [Francis Ford Coppola]  [09 Jul 1967]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 62%,   Rotten Tomatoes: 82%,   External Reviews
Awards:  Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 7 nominations.
Actors:  Elizabeth Hartman, Geraldine Page, Peter Kastner, Rip Torn
Writer:  David Benedictus (novel), Francis Ford Coppola (written for the screen by)
External Links:  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb     Language:  English    Country:  USA
Plot:  Bernard Chanticleer's father gives him two simple words of advice: "Grow up." Bernard knows that his first step is to find a girl who's "willing," but he passes up a sure thing, Amy Partlett, for a more elusive goal. Her name is Barbara Darling, an inscrutable go-go dancer. More than a few obstacles keep Bernard from his dream world. There's his doting mother, who mails him locks of her hair and weeps at the thought of her baby as a man; there's a malicious rooster, trained to attack pretty girls, patrolling the halls of his New York City rooming house; and most of all, there's Barbara herself. She turns out to be a man hater, emotionally scarred by the lecherous wooden-legged hypnotherapist who "counseled" her in high school. All in all, Bernard finds himself in an improbable universe with a calculated clumsiness designed to evoke his confusing coming-of-age.
Rotten Tomatoes:   In this film, teen Peter Kastner undergoes his coming-of-age rites when, urged on by his father, he strikes out on his own and moves to NYC. Every person Kastner meets is an eccentric's eccentric, from his landlady to the local cop. Kastner's new friend introduces the boy to sex and drugs.
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66% (1)  The Group  150 min,  Approved,  [Drama]  [Sidney Lumet]  [04 Mar 1966]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 66%,   External Reviews
Awards:  Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 2 nominations.
Actors:  Candice Bergen, Elizabeth Hartman, Joan Hackett, Shirley Knight
Writer:  Mary McCarthy (novel), Sidney Buchman (screenplay)
External Links:  Wikipedia  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb     Language:  English    Country:  USA
Plot:  In June 1933, eight young women, who are close friends and members of the upper-class group at South Tower College, to graduate and start their adult lives. The film documents the years between their graduation and the beginning of the Second World War in Europe, and shows, in a serialized style, their romances and marriages, their searches for careers or meaning in their lives, their highs and their lows.
Rotten Tomatoes:   Based on the novel by Mary McCarthy, The Group was one of the slickest, and most highly publicized, cinematic soap operas of the 1960s. Filmed largely in New York, the story charts the exploits of eight young women, all of whom graduate from an exclusive Vassar-ish college in the middle of the Depression. Among the talented young actresses making their screen debuts herein are Candice Bergen as Lakey, the group's resident Lesbian; Joan Hackett as Dottie, a repressed socialite who takes up with bohemian artist Dick Brown (Richard Mulligan); Joanna Pettet as Kay, who marries philandering playwright Harald Peterson (Larry Hagman); and Kathleen Widdoes as Helena, the wealthiest of the girls who insists upon proving her value in the workplace. The other girls are Pokey (Marin-Robin Redd), who seems happiest when pregnant; Jessica Walter as Libby, the group's viper-tongued gossip and the darling of the Manhattan literary set (some have suggested that McCarthy based this character on herself); Elizabeth Hartman as Priss, the requisite heart-on-sleeve liberal; and Shirley Knight as Polly, whose bumpy love life culminates in a very colorful engagement party. Hal Holbrook, likewise making his first screen appearance, plays Gus LeRoy. Sumptuously produced, The Group is a bit empty dramatically, though the sheer volume of continuing characters manages to sustain audience interest. (Incidentally, here's a note for "blooper" spotters: wasn't the Pan Am building constructed in the 1950s? )
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