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Retro Television Review: Fantasy Island 6.16 “Return To The Cotton Club/No Friends Like Old Friends”

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.  Unfortunately, the show has been removed from most streaming sites.  Fortunately, I’ve got nearly every episode on my DVR.

This week, we’re traveling in time!

Episode 6.16 “Return to the Cotton Club/No Friends Like Old Friends”

(Dir by Don Weis, originally aired on February 26th, 1983)

Aspiring singer Charlie Whelan (Lou Rawls) wants to go back to a time where all that mattered was talent.  As he tells Roarke and Tattoo, it’s all about image and connections now.  Charlie wants to go back to the Cotton Club, the famous New York club where blacks were allowed to perform on stage while gangsters sat in the audience.  Roarke sends Charlie back in time and soon, Charlie is at the Cotton Club.  He meets Dutch Schultz (J.D. Cannon).  He befriends the club’s manager, Gus Kelly (Yaphet Kotto).  He falls for another singer, Linda (Berlinda Tolbert).

The first thing I noticed about this fantasy is that The Cotton Club looked really cheap.  It looked like an old VIP lounge in an airport.  It was kind of tacky.  The other thing I noticed is that the fantasy wasn’t historically accurate.  The Cotton Club was not owned by Dutch Schultz.  In fact, Schultz had little to do with The Cotton Club.  The gangster who owned the Cotton Club was Owney Madden, an Irish gangster who eventually left New York City for Hot Springs, Arkansas.  In the show’s defense, the man who Charlie knew as Dutch Schultz was eventually revealed to be another guest who was having a fantasy of his own.  I’ve always had mixed feelings about Roarke’s habit of combining fantasies.  I feel like a guest should only have to pay half-price if their fantasy is going to mixed up with somebody else’s.

As for this fantasy, it was okay.  Lou Rawls certainly gave a better performance here than he ever did on Baywatch Nights.  And Yaphet Kotto was a charming as ever, even if his role was, again, not historically accurate.  (The Cotton Club may have hired black performers but otherwise, it was heavily segregated.)  I like almost anything involving 1930s gangsters.  I can’t help it.  They had style.

As for the other fantasy, Doreen Murphy (Markie Post) wants to have a reunion with her friends from college.  Doreen asks Roarke to make her rich and beautiful so that she can shame all of the people who never believed in her.  Roarke gives her a magic necklace that changes her from being a brunette to being a blonde.  That’s all it takes!  One of Doreen’s friends is Liz (Cybill Shepherd).  Liz is married to the unfaithful Al (Lyle Waggoner), who takes an interest in Doreen.  Doreen learns a lesson about true beauty being more than just an appearance.  She also learns that people don’t dislike her as much as they dislike her bitter attitude.  Doreen gives the necklace to Liz so that Liz can get her cheating husband back.  Good, I guess.

This was an uneven trip to the Island.  Neither story was particularly compelling.  The Cotton Club fantasy at least had Yaphet Kotto.  Otherwise, this was a forgettable trip.  The writers really didn’t even seem to be trying to come up with anything unexpected or surprising.  At least the Island continues to look lovely.

HAVOC (2025) review – Director Gareth Evans returns to action cinema! 

Posted on by Bradley Crain

If you enjoy bone-crunching action filmmaking, Gareth Evans’ films THE RAID (2011) and THE RAID 2 (2014) are as good as it gets in the 21st century. When I saw that Evans had a new film coming to Netflix that stars a badass looking Tom Hardy, I have to admit I got excited. The trailer only increased my anticipation with its promise of stylized, intense action, as well as a cast that includes personal favorites like Timothy Olyphant (JUSTIFIED T.V. Series) and Forest Whitaker (GHOST DOG). I settled in front of my TV and hit play, with high hopes for HAVOC!

The film opens with conflicted police detective Walker (Tom Hardy) sharing words of regret via voiceover, and then immediately shifts to a high speed chase between an 18 wheeler and a bunch of cops. It is an intense scene that ends with washing machines filled with cocaine being thrown onto a trailing cop car! We soon learn that the big truck was being operated by Mia (Quelin Sepulvida) and Charlie (Justin Cornwell), the son of ethically challenged businessman Lawrence Beaumont (Forest Whitaker). It seems Charlie and Mia stole the drugs to pay off her debts to Chinese triads. When they go to a club to deliver the drugs, a group of masked men proceed to interrupt the drop and kill everybody, including the beloved son of the triad’s leader Tsui (Yann Yann Yeo). When Walker sees Charlie on security footage from the club, he goes to Beaumont, a man who knows his dirty secrets, and makes a deal. He’ll get his son back, and they’ll be square for life. Soon the triads are in town ready to hunt down and kill Charlie and Mia, who they believe are responsible for the massacre. Add to that a group of corrupt cops, led by Vincent (Timothy Olyphant), who also want Charlie and Mia dead, and detective Walker and his new partner Ellie (Jessie Mei Li) have their hands full on Christmas Eve! 

Here are some observations after my first viewing of HAVOC. First, Tom Hardy is a badass in the central role as Walker. I’ve been a fan of Hardy ever since he started breaking out in America after his performance in BRONSON (2008). I really loved him as Mad Max in FURY ROAD (2015). I’d never really envisioned him as this kind of action lead, but he definitely brings a certain gravitas to the role. Second, this movie feels like a bone crunching super hero movie at times, as it’s chock full of special effects. I found the action sequences featuring gunplay and hand to hand combat to be brutally awesome, but the car chase scenes aren’t quite up to the same standard. I mentioned the 18 wheeler chase in the plot description. As the scene plays out it’s a lot like watching an unrealistic chase scene from a later sequel to THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS franchise. It’s an exciting scene in a lot of ways, but it doesn’t seem set in the real world, which is a slight subtraction for me. Third, the movie is set on Christmas Eve, and I enjoy films that take place on holidays. We have a scene early in the film where “Father of the Year” Walker is buying his daughter’s Christmas gifts at a local convenience store. A little later, there’s a cool abduction scene that plays out to the sound of Bing Crosby singing “O Holy Night.” That’s good stuff. Fourth, director Evans seems to be trying to channel the spirit of 80’s and 90’s John Woo, as his film features an endless arsenal of weaponry, coupled with high emotions, and even a little classic music from an iconic scene in Woo’s own A BETTER TOMORROW (1986). No matter how many rounds are fired, there’s always more bullets or guns to be found as the last half of the film is almost nonstop action spread out over two amazing sets, first in a club and then at a cabin. And both of our featured parents, murderous triad leader Tsui and corrupt businessman Beaumont, get a chance to show their human sides by illustrating their sacrificial love for their children. Although HAVOC most certainly does not compare favorably to Woo’s HARD-BOILED, I can also see that Hong Kong classic being referenced here. Fifth, I’m a big fan of Timothy Olyphant, especially of his character Raylan Givens in the TV series JUSTIFIED. I had to forget Raylan on this night because his character here is an irredeemable piece of crap. Of course, Olyphant is excellent and delivers his evil with a smile on his face. 

Overall, I enjoyed HAVOC, but I don’t think it’s quite as good as either of the director’s RAID films, and that’s okay. I’d probably go with a solid 7 stars out of 10 for a rating. I love Hardy and Olyphant, who both bring their tremendous charisma to the table. I also enjoyed the many cool moments throughout the film leading to the action extravaganza that plays out at the end. It will be interesting to see how often I want to go back to this film in future years. I do know that if you enjoy action movies, you should definitely watch this film. Just don’t expect another RAID 2.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Degrassi High 2.3 “Loyalties”

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 Sunday, I will be reviewing the Canadian series, Degrassi High, which aired on CBC and PBS from 1989 to 1991!  The series can be streamed on YouTube and Tubi

In yourself, you must believe….

Episode 2.3 “Loyalties”

(Dir by John Bertram, originally aired on November 19th, 1990)

Oh look, more Caitlin drama.

Seriously, if I was a student at Degrassi High, I would warn any new enrollees about becoming friends with Caitlin.  Caitlin may be nice and she may be sincere in her desire to be friendly with the new students but, ultimately, everything with Caitlin is a drama and being her friend means being a part of the drama, whether you want to be or not.  Last season, Caitlin had to go to court after he got caught vandalizing the nuclear plant and she immediately expected all of her friends to skip school and go with her.  This episode, Caitlin spots her father having a romantic lunch with someone who is not Caitlin’s mother and, of course, Caitlin’s friends are expected to forget about the own problems so they can listen to her obsess about it.  And while Caitlin did not tell her mom, she did suggest that her dad take her mom to the restaurant where she previously spotted him.

Caitlin wasn’t the only person with drama this week.  Michelle is struggling to deal with having gotten dumped by BLT.  When she discovers that Alexa and Simon are still hanging out with BLT and his new girlfriend, Cindy, she’s not happy.  Alexa and Simon, meanwhile, are tired of Michelle being such a downer.  And while I had sympathy for Michelle, I also had sympathy for Alexa.  It’s not easy when your friends break up and you find yourself expected to pick a side.  Snake has a crush on Michelle and they go out on a date but Michelle starts crying ten minutes in.  Later, Michelle apologize to Snake and says she’s not ready to date.  Snake, being the perfect guy despite (or maybe because of) his nickname, is totally understanding and says he’ll wait until she’s ready.

Awwwwww!

Compared to last week’s episode, Loyalties was not quite as memorable.  No one discovered they were HIV+.  Still, it was a nicely done episode and I appreciated the effort to try to realistically deal with Michelle’s feelings.  I’m not looking forward to the inevitable episode in which Caitlin confronts her father but I know it’ll happen.  That’s Degrassi!

 

SECRETARIAT (2010) – The greatest racehorse of all time?

Posted on by Bradley Crain

I’ll admit that I’m not a huge fan of horse racing, although I will periodically go to the Oaklawn Racetrack in Hot Springs, AR, and watch them run. I did enjoy the horse racing movie SEABISCUIT (2003) when I saw it a decade or so ago, and I always enjoy driving past the beautiful horse farms in Lexington, KY, when I’m on my way to see my wife’s family in West Virginia. This weekend was the Kentucky Derby, and I saw a stat that every horse running is a descendant of the 1973 triple-crown winner, Secretariat. I thought that was pretty cool stuff. I told my wife about it, so we decided to watch the movie SECRETARIAT (2010) this morning. 

The film centers on Penny Chenery Tweedy (Diane Lane), a Boulder, CO housewife who takes over the management of her dad’s horse stables in Virginia when his health gets so bad that he can no longer handle it himself. The business is facing a lot of financial problems, and her husband just wants her to sell everything and come on back home. But Penny doesn’t want to sell, especially when the stable acquires a young colt that just may have to the right combination of speed and stamina to become a great racehorse. Wanting to see her horse get a chance to run, she hires eccentric trainer Lucien Laurin (John Malkovich) and the aggressive jockey Ron Turcotte (Otto Thorwarth) in order to give “Secretariat” a chance to reach his potential. And boy does he ever, ultimately becoming the first “Triple Crown” winner in 25 years. 

I’ll go ahead and say that I pretty much got exactly what I was expecting with SECRETARIAT. It’s a “feel-good” movie that made me happy at the end. Outside of him being a triple crown winner, I didn’t know much about Secretariat’s story, so it was fun just seeing how dominant he truly was during his legendary run in 1973. And the performances from the leads are very good. Diane Lane is beautiful and convincing as the housewife determined to give every thing she has to make Secretariat a winner. John Malkovich’s eccentric horse trainer is the kind of role he excels in, and he’s both funny and emotionally engaging. I liked Otto Thorwarth and Nelson Ellis as Secretariat’s jockey and groomer, respectively. Each of them had their individual moments to shine. I also wanted to mention how impressive the camerawork is during the racing sequences. For a film like this to be exciting, the races have to be exciting and director Randall Wallace and cinematographer Dean Semler deliver in spades. If I had any complaint about the film, it would probably be the oversimplification of some of the supporting characters. For a film based on a true story, it was odd to see the owner of Secretariat’s primary competition reduced to almost a comic book villain in his behavior. That aside, I enjoyed the film and I’m glad I watched it. 

I’ve include the trailer for SECRETARIAT below:

Retro Television Review: Homicide: Life On The Street 3.10 “Every Mother’s Son”

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 Sundays, I will be reviewing Homicide: Life On The Street, which aired from 1993 to 1999, on NBC!  It  can be viewed on Peacock.

This week, life and death both continue in Baltimore.

Episode 3.10 “Every Mother’s Son”

(Dir by Kenneth Fink, originally aired on January 6th, 1995)

Let’s get the least important part of this week’s episode out of the way first.  Felton is still looking for his wife and kids.  He abandons Kay while she’s in the middle of a homicide investigation.  When Kay calls him out on it, Felton brings up the fact that she went on vacation for a weekend.  The difference is that Felton isn’t taking vacation days.  Instead, he’s just leaving in the middle of work and expecting Kay to handle all of his cases.

BEAU FELTON — WORST HOMICIDE DETECTIVE EVER!

Meanwhile, Lewis and Munch discover that their bar is a historical landmark because George Washington once stopped there to use the restroom.  The bar stuff, while not really related to the episode’s main drama, didn’t feel as unnecessary as the stuff with Felton’s family.  A lot of that is because Lewis, Munch, and Bayliss are a lot more sympathetic than Felton.  This week’s scenes with Howie Mandel as an interior decorator felt a bit off for an episode of Homicide but they still amused me.  That said, at some point, these three really are going to have to get it together and open the place.

As for the main storyline, it featured Pembleton and Bayliss investigating the shooting of a 13 year-old in a bowling alley.  It’s a familiar story, one that this show has used before.  The fact that we’ve seen it before is not a reflection on the show.  It’s reflection of the reality of life on the streets.  The murderer was another kid, one who was now facing life in prison if he ended up getting charged as an adult.  The murderer showed little remorse, telling Pembleton that he would rather be in jail than the on the streets.  What made this episode stand out was a scene between two mothers — one the mother of the victim and the other the mother of the shooter — meeting by chance in  a police station and striking up a conversation despite not knowing who the other was.  Gay Thomas Wilson and Rhonda Stubbins White both gave excellent and poignant performances of two women who, by the end of the show, would have both ended up losing their oldest son.

This was a simple but effective episode, a moody look at the ironies of death and violence in Baltimore.  George Washington once stopped by the Waterfront Bar but that doesn’t mean anything to the people who are dying and suffering in the city.  In the end, Pembleton could only look on in silene as the shooter announced that he was happy to be in jail.  “You’re probably going to die in a cell just like this,” Pembleton says.

“Better here than on the streets,” is the reply.

And nothing more is left to be said.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Check It Out! 3.15 “Make Room For Daddy Christian”

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 Saturdays, I will be reviewing the Canadian sitcom, Check it Out, which ran in syndication from 1985 to 1988.  The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi and Peacock!

This week, Jack Christian gets an episode of his very own.

Episode 3.15 “Make Room For Daddy Christian”

(Dir by Alan Erlich, originally aired on December 27th, 1987)

In the role of the obnoxious assistant manager Jack Christian, Jeff Pustil was often one of the funniest people on Check It Out!  His comedic timing was always spot-on and he delivered his lines with just the right amount of attitude that they always made me smile even if the jokes themselves weren’t always brilliant.  This week, we get a rare episode that not only focuses on Christian but which also portrays him as being a somewhat decent human being.

Christian goes out with Barbara (Ann Turnbull), a friend of Marlene’s.  One thing leads to another and, the next thing you know, Christian is meeting Barbara’s ten year-old son while lying in bed in with her.  Christian, who had no idea that Barbara had a son, freaks out, makes some hurried excuses, and then leaves.  But later, he returns and apologizes and he and Barbara decide to continue seeing each other.  Neither one is ready to make a firm commitment but they both want to see where things go.  What a surprisingly mature attitude for a show that has shaken the Enda-is-miserable-with-Howard tree more times than I can count.

This was a pretty simple episode but it was a good one and I’m glad that, even if it was during the show’s final season, the show finally did a story that was centered on Christian but which didn’t feature him trying to cheat his friends or get someone fired.  This episode stayed true to Christian’s character — he does act like a jerk when he finds out that Barbara has a son — while also giving him something that he didn’t often get, a chance at redemption.  Jeff Pustil, Kathleen Laskey, and Don Adams were the only three regulars to appear in this episode and all three of them did a good job, especially Pustil.  (For his part, Adams was stuck with a pretty silly B-plot in which he tried to hire an animal performer to come to the store.)

This episode was simple but good.  Check It Out! really was a much show during its third season than during the previous two.

The Hong Kong Film Corner: PRISON ON FIRE (1987), starring Chow Yun-Fat and directed by Ringo Lam!

Posted on by Bradley Crain

Chow Yun-Fat turns 70 years old on May 18, 2025. I’m going to celebrate his career by revisiting some of his best movies this month.  

PRISON ON FIRE begins with a young man named Lo Ka Yiu (Tony Leung Ka-fai) accidentally killing a thug who physically assaults his dad. He soon finds himself convicted of manslaughter and is sentenced to three years in a Hong Kong prison. Lo is not cut out for life in prison, and it doesn’t take long for him to get on the wrong side of the gang leaders. They immediately sniff out his weakness and go about terrorizing him and blaming him for everything that comes up. This extends to the head prison guard Scarface (Roy Cheung), a completely ruthless bastard who does his part to make life miserable for the newbie. Luckily for Lo, he meets Ching (Chow Yun-Fat), a seemingly happy go lucky fellow prisoner who takes pity on the young man and decides to show him the ropes. Ching is one of those guys who keeps things loose and seems to be able to get along with everybody. The two men form a good friendship, but that doesn’t stop gang leader Micky and Scarface from continuing to pick on Lo. When Ching and Lo have had enough and stand up for themselves, all hell breaks loose! 

PRISON ON FIRE is an excellent example of a high quality Hong Kong film of the time. The characterizations and tone are uneven and over the top at times, but director Ringo Lam knows how to rein everything in just enough to convey the power in the story without making us laugh at it all. Tony Leung Ka-fai (known as big Tony in 80’s & 90’s Hong Kong film circles to distinguish him from the great Tony Leung Chiu-wai), portrays his character as weak and afraid until he’s been pushed so far by the gang leaders that he basically loses control and begins attacking everyone with a huge shard of glass. I don’t love the performance, but he does effectively show what happens to a nice, but weak guy in this situation. Chow Yun-Fat is not the superhuman, cool badass of films like THE KILLER and HARD-BOILED in this film. Rather, Chow plays his character as funny, easy-going, and not especially tough, until the prison guard Scarface pushes him so far that he loses control and deforms the man for life in a scene that’s extremely exciting and ends with a gruesome exclamation point. It’s an endlessly likable performance. Scarface is played by the fine Hong Kong actor Roy Cheung. His portrayal of the character makes Clancy Brown’s Captain Hadley in THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION almost seem like a nice guy in comparison. You can’t help but be emotionally invested when a possessed Chow takes him on at the end. The other standout performances are from Ka-Hui Ho and Tommy Kwong as the gang leaders in the jail. Ho’s Micky is an absolutely garbage human being, while Kwong’s Bill is tough, but ultimately good to our heroes. 

For historical reference, PRISON ON FIRE was released in 1987, at the height of Chow Yun-Fat’s popularity and at a time when he was working non-stop. It was one of eleven movies he made in 1987, with CITY ON FIRE, AN AUTUMN’S TALE, and A BETTER TOMORROW II being other standouts. Just think about that, 11 different movies in one year alone. It’s quite the tribute to his talent that he was able to create unique and memorable characters that have stood the test of time. As a matter of fact he would win a Hong Kong Film Award in 1987 for his performance in the prior year’s A BETTER TOMORROW, and he would win one again the next year for Ringo Lam’s CITY ON FIRE. He is truly one of the great international stars of the last 40 years. He doesn’t work very often these days, but he’s still making movies and is generally considered one of the nicest, most humble humans on earth. He’s famous for the way he treats his fans, usually grabbing their phones and taking selfies with them with a big smile on his face! This is going to be a fun month as I rewatch many of the movies that made him famous. 

Here’s an extremely long Trailer for PRISON ON FIRE without subtitles. It focuses on the action elements of the film so it’s pretty easy to follow.