Category: Drama

Sweet Dreams

Sweet Dreams on VHS. Movie starring Jessica Lange, Ed Harris. With Ann Wedgeworth, P.J. Soles, John Goodman, Gary Basaraba, James Staley, David Clennon. Directed by Karel Reisz. 1985.

Sweet Dreams on VHS. Movie starring Jessica Lange, Ed Harris. With Ann Wedgeworth, P.J. Soles, John Goodman, Gary Basaraba, James Staley, David Clennon. Directed by Karel Reisz. 1985.

From the VHS box cover:

Millions of fans around the world remember Patsy Cline as the gifted, passionate, and fun-loving Queen of the Nashville sound.

“Sweet Dreams” is the true story of the legendary Patsy Clone, charting the most dramatic years of her efforts to become a top country singer. The film also tells the story of Patsy’s passionate and turbulent marriage to Charlie Dick, a daring man who gave her a love full of laughter, tears, excitement and joy.

DVD upgrade: Sweet Dreams

Listen up: Sweet Dreams: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack


Deadlock

Deadlock aka Dead Lock aka Wedlock on VHS video. Starring Rutger Hauer, Mimi Rogers, Joan Chen. Directed by Lewis Teague. 1991.

Deadlock aka Dead Lock aka Wedlock on VHS video. Starring Rutger Hauer, Mimi Rogers, Joan Chen. Directed by Lewis Teague. 1991.

From the VHS box cover:

In the prison of the future, criminal justice will have a deadly twist. No bars. No walls. No chance of escape…

…Until Now.

After hiding 25 million dollars’ worth of diamonds, jewel thief Frank Warren is double-crossed by both his best friend and his fiancee, and placed in an experimental maximum security prison.

At Camp Holiday, each prisoner is fitted with an explosive-filled “wedlock collar” that’s electronically linked to the collar of another prisoner. If the two wedlock partners are separated by more than 100 yards, both of their collars will explode. Since prisoners are not told the identity of their wedlock partners, escape is seemingly impossible.

When a woman named Ivory claims to be Frank’s wedlock partner, he’s skeptical…until she orchestrates their escape, heads still intact.

In a deadly game of hide and seek the two unwilling partners are relentlessly pursued by the authorities and cruelly hunted by Frank’s murderous associates. It’s a race against time… to get the diamonds, save their lives, and break out of wedlock.

Deadlock is a high-tech futuristic thriller, bristling with suspense and non-stop action.

DVD upgrade: Wedlock



Shakedown

Shakedown on VHS. Starring Peter Weller, Sam Elliott, Patricia Charbonneau, Blanche Baker, Antonio Fargas. Directed by James Glickenhaus. 1988.

Shakedown on VHS. Starring Peter Weller, Sam Elliott, Patricia Charbonneau, Blanche Baker, Antonio Fargas. Directed by James Glickenhaus. 1988.

From the VHS box cover:

An over-worked lawyer. An undercover cop. In a city where everyone is for sale… They’re the best that money can’t buy.

Whatever you do… don’t call the cops.

A burned-out legal aid attorney reluctantly teams up with a renegade police detective to find the truth behind the fatal shooting of an undercover cop by a notorious drug dealer.

Targeted by a syndicate of corrupt cops and drug lords, the duo blast their way through the underbelly on New York in their unrelenting search for the shocking truth behind the crime. Filmed on the streets on Manhattan, Shakedown features some of the most incredible stunt work and chase sequences ever shot, including a death-defying fight scene atop Coney Island’s Cyclone roller coaster. It’s nonstop thrills from start to finish in one of the most entertaining high-speed cop films ever made.

DVD upgrade: Shakedown

Watch now: Shakedown (1988) Amazon Instant Video



The Razor: The Snare

The Razor: The Snare on VHS. Starring Katsu Shintaro (Zatoichi), Sato Kei, Nishimura Akira, Kurosawa Toshio, Ineno Kazuko. Directed by Masamura Yasuzo. 1973.

The Razor: The Snare on VHS. Starring Katsu Shintaro, Sato Kei, Nishimura Akira, Kurosawa Toshio, Ineno Kazuko. Directed by Masamura Yasuzo. 1973.

From the VHS box cover:

Hanzo “Razor” Itami is an unusual cop with unusual skills, not the least of which is his uncanny ability to ferret out criminals using his “unique” interrogation methods on female prisoners.

While investigating the death of a girl during an illegal abortion, Hanzo sniffs out an orgy of wealthy perverts at a convent run by a priestess named Nyokaini. After the priestess is introduced to “THE LONGEST ARM OF THE LAW” she rats out Lord Okubo, the Shogunate Treasurer, who is minting debased coinage (and keeping the “extra” for himself). Okubo is also behind most of the prostitution in Edo. Meanwhile, Hanzo learns of a planned raid on the mint by a gang of cutthroats and sets up “house” with the beautiful widow (Riki) who runs the mint.

In a blazing bloodbath of slaughter, the “Razor” foils the raid and arrests the survivors. Lord Okubo offers a reward and Hanzo names it… [spoilers]

DVD upgrade: Hanzo The Snare

Nightfall

Nightfall on VHS video. Starring Jennifer Burns, Winsome Brown, Joseph Hodge (Haj), David Carradine. Based on the story by Isaac Asimov published in 1941 and subsequently expanded into a full novel by Asimov and Robert Silverberg in 1990. Directed by Gwyneth Gibby. 2000.

Nightfall on VHS video. Starring Jennifer Burns, Winsome Brown, Joseph Hodge (Haj), David Carradine. Based on the story by Isaac Asimov (which was inspired by an Emerson quote) published in 1941 and subsequently expanded into a full novel by Asimov and Robert Silverberg in 1990. Produced by Roger Corman. Directed by Gwyneth Gibby. 2000.

From the VHS box:

“The Greatest Science Fiction Story of All Time.” as voted by The Science Fiction Writers of America

The people of the planet Aeon, blessed with six suns, have never experienced night. When an archeological excavation uncovers evidence of an ancient catastrophe, all signs point towards the impending darkness of the very first Nightfall. Panic erupts as the suns slowly disappear one by one. Science struggles against superstition as the people race to comprehend the approaching Nightfall… the end of the world as they know it.

DVD upgrade (scathing reviews): Nightfall

They say the book is always better than the movie: Nightfall

Go back in time and pretend the movie never existed: Nightfall and Other Stories (Crest Science Fiction, P1969)