A Few More...

Carter's Army (1970) [Black Brigade in box-set]
More of a curio than anything, this attempt by Aaron Spelling to rewrite WWII history to suit the then-modern black audience is an insult to the real black soldiers of the day. Snotty white captain from Georgia, Stephen Boyd, is given assignment to seize a dam in enemy territory with the catch that he use an all-black regiment. All but three (Robert Hooks, Moses Gunn, & Glynn Turman) of the soldiers are bums more intent on showing how cool they think they are than actually serving their country. Most laughable of the lot: Richard Pryor in a red beret as a cowardly smartass; I really would like to know what he was thinking when he made this. Rent this one out with 1995's The Tuskegee Airmen, starring Laurence Fishburne, Courtney Vance, & Andre Braugher for comparision.

Anatomy of An Illness (1984)
Another disease-of-the-week flick, this time based on journalist Norman Cousins' own near-fatal illness. Ed Asner is usual irascible self in the lead, Millie Perkins as his loving wife Ellen, and Eli Wallach as his loyal doctor. Since these pictures are virtually interchangeable, it depends on how much you like Mr Cousins and his offbeat (and ultimately successful) course of treatment.

Congratulations, It's A Boy! (1971)
This was pretty good, though also pretty dated. Aging swinger Bill Bixby learns that he has a teenaged son from a brief relationship with a girl he dated in military school. The boy (Darrell Larson) is sweet, moral, respectful of his elders -- in short, everything his dad is not. Bixby, who has a beautiful and perfectly nice lady-friend / secretary in Diane Baker, treats her like property; he works for his garment factory owning dad (Jack Albertson) and his mother (Ann Sothern) thinks he's gay because he's still not married at 37. It takes him awhile to get a clue but it's worth it. Trivia note: girl in opening scene is Judy Strangis, niece of big band comic Spike Jones and a regular on 70's sitcom, Room 222. Director William A. Graham has helmed several great TV shows including episodes of The Fugitive, The Naked City, and The X-Files.

Snowbeast (1977)
Cheap NBC TV movie based on the Bigfoot legend has meager thrills but a lot of nice skiing footage shot on location in Colorado. Bo Svenson and Yvette Mimieux star as power couple of sorts (ex-Olympian ski champ he, TV news reporter she) who visit lodge owned by Sylvia Sidney and her grandson Robert Logan, the latter an old flame of Mimieux's. Title creature proceeds to terrorize all at the most inconsiderate time, i.e., the 50th annual Snow Queen competition. Stupid in the extreme with so little gore it seems hardly worth the effort to watch. Like many of these box-set entries, would love to see this get the Mystery Science Theater treatment.

Tom Brown's School Days (1940)
Original version of this British chestnut stars prissy Cedric Hardwicke as no-nonsense headmaster at Rugby prep, with Freddie Bartholomew and Jimmy Lydon as his most victimized pupils by bullies at the school. Dead-End Kid Billy Halop plays the nastiest of the punks, but it's up to you whether you want to watch a whole film devoted to this constant meanness and the vagaries of honor. It's watchable as a period piece (set in early 19th Century Britain) but nowhere as good as latter-day Brit school flicks like The History Boys. Ironically, after his movie career cooled off, Halop wound up serving as a registered nurse in a Malibu, CA hospital.