Bovie Movie

Director Terry Gilliam adroitly applies his Monty Python sensibilities upon the “career” of famed German prevaricator Baron von Munchausen. Played herein by John Neville, the baron is seen quelling a war that he himself started, flying into the stratosphere on the back of a cannonball, ballooning to the moon, exploring the innards of a volcano, being swallowed by a whale….In short, all of Munchausen’s fabulous lies are here presented as “truth,” played out in full view of nonplussed witnesses Eric Idle, Charles McKeown, Jack Purvis, and Sarah Polley. Fringe benefits include several loving medium shots of jaybird-naked Uma Thurman as Boticelli’s Venus and an extended unbilled cameo by Robin Williams — that is, by the head of Robin Williams — as the King of the Moon. Filmed under considerable duress on a budget eventually exceeding 45 million dollars, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen never quite caught on with moviegoers, though it has enjoyed a lucrative afterlife on videocassette.

A W. Somerset Maugham novel was the source for the fair-to-middling Greta Garbo vehicle The Painted Veil. In a situation comparable to the plotlines of most of her silent films, Garbo is lovelessly married to Herbert Marshall, but carries a flaming torch for George Brent. (Also harking back to Garbo’s silent days is the fact that neither one of the men in her life is particularly interesting!) Marshall, a brilliant physician, is compelled to go into the interior regions of China to quell a cholera epidemic. He knows that Garbo has been having an affair with politician Brent, and chivalrously gives her the choice of remaining with Brent or accompanying him. Fearing a scandal, Brent bids farewell to Garbo. Once they’re in the midst of the epidemic, Garbo tirelessly works by her husband’s side; eventually she falls in love with him for the first time. Seriously injured in a peasant uprising, Marshall hovers near death. Brent reappears, offering to take Garbo back with him. She refuses, electing to stay with her husband no matter what the future brings. Among the supporting players in The Painted Veil are Warner Oland and Keye Luke, one year away from their memorable pairing in Fox’s Charlie Chan films.

The 1987 National Football League players’ strike inspired this sports-themed comedy. The Washington Sentinels are one of the strongest teams in pro football, and coach Jimmy McGinty (Gene Hackman) and quarterback Eddie Martel (Brett Cullen) look like they’re on the road to the Super Bowl — until contract negotiations break down and the Sentinels go on strike. Determined to play the team’s schedule, McGinty and owner Edward O’Neil (Jack Warden) recruit a ragtag band of scab players, headed by quarterback Shane Falco (Keanu Reeves), a promising athlete until a catastrophic defeat dashed his confidence. Joining Falco on the team are Clifford Franklin (Orlando Jones), a receiver who can’t catch the ball; Nigel Gruff (Rhys Ifans), a chain-smoking Welsh soccer player; Bateman (Jon Favreau), a former cop with anger management problems; Fumiko (Ace Yonamine), a sumo wrestler new to football; and Wilkinson (Michael Jace), a convict on parole to the Sentinels. Can McGinty mold his new squad of misfits and no-hopers (who truly love the game) into a winning team? Brooke Langton plays Annabelle, head of the Sentinels’ cheerleading squad (who has to contend with replacements of her own), and football commentators John Madden and Pat Summerall appear as themselves.