Directed By: Gary Nelson
Starring: Maximilian Schell, Anthony Perkins, Robert Forster
Tag line: "You can't escape the most powerful force in the universe"
Trivia: Neither Roddy McDowall nor Slim Pickens are credited for their voice work in the film
I didn’t much care for Disney’s The Black Hole when I first saw it in the theater in 1979. Billed as the studio’s answer to Star Wars, I went in expecting intergalactic space battles, with good guys facing off against a powerful evil (much like... well... Star Wars). But it wasn’t that at all. In fact, for a 10-year-old, The Black Hole was actually kinda boring.
Now that I’m older and a bit more patient, I wanted to give the film another chance. Is The Black Hole the dull, lifeless movie I remember it being, or did its message simply go over my head?
While traveling through space, the Palomino and its crew: Capt. Dan Holland (Robert Forster), Lt. Charlie Pizer (Joseph Bottoms), Dr. Alex Durant (Anthony Perkins), the clairvoyant Dr. Kate McRae (Yvette Mimieux), journalist Harry Booth (Ernest Borgnine), and robot assistant V.I.N.C.E.N.T. (voiced by Roddy McDowall), stumble upon what appears to be an abandoned research vessel.
As it turns out, it’s the USS Cygnus, a ship that has been missing for 20 years. What’s more, there’s still someone on board: scientist Hans Reinhardt (Maximillian Schell), who, with the help of his android crew and a mechanical guardian named Maximillian, is studying a nearby black hole.
While on-board the Cygnus as Dr. Reinhardt’s guests, Capt. Holland and the others learn the truth: Reinhardt has become so obsessed with the black hole that he’s going to pilot his ship straight into it, all in the hope of discovering what lies on the other side. Dr. Durant believes his plan will succeed, but it isn’t until a robot named B.O.B. (voiced by Slim Pickens. Yes, Slim Pickens!), which has been on the Cygnus for years, tells them about Reinhardt’s grand scheme that Capt. Holland and his crew realize they’re in terrible danger. In short, Reinhardt intends to hold them on-board and take them into the black hole as witnesses!
Can the crew of the Palomino escape before it’s too late, or will they be forced to take part in what appears to be a suicide mission?
One thing I learned from this recent viewing of The Black Hole is that, despite its PG rating, this movie isn’t really geared towards young kids. Well, not entirely, anyway; by its very design (a floating mini-bot with googly eyes), it’s obvious V.I.N.C.E.N.T. was created with the youngsters in mind. Yet his steady stream of insights (his name is short for Vital Information Necessary CENTralized), as well as the telepathic bond he shares with Dr. McRae, bring more depth to this little bot than maybe even the filmmakers themselves intended. V.I.N.C.E.N.T. and fellow robot B.O.B. may look childish, but they’re two of the film’s most well-rounded characters.
Toss in a healthy dose of scientific lingo (at one point, Reinhardt talks to Dr. Durant about an “Einstein-Rosen Bridge”), and you have a movie that has more in common with Star Trek than it does Star Wars.
The effects are dated, of course, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing; they fit the movie perfectly, and even give it a bit of character. As for the cast, they do a superb job, starting with Maximillian Schell’s Reinhardt, who, despite his Captain Ahab-level obsession with the black hole, isn’t entirely unsympathetic (he’s a scientist hoping to prove a theory, and willing to do whatever it takes to see his experiment through to the end). I also liked Anthony Perkins’ Dr. Durant, who is so fascinated with Reinhardt and his hypotheses that he considers tagging along voluntarily on the adventure.
As for the rest, Robert Forster makes for a heroic ship’s captain, and the always reliable Ernest Borgnine is at his slimy best as Harry, a guy who is never as trustworthy as he seems.
With an intense storyline and an ending reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Black Hole is a sometimes-thrilling sci-fi flick that's also sure to give your brain a workout.
Directed By: Bruce Bilson
Starring: Edward Herrmann, Barbara Harris, Susan Clark
Tag line: "What these ladies do to the mob is highly irregular!"
Trivia: This movie was released as Hill's Angels in the UK
In the late ‘70s, Disney live-action movies were all the rage, and my friends and I spent many a day discussing our favorites. One friend was blown away by Return to Witch Mountain, the sequel to 1975’s Escape from Witch Mountain, while another sang the praises of The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again (an entertaining flick) and Unidentified Flying Oddball.
As for me, I loved both The Black Hole (a sci-fi / adventure that was also Disney’s attempt to cash in on the Star Wars craze) and this film, 1979’s The North Avenue Irregulars, a comedy about a group of church ladies who take on the mob.
Rev. Michael Hill (Edward Herrmann), the newly-appointed minister of the North Avenue Presbyterian church, declares war on illegal gambling when Delaney (Douglas Fowley), one of his parishioners, bets (and loses) $1,200 of the church’s money on a horse race.
Rev. Hill is eventually approached by two U.S. Treasury Agents: Marv (Michael Constantine) and Tom (Steve Franken), who ask for his help in recruiting a few local men willing to gather evidence against the gamblers. Fearing reprisals, not a single guy signs up, so Rev. Hill instead approaches five parish women: Jane (Karen Valentine); Vickie (Barbara Harris); Claire (Cloris Leachman); Rose (Patsy Kelly); and Cleo (Virginia Capers), all of whom are only too happy to assist.
Even the church’s longtime secretary Anne (Susan Clark), who initially advised Rev. Hill not to get involved, joins up when the mob starts fighting back.
What makes The North Avenue Irregulars such a fun movie is its cast of characters. When he’s not fighting crime, Edward Herrmann’s Rev. Hill is both a loving father to his two kids (played by Linda Lee Lyons and Damon Bradley Raskin) and a forward-thinking minister who brings in a rock group (the stereotypically 70’s band Strawberry Shortcake) to accompany the choir during services.
As for the “Irregulars”, the standouts are Cloris Leachman as the prim and proper Claire, a woman with very long fingernails who has a bit of a crush on Rev. Hill; and Barbara Harris’s Vickie, a ditzy housewife who brings her kids, as well as the family dog, along on stakeouts. Also quite funny is Michael Constantine’s Marv, the Treasury Agent whose mounting frustration with the lady volunteers soon gets the better of him (Her first time out, Jane identifies one of the mob’s bag men and begins to follow him. Using a CB radio, Marv, who set up headquarters in a motel room, asks Jane in what direction the bag man is traveling, to which she replies “He’s heading towards that new boutique”).
Back in ‘79, my father took my brother and I to see The North Avenue Irregulars, and the entire theater (which, by the way, was jam-packed) was laughing and cheering throughout the picture. Goofy enough for kids and with plenty of action to satisfy adults, The North Avenue Irregulars offers a little something for everyone.
Directed By: Vincent McEveety
Starring: Bob Crane, Kurt Russell, Barbara Rush
Tag line: "Young love is making waves...and Dad's about to get beached!"
Trivia: This movie sat on the shelf for a year before Disney decided to release it
I was amazed at how well I remembered Disney’s Superdad, a movie I had last seen in theaters back in 1975 (which is when the studio finally got around to releasing this 1973 picture). I couldn’t have been more than five years old at the time, but it obviously made a lasting impression.
I was sure it starred the guy from Hogan’s Heroes (Bob Crane), and also featured the guy from McHale’s Navy (Joe Flynn, in a small role, playing his typical bad-tempered character).
I vividly recalled the water-skiing scene, I knew Bob Crane was gonna fall down some stairs at one point, and even remembered the showdown between the dad and the beatnik, which took place on Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco.
In fact, only one detail slipped my mind, and that's how badly Superdad sucks.
And it does…it really, really does!
Charlie McCready (Crane) loves his daughter, Wendy (Kathleen Cody), a recent high-school graduate, and wants to see her go far in life. But Charlie believes the lazy, unambitious group of kids she hangs around with are holding her back, and the worst among them is Wendy’s boyfriend, Bart (Kurt Russell).
So, Charlie arranges for Wendy to receive a scholarship from his old Alma Mater, which takes her a long way from home. But his plan backfires when Wendy falls in with an even worse crowd in college, landing her in more trouble than she’s ever known before.
Let’s set aside for a moment the problems that lie on the surface of Superdad, like the fact it’s a sloppy film, with scenes thrown in that simply don’t fit. There’s an absolutely painful sequence where Charlie, after watching a family therapist on TV, decides he needs to spend more time with Wendy. So he tags along with her and her friends to the beach, setting up some of the most pathetic slapstick I’ve ever witnessed.
Yet the primary issue I had with Superdad was its basic premise. Never once do we understand why Charlie is so against Wendy’s high-school chums. Featuring such future stars as Kurt Russell, Bruno Kirby and Ed Begley Jr, they are a polite, fun-loving group of teens, a far cry from the negative influence Charlie claims. His opinions of them make no sense whatsoever, and as a result, there’s not a moment we are on Charlie’s side, which is problematic when you consider he’s the lead, and the focal point of the entire movie!
Disney released some impressive live-action family fare in the ‘60s and ‘70s, a few of which are still considered classics (Swiss Family Robinson, Mary Poppins), while others remain at least passable entertainment for kids and parents alike (The World's Greatest Athlete, The North Avenue Irregulars). Why they bothered with Superdad is beyond me. This movie is damn near unwatchable.
