Michael Crichton writes and directs The Great Train Robbery and invites Sean Connery, Donald Sutherland and Lesley-Anne Down along for the ride. Not quite a romp, the film is definitely an entertaining heist film, resting easily on Connery’s charm, and Sutherland turning in a wonderfully goofy performance. It’s England, in the 1850s. Connery plays Pierce,…
Tag: 1978
Hooper (1978) – Hal Needham
Coming off of Smokey and the Bandit, Hal Needham, Burt Reynolds and Sally Field paired up again for Hooper, a love letter to the stuntmen (and women) of Hollywood – who still aren’t recognized for their contributions with an Academy Award. Reynolds is Hooper an aging stuntman who pals around with Cully (James Best) and…
The Wild Geese (1978) – Andrew V. McLaglen
The Wild Geese has a horrible title song, but then as I watched the credits I saw that it had production design by Syd Cain, and its opening title sequence was done by Maurice Binder. It also has a very impressive leading cast, Richard Burton, Richard Harris and Roger Moore. Not bad. And while the…
The Lord of the Rings (1978) – Ralph Bakshi
The summer of ’84 was one of the defining summers of my life. It saw a lot of changes in my life, and was also the first time that I read The Lord of the Rings. I was swept up in the world, and was delighted that I’d read all three books so quickly, and…
Every Which Way But Loose (1978) – James Fargo
When I was a kid, there was just something really fun about Every Which Way But Loose, a film that follows blue-collar Philo (Clint Eastwood) in his pursuit of a country singer, Lynn Halsey-Taylor (Sondra Locke) accompanied by his rescued orangutan, Clyde, his pal, Orville (Geoffrey Lewis) and Orville’s new gal pal, Echo (Beverly D’Angelo)….
Night Shift (1978) – Stephen King
I was craving some Stephen King, but couldn’t decide which of his novels to tackle next, so instead, I figured I fill that need with some short stories, and fug into his first published collection, which gathered a variety of different tales under the title of Night Shift. I remember seeing the paperback cover as…
M*A*S*H (1978/1979) – An Eye for a Tooth, Dear Sis, and B.J. Papa San
Ronny Graham pens the first episode up this week, An Eye for a Tooth, which first aired on 11 December, 1978. While Father Mulcahy (William Christopher) ruminates on why he’s been passed over for promotion, again, Charles (David Ogden Stiers) pushes the prank war between Houlihan (Loretta Swit) and Hawkeye (Alan Alda) and B.J. (Mike…
Return From Witch Mountain (1978) – John Hough
Tia (Kim Richards) and Tony (Ike Eisenmann) Return From Witch Mountain in Disney’s follow-up to the enjoyable Escape To Witch Mountain. While not as entertaining as the first film, there’s still some fun to be had, and it boasts the appearance of Christopher Lee and Bette Davis as the film’s villains, Victor and Letha respectively….
M*A*S*H (1978) – Point of View, Dear Comrade, and Out of Gas
Ken Levine and David Isaacs delivered Point of View, which was first broadcast on 20 November, 1978. The episode gives us a unique perspective on the show, it’s all told from the narrative point of a patient who arrives in the 4077th. Private Rich (David Hunt Stafford) takes some shrapnel to his throat during an…
M*A*S*H (1978) – They Call the Wind Korea, Major Ego, and Baby, It’s Cold Outside
Ken Levine and David Isaacs pen They Call the Wind Korea, which first aired on 30 October, 1978, and sees Charles (David Ogden Stiers) getting ready to leave the 4077 on his first vacation (in Tokyo no less) since he arrived. Unfortunately there’s a major storm coming in, and he can’t get a chopper out….
The Mind Reels 