Scatman Crothers

Jack Torrance, along with his troubled wife and son, settles down in an isolated overlooked hotel in Colorado, where he works as a caretaker hoping to cure his writer`s block. Soon, his wife`s psychic premonitions trouble his son and he transpires to a homicidal maniac trying to terrorize his own family.

Craig Blake (Jeff Bridges) is a young Southern man born of a wealthy family in Birmingham, Alabama, but left lonely and idle after his parents died in a plane crash. He is content to spend his time fishing, hunting and puttering around his large family mansion, inhabited only by himself and an elderly butler named William (Scatman Crothers). Craig's "job" is a sinecure working at a shady investment firm run by a slick con artist named Jabo (Joe Spinell) and he does very little actual work. But since Craig has to have his name "on paper" somehow as an employee, he is asked by Jabo to personally transact the purchasing of a small gym that the real estate firm is buying in order to clear space for an office high-rise. Craig initially approaches the gym, called Olympic Spa, representing himself as a businessman looking to buy it, and acts relatively impersonal with its staff, one of whom includes trainer Franklin (Robert Englund), although he is strangely fascinated with the world he discovers there (reflecting the expansion of physical exercise to the mainstream which occurred in the 1970s). But Craig's primary social life is centered around the upscale country club he attends. Later, the audience is introduced to the ritzy country club crowd, including the WASP-y Lester (Ed Begley, Jr.) and the roguish rake Halsey (John David Carson). Craig Blake spends his time at this club with his friends playing tennis and shooting poker dice, and flirting with the upper-class women of all ages - one of whom asks Craig to find an "authentic" musical guest for an upcoming party at the club. As Craig moves forward with his business deal, he falls in love with the gym after visiting it several times - he is immediately taken by the pretty receptionist Mary Tate Farnsworth (Sally Field) and the free-spirited, friendly Austrian bodybuilder Joe Santo (Arnold Schwarzenegger), who aspires to win the Mr. Universe title. He cannot bring himself to sell out his newfound friends at the gym for the sake of his job, and so he evades the inquiries of his friend and co-worker Hal Foss as to his progress in the purchasing deal. All the while, he grows closer to Mary Tate and Joe Santo - who initially appear to be a couple. However, Mary Tate latches onto Craig romantically - and Santo gives Craig his blessing for this unorthodox relationship, claiming that he needs to keep himself challenged both in the gym and in his romantic life in order to succeed. Mary Tate and Craig begin a passionate and exciting relationship. But trouble erupts when he tries to integrate Mary Tate into his country-club scene. This tension comes to a head at a party at the country club, which features Joe Santo as a musical guest, performing bluegrass songs on the violin with a small country group. Craig, with Mary Tate as his guest (dressed inappropriately in a garish and revealing pink dress), is enthusiastic about Joe Santo's upcoming musical performance for the night. But Craig's friends, particularly Halsey, mock Santo as a "freak" and an outcast. When Halsey suggest that Santo disrobe and show the crowd his "tits," Craig throws a glass of Scotch in his face and tells Halsey that Santo could "crush him like an eggshell." A fight nearly breaks out between the two, but is broken up. Meanwhile a bitter Halsey and his friend Packman formulate a plan to embarrass Santo. When Santo's musical act is finally put on stage, the crowd seems enthusiastic about the music, though the hostess of the party dismisses it as a "racket." However, Halsey and Packman drunkenly bellow at Santo and heckle the band. Santo notices it, but stoically continues playing. However, when Halsey screams "let's hear it for Muscle Beach symphony orchestra!" Santo is unable to continue playing, puts down his violin and leaves the party. Meanwhile a frustrated Craig tries to convince Mary Tate to see him for who he really is, and not for his snobbish friends and ritzy surroundings. The Mr. Universe contest is approaching fast and Santo is training hard. But Jabo attempts to bribe the owner of the gym, Thor Eriksen (R.G. Armstrong), when he realizes that Craig will not purchase the building as he was supposed to. He plies Eriksen and his assistant Newton with drugs, booze and hookers, and on the day of the contest, they are busy with acts of debauchery as Santo is readying to take the stage - hoping to beat his rival Dougie Stewart (played by fellow bodybuilder Ken Waller in a memorable cameo). While Thor is drunk and distracted with the prostitutes, Newton secretly stashes the prize money inside his handbag, and then leaves the gym with the prostitutes when they are finished - stealing the money and fleeing. Meanwhile, Joe Santo and Dougie Stewart pose together on stage, to the theme song from the film 'Exodus' and the enthusiastic applause of the crowd. Meanwhile, Craig visits at the gym and engages in an intense physical fight, dodging weights and gym equipment thrown by the drunken and drug-crazed Eriksen. He finds Mary Tate at the gym, who had just moments earlier been assaulted by Eriksen in an amyl nitrite fueled rage. When the contestants at the Mr. Universe show discover that the prize money has been stolen, they run after Joe Santo, who himself is actually running to try to meet Mary Tate. The chase results in the wave of bodybuilders pouring out into the streets of Birmingham, to the amazed crowd of onlookers which sees them. The bodybuilders take advantage of this unexpected attention to put on an impromptu posing routine for the crowd, and the members of the crowd join in, imitating the athletes' poses and enjoying themselves - an embracing of the bodybuilding lifestyle by 'normal' people which arguably represents the real-life 1970s boom of personal fitness. The film ends with Craig sarcastically deriding Jabo and his former bosses at the real-estate firm, and deciding to go into the gym business with Joe Santo. A voice-over by his uncle Albert says, "you may not have been the Blake that we anticipated, but you are definitely Craig Blake - an identity that no one will dare challenge." Craig has finally "found himself" and discovered a true place in the sun, and true friendships, and he mocks his former boss Jabo with an exaggerated bodybuilding pose - acting as a final burning of the bridge between his old life and his new one. The final shot of the film shows Craig moving out of his family's mansion, passing on all of his old family memorabilia to his loyal butler William, and leaving behind his old self once and for all... on the way to a new and exciting future.

Two bumbling hustlers in the 1920s attempt to gain the fortune of an heiress. Nothing will stop them, not even murder. The early 1900s with its Mann Act (disallowing women to be transported across state lines for immoral reasons) brings a married man to devise a scheme for taking his upper-class girlfriend away with him. He simply has her marry his unmarried buddy. However, it doesn't take very long before both men start laying claim to her affection. Until, that is, she's about to be cut out of her parents' fortune. So, a new scheme is devised, which only adds to their problems, as well as to the sly whimsy of this movie. —BOB STEBBINS <stebinsbob@aol.com> It's sometime in the 1920s, when it is illegal, as per the Mann Act, for a man to transport a woman across state lines for immoral purposes, which is what married Nicky Stumpo wants to do with Freddie Bigard. Since he can't marry her himself for that purpose of crossing the state line, Nicky instead enlists his friend Oscar Sullivan, who is trying to evade the local police for embezzlement, to marry Freddie instead. The three, who plan to live together, will masquerade as an extended family under assumed surnames, Freddie and Oscar indeed married, with Nicky Freddie's brother, while behind closed doors Oscar will be the platonic third wheel in Nicky and Freddie's love nest. Although he is purportedly doing it for love, Nicky really wants access to Freddie's money, she being an heiress to a fortune about which Nicky tries to convince Oscar is untrue. The situation becomes more complicated with the combination of Oscar wanting to have his own way with Freddie, as he also does confirm Freddie's own personal wealth, and as Freddie informs her husband and "brother" that she plans on giving away her money. As such, Nicky and Oscar figure the only thing they can do to reach that goal of getting her money is to do away with her permanently - making it look either like suicide or an accident - which is easier said than done in how hapless they are as murderers. —Huggo

A Mafia buy out of Papa Byrd's karate school downtown ends in his death. Byrd's daughter, Sydney, refuses to sell, and wants revenge. Byrd's students call the Black Belt Jones for help. Jones reluctantly teams with Sydney in many battles. The Mafia's Don learns that the City is planning a new civic center, and is buying the land where it will be, to make easy money when the city council will buy it. The one piece the Don doesn't have yet, is the old African-American karate school owned by Papa Byrd. Big Tuna, the Mafia Don's right hand man, goes to Pinky, their representative in that area and they tell him that he owes them $250,000 but instead of paying, they want him to get Papa Byrd's school. Pinky tries to muscle the karate master into handing out the property title, but he throws him out. A teacher calls Black Belt Jones, a friend of Papa Byrd, to talk to him about this, but before he does Pinky and his thugs accidentally kills Papa Byrd in a second visit. Before dying in friends' arms, Byrd says that the school belongs to Sydney - whom nobody knows. Black Belt Jones knows that Sydney is Byrd's daughter, whom he hasn't seen since she was a child. Black Belt asks a friend of his who works for the Government, to find her. Informed of her father's death, Sydney arrives for the funeral, and learns about Pinky and what he wants. Sidney goes to Pinky's place and roughs up some of his people. Then, Pinky goes over to the karate school with some back-up, manages to subdue the students, take one of them hostage, and demands either Sydney turns the school over to him or pay him $250,000. Black Belt asks his friend in Government to look into it and he tells him of this Mafia connection, and than asks Black Belt Jones to break into the Mafia stronghold and get some photos that they have and some hot cash. Jones succeeds, holds $250,000 and pays Pinky with that, then he calls the Mafia Don and tells him that it was Pinky who raided his place. Now the thugs turn onto each other. When Pinky convinces Big Tuna that he is innocent they go after Black Belt. With Sidney wanting to take revenge on her father's killers all by herself, and Jones wanting her out of the deadly battle about to start, things get ugly, fast, and furious. —Artemis-9

After a fundraiser for a black politician is robbed, Detroit police put two detectives, one white and one black, on the case, who try to work together under boiling political pressure. Police procedural movie set in Detroit during the early 1970s. At a fundraiser for a black Congressman held at a downtown Detroit hotel, a group of heavily armed masked men bursts on the scene demanding the fund-raised fund. The fund consisting of gold, jewels and cash is estimated to be around 400,000 dollars. The donors mostly are rich black supporters of Congressman Aubrey Hale Clayton who intends to run for state governorship. After the armed robbery, the criminals disappear in a white getaway van. The police arrives at the scene but no one has any description of the suspects. Some speculate that white men committed the crime in order to sabotage the election efforts of a black candidate but others suggest it was black-on-black crime. The Detroit Police Department is careful not to place blame on any racial or ethnic group in order to avoid controversy and criticism. The Department assigns two cops to the case. One cop is Lieutenant Danny Bassett who's white and the other cop is Sergeant Jesse Williams who's black. The two cops work well together and start getting some leads but their potential witnesses are killed before they can talk to the investigators. Eventually, the trail leads to a high-price black call girl, Roby Harris, and her pimp-lover Ferdy Sloan. Also, the police finds the mutilated body of a man in a trunk. The victim, a Native-American called Indian Tom, is a fence for stolen goods operating between Detroit and Canada. Clues start piling up and they lead the detectives and the police forces to a derelict church, which is surrounded by abandoned buildings, including an old railroad station. There, the final shootout between the robbers and the cops takes place.

An incompetent bellhop is recruited to fill in for a deceased comedian. When a star comedian dies, rather than letting anyone know, his comedy writers decide to find and teach an unknown to fill his shoes for a big show the comedian had been schedeled for. But the man they choose - bellboy, Stanley Belt - can't do anything right, and time's running out.

A woman trapped in a home elevator is terrorized by a group of vicious hoodlums. Recuperating from a broken hip sustained four months ago, wealthy Cornelia Hilyard had a portable elevator installed temporarily in the home she shares with her thirty year old single son, Malcolm Hilyard. Shortly after Malcolm leaves for the extended July 4th weekend during a summer heatwave, Cornelia gets trapped in the elevator when a short circuit occurs, the front grated elevator car hovering approximately ten feet above her living room foyer, she only having access to those few items she brought into the elevator with her: beyond those items on her person, a book, a transistor radio, her cane and a vase containing a single flower. All her efforts to get out using the elevator's emergency functions only attract the wrong elements as two associated but disparate groups break into her house initially with the sole purpose of robbing her of everything, they able to do so partly in being able to conduct their business out of her view. In the process, none of the five people involved seem to care about her whatsoever. Things change when one of the five, Randall Simpson O'Connell, the leader of the group of younger thugs, he who has spent most of his formative years in a reformatory, decides that in addition he wants to commit murder, including of Cornelia. If Cornelia is able to survive in the short term, the nature of the situation may further change due to something that Malcolm had left for her just before he left. —Huggo The lady is Mrs. Hilyard, a wealthy poetess who lives in a three-story city mansion and her cage is her elevator, which stops a dozen feet short of the main floor due to an electrical failure on a July 4th weekend. She rings her outside alarm, eventually noticed by a drunken derelict, who breaks into the house, ignores her plight and helps himself to various items and alcohol. He leaves with his loot but returns a while later with a curvy prostitute and three teenage hoodlums, who proceed to terrorize Mrs. Hilyard as they wreck her home. —alfiehitchie