82% (3) Five Easy Pieces 98 min, R, [Drama] [Bob Rafelson] [19 Feb 1971]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 75%, Rotten Tomatoes: 88%, Metacritic: 85%, External Reviews
Awards: Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 10 wins & 18 nominations.
Actors: Billy Green Bush, Fannie Flagg, Jack Nicholson, Karen Black
Writer: Carole Eastman (screenplay), Bob Rafelson (story), Carole Eastman (story)
External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: Robert Dupea has given up his promising career as a concert pianist and is now working in oil fields. He lives together with Rayette, who's a waitress in a diner. When Robert hears from his sister that his father isn't well, he drives up to Washington to see him, taking Rayette with him. There he gets confronted with his rich, cultured family that he had left behind.
Rotten Tomatoes: A disaffected man seeks a sense of identity in one of the key films of Hollywood's 1970s New Wave. Once a promising pianist from a family of classical musicians, Bobby Eroica Dupea (Jack Nicholson, in his first major starring role) leads a blue-collar life as an oil rigger, living with needy waitress girlfriend Rayette (Karen Black) and bowling with their friends Elton (Billy "Green" Bush) and Stoney (Fannie Flagg). Feeling suffocated by responsibilities, Bobby seeks out his sister, Tita (Lois Smith), and, discovering that his father is gravely ill, he reluctantly heads back to the patrician family compound in Puget Sound with a pregnant Rayette in tow. After a road trip featuring a harangue from hitchhiker Palm (Helena Kallianiotes) about filth, and Bobby's ill-fated attempt to make a menu substitution in a diner, he tucks Rayette away in a motel before heading to the house. There Bobby seduces his uptight brother Carl's cultured fiancée, Catherine (Susan Anspach), but Rayette shows up unexpectedly. As Rayette's crassness collides with the snobbery of the Dupea circle, Bobby loses patience with both sides. After trying to reconcile with his mute father, Bobby departs, unwilling to give in to either destiny. Director Bob Rafelson and screenwriter Adrien Joyce (aka Carole Eastman) used the creative control afforded by the low budget to craft a European-influenced character study, catching a cultural mood of anomie and resentment as it was embodied in Bobby. Neither older generation nor hippie, Bobby fits in nowhere, and his desire for independence conflicts with his emotional emptiness. Nicholson's nuanced performance of simmering frustration resonated with 1970 audiences caught between Nixon's "silent majority" and the troubled counterculture; a substantial hit, Five Easy Pieces was nominated for several Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actor, and established Nicholson as a star. Offering no "easy" answers to Bobby's existential crisis, Five Easy Pieces is one of the pre-eminent films in the early-'70s cycle of alienated American art movies, as even the fantasy of rebellion is reduced to merely running away. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi
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80% (3) Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore 112 min, PG, [Drama, Romance] [Martin Scorsese] [30 May 1975]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 74%, Rotten Tomatoes: 88%, Metacritic: 78%, External Reviews
Awards: Won 1 Oscar. Another 5 wins & 11 nominations.
Actors: Alfred Lutter III, Billy Green Bush, Ellen Burstyn, Kris Kristofferson, Mia Bendixsen
Writer: Robert Getchell
External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: Despite admitting that she was scared of him in her never-ending quest to please him, thirty-five year old housewife and mother Alice Hyatt is devastated when her husband Donald is killed in an on the job traffic accident. With few job skills except that as a singer, Alice, along with her precocious eleven year old son Tommy, decides to move from their current home in Socorro, New Mexico to her home town of Monterrey, California, the only place she has ever felt happy. She plans on getting singing gigs along the way to earn money to get back to Monterrey by the end of the summer and the start of Tommy's school year. Alice's quest for a job at each stop leaves Tommy often to fend for himself, which may make Tommy even more precocious. His behavior is fostered by Alice, as their relationship is often more as trouble-making friends than mother and son. Alice's plans often do not end up as she envisions, especially as she is forced to take a waitressing job at Mel and Ruby's Diner in Tucson, Arizona, which entails working with a disparate group, including Mel, the establishment's gruff owner/short order cook, and her fellow waitresses, the wisecracking, foul mouthed Flo, and the naive and shy Vera. Alice also falls into old habits, namely relying on men to make her feel fulfilled, specifically the much younger Ben, and farmer David. Those relationships may also provide her with a better perspective on her life and her bad choice of Donald as a husband.
Rotten Tomatoes: Alice Hyatt is a widowed mother with a growing son. Left penniless after her husband's death, Alice and her son head for Monterrey, where Alice hopes to launch a singing career. After a horrific liaison with her brutish boyfriend, Alice is afforded better treatment by a kindly rancher.
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56% (3) Critters 86 min, PG-13, [Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi] [Stephen Herek] [11 Apr 1986]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 60%, Rotten Tomatoes: 56%, Metacritic: 52%, External Reviews
Awards: 3 nominations.
Actors: Billy Green Bush, Dee Wallace, M. Emmet Walsh, Scott Grimes
Writer: Domonic Muir (story), Domonic Muir (screenplay), Stephen Herek (screenplay), Don Keith Opper (additional scenes)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: A massive ball of furry creatures from another world eat their way through a small mid-western town followed by intergalactic bounty hunters opposed only by militant townspeople.
Rotten Tomatoes: Critters, an amusing horror comedy directed byStephen Herek, is the story of a family menaced by eight basketball sized creatures from outer space who arrive at their Kansas farm in search of food. Helen Brown (Dee Wallace Stone) and Brad (Scott Grimes), owners of the farm find themselves held hostage as the creatures roll, jump and bounce around during the night. They are pursued by a pair of inept, intergalactic bounty hunters, Charlie (Don Keith Opper) and Johnny (Terrence Mann) who can shape-shift at will and are packing weapons capable of taking care of any creature they encounter. The special effects of this humorous thriller are extremely good and the creatures themselves have distinct and separate personalities.
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66% (2) Electra Glide in Blue 114 min, PG, [Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller] [James William Guercio] [04 Oct 1973]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 72%, Rotten Tomatoes: 60%, External Reviews
Awards: Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 1 nomination.
Actors: Billy Green Bush, Jeannine Riley, Mitchell Ryan, Robert Blake
Writer: Robert Boris (screenplay), Robert Boris (story), Rupert Hitzig (story)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: A short Arizona motorcycle cop gets his wish and is promoted to Homicide following the mysterious murder of a hermit. He is forced to confront his illusions about himself and those around him in order to solve the case, eventually returning to solitude in the desert.
Rotten Tomatoes: A police officer who would rather use his brains than his gun is put into a situation where neither can help him in this police drama. John Wintergreen (Robert Blake) is a sawed-off and street-smart Arizona motorcycle cop who dreams of climbing the ladder and becoming a police detective, but his ambitions are scoffed at by his partner, Zipper (Billy "Green" Bush). Wintergreen's superiors tend not to take him seriously due to his short stature, but when he stumbles upon the site of a murder, he digs up enough relevant evidence to insure his advancement to detective status. However, after a few days on the job, Wintergreen begins to realize just how corrupt his superior Poole (Mitchell Ryan) truly is after Poole attempts to frame a local hippie, Bob Zemko (Peter Cetera), for a crime he didn't commit. Adding fuel to the fire is Poole's discovery that he and Wintergreen have been dating the same woman, dancer-turned-barmaid Jolene (Jeannine Riley). Electra Glide in Blue was the first (and to date only) directorial credit for James William Guercio. Successful in the music industry as a manager and producer, Guercio was best known for his association with the top-selling jazz-rock group Chicago; several members of the band appear in the movie, as does a young Nick Nolte in a bit part. On a note of sad irony, Terry Kath, the longtime Chicago vocalist who died in 1978 from a self-inflicted gunshot to the head, plays a gun-wielding killer in this film. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
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70% (1) The Culpepper Cattle Co. 92 min, PG, [Western] [Dick Richards] [09 Jul 1972]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 70%, External Reviews
Awards: 1 nomination.
Actors: Billy Green Bush, Bo Hopkins, Gary Grimes, Luke Askew
Writer: Dick Richards (story), Eric Bercovici (screenplay), Gregory Prentiss (screenplay)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English, Spanish Country: USA
Plot: Teenager Ben Mockridge feels life in a Wild West farm town has nothing better to offer than horse-cart racing with other hicks, so he naively begs cattle company owner Frank Culpepper to engage him as the youngest cowboy for a long cattle trail to a fort. His mother barely notices. Ben doesn't even seem to get it when he's told to report as 'little Mary' to the old cook, whose words, "Cowboy is something you do only if you have nothing better." gradually become clear. Instead of an exciting heroic macho life, it's endless hard work, dumb chores and embarrassment, even getting literally caught with his pants down, robbed of his horse, and witnessing unpunished crimes...
Rotten Tomatoes: Young farmboy who always wanted to be a cowhand talks a tough trail boss into hiring him on a cattle drive.
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69% (1) Tom Horn 98 min, R, [Crime, Drama, Romance, Western] [William Wiard] [28 Mar 1980]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 69%, External Reviews
Actors: Billy Green Bush, Linda Evans, Richard Farnsworth, Steve McQueen
Writer: Thomas McGuane (screenplay), Bud Shrake (screenplay)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: A renowned former army scout is hired by ranchers to hunt down rustlers but finds himself on trial for the murder of a boy when he carries out his job too well. Tom Horn finds that the simple skills he knows are of no help in dealing with the ambitions of ranchers and corrupt officials as progress marches over him and the old west.
Rotten Tomatoes: Based on a true story, Steve McQueen (the film's executive producer) stars as bounty hunter Tom Horn in Wyoming who winds down his long career of heroism as civilization moves westward at the turn of the 19th century. As he loses touch with reality, he indulges in a string of killings. Soon after witnessing his ultra-violent behavior, his cattle baron employers decide to frame him for the murder of an adolescent boy.
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69% (1) Mackintosh and T.J. 96 min, PG, [Drama, Western] [Marvin J. Chomsky] [05 Feb 1976]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 69%, External Reviews
Actors: Billy Green Bush, Clay O'Brien, Joan Hackett, Roy Rogers
Writer: Paul Savage
External Links: IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: Roy is a ranch hand and a drifter. He takes a young man into his care and helps him to grow up.
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