Jack Weston

In this sequel to the first 'Short Circuit' film, former tech scientist Ben Jahrvi (Fisher Stevens) has relocated to New York City from his homeland in India. He attempts to make a living peddling miniature toy robots, which he builds in the back of his truck. When one of Ben's robots rolls through the office of toy buyer Sandy Banatoni (Cynthia Gibb), she offers to purchase 1,000 models for a major department store. Although Ben does not have the means to produce the toys in mass quantities, a sleazy con artist named Fred Ritter (Michael McKean) overhears the conversation and negotiates a deal to serve as Ben's business partner. Fred obtains money from a loan shark, and leases a vacated warehouse to use as a factory. Meanwhile, two jewel thieves tunneling underneath the building worry that the business will thwart their plans to steal a case of valuable diamonds from the bank across the street. Hoping to drive them away, the criminals don masks and destroy all of Ben's equipment. Dejected, Ben considers giving up the business until his two old friends, Stephanie Speck and Newton Crosby, send him a large package from their home in the rural Midwest containing the original life-size robot, Number Five (voiced by Tim Blaney), which Ben helped create and was thought destroyed at the end of the previous film. Fully sentient, the robot calls itself "Johnny Five" and offers to build the toys for their order. The next morning while Ben closes the deal with Stephanie (voiced by an uncredited Ally Sheedy), Johnny Five sneaks out to explore the city. The naive robot is amazed by urban life, but addled by most residents' rude and deceitful natures. Meanwhile, Fred conspires to sell Johnny Five, but the robot resists capture, and continues its efforts to assimilate into human society. Eventually, two police officers find Johnny Five wandering the streets and bring it to the station, where they lock it up with other stolen property. Learning of Johnny Five's "arrest," Ben rushes to the police station and retrieves the robot. Johnny Five explains that being treated like a sub-human machine has caused it to experience painful emotions, such as loneliness. Ben commiserates, sharing his own desire for companionship. Using information obtained from books about human behavior, Johnny Five offers to help Ben pursue a romantic relationship with Sandy Banatoni. Elsewhere, the jewel thieves team up with a greedy bank executive named Oscar Baldwin (Jack Weston), hoping to use his budding friendship with Johnny Five to regain access to the warehouse tunnel. After kidnapping Ben and Fred and imprisoning them in a large walk-in freezer, Oscar convinces the robot to finish digging until they reach the vault. When Oscar steals the jewels, however, Johnny Five realizes the trick and attempts to stop him. The thieves retaliate by attacking Johnny Five with an ax, leaving it severely damaged. Meanwhile, Ben and Fred escape captivity, but the police mistake Ben for the jewel thief and arrest him. As Johnny Five's systems malfunction, Fred is forced to repair the robot himself. Although still leaking battery fluid, Johnny Five swears vengeance on Oscar, and chases his getaway car to the docks. Using its last remaining power, Johnny Five attacks Oscar and detains him until Ben arrives with police. Johnny Five's memory drive fails, but Ben uses a defibrillator to revive it. Sometime later, Johnny Five gains national fame and becomes the first legally recognized robotic citizen of the U.S.A.

In the summer of 1963, 17-year-old Baby is vacationing with her family at a mountain resort when she is drawn to the staff quarters by stirring music. There she meets Johnny, the hotel dance instructor, and they fall in love despite everyones warnings.

In New York City, two singer/songwriters, Chuck Clarke (Dustin Hoffman) and Lyle Rogers (Warren Beatty), stare at the window of a Sam Goody record store. Chuck insists the only difference between them and hit makers like Simon and Garfunkel or Bruce Springsteen is that they do not have an essential ingredient: an agent. Soon, Chuck invites talent agent, Marty Freed (Jack Weston), to watch them perform their material at the store Song Mart. Afterward, Marty informs the duo that they have no stage talent. They need patter, "shtick," and gimmicks. For their next tryout, Chuck and Lyle (playing as their duo act called 'Rogers and Clarke') cover a familiar song with awkward choreography at a local nightclub. Despite audience booing, Marty offers them two bookings, one in Honduras at a hotel frequented by American journalists, and another longer engagement in Morocco. Chuck and Lyle mull Marty's offer at a nearby bar. In a series of flashbacks to five months earlier, Lyle was working by driving an ice cream truck, writing song lyrics as he worked. He played new songs for his speechless wife, Willa (Tess Harper). At a restaurant, Chuck played piano for customers. Afterward, as Chuck and his girl friend, Carol (Carol Kane), chatted, a waiter delivered a note from Lyle saying how much he enjoyed Chuck's performance. The songwriters met and had instant rapport, furiously collaborating on songs. They spent so much time composing that Willa left Lyle due to neglect. He sank into a depression, then Chuck helped him recover. Soon, Carol also felt neglected and ended her relationship with Chuck. He called Lyle and threatened suicide. Lyle promised to come to Chuck's aid, but his friend asked him not to alert the police because it would ruin his show business career. However, Lyle called the police, and Chuck climbed onto the ledge of his building when an officer appeared at his apartment. As Lyle joined Chuck on the ledge, Rabbi Pierce appeared to calm Chuck. Lyle grabbed Chuck's hand, and guided him back into his apartment. At the bar in the present day, Chuck remembers all that he and Lyle went through and decides they should take their act to Morocco. In Ishtar, Morocco, as a desert archaeological camp is attacked, Professor Barnes orders his associate, Omar (J.C. Cutler), to escape with an important, newly discovered ancient map that could provoke war in the Middle East. Omar barely has time to give his sister, a left-wing French-Moroccan agent named Shirra Assel (Isabelle Ajani), the map before he is killed. His last words promise that no one will find the map except "two messengers of God." At the Ishtar airport, Shirra Assel, disguised as a man, approaches and persuades Chuck to exchange passports and suitcases with her so she might travel to Marrakesh. She quotes: "It is a matter of life and death." She convinces him that he can visit the American Embassy and have his passport easily replaced. When the duo learns that a new passport will take days to process, Chuck convinces Lyle to travel to nearby Marrakesh and do the show alone, while he checks into a hotel in Ishtar. At the Marakesh Hotel, another American, named Jim Harrison (Charles Grodin), invites Lyle to dinner. After Chuck chats about show business, Jim reveals he works for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). He is in Morocco to prevent the Communists from staging a coup to overthrow the royal Moroccan government. Jim hints that his agency likes to recruit people like Chuck as operatives. At his solo show, Lyle launches into a rendition of "Bridge Over Troubled Water," and is soon drowned out by an apathetic crowd. Suddenly, Chuck appears and belts out "That's Amore," and show tunes that revive the audience. The new act of Rogers and Clarke, are a hit and are applauded. Later, Chuck says he is going for a drive to get some air. Later that night, Shirra wakes Lyle in his hotel room as she tries to reclaim her suitcase. As Lyle tackles her, she claims Chuck is a CIA agent, and the contents of the suitcase are necessary to overthrow the tyrant running her country. Lyle is skeptical about her story, but she convinces him to help her find a camel seller named Mohammed, and buy a blind camel. She leaves carrying the heavy suitcase. Meanwhile, Chuck secretly meets Jim Harrison, and learns his movements have been tracked through a pen with a hidden microphone that Jim gave him as a gift. The CIA has reason to believe that dictator Muammar Gaddafi in Libya is interested in Shirra's map, and the CIA wants to take possession of the document before Gaddafi does. Chuck claims not to know where Shirra is. However, Jim Harrison believes Lyle knows where to find her after appearing to have a sexual encounter with her at the hotel, and being recruited by her as a left-wing terrorist. Chuck does not believe any of Harrison's assertions but Harrison gives Chuck a beeper to stay in contact. In the morning, Lyle sneaks out of the hotel room, and Chuck follows him. The friends meet and CIA agents follow them to an outdoor market. Chuck and Lyle are kidnapped, but Harrison's associates shoot the captors and panic breaks out. The two friends run, and ask an enterprising local to help them hide. The youth takes them into his uncle's rug shop. The kidnappers confiscate two rolled up rugs, thinking the songwriters are hidden inside. Dressed in Moroccan garments, Chuck and Lyle escape over the rooftops. Meanwhile, Harrison visits Emir Yousef (Aharon Ipalé) at his palace in Ishtar to explain that the Americans, Chuck and Lyle, are merely pawns. The Emir insists the songwriters will be mistaken for "messengers of God." If radical Shiites gain possession of the map they will use it as a sign to overthrow the Emir. The Americans must be killed to demonstrate that God does not favor those who oppose the Emir. As Lyle negotiates for a blind camel at the Ben Sheli Camel Market, Chuck confronts Shirra in a nearby hotel room. He accuses her of recruiting Lyle as a Communist but she denies it. She thinks he stole her map and gave it to Jim Harrison. He denies it but promises to keep her secret. When Chuck finds Lyle, he has bought a blind camel with poor teeth. As Lyle leaves to change his disguise, Harrison appears and warns Chuck that the Emir's men want to kill them. Harrison hands Chuck two canteens with water, and a compass with escape instructions. When they reach a safe hotel at a desert oasis, CIA agents are supposed to rescue them, but it is a ruse. Harrison hopes that the desert trek will result in their deaths. Meanwhile, Shirra's associates convince her the songwriters must be executed. Shirra gives Lyle a beaded necklace with instructions to drop a trail of beads, heading into the desert. At night, the beads will glow and the friends can find their way back to town. The next morning in the desert, Chuck collapses from heat exhaustion. As Lyle helps his friend, vultures appear. Elsewhere, an associate of Shirra's tells Prof. Barnes they plan to announce over radio that they are in possession of the ancient map. The songwriters survive a sandstorm and think they see Moroccans with a truck. Chuck instructs Lyle, dressed in flowing robes, to get water. The Moroccans are actually Australian gunrunners who mistake Chuck for an auctioneer. As Chuck pretends to auction guns to the locals, CIA agents see that the songwriters have stopped moving through the desert and send a helicopter to retrieve their bodies. When the helicopter pilot realizes they are alive he retreats, and the auction is cut short. At his palace, the Emir tells Harrison he wants the "the messengers of God" killed and the helicopter returns to the desert. Parched and exhausted, Chuck and Lyle think of song lyrics to keep alert, and soon discover Shirra's map sewn into the lining of Chuck's jacket. Just then the helicopter appears and when the pilot shoots at the songwriters, they return fire with guns they collected from the auction. The helicopter leaves but returns with a second Apache attack helicopter. However, Shirra appears in a truck. She arms Chuck and Lyle with powerful guns, and the two helicopters are forced to abort their mission. Chuck and Lyle manage to smuggle the map into the United States. Back in New York, Marty, the talent agent, negotiates with Harrison to implement social reforms in Morocco, get rid of the Emir, and back and promote an album and worldwide tour for Chuck and Lyle. If the CIA succeeds, the songwriters promise not to sell the map to the KGB or anyone else. As a show of support, Harrison arranges for American forces and CIA agents to attend Chuck and Lyle's show at Chez Casablanca. Shirra thinks their songs are wonderful. In the final scene, back in America, Chuck and Lyle's "Live in Concert" album can be seen in the window of Sam Goody records.

Witty character study of three couples who vacation together each season. After one divorces, feelings of betrayal and more spawn criticisms of one another, but things that unite them are stronger than those which might pull them apart. Middle-aged couples Jack and Kate Burroughs, Nick and Anne Callan, and Danny and Claudia Zimmer are best friends who do everything together. As couples, they have weathered the flood of divorces that has beset their other friends. When one of the six decides to make a change in life, the other five are forced to examine their marriages, their friendships with one another, the true meaning of love, and their own personal foibles. Over the course of one year, the movie is set against the backdrop of four vacations they take together, one in each of the four seasons, with Antonio Vivaldi's associated suite of music introducing each. By their fourth vacation together, Jack feels that they need to "clear the air." —Huggo

When Henry Graham's lawyer informs him that his playboy lifestyle has consumed all of his funds, he must avoid sliding down the social ladder. He plans to marry wealthy scientist Henrietta Lowell--and kill her. Henry Graham has a problem: he has spent his entire inheritance, and is completely broke. With no skills, the only option is to make money the old-fashioned way: marry in to it. With a temporary loan to tide him over, Henry has only 6 weeks to find a bride, marry her, and repay the money, or else he must forfeit all his possessions. —Drew from Baltimore This dark comedy stars writer/director Elaine May in one of the 1970s' best but least-known films. Wealthy Henry Graham, whose only interest is being wealthy, is bankrupt. In a deal with his uncle, he borrows $50,000, which he must repay within 6 weeks' time or forfeit everything. His plan is to marry a rich heiress with no family..... but he meets the most helpless, discombobulated person imaginable. —Huggo Examines the vapid life of a born-to-wealth New Yorker. After he spends all of what was left to him, his questing after more (without bothersome labor) changes him. The main agent of change is a phenomenally passive and unassuming lady known as Henrietta Lowell. —The_Kid in Bellevue Playboy Henry Graham squanders his wealth and must seek a new source to maintain his idle rich lifestyle. The easy alternative to work is to find a rich woman, marry her, and murder her. Klutzy, nerdy Henrietta Lowell is the ideal candidate. But in dealing with his klutzy, nerdy, trusting new botanist wife and her ill-managed estate, Henry unwittingly begins to assume some sense of responsibility, not realizing this while planning to do away with Henrietta on one droll camping trip. —NYK

Movie opens at a swanky Wall Street Party hosted By Ted, Howard's Boss, and CEO of big Wall Street firm. It turns out the party is a gathering of wealthy Wall Street traders employees and big wigs looking to hook up with women. Ted encourages Howard, and teaches him how to land a one of the various women and then bed them. Howard is uncomfortable as he makes his rounds at the party and is unable to get the attraction from any of the multitude of intoxicated, attractive, but vulgar women. Another party-goer, Catherine, also seems put off by the entire party and all of its patrons, but like Howard she moves around the party, entertained by the vulgar, highfalutin, grandiose, vain, pretentious, garish, and gaudy people and the shenanigans they engage in. Catherine and Howard meet, the two are instantaneously attracted to each other, and decide to leave the party for more civilized gathering. As Catherine gather her coat, Ted give Howard the key to a particular night club, The Safari Club, he consider a "second home". The two grab a cab and head to the Safari club, which turn out to be another absurd scene with scantily clad women in cages acting like animalistic cave women. To grab the attention of the cave women waitresses male club goers are given pop guns and shoot the women in the tuchus. Howard has not yet learned that Catherine is his new boss' wife. The two agree that the Safari club is no better then the party they just left and decide to leave. Catherine recommends dancing and the two go to a hipster club with real music and dance their tuchus's off and have a great time. Catherine meets a an astrologist at the party who tell her that Ted is not a good love match for her but that Howard is a perfect match. Catherine seems to agree. Catherine reveals to Howard that she plans on leaving Ted the next day and grabbing a one way flight back to her home town of Paris. Howard follows suit and decides to leave his wife and grab the same flight with Catherine to start a new life with her in Paris. Howard has no problem leaving his uncaring wife behind and his young boy who doesn't seem to care if his father is alive or dead. The rest of the movie dedicated to the road blocks Howard must overcome to get on the plane with Catherine to Paris. Ted tries everything he can to win back Catherine. Eventually Howard wins out and is able to board the plane at the last minute. The movie ends with the two holding hands on the plane.

A dentist pretends to be married to avoid commitment, but when he falls for his girlfriend and proposes, he must recruit his lovelorn nurse to pose as his wife. Toni Simmons believes that the only reason her married lover won't leave his wife is because of the children. Actually, her lover, dentist Julian Winston, doesn't have any children. In fact, he doesn't even have a wife--he just tells women he does to avoid getting involved. When Julian does decide to take the plunge with Toni, she insists on meeting the first wife and Julian enlists the aid of his long-time nurse/receptionist Stephanie Dickinson to play the part. —A.L.Beneteau <albl@inforamp.net> 21-year-old Toni Simmons and middle-aged married dentist Dr. Julian Winston are in love. Toni values honesty above all else, but their relationship is based on a lie: Julian is not married. He initially told her this lie to avoid making a long-term commitment to her, but now he feels he might be ready to marry her, but her respect of honesty would keep him from telling him that he lied before, and he isn't actually married. Then, not wanting to be a homewrecker, Toni wants to meet the first Mrs. Dr. Winston to ensure that their marriage is over. So Julian asks his efficient, no-nonsense, loyal, devoted nurse/receptionist Stephanie Dickinson to pose as his wife. She's the logical choice in his mind, as she already does many personal chores for him. Stephanie, a middle-aged spinster who hides any aspect of her femininity, reluctantly agrees to the ruse. Toni has more questions about her own relationship with Julian after meeting Stephanie than are answered. But in posing as Mrs. Dr. Winston, Stephanie begins to bloom much like the cactus plant on her desk. Conversely, Toni's next-door neighbor, writer Igor Sullivan, has his own thoughts about what Toni should do with her life. —Huggo In Manhattan, dentist Julian Winston works with his efficient nurse/receptionist Stephanie Dickinson, whom he compares to a cactus flower because she represses her emotions. He spends the first anniversary of his affair with 21-year-old Toni Simmons on a date with an Australian air-hostess. Believing that Julian is married with three children and chose to spend the evening with his family, she attempts suicide, but her next-door neighbor, young aspiring writer Igor Sullivan saves her life. When Julian learns what Toni did, he decides to marry her. Toni does not want to be a homewrecker and asks to talk to Mrs. Winston to be sure that she wants the divorce. Julian does not want her to know that he is a liar, so he asks Stephanie to pose as Mrs. Winston. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Dr Julian Winston--successful Fifth Avenue dentist, and easygoing middle-aged bachelor--finds himself between a rock and a hard place, when his convenient, well-orchestrated lie paired with a failed act of despair force him to make a promise. As a result, Julian swears to walk down the aisle with his fresh young mistress Toni; however, when she insists on first meeting his nonexistent soon-to-be ex-wife, things take a turn for the unexpected. To get a divorce, Winston must invent a spouse--and who better than his highly competent, devoted, and stiff nurse Stephanie? This is the perfect plan, but what if things aren't what they seem? —Nick Riganas

Millionaire businessman-sportsman Thomas Crown (Steve McQueen) accomplishes a perfect crime by orchestrating four men to steal $2,660,527.62 from a Boston bank ($22,389,167 in 2022 dollars), along with a fifth man Erwin who drives the getaway car with the money and dumps it in a cemetery trash can. None of the men ever meet Crown face to face, nor do they know or meet each other before the robbery. For planning, men were summoned to a hotel room, where they faced a set of bright lights, and a man speaking into a microphone. They are promised a payment on $50,000 in monthly installments, so they don't spend it all quickly. Thomas asks Erwin to buy a used car, with cash money provided by Thomas. The 4 men are Carl (Yaphet Kotto), Dave (Sam Melville), Benjy (Todd Martin) and Abe (Adison Powell). Thomas coordinates the actions of the 4 men via public telephones. Abe and Carl get into a bank and take control of an elevator. Dave takes control of the security room. They take possession of a money trolley, when it is being moved by the elevator to the vault. Once the money is in their possession, they move it to Erwin's car waiting outside. Erwin dumps the money in a garage can in a cemetery and then changes his number plates. Crown retrieves the money from the trash can after secretly following the driver of the getaway car. He deposits the money into an anonymous Swiss bank account in Geneva, making several trips, never depositing the money all at once so as not to draw undue attention to his actions. The police are not able to find anything. All suspects were wearing sunglasses and hats. They cannot find the getaway car. Independent insurance investigator Vicki Anderson (Faye Dunaway) is contracted to investigate the heist; she will receive 10% of the stolen money if she recovers it. Vicki believes that the money has been moved to numbered accounts in Switzerland. The money would have to be moved by plane, and in multiple trips. She asks the Boston police to make a list of people who made multiple trips to Switzerland recently. Vicki believes that the robbery was masterminded by an unknown entity, who orchestrated the robbers, who probably never even met each other before the day of the heist. Vicki runs an advertisement in the papers for news on the heist, against a reward of $25,000. When Thomas first comes to her attention as a possible suspect, she intuitively recognizes him as the mastermind behind the robbery, and shortly thereafter guesses that he organized the robbers so none of the men knew him or met each other. Thomas does not need the money, and in fact masterminded the robbery as a game. Vicki makes it clear to him that she knows that he is the thief and that she intends to prove it. They start a game of cat and mouse, with the attraction between them evident. Vicki declares to Thomas that she is after him. Thomas already has $4 Million as net worth, and there is no motive for him to steal any more. Their relationship soon evolves into an affair, complicated by Vicki's vow to find the money and help detective Eddy Malone (Paul Burke) bring the guilty party to justice. The reward offer entices the wife of the bank robbery's getaway driver, Erwin Weaver (Jack Weston) to "fink" on him for $25,000 ($210,383 in 2022 dollars). There are 2 witnesses who saw Erwin drive away from the bank and Erwin paid for the Ford station wagon in cash. Erwin gets monthly payments into his bank account, from a numbered account in Geneva. Vicki finds out that he was hired by a man he never saw, but whose voice he heard (via a microphone). She tries putting Erwin in the same room as Thomas, but there is no hint of recognition on either one's part. Thomas knows that by now his home has been bugged by the police. He invites Vicki for a game of chess. They end up having sex. Vicki asks Eddy to keep the pressure on Thomas. Vicki believes that Thomas is bound to make a mistake. While Vicki continues to spend personal time with Thomas. News of their romance reaches Eddy. Eddy cannot make up his mind about what Vicki is up to. Eddy tells Vicki that Thomas has been cheating on her. He says that after leaving Vicki, Thomas goes to meet another girl. However, while Vicki is clearly closing in on Thomas, using the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as leverage against his liquid assets, he forces her to realize that she is also becoming hemmed-in by her emotions. When she (seemingly) persuades him to negotiate an end, his point is proven when Eddy stubbornly refuses to make any deal. Thomas organizes another robbery exactly like the first with different accomplices and tells Vicki where the "drop" will be, because he has to know for sure that she is on his side. The robbery is successful, but there are gunshots, and the viewer is left with the impression that people might have been killed, raising the stakes for Vicki's decision. Vicki and the police stake out the cemetery, where they watch one of the robbers make the drop and they wait for Thomas to arrive so they can arrest him. However, when his Rolls-Royce arrives, she sees that Thomas has sent a messenger in his place, with a telegram asking her to bring the money and join him - or if not, "you keep the car". She tears the telegram to bits and throws the pieces to the wind, looking up at the sky with tears in her eyes. Crown flies away in a jet.

A TV repairman dreams of being a detective and sets out to locate a missing heir. Lester is a clumsy and awkward TV repair man who is nevertheless gifted technically. In helping out a friend, he is drawn into a mystery involving a missing heir in a rich family. He begins to notice little things, like how much those family portraits look like him. Surely..no..he can't be...can he ? —David Gibson <djg6@ukc.ac.uk>

Tony Ryder takes over his dead uncle's media empire while trying to keep quiet the mysterious circumstances of his death in a Palm Beach hotel room. Colonel Ryder, the publisher of a magazine, dies while on vacation. Tony, his swinging nephew, inherits the magazine and takes over. The magazine is planning to expand, they need some capital, and Tony tries to arrange a loan through his friend. He is then informed by the detective of the hotel in which his uncle died that on the night of his death, a woman clad only in a towel came out of his room and fled before the detective could catch up with her. They suspect that the Colonel was "with" her on that night, because he was smiling when he died. Tony and two of his uncle's confidantes are worried that if the bank hears of this they will not get the loan, and the magazine's wholesome image could be tarnished also. So they ask the detective to stay around to identify her. What they don't know is that the woman is Katie Robbins, one of the magazine's researchers, and that she entered the room by "accident". After the detective has identified her and had a few misconceived conversations with her, they suspect that she is trying to extort them, and she thinks that Tony's a nut. —rcs0411@yahoo.com