Author Archives: Lisa Marie Bowman

Late Night Retro Television Review: CHiPs 5.24 “Ice Cream Man”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Mondays, I will be reviewing CHiPs, which ran on NBC from 1977 to 1983.  The entire show is currently streaming on Prime!

This week, a cop-turned-criminal tries to prove that he’s gone straight.  Will he able to convince Ponch?

Episode 5.24 “Ice Cream Man”

(Dir by Leslie H. Martinson, originally aired on April 18th, 1982)

Tom Corey (Robert Walker, Jr.) used to be a top member of the Highway Patrol until he was caught breaking the law himself.  Tom Corey was a car thief, not because he needed the money but just because he needed the thrill.  Tom was sent to prison.  His wife (Karen Jennings) divorced him.  His son (Noah Hathaway) was told that Tom had died shortly after he was born.  Now, nearly six years later, Tom is out of prison and he’s working as an ice cream man.  He insists that he’s gone straight and all he cares about now is keeping a distant eye on the son who doesn’t know who he is.

Baker is willing to give Tom the benefit of the doubt but not Ponch.  When a rash of vehicle thefts break out, Ponch suspects that Tom is involved.  To an extent, Ponch is right.  The ringleader of the thieves is a businessman named Reno Hale (James Wainwright).  Hale wants Tom to work for him.  Tom sees an opportunity to redeem himself by taking Reno down.

This was an interesting episode, in that the focus was not on Ponch or Baker but instead on Tom and his efforts to prove that he had gone straight.  In fact, this episode almost felt like a backdoor pilot for a series that would have focused on Tom’s life outside of prison.  It’s easy to imagine Tom spending each week foiling criminals while trying not to violate the terms of his parole.  Robert Walker, Jr. gave a strong performance as Tom and the scenes between him and the cops were filled with an energy that reminded me of the first two seasons of CHiPs, before the whole thing became the Ponch Show.

This was a good episode.  Tom was an interesting character and there was one spectacular accident that actually made me jump a little.  (It looked like Randi Oakes barely avoid getting seriously injured.)  This was a nice throwback to what the show used to be.

Film Review: Can’t Stop The Music (dir by Nancy Walker)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

1980’s Can’t Stop The Music opens with Jack Morrell (young Steve Guttenberg) working in a record store.  However, he’s got bigger plans that just standing behind a cash register.  He quits his job and then roller skates around New York with a big goofy grin on his face.  Everyone he passes is charmed.  And why not?  New Yorkers are famous for their good-humor and polite manners.

Jack is a songwriter but he doesn’t have the voice necessary to sell his songs.  His platonic roommate, former supermodel Sam Simpson (Valerie Perrine), decides that what Jack needs is a band to sing his lyrics.  Luckily, Sam knows a singer named Felipe Rose.  He spends all of his time dressed like an Indian brave.  There’s no specific reason given for his costume choice, it’s just something that he does.  Sam and Jack are also able to recruit a construction worker (David Hodo), a “leatherman” (Glenn Hughes), a cowboy (Randy Jones), a G.I. (Alex Briley), and a singing cop (Ray Simpson).  The name of the band?  The Village People!

Yes, Can’t Stop The Music is fictionalized story of how The Village People came together.  It was directed by TV actress Nancy Walker.  It was a major studio production, one that was expected to build on the popularity of disco and bring in a lot of money.  Unfortunately, it was released at the same moment that disco stopped being trendy.  Can’t Stop The Music has a reputation for being bad and campy.  Both of those things are true but I should point out that it’s also a remarkably boring film.  The movie is full of characters who are constantly coming and going.  Sam has a large collection of friends and former co-workers, all of whom just tend to randomly pop up.  Most of them don’t really add much to the overall plot and, indeed, it’s hard not to resent being expected to keep track of all of them when there’s really no reason for many of them to be in the film.  A pre-transition Caitlyn Jenner plays Ron White, a lawyer who is mugged while delivering a cake and who ends up as Sam’s boyfriend.  As much as I made fun of Jenner as a performer while reviewing CHiPs, Jenner is even worse in You Can’t Stop The Music.  In fact, Jenner’s performance is one of the worst that I have ever seen.  If Ron angry?  Is Ron sad?  Is Ron in love?  Is Ron an alien from outer space?  You never really can tell, largely because Caitlyn Jenner’s performance is so inept.  It’s not so much that Jenner can’t show emotion and one gets the feeling that Jenner isn’t even sure what emotion is.

As for the Village People themselves …. well, this film leaves little doubt that none of them were professional actors.  Felipe Rose probably comes the closest to giving a credible performance but, as individuals, the members of the Village People aren’t that interesting and it takes forever for them to actually become a group.  Even after they become a group, they still can’t generate enough on-screen charisma to really hold our attention.  Who knew the Village People were so boring?

The majority of the film plays coy as far as the subtext of the Village People’s song are concerned.  Steve Guttenberg’s character is definitely gay-coded without the film actually coming out and saying so..  The construction worker gets a fantasy in which he imagines being lusted after by several female groupies.  The first few performances of the Village People are rather bland and it’s almost as if the film is trying to avoid the fact that the Village People’s songs and the personas of the performers all paid tribute to gay culture in the 1970s.  But then the film hits the YMCA production number and suddenly, the Village People are frolicking with half-naked, muscular men while joyfully singing about everything that’s available at the YMCA.  For that brief moment, the film embraces the campiness of the Village People and this major studio production actually becomes a bit subversive.  It’s also one of the few moments in the film in which anyone seems to be genuinely happy.  The Village People seem to be having fun.  Unfortunately, the YMCA sequence is the exception instead of the rule.

Can’t Stop The Music‘s sin isn’t that it’s boring as much as it’s just bland.  It’s an incredibly blah film.  No film about New York in the 70s has any right to be so forgettable.

Retro Television Review: Crime Story 1.8 “Old Friends, Dead Ends”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Mondays, I will be reviewing Crime Story, which ran on NBC from 1986 to 1988.  The entire show can be found on Tubi!

This week, Torello discovers some disturbing facts about an old friend.

Episode 1.8 “Old Friends, Dead Ends”

(Dir by Bobby Roth, originally aired on November 4h, 1986)

Luca has bought a controlling interest in a bottling company so that he can borrow from the pension fund and use that money to purchase casinos in Las Vegas.  He’s brought a reluctant Bartoli in as his partner.  The owner of the company is Ted Kehoe (Mark Hutter), who just happens to be an old friend of Mike Torello’s.  When Kehoe’s business partner, Marilyn Stewart (Dana Wheeler-Nicholson), becomes suspicious of Kehoe’s arrangement with Luca, Bartoli starts to wonder if it’s really worth it to keep Marilyn and Ted around.

This is especially the case after Bartoli’s attorney, Dee (a youngish Eric Bogosian), informs Bartoli that U.S. Attorney Harry Brietel (Ray Sharkey) is planning on indicting both him and Luca for money laundering.  Looking to end Brietel’s case before it can even get started, Luca murders Marilyn Stewart.  Marilyn’s body is later found by two teenagers and–

HEY, IT’S CHRISTIAN SLATER!

This episode does indeed feature an early performance from Christian Slater.  He pays a teenager who is trying to convince his girlfriend to “do it” when they happen to spot Marilyn’s body floating in the river.  Slater’s girlfriend is played by Kim Walker, who was later co-star with Slater in Heathers.

Torello is not happy.  Well, that’s not a surprise.  Torello is never happy.  But this episode gives him even more reasons than usual to be in a foul mood.  Because of his childhood friendship with Ted Kehoe, Brietel suspects that Torello might be corrupt.  After Marilyn is murdered, Brietel seems more interested in trying to pin the murder on Torello than going after Luca.

As for Ted Kehoe, he tells Luca that he’s done working for him.  Kehoe is going to tell the cops everything!  And what is Luca going to do about it?  This episode ends with Kehoe getting thrown out the window of his penthouse and falling several stories down to his death….

Piece of advice: If you’re going to turn on the mob, don’t tell them ahead of time.

This was a good episode!  Torello’s friendship with Kehoe brought some real stakes the story and, once again, we got to see just how ruthless an adversary Ray Luca truly is.  Luca, Bartoli, and the other mobsters can occasionally seem a bit buffoonish.  This episode reminded us that, in Luca’s case, it’s always a mistake to underestimate him.

As for now, Kehoe is dead and Torello is under suspicion.  I look forward to seeing what happens next week!

Lifetime Film Review: Murder In Music City (dir by Dave Thomas)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The music industry!  It’s murder!

And if you have any doubt about whether or not that statement is true, just consider the recent Lifetime film, Murder In Music City.

Jimmy Stone (Ty Trumbo) is a handsome young singer/songwriter who is trying to make it big in Nashville.  When we first see him, he’s taking a shower because this is a movie that knows what its audience wants.  Jimmy then sits down and works on a song that he’s been writing about a woman named Stephanie.  It sounds …. well, actually it sounds terrible.  But it’s terrible in that way that gets stuck in your head, kind of like that “Take Me To Church” song by Hozier.  Hey, Jimmy might have a hit on his hands!  Unfortunately, Jimmy is then beaten death with a guitar.

Because Jimmy was a guest of country superstar Aiblene Tucker (Deena Dill), she is arrested for his murder.  Abilene’s estranged daughter, Caroline (Madison Crawford), comes to Nashville to try to prove that her mother is innocent.  Caroline’s investigation leads her to everyone from one of Abilene’s ex-husbands to the president of Abilene’s fan club.  It turns out that Abilene always had a lot of people around her and they all had a motive for killing Jimmy.  Working with Abilene is Jimmy’s brother, Kyle (Brigdon York).  Abilene starts to fall for Kyle but it turns out that Kyle has some secrets of his own.

This film features an unusual twist on the typical Lifetime plot by having someone get arrested for the murder about halfway through the film.  With the real murderer apparently in jail, Abilene is free to resume her life and prepare for her comeback special.  However, Caroline comes to suspect that perhaps the wrong person was arrested and that the real murderer is still out there.  It all leads to secrets being revealed and songs being sung.  There’s a lot of songs sung in this film.  Perhaps too many, to be absolutely honest.

Despite not being a country music fan, I have to say that I absolutely loved Murder In Music City.  It was a film that cheerfully embraced the melodrama and celebrated all the excess that went along with it.  It was the type of fun, “I don’t believe that just happened” film that used to dominate the Lifetime airwaves.  This is one of those films where you don’t really worry too much about narrative logic or whether or not all of the clues really add up.  Instead, you just enjoy the ride.  And it is a very enjoyable ride.  There’s nothing more fun that watching someone have to both solve a murder mystery and deal with an egocentric parent.

In the role of the self-absorbed Abilene, Deena Dill gives a wonderful performance.  She’s not going to let a little thing like being accused of murder get in the way of her lavish lifestyle and her upcoming show.  Deena Dill plays Abilene as a force of nature and she brings a lot of humor to the role.  Also giving a good performance is Madison Crawford, who is very likable and relatable as Caroline.  You can see how having a mother like Abilene has shaped her but you also see the inner strength that has allowed Caroline to build a life of her own.

A terrifically entertaining film, Murder In Music City is what Lifetime should be all about!

Catching Up With The Films Of 2025: Nuremberg (dir by James Vanderbilt)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Nuremberg opens the day before the official surrender of Nazi Germany.  Hermann Goering (Russell Crowe), widely considered to have been the second-most powerful person in the Third Reich, surrenders to American soldiers in Austria.  A war hero before he joined the Nazi Party and a long-revered figure in Germany, Goering is haughty even when surrendering.  He is someone who is obviously used to being in charge and being treated with respect.  In fact, he demands it.

Goering is one of the handful of high-ranking Nazis who have been captured after the fall of Germany.  Many of the leaders of the Third Reich and the architects of the Holocaust, including Hitler himself, have committed suicide.  Others have headed to South America or the Middle East, where they have assumed false identities and live in hiding.  As for Goering and his fellow prisoners, they are going to be tried for War Crimes but no one is quite sure how to go about doing that.  American Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson (Michael Shannon) finds himself in charge of trying the Nazis.  His solution is an international tribunal.  Not only will men like Goering be put on trial but the world will also see the evidence of their crimes.  The trial will take place at Nuremberg, Germany.  Those on trial will face the prospect of execution, if convicted.

Lt. Col. Douglas Kelley (Rami Malek), a psychiatrist, is brought in to examine the Nuremberg defendants.  Though he meets with and examines all of them, he finds himself fascinated by Goering, who turns out to be highly intelligent, highly charismatic, and highly manipulative.  Goering even helps Kelley to win the trust of some of the other defendants.  Kelley, who is originally only interested in writing a book about his experiences, finds himself falling for Goering’s claims of just being a patriot who didn’t truly know the full extent of Hitler’s crimes.  However, once the trial begins, Kelley is confronted with not only the atrocities committed by the Nazis but also Goering’s role in them.

As a self-confessed history nerd, Nuremberg was a film that I was curious about.  Director James Vanderbilt previously gave us Truth, a film that basically whitewashed the efforts of Dan Rather and Mary Mapes to push a verifiably false story about George W. Bush during the 2004 election.  Since Truth was one of the most dishonest films that I’ve ever seen, I had my concerns with the idea of Vanderbilt directing Nuremberg.  I’m happy to say that Nuremberg is a much better film than Truth.  The film doesn’t shy away from documenting the crimes of the Nazis and it also makes clear that anti-Semitism was at the heart of the Third Reich.  Considering that Holocaust denialism is on the rise and that, in America, anti-Semitism has been normalized to the extent that we have members of Congress and mayors of major cities who openly traffic in the type of anti-Jewish conspiracy theories that were previously exiled to the fringiest regions of the Internet, Nuremberg provides a history lesson that many would do well to learn.

(That said, some have no interest in learning.  After he went on social media to accuse the Jews of controlling the weather, DC councilman Trayon White agreed to visit the Holocaust Museum but reportedly left after only a few minutes.  He stayed long enough so he could claim to have been there but obviously had no interest in learning anything.)

That said, Nuremberg’s ambitions are occasionally beyond the scope of James Vanderbilt’s capabilities.  Ending with a title card telling us that the Nuremberg tribunal later served as a model for the International Criminal Court would be more effective if the ICC itself hadn’t turned out to be such a joke.  Visually, the film is well-crafted and has a good eye for historical detail but the it moves slowly and, at times, Vanderbilt seems to be more concerned with trying to craft Oscar moments than with holding the audience’s attention.  The film’s strength lies with its cast, especially Russell Crowe, Michael Shannon, and Leo Woodall.  (Rami Malek sometimes seems to be miscast but he’s still convincingly disillusioned.)  It’s not a great film but it is a good one and, ultimately, an important one.

 

Scenes That I Love: Ash Replaces His Hand In Evil Dead II

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, the Shattered Lens wish a happy birthday to the one and only Bruce Campbell!  And what better way to celebrate and to get the day started than with an iconic scene from 1987’s Evil Dead II?

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Bruce Campbell Edition

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

4 Or More Shots From 4 Or More Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!

Today, we celebrate Bruce Campbell’s birthday!  It’s time for….

4 Shots From 4 Bruce Campbell Films

Evil Dead II (1987, dir by Sam Raimi, DP: Peter Deming)

Army of Darkness (1992, dir by Sam Raimi, DP: Bill Pope)

Escape From L.A. (1996, dir by John Carpenter, DP: Gary B. Kibbe)

Bubba Ho-Tep (2002, dir by Don Coscarelli, DP: Adam Janiero)

 

Thoughts On The Culture — 6/22/26

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Greetings On A Rainy Day

As I sit here typing this, it is 7 a.m. on Monday morning. It is currently raining here in Dallas. There are rumors that it could rain all day and I’m hoping that’s the case. The rain gives me an excuse to stay in my office and spend the entire day watching movies.

The World Cup Shocker

I’m as stunned as anyone to say that I’m happy that the World Cup is being played here in the United States. Whether you call it football or you call it soccer, it’s not a sport that has ever really interested me and I have yet to actually watch any of the games that have been played over the past few weeks.

Instead, I’ve been really touched by the reactions of the Europeans who have come over here for the World Cup and who have been posting their reactions to discovering everyday America on social media. Freddy the German is the most famous of them but he’s hardly the only one. With our 250th birthday approaching, our World Cup guests have reminded us of just how wonderful this country is. I know that some media types have expressed shock at how those of us in the South and Middle America have welcomed our guests. All I can say that those people need to get out of New York once and a while. The World Cup has allowed Europeans to see the real America and it has also allowed Americans to meet real, everyday Europeans. We’ve all been reminded of our common humanity.

Unfortunately, there’s always a few people who always have to try to ruin a good thing. There was a handful of people — mostly American Leftists from up North and bitter Brits who couldn’t afford a plane ticket — who were really hoping that America hosting the World Cup would be a disaster and that we would have several months of Europeans talking about how much they hate America. The opposite has happened and, judging from what I’m seeing on social media, a lot of the haters just don’t know how to deal with it.

Well, no matter! I’m proud of America and I’m happy to welcome our guests throughout the entire World Cup. Hell, I might even watch a game!

How To Celebrate The 4th

During the 2024 election, it was occasionally mentioned that whoever won would be in charge of America’s 250th birthday. It wasn’t the most pressing issue of the campaign but it is something that I discussed with my friends. Neither option was particularly appealing. We knew Trump would celebrate with bombast but we also knew he would make it all about himself. Harris, meanwhile, would probably offer up some sort of self-consciously “woke” ceremony that was designed to make American feel guilty. She would also ultimately make it all about herself.

In the end, I think everyone has to celebrate in their own way. Choose what is best for you. My family and I will be celebrating with fireworks, music, and enjoyment. It’s weird to me that there’s so many American leaders who seem to feel that they have an obligation to hate this country. The good thing is that, every 4th of July, most Americans defy the bans on fireworks. They defy the curfews. They defy the people who say they shouldn’t be proud. They defy the trendy negativity. This is a country that knows how to celebrate and we’re all the better for it. Independence Day is our annual reminder that America still has its spirit.

SLAMFEST!

This weekend, I discovered something called Slamfest. It takes place every year at Slinger Speedway in Slinger, Wisconsin. Among the events is a race where drivers attempt to be the first to successfully load their car on a trailer that’s attached to a trunk that is speeding around the track. I only saw a few minutes of it but it was beautiful to behold. My Dad would have loved that.

It’s Summer!

Enjoy it!