Tag Archives: Lisa Marie Bowman

Scene That I Love: M. Emmet Walsh in Blood Simple

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The great character actor M. Emmet Walsh passed away yesterday.  He was an actor who had a long career, often playing small but important roles.  1985’s Blood Simple brought Walsh one of his few starring roles and today’s scene that I love comes from that film.

In this scene, M. Emmet Walsh’s sleazy private detective meets with bar owner Dan Hedaya and reveals the result of his investigation into whether or not the bar owner’s wife is cheating on him.  Blood Simple was the directorial debut of the Coen Brothers and featured Frances McDormand in one of her first starring roles.  It also featured M. Emmet Walsh at his best.

Here’s The Teaser For Alien: Romulus

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Here’s the teaser for Alien: Romulus, which is being sold as a return to the Alien franchise’s roots as being a haunted house film in space.

I doubt this film will raise quite as many questions as some of the previous Alien films.  However, director Fede Alvarez previously did good work with Don’t Breathe and his reboot of Evil Dead has its fans as well.

Retro Television Review: The Love Boat 4.8 “The Baby Alarm/Tell Her She’s Great/Matchmaker, Matchmaker Times Two”

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 Wednesdays, I will be reviewing the original Love Boat, which aired on ABC from 1977 to 1986!  The series can be streamed on Paramount Plus!

This week …. stuff happens!

Episode 4.8 “The Baby Alarm/Tell Her She’s Great/Matchmaker, Matchmaker Times Two”

(Dir by Ray Austin, originally aired on November 29th, 1980)

This episode opens with Doc, Gopher, and Julie all angry with Isaac.  Apparently, while they were on shore leave, they went to see a church production of MacBeth, one that starred Isaac’s Aunt Tanya (Isabel Sanford) as Lady MacBeth.  Apparently, the play was terrible and Aunt Tanya was even worse and somehow this is Isaac’s fault.

(Myself, I’m more confused by the idea of a church doing a production of MacBeth.)

Isaac, however, has one more favor to ask.  Aunt Tanya is going to be a passenger on the next cruise, along with her husband, Charles (Mel Stewart).  Isaac begs everyone to tell Tanya that she was great in the play.  Everyone acts as if this is the most difficult thing that they’ve ever been asked to do but they finally agree.  Even Captain Stubing agrees, even though he wasn’t at the play.

(Again, I’m confused as to why everyone is so upset over having to be polite to Isaac’s aunt.  Were they all planning on throwing tomatoes at her and booing when she boarded the ship?)

All of the praise goes to Aunt Tanya’s head and, halfway through the cruise, she decides to leave her husband and go to Hollywood to be a star.  Isaac finally has to tell Tanya that she’s not a good actress and that he had to beg his co-workers to be nice to her.  Good Lord, how bad could she have been?  The important thing, though, is that, by crushing Tanya’s dreams and confidence, Isaac is able to save the marriage.

Speaking of marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Clark (Troy Donahue and Terry Moore) think that it would be great if their son, Brett (Lorenzo Lamas, who looks nothing like either Troy Donahue or Terry Moore), married his friend-since-childhood, Cathy Cummings (Melissa Sue Anderson).  Cathy’s parents (Farley Granger and Joan Lorring) agree!  Brett and Cathy get so annoyed with all of the matchmaking going on that they decide to pretend that they’re sleeping together just to freak out their parents.  And it works, despite the fact that the parents wanted them to get together in the first place.  I guess the parents expected them to hold off on having sex until after the wedding.  Get with the times, you boomers!  Anyway, having fake sex causes Cathy and Brett to fall in love so I guess there will be real sex in the future …. but only after they say, “I do!”  Dumb as this storyline was, Lorenzo Lamas and Melissa Sue Anderson were really cute together.

Finally, Cynthia Bowden (Susan Howard) boards the boat with her adorable baby.  The baby has a sixth sense.  If he cries, Cynthia knows that any nearby man is no good.  For instance, no good Gig Wayburn (Stan Sells) is only interested in one thing and the baby cries as soon as he enters the cabin.  Good, baby!  Fortunately, when the baby’s father, Bill (John Reilly), shows up on the boat, the baby doesn’t cry at all and it leads to a happy reunion between him and Cynthia.

This week’s episode was pretty bland and I actually found myself struggling to remember much about it while writing up this review.  Some cruises are like that, I guess.

Oh well….

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Personally, I think I’d make a kickass Lady MacBeth.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Baywatch Nights 1.18 “Vengeance”

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 Tuesdays, I will be reviewing Baywatch Nights, a detective show that ran in Syndication from 1995 to 1997.  The entire show is currently streaming on You tube!

This week, Baywatch Nights get uncomfortably violent as a crazed killer escapes from prison and targets everyone responsible for putting him away in the first place.

Episode 1.18 “Vengeance”

(Dir by Georg Fenady, originally aired on April 20th, 1996)

A psycho murderer named Johnny Larkin (Robert Dryer) escapes from prison and kills everyone who he blames for his conviction.  He shoots a bailiff in the head.  He beats the judge to death with his own gavel.  He shoots the jury foreman and dunks his dead body into a fish tank.  His latest target?  The cops who arrested him, Lea Broussard (Dominique Jennings) and her former partner, Garner Ellerbee.  It falls to Garner, Mitch, and Ryan to stop him.

Yikes!  My main thought on this episode of Baywatch Nights was that it was unusually violent for the show.  The episode opens with Johnny beating the judge to death and then its followed by a lengthy scene of Lea staring at the blood-drenched blanket covering the judge’s body and it just keeps going from there.  The jury foreman begs for his life and says that he was just doing his civic duty and, as he died, it occurred to me that no one volunteers for jury duty.  The man’s life is ended because he was randomly selected to serve.  By the time Johnny was attempting to drown Lea, I found myself wondering about the families of all the people who had been killed and how their lives would be forever changed.  It didn’t make for very pleasant viewing and it made the scenes of Mitch and Ryan flirting feel very awkward and out-of-place.  I know that I’ve complained about Baywatch Nights leaving behind its noir inspirations to become an imitation of Baywatch but this episode goes too far in the other direction.  Baywatch Nights should be a fun detective show, not a disturbing hour of televised horror.

I will give the show some credit for making Johnny Larkin into a genuinely scary villain.  Robert Dryer played Johnny with just the right of amount of ruthless madness.  That said, how stupid was Johnny to leave a newspaper clipping about his trial with the judge’s dead body?  Basically, Johnny announced his guilt and that he was seeking to kill everyone who had anything to do with him getting convicted the first time.  Way to lose the element of surprise, Johnny.

Anyway, this episode just wasn’t any fun and, as a result, I really don’t have much to say about it.  If there’s anything that a show like Baywatch Night should never do, it’s taking itself seriously.  This is a series that was made to be parodied and it is at its best when it hints that it’s in on the joke.  Hopefully, next week’s episode will be better!

Retro Television Review: Fantasy Island 4.17 “Also Rans/Portrait of Solange”

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 Tuesdays, I will be reviewing the original Fantasy Island, which ran on ABC from 1977 to 1984.  Almost the entire show is currently streaming on Daily Motion.

Smiles, everyone, smiles!  It’s Tattoo’s birthday!

Episode 4.17 “Also Rans/Portrait of Solange”

(Dir by Leslie H. Martinson, originally aired on February 28th, 1981)

It’s hard to know where to start with this episode, it’s so odd.

The first fantasy features Larry Linville as Jerome Pepper, who works in the “women’s shoes department” at Latham Department Store.  He has a crush on his co-worker, Delia (Joan Prather).  Delia is also the daughter of Emmett Latham (Don Porter), the owner of the store.  The shy Jerome has only one fantasy.  He just wants Delia to notice him.

Well, it turns out that Delia and Emmett are on the Island!  They keep their horse at the Fantasy Island Stables.  Delia has challenged the owner of Selby’s Department Store, widow Amelia (Arlene Dahl), to a race.  The only problem is that Delia is having trouble training her horse.  The horse is fast but it always stops before crossing the finish line.

Mr. Roarke arranges for Jerome to bring a horse named The Professor to the stables.  The Professor is such a charismatic horse that all other horses want to hang out with him.  If The Professor is standing at the finish line, Delia’s horse will have no trouble running across it.  Delia has definitely noticed Jerome now.

The day of the race, The Professor disappears!  So, Jerome steals an ice cream truck (“Fantasy Island Ice Cream” is written on the side of vehicle) and drives around the island announcing, “Professor!  Tutti Frutti!  Professor!  Tutti Frutti!”  Luckily, Professor loves Tutti Frutti and escapes from the stable where Amelia’s people were holding him prisoner.

Jerome and the Professor show up at the finish line, just in time to help Delia’s horse win the race.  Jerome and Delia fall in love.  Amelia confesses that she’s in love with Emmett and the two decide to combine their stores.  So, I guess we’re just going to ignore the fact that Amelia tried to steal The Professor!

Good Lord, this fantasy!  The whole thing just felt like a combination of random plot devices that had probably been snipped out of other episodes.  Perhaps it would have worked better if Jerome had been a young, nerdy guy but Larry Linville appeared to be in his 50s and far too old to require a fantasy in order to talk to a co-worker.

The second fantasy is a little bit more interesting, if just because Mr. Roarke is actually nice to Tattoo for once.  Tattoo’s birthday is approaching so Roarke decides to give him a fantasy as a gift.  Knowing that Tattoo is a fan of Toulouse-Lautrec (and Herve Villechaize was an acclaimed painter in real life, as well), Mr. Roarke arranges for the Traditional Dance Company of Paris to come to Fantasy Island to rehearse and so Tattoo can paint them.

While Tattoo enjoys sketching all of the dancers, his favorite subject is Solange Latienne (Elissa Leeds), who takes care of the company’s costumes but who dreams of dancing herself.  We’re told that Solange is French, though she doesn’t speak with an accent and she uses an American pronunciation for her last name.  Tattoo falls for Solange but the company’s arrogant choreographer, Mark Ellison (David Groh), goes out of his way to try to keep Solange away from Tattoo.  Knowing that Tattoo is watching from a distance, Mark kisses Solange.  Thinking that Solange has rejected him, Tatoo throws away a sketch he had done of her.  Awwwwww!

Mr. Roarke informs Tattoo that an emergency meeting of the “Island Council,” has been scheduled for the night.  (This is the first time we’ve ever heard of this Island Council.)  Tattoo agrees to go in Roarke’s place but it turns out that the meeting is a surprise party!  The owner of the Traditional Dance Company, Alfred Gerrard (MacDonald Carey), buys Tattoo’s sketches.  Then Solange dances as a part of the birthday celebration and Alfred is so impressed that he makes her a part of the company.  Take that, Mark!

So, both Solange and Tattoo’s fantasies come true.  Though Solange still leaves the Island so, once again, Tattoo’s heart is broken.  Again, awwwwww!

Elissa Leeds was convincing neither as a French girl nor as a dancer but the second fantasy was still enjoyable, if just because it gave Herve Villechaize a rare chance to do something more than announce the plane and ask Mr. Roarke to explain everyone’s fantasies.  Villechaize did a good job in this episode and it was nice to see he and Montalban pretending to like each other.

It was an uneven episode but at least Tattoo had a nice birthday.

Late Night Retro Television Review: CHiPs 1.18 “Cry Wolf”

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 Freevee!

This week, someone is calling in false emergencies and neither Baker nor Ponch are going to let him get away with it!

Episode 1.18 “Cry Wolf”

(Dir by John Florea, originally aired on February 16th, 1978)

A creepy weirdo named Walt (Brad David) is angry at the world.  He hasn’t been able to get a job since he got out of prison and his sister is always giving him a hard time.  Walt deals with his anger by driving up to police call boxes and phoning in reports of imaginary accidents.  For every call, the fire department and the highway patrol waste precious recourses responding.  Getraer wants the caller caught and he’s placed Jon in charge of the task force to take him down.

This is one of those episodes where the emphasis is on how all the various departments work together to keep people safe.  Whenever Walt places a call, we’re presented with a montage of cops and firemen racing to be the first one to arrive at the “accident.”  Though the show makes clear that Walt is not thinking straight and that he’s not in a good place mentally, the emphasis is still on how many resources are wasted on his calls.

It gets so bad that Jon and Ponch start to assume that every call is a prank.  When someone calls in to say that a helicopter has crashed on the highway, Jon is shocked to discover that a helicopter actually has crashed.  He and Ponch rush the plane’s cargo — rare blood for an operation — to a local hospital and are scolded for showing up late.  That’s the danger of crying wolf.  When Walt is finally caught by Baker and Ponch, he attempts to jump off a bridge.  Baker and Ponch stop him, of course.  As they pull him back to safety, Baker says that Walt is lucky they weren’t busy answering a false call.

This was a good episode for Baker, as he also got a subplot in which a minor motorcycle crash led to him meeting and dating an X-ray technician named Karen Rayburn (Kathryn Holcomb).  Baker and Karen were a cute couple and there was something undeniably charming about how nervous Baker got whenever he had to flirt.  Larry Wilcox was not the most expressive actor but his stiff demeanor was put to good use in this episode.

This was not a bad episode.  Since the majority of the episode focused on one storyline, this episode felt more cohesive than some of the ones that came before it.  As usual, the main highlight was watching Baker and Ponch weave their way in and out of traffic.  The scenery was lovely and there was even an exploding helicopter!  You can’t go wrong with that.

Monday Live Tweet Alert: Join Us For Fatal Deviation!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

As some of our regular readers undoubtedly know, I am involved in hosting a few weekly live tweets on twitter and occasionally Mastodon.  I host #FridayNightFlix every Friday, I co-host #ScarySocial on Saturday, and I am one of the five hosts of Mastodon’s #MondayActionMovie!  Every week, we get together.  We watch a movie.  We snark our way through it.

Tonight, for #MondayActionMovie, the film will be 1998’s Fatal Deviation!  Selected and hosted by Bunny Hero, this film features motorcycles and explosives!  So, you know it has to be good!

It should make for a night of fun viewing and I invite all of you to join in.  If you want to join the live tweets, just hop onto Mastodon, pull up Fatal Deviation on YouTube, start the movie at 8 pm et, and use the #MondayActionMovie hashtag!  The live tweet community is a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy.   

Retro Television Review: Miami Vice 2.6 “Buddies”

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 Miami Vice, which ran on NBC from 1984 to 1989.  The entire show can be purchased on Prime!

This week, Crockett discovers that one of his oldest friends has a secret.

Episode 2.6 “Buddies”

(Dir by Henry Mastrogeorge, originally aired on November 1st, 1985)

When sleazy stand-up comedian Morty Price (a youngish Nathan Lane) attempts to sexually assault a cocktail waitress named Dorothy (Eszter Balint), he ends up getting fatally stabbed with a steak knife.  Dorothy flees from the crime scene, taking her baby and grabbing a bunch of random papers that, unknown to her, prove that Morty Price was placing illegal bets with mobster Frank Doss (Frankie Valli).  This information could keep Doss from being able to get a casino license in Florida.

Because Doss and his partner, Johnny Cannata (Tom Signorelli), are mob-connected, Castillo and Vice take over the investigation of Price’s murder.  Sonny and Tubbs learn, from an informant (Karla Tamburrelli), that Price took Dorothy up to his room before he was murdered.  While Crockett and Tubbs search for Dorothy to find out what happened with Price, Doss and Cannata send their men to track down Dorothy and keep the papers from reaching the police.

During the investigation, Sonny is stunned to come across security footage of one of his oldest friends, Robbie Cann (James Remar), meeting with Doss and Cannata.  Robbie not only served in Vietnam with Sonny but he has also recently asked Sonny to be his son’s godfather.  Robbie has just opened up a club and, as he explains to Sonny, he finally feels like he’s something more than just a loser.  When Sonny confronts Robbie about meeting with the gangsters, Robbie admits that he borrowed money from them to start the club but he insists that he doesn’t have any other type of relationship with them.  However, when Sonny attends the christening of Robbie’s son, he discovers that Robbie’s name is actually Robert Cannata.  He is Johnny Cannata’s son!  Robbie insists that he has nothing to do with his father’s business but Sonny is forced to ask just how much he can trust one of his closest friends.

This episode is a bit of a mess.  On the plus side, fans of character actors will enjoy this episode.  James Remar’s nervy performance keeps you guessing and it’s undeniably interesting to see Nathan Lane playing someone that sleazy.  Frankie Valli and Tom Signorelli make for convincing gangsters.  It’s also the first episode of the series to really feature Sonny talking about what it was like to serve in Vietnam and it deserves some credit for attempting to explore the difficulty that many veterans face when trying to adjust back to civilian life.  Robbie has not had an easy life after returning to the U.S. but now, he finally has a wife, a child, and a business.  Sonny may feel betrayed by Robbie but he’s also aware that his investigation is going to potentially ruin Robbie’s life.

On the other hand, the episode attempts to take on so much that it stretches itself a bit then.  It requires a real suspension of disbelief to accept that Sonny would just happen to be assigned to an investigation that would involve his best friend.  I mean, what are the chances?  The episode also can’t seem to decide if it wants to focus on Robbie or if it wants to focus on Dorothy and her child.  As a result, neither story really feels as if it gets all of the attention that it deserves.

Next week, the Vice Squad investigates jazz legend Miles Davis!