Neff-2

Hey, the premise is pretty good: some fairly appealing but terminally bored young people kidnap a restaurateur (Anthony Quinn), and then they find that neither Quinn's wife nor his business partner partner want him back. After spending some time with the old coot Quinn, they end up feeling sorry for him, and they help him wreak vengeance on the people who have been making his life miserable all these years. The performances are a bit idiosyncratic: Michael Parks working on his James Dean thing, but with blonde hair; George Maharis trying to look like a hippie in a ducktail; Robert Walker Jr being typically odd and, of course, a very young Faye Dunaway overacting broadly and getting away with it. Some of the hijinks might seem slow and lame, but some of it is funny, and I can't vouch for others' musical taste, but I like the theme song.

"Men" is no blockbuster Hollywood film. Instead it's a character drama that revolves around Stella (Sean Young), a budding chef who likes cooking things up with men as much a she likes cooking up souffles. During the course of the film she beds a guy she sees through a shop window, the owner of the restaurant where she works, a fat drunk from Alabama and a spacy photographer (if that isn't redundant.) What's amazing is that through all this, you like her and respect her as a decent person, aided by Young's trademark off-center style. It's not for everyone, but if you like characters better than car crashes, give it a go.

Loretta Young and Celeste Holm are two nuns from a French convent on a mission to establish a children's hospital in a rural village much to the consternation of composer Robert Masen (Hugh Marlowe) who would like to see his place in the country stay just like it is. Against all odds the indomitable sisters move Masen and several other unlikely contributors into making the hospital a reality. It's fine family viewing with a warmth an innocence unseen in today's more cynical Christmas pics.