83% (3) Sleeper 89 min, PG, [Comedy, Sci-Fi] [Woody Allen] [17 Dec 1973]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 73%, Rotten Tomatoes: 100%, Metacritic: 77%, External Reviews
Awards: 2 wins & 2 nominations.
Actors: Diane Keaton, John Beck, Mary Gregory, Woody Allen
Writer: Woody Allen, Marshall Brickman
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English, Yiddish Country: USA
Plot: Miles, a nebbishy clarinet player who also runs a health food store in NYC's Greenwich Village, is cryogenically frozen, and brought back - 200 years in the future, by anti-government radicals in order to assist them in their attempt to overthrow the oppressive government. When he goes off on his own, he begins to explore this brave new world, which has Orgasmatron booths to replace sex and confessional robots.
Rotten Tomatoes: In 1973, health-food store owner Miles Monroe (Woody Allen) enters the hospital for a routine gall bladder operation. When he expires on the operating table, Miles' sister requests permission to cryogenically freeze her brother's body. After 200 years, Miles is unwrapped by a group of scientists and awakens to a "brave new world" of deadening conformity, ruled with an iron fist by a never-seen leader. Miles is forced to flee for his life when the scientists -- actually a group of revolutionary activists -- are overpowered by the leader's police. He eludes the cops by pretending to be an android, and in this guise is sent to work at the home of Luna (Diane Keaton), a composer of greeting cards who thinks that the world of the future is perfect as it stands. There's more, but why spoil your fun? Sleeper is the most visual of Woody Allen's earlier films, and demonstrated a more pronounced rapport between Allen and his off- and onscreen leading lady Diane Keaton than had previously existed. The Dixieland score is performed by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.
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67% (2) The Big Bus 88 min, PG, [Comedy, Action] [James Frawley] [22 Oct 1976]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 56%, Rotten Tomatoes: 78%, External Reviews
Awards: 1 win.
Actors: John Beck, Joseph Bologna, Rene Auberjonois, Stockard Channing
Writer: Fred Freeman, Lawrence J. Cohen
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: The ultimate disaster film parody. A nuclear powered bus is going Non-stop from New York to Denver and is plagued by disasters due to the machinations of a mysterious group allied with the Oil lobby. When the driver is injured a washed up, down on his luck, but used to be great type, who as it happens, used to be engaged to the inventor's daughter is brought in to drive the giant bus which includes a one lane swimming pool and a one lane bowling alley.
Rotten Tomatoes: The Big Bus is set aboard a nonstop, nuclear-powered luxury bus commandeered by Joseph Bologna. Naturally, Bologna is a tortured hero with a deep dark secret (he keeps insisting he didn't eat all those passengers on his last disastrous drive). Stockard Channing and Harold Gould play the designers of the big bus, and of course they have a few skeletons in their closet. In fact, there isn't a passenger on the all-star manifest that isn't hiding something. The supporting cast features contributions by René Auberjonois (parodying his M*A*S*H role), Ned Beatty, José Ferrer, Ruth Gordon (doing a devastating send-up of Airport's Helen Hayes), Sally Kellerman, Richard Mulligan, and many others; Murphy Dunne contributes a memorable bit as a smarmy cocktail pianist. Unfortunately, The Big Bus was dumped onto the summer 1976 release schedule without fanfare by Paramount, and it sank without a trace.
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67% (2) Rollerball 125 min, R, [Action, Sci-Fi, Sport] [Norman Jewison] [25 Jun 1975]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 66%, Rotten Tomatoes: 68%, External Reviews
Awards: Won 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 3 wins & 5 nominations.
Actors: James Caan, John Beck, John Houseman, Maud Adams
Writer: William Harrison (screenplay)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: UK, USA
Plot: In a futuristic society where corporations have replaced countries, the violent game of Rollerball is used to control the populace by demonstrating the futility of individuality. However, one player, Jonathan E., rises to the top, fights for his personal freedom, and threatens the corporate control.
Rotten Tomatoes: In a future world ruled by industrialists, "civilized" society has removed violent activity and a new sport, rollerball, has emerged. The industrialists oppose the ultimate rollerball champ, fearing that his popularity will make him too powerful. To get rid of him, they make contests last until one side is vanquished.
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52% (2) Audrey Rose 113 min, PG, [Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Thriller] [Robert Wise] [06 Apr 1977]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 58%, Rotten Tomatoes: 46%, External Reviews
Actors: Anthony Hopkins, John Beck, Marsha Mason, Susan Swift
Writer: Frank De Felitta (screenplay), Frank De Felitta (novel)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: In New York, Janice Templeton is happily married to executive Bill Templeton and they live in a comfortable and fancy apartment with their eleven-year-old daughter Ivy. One day, Janice is stalked by a weirdo and she tells her husband. Soon afterwards the stranger contacts them and invites the couple to meet him in a restaurant. Elliot Hoover tells Janice and Bill that his daughter Audrey Rose died eleven years ago, burned in a car crash, and her soul has been reincarnated in Ivy's body. Bill and Janice believe that Elliot is nuts, and Bill tells his lawyer to get a restraining order against Elliot. However, Ivy has dreadful nightmares and only Elliot is able to calm her down. When Elliot abducts Ivy, Bill and Janice go to court to have him arrested. But Elliot wants to prove that Ivy and Audrey Rose are the same soul.
Rotten Tomatoes: Audrey Rose is a "thinking man's" horror film, which in a way is unfortunate, since it tended to be ignored amidst the many spell-it-all-out scarefests of the late '70s. Marsha Mason and John Beck play Janice and Bill Templeton, a happily married couple, the parents of well-adjusted preteen Ivy (Susan Swift). Their family security is disrupted by the arrival of a mysterious stranger, Elliot Hoover (Anthony Hopkins). At first mistaken for a potential child molester, Hoover explains that his obsessive interest in young Ivy is actually paternal. It is Hoover's contention that their daughter is the reincarnation of his own child, who died in a horrible accident. This information is dismissed out of hand-and then strange things begin happening. Directed by Robert Wise (who had previously helmed the psychological thriller The Haunting), Audrey Rose was adapted by co-producer Frank de Felitta from his own novel.
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61% (1) The Other Side of Midnight 165 min, R, [Drama, Romance, Thriller] [Charles Jarrott] [08 Jun 1977]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 61%, External Reviews
Actors: John Beck, Marie-France Pisier, Raf Vallone, Susan Sarandon
Writer: Sidney Sheldon (based upon the novel by), Herman Raucher (screenplay by), Daniel Taradash (screenplay by)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: Beautiful Noelle Page meets dashing WWII American pilot Larry Douglas in France and falls in love. She expects him to marry her, but instead Larry abandons her. In the United States, successful Catherine Alexander meets Larry Douglas and they marry. But Noelle hasn't forgotten Larry even as she's become a successful actress. She maneuvers to have Larry hired as the private pilot of her wealthy and powerful lover Constantin Demiris so she can seek revenge on him, but instead she and Larry rekindled their passion. Desperate to be together, Larry and Noelle make deadly plans. But soon the lovers face a terrible fate determined by the jealous Demiris using Catherine as his pawn.
Rotten Tomatoes: One woman's life of love and larceny is recounted in this soapy drama based on the best-selling novel by Sidney Sheldon. In the midst of WWII, innocent French girl Noelle Page (Marie-France Pisier) falls in love with dashing American pilot Larry Douglas (John Beck). When Larry is given new orders taking him back to America, he tells Noelle that he'll come back for her -- when he doesn't, she becomes bitter and pledges to use men for their money and power, not for love. Noelle goes on to become a famous actress and weds Constantin Demeris (Raf Vallone), a Greek multi-millionaire. But she can't shake her passion for Larry, and eventually she hires him to work as her personal pilot. While at first he does not recognize her, soon Larry and Noelle are once again involved in a torrid affair, and when Larry's wife Catherine (Susan Sarandon) refuses to give him a divorce, he and Noelle begin planning a scheme to arrange an "accidental" death for Catherine. The Other Side of Midnight marked the American debut of actress Marie-France Pisier, following her role in the international success Cousin, Cousine.
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61% (1) Paperback Hero 93 min, R, [Drama, Sport] [Peter Pearson] [21 Sep 1973]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 61%, External Reviews
Awards: 3 wins.
Actors: Dayle Haddon, Elizabeth Ashley, John Beck, Keir Dullea
Writer: Barry Pearson, Les Rose
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: Canada
Plot: A hockey player in a small town begins to lose his grip on reality, and starts to believe that he is a gunslinger in the Old West.
Rotten Tomatoes: A small-time athlete is suddenly confronted by the real world in this thoughtful comedy drama from Canada. Rick (Keir Dullea) is the star player on a semi-pro hockey team in a small town on the Canadian prairie. While Rick has to hold down a job in a hardware store to pay his rent, his skills on the ice make him a local hero; he never has to pay for a beer or a meal if he doesn't want to, and he makes as much time as he wants with a number of women, though his loyal girlfriend Loretta (Elizabeth Ashley) is still convinced he'll settle down and marry her one day. To go along with his minor celebrity, Rick has constructed an outsized persona for himself, wearing a cowboy hat, carrying a pistol, and grooming himself in the model of Sheriff Matt Dillon from Gunsmoke. But Rick's world begins to fall apart when he first loses his job and then gets word that his team's owners can't afford to keep the franchise going. After the team's final game turns into an angry brawl and Rick is rejected by Joanna (Dayle Haddon), the college-age daughter of the team's manager, Rick takes a final stand in a foolish bid to prove himself. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
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47% (1) Deadly Illusion 87 min, R, [Adventure, Crime, Mystery] [Larry Cohen, William Tannen] [16 Oct 1987]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 47%, External Reviews
Actors: Billy Dee Williams, John Beck, Morgan Fairchild, Vanity
Writer: Larry Cohen
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: A stranger pays Billy Dee Williams to kill his wife. But instead Billy, who is a Private Detective, tells the wife her husband tried to do. When she turns up dead anyway, Billy is suspected. Hopefully with the assistance of his secretary/girlfriend he can solve the case before the police catch up to him.
Rotten Tomatoes: In this story of multiple deceptions, a private eye accepts $25,000 to murder a guy's wife, warns her, and ends up in bed with her. He soon finds out though that the woman he warned was a decoy, the real wife is dead, and he's been framed.
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