"California Suite" is Neil Simon's west coast version of his earlier comedy "Plaza Suite" (1971). Director Herbert Ross ("The Goodbye Girl" 1977) and screenwriter Simon have four storylines proceeding concurrently, with all characters bestowed with Simon's usual rapid-fire gag lines. The cast [..]

"Death on the Nile" is a good example of old-fashioned textbook filmmaking by director John Guillermin ("The Towering Inferno" 1974) as he brought Agatha Christie's famous 1937 novel to the big screen. It has a good screenplay by Anthony Shaffer, picturesque location filming in Egypt by acclaimed [..]

"The Cheap Detective" is a mystery-comedy film where Peter Falk plays a bumbling detective trying to prove himself innocent of his partner's murder while helping clients recover a lost treasure. Falk's speaking style imitating Humphrey Bogart gives the film a feel of Columbo doing a cheap version [..]

The Best Picture of 1979 is....."The Deer Hunter." The story follows three friends from their home town in Pennsylvania to the Vietnam War and back again. They follow very different paths after returning home from war. Director Michael Cimino ("Thunderbolt and Lightfoot" 1974) put together [..]

Roger Moore was definitely in his prime as superspy James Bond for the fourth time in "Moonraker." Our favorite defender of the British Empire was assigned to investigate the theft of a Space Shuttle, which a villain intends to use for nefarious purposes. Producer Albert R. [..]

Robert Redford and Jane Fonda team up for a third time in the very entertaining western comedy-drama film "The Electric Horseman." The story of an ex-rodeo star and a television reporter and a horse was skillfully directed by Sydney Pollack ("The Way We Were" 1973). Pollack is [..]

Sally Field won the Best Actress Oscar in 1979 for playing a factory worker who helps unionize her fellow workers in "Norma Rae." She no doubt surprised Academy members in her handling of this heavy drama role after years of light comedy in television sitcoms. Fields and the [..]

In the wake of the massive success of "Star Wars" from 20th Century Fox in 1977, Walt Disney Pictures responded with "The Black Hole." However, this science fiction story of an American space mission discovering a black hole falls short in the story department, with a lack [..]

Gene Wilder plays a Jewish Rabbi who is sent from Eastern Europe to serve a congregation in San Francisco, befriended along the way by a bank robber (Harrison Ford) in "The Frisco Kid." Good chemistry between Wilder and Ford brings to life the [..]

Here's some fantastic new for the world: Woody Allen's self-indulgent lifestyle has been recorded on film! In "Manhattan," Allen plays a twice-divorced 42-year-old comedy writer who dates a 17-year-old girl, then falls in love with his best friend's mistress. What a stretch! Allen also [..]