#1,655. Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)

Directed By: John Landis, Steven Spielberg, Joe Dante, George Miller

Starring: Dan Aykroyd, Albert Brooks, Vic Morrow


Tag line: "You're traveling through another dimension. A dimension, not only of sight and sound, but of mind..."

Trivia: John Landis's segments were the first to be filmed, and Steven Spielberg considered canceling the entire project after the deadly helicopter crash






Twilight Zone: The Movie, a 1983 anthology based on the popular television series from the ‘50s and ‘60s, will forever be marred by the tragedy that occurred during its production. On July 23, 1982, while shooting the John Landis-directed segment Time Out, actor Vic Morrow and two children were killed when a helicopter lost control (Morrow and one of the kids were decapitated by the rotor blade, while the second child was crushed to death by the falling copter). It was a disaster that should never have happened (in violation of child labor laws, the scene was being shot at 2:30 in the morning), and regardless of how many times I see it, I can’t watch the film without thinking of this terrible accident.

Following a brief prologue (starring Albert Brooks and Dan Aykroyd), Twilight Zone: The Movie presents four tales of mystery and suspense, starting with the above-mentioned Time Out, in which Morrow plays William Conner, a Vietnam vet and unapologetic bigot who, while sitting with some co-workers in a bar after work, loudly complains about minorities, shouting a few racial slurs in the process. But before the night is out, the “Zone” will show Mr. Conner the error of his ways. The next segment, titled Kick the Can, was directed by Steven Spielberg, and concerns the residents of a retirement community who, following the arrival of newbie Mr. Bloom (Scatman Crothers), are reminded how it feels to be young. Joe Dante’s It’s a Good Life sees teacher Helen Foley (Kathleen Quinlan) make a trip to the home of young Anthony (Jeremy Licht), who, thanks to his special powers, always gets his way. Rounding out the group is George Miller’s Nightmare at 20,000 Feet, about an airline passenger (John Lithgow) whose fear of flying is taken to a whole new level.

Each segment has its strengths, starting with the prologue, an often-funny opening scene (thanks to Brooks’ and Aykroyd’s snappy dialogue) with an unforgettable ending. Along with its message of tolerance, Time Out reminds us just how good Vic Morrow was at being bad. Having made a career out of playing bastards in movies like Blackboard Jungle, The Bad News Bears, and Humanoids from the Deep, Morrow continues his streak by portraying an extreme racist, one who gets his comeuppance when forced to experience life in both Nazi Germany (as a Jew) and the rural south (as a black man). Kick the Can is the film’s most light-hearted tale (you can’t help but like it), shining a light on the elderly, and how, more often than not, they’re overlooked by the younger generations. It’s a Good Life is the visually vibrant story of a boy who can make things happen just by thinking about them, an ability that scares the hell out of his relatives (Kevin McCarthy, of Invasion of the Body Snatchers fame, plays Anthony’s subservient Uncle Walt). It’s a creepy segment that, at times, gets under your skin, but when it comes to sheer terror, nothing can top Nightmare at 20,000 Feet. John Lithgow delivers a manic performance as the frightened passenger who, because of his hysteria, can’t convince anyone that there’s something sinister walking around on the plane’s wings. A taut, edgy tale about paranoia, Nightmare at 20,000 Feet will have you squirming on the edge of your seat.

While it’s impossible to forget the tragedy that haunts the film to this day, there’s no denying that Twilight Zone: The Movie is a whole lot of fun to watch, with a quartet of tales that ultimately offer something for everyone.

#643. Amazon Women on the Moon (1987)

Directed By: Joe Dante, John Landis, Carl Gottlieb, Peter Horton, Robert K. Weiss

Starring: Rosanna Arquette, Michelle Pfeiffer, Arsenio Hall




Tag line: "Shameless!"

Trivia:  Scenes featuring two veteran character actors, Lyle Talbot and Dan Seymour, were cut from the finished film





Here's yet another example of "deceptive memory".

The first time I saw Amazon Women on the Moon, which has to be over 20 years ago, I thought it was one of the funniest movies I'd ever seen. Revisiting it all these years later, I still found quite a bit of it funny, but was surprised by how many of the gags fall flat, and in a big way.

With five different directors at the helm, including the likes of John Landis and Joe Dante, Amazon Women on the Moon presents a series of short skits that center on the problems a late-night TV station is having with their broadcast of a cheesy sci-fi film.  As the technical difficulties mount, the station breaks away to a variety of commercials, public service announcements, and coming attractions, all designed to tickle your funny bone.

I still laughed as I watched Amazon Women on the Moon. Lou Jacobi, playing a frustrated husband who ends up trapped in his television set, is hilarious, and I had a blast whenever the movie cut back to the 'feature film', a send-up of 50's sci-fi fare.  But a number of sketches are real clunkers.  There's a hospital skit with Michelle Pfieffer and Griffin Dunne that's downright painful to sit through, as is a black-and-white segment with Ed Begley Jr., playing the son of the Invisible Man, which stretches on well after its single joke has already been beaten into the ground.

By no means is Amazon Women on the Moon a waste of time. Overall, I'd say there are more laughs than groans. Fair warning, though: be prepared to sit through a few duds along the way!

#38. Piranha (1978)

DVD Synopsis: While searching for missing teenagers, novice skip tracer Maggie McKeown (Heather Menzies) and local town boozer Paul Grogan (Bradford Dillman) stumble upon a top-secret Army laboratory conducting genetic research on piranha fish for the purpose of developing biological warfare. When the deadly eating machines are accidently released from the compound, they're soon headed downstream and consuming everything, and anything, in their path.

Produced in 1978 by Roger Corman's New World Pictures, Piranha was to be little more than a low-budget thriller that would capitalize on the success of Steven Spielberg's Jaws, which broke box-office records a few years earlier. 

But with the likes of Joe Dante directing and John Sayles penning its script, Piranha would go far beyond simple exploitation to become a thrilling bit of entertainment in its own right. 

Like Jaws before it, the tension in Piranha is generated primarily by the film's attack scenes. However, since the title characters spend all of their time under water - thus almost entirely out of sight - the filmmakers had to develop a signal to let the audience know that these deadly creatures had arrived. 

Spielberg addressed this same problem in Jaws with the help of composer John Williams, whose sinister score is still one of the most recognizable in cinematic history. 

In Piranha, the warning system was much less... subtle. 

Instead of music, Piranha relies on the sound of gnashing teeth, as if the title creatures' lethal mouths were in a constant state of motion. While It may not be as memorable as the Williams score, that foreboding, ravenous chomping generates just the right amount of anxiety. 

Piranha had no business being this entertaining; the reason it existed in the first place was the quest for the almighty dollar. Fortunately for us, there were too many talented people involved with the making of Piranha for it to have been anything less than a hell of a lot of fun.