The Last Starfighter (1984)

Alex Rogan (Lance Guest), a teenager living in the remote Star Light Star Bright trailer park becomes the best player ever at Starfighter, a stand-up arcade game that has him “defend the Frontier against Xur and the Ko-Dan armada.” The night he gets the best score ever in the game, he is approached by the game’s fast-talking inventor, Centauri (Robert Preston). Stepping into Centauri’s vehicle (a “starcar”), Alex is horrified to find that not only is the car actually a spaceship, but Centauri is a disguised alien, who whisks him off to another planet.
That planet is Rylos. Upon their arrival, Alex is given a flight suit and is fitted with a translator to understand the various alien languages. He discovers that, as in the game, he “has been recruited by the Star League”, and that there are real Starfighters and real Gunstar spaceships. After this he is taken to the briefing area and meets other Starfighters. Lined up in the briefing area, they appear to be two Starfighters from each planet, except Earth, which has two empty chairs, one of in which he is seated. During the orientation Alex also meets 1st Class Navigator Grig (Dan O’Herlihy) a jovial, reptilian humaniod who sounds a bit like a grizzled gunnery sergeant. Alex tells Grig this is all a mistake and Grig admits that Earth is not a formal member of the Star League, not due to be approached ‘until it matures’. Upon confronting Centauri, Alex learns the truth: the Starfighter game is a test Centauri devised to find those “with the gift to be Starfighters”, a recruiting tool.
Furthermore, the game’s story about defending the Frontier against Xur and the Ko-Dan armada is real as well, as proven when a giant holographic transmission from Xur (Norman Snow) comes through. Xur means to be Emperor of Rylos, and joined forces with the Ko-Dan and gave them the means to breach the Frontier, a galactic-scale force field that protects ‘…the peaceful systems of the universe, … forever shutting out the scourge that lurks beyond’. He is also revealed to be the traitorous son of Enduran (Kay E. Kuter), the leader of the Rylans. Xur tortures one of Enduran’s agents to death before the eyes of his father and the entire Star League, and proclaims that when Rylos’s green moon of Galan is eclipsed, the Ko-Dan Armada will invade, and not even the Starfighters will be able to save them. Enduran defiantly answers with “We shall see, Xur. We shall see!”
If Alex wasn’t ready to go home before, this does it. Reluctantly, Centauri brings him back home to Earth, all the crankier for being forced to return his finder’s fee.
Soon after Alex and Centauri have departed the Starfighter base, the Ko-Dan manage to punch a hole in the Frontier, not yet big enough for the Ko-Dan Command Ship, but big enough to fire their ‘meteor gun’ through. A Xurian sympathizer sabotages the base’s defenses, allowing the meteors to hit and destroy the base. Xur’s excitement is short lived, for one of his spies reports that one Starfighter (Alex) has escaped.
After arriving back on Earth, Centauri gives Alex a pager (called a “communo-crystal”) to summon him if he should change his mind. At his home, Alex discovers that no one has missed him. This is because Centauri had replaced him on Earth with a synthetic android known as a Beta Unit, designed to be an exact replica of Alex so he could leave Earth without attracting attention (a good example of a Doppelgänger). While Beta has been having trouble with his role on Earth, he still tries to convince Alex to return to Rylos. Angered, Alex refuses and activates the pager to summon Centauri to remove the impostor. But a Zando-Zan, an alien assassin sent by Xur, appears and tries to kill Alex and Beta (as he looks and sounds just like Alex). During the resulting chase, Centauri arrives and kills the assassin, but is seriously wounded himself. Beta and Centauri warn Alex that more assassins are on the way, so Alex might as well become a Starfighter to at least have his ship’s firepower at his disposal against the enemy.
With this new understanding, Alex agrees to return. However, upon returning to Rylos he finds the remains of the Starfighter base. What’s worse is that Centauri dies just after landing, leaving Alex alone on that world with Grig his only friend. After getting Alex suited up in Starfighter gear, Grig places him in the gunnery chair of an experimental prototype Gunstar. Grig is the Navigator who flies the ship, and Alex is the gunner. Alex is initially delighted that the controls are just like the arcade game he mastered, but then horrified to learn that all the other Starfighters and Gunstars were destroyed in Xur’s attack. The battle will be “One Gunstar against the armada.”
Shortly after a few practice runs with drones, they reach the Frontier and encounter real enemies, but Alex is having difficulty accepting the realities of actual combat. Despite their victory in a short dogfight, it is clear Alex is either unwilling or unable to handle the realities of mortal danger. A disheartened Grig offers to take him home where he should live happily, until the Ko-Dan inevitably attack his planet. Faced with this stark situation, and faced with another Xurian ambush, Alex finds the will to fight. They prepare a strategy for the impending armada.
Meanwhile on Earth, Beta is still having a difficult time trying to fill in for Alex. He is failing at Alex’s job as the trailer park’s repairman, ruining Alex’s relationship with girlfriend Maggie Gordon (Catherine Mary Stewart), and has several near misses with Alex’s younger brother, Louis (Chris Hebert) almost discovering his secret. Beta also discovers another assassin has landed. He’s not sure what he’ll look like as Zando-Zans can metamorph to look like regular people. The assassin discovers that Beta isn’t Alex and rushes back to his ship to alert Xur. Beta is destroyed as he successfully interrupts the assassin’s transmitted warning that the last Starfighter is on duty. Xur and the Ko-Dan Fleet Commander Krill receive an incomplete message which they assume must have been to confirm his kill of Alex. This lulls Xur and the Ko-Dan into a false sense of security, and they proceed with their invasion, having made a big enough hole in the Frontier to get their huge command ship through.
Alex and Grig use a nearby asteroid for cover while the Ko-Dan fleet passes. Their plan is to hit the Command Ship from behind and destroy the communications turret, blinding the Ko-Dan deck fighters’ ability to act as one and thus impairing their fighting ability. The plan is a success, the turret is destroyed, and the Gunstar takes on the massed squadrons of fighters. However, as the battle reaches a fevered pitch, the Gunstar’s weapons are depleted. In a desperate move, Alex triggers the Gunstar’s secret weapon, the “Death Blossom”, a weapon system that fires all the Gunstar’s weapons in every direction in one spinning attack. With all the deck fighters destroyed, only the Command Ship remains. They cripple it, sending it crashing into the moon Galon. Xur, however gets to an escape pod to fight another day.
At the victory celebration on Rylos, Centauri reappears having come out of what was actually his dormant regenerative state. While Alex is being proclaimed Rylos’ savior, Enduran informs him that the Frontier is still vulnerable and Xur is still at large. He then asks Alex to stay on Rylos and aid in rebuilding the Starfighter Legion.
Alex returns to Earth again, and lands in the trailer park openly in his Gunstar. He explains to his family and friends where he was while Beta was among them and reveals that he has decided to return to Rylos to rebuild and defend the Frontier. With the blessing of her grandmother (played by Meg Wyllie), Alex’s girlfriend, Maggie Gordon goes with him.
The story ends with Alex’s younger brother Louis preparing to play the Starfighter game, hoping to join Alex one day in the Star League.

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

An alien botanist becomes stranded on Earth after a chase from government agents. Elliott discovers the alien in his garden, and despite his brother and his friends’ taunts, he manages to lure the alien into his house with Reese’s Pieces. Before going to bed, he notices E.T. imitating his movements. The next day, he feigns illness and introduces it to his older brother Michael and his younger sister Gertie, managing to avoid the watchful eye of their mother Mary. E.T. shows remarkable telekinetic powers, creating an image of his home solar system by levitating balls and healing a dead plant. In the meantime, authorities investigate around the town.

At school Elliott begins to experience a psychic connection with E.T., as he becomes drunk, frees the frogs from a dissection class and kisses a girl in the manner of The Quiet Man which E.T. watches on TV. Elliott is promptly sent to the Principal’s office. E.T. learns to speak English from the TV and instructs Elliott to help him build a device to contact his people to bring him home. Elliott cuts his finger while constructing the device but E.T. heals it with a touch of his glowing finger. At Halloween E.T. and Elliott leave to the forest to make the call, where E.T. makes their bicycle fly. But when Elliott wakes up E.T. is gone, and Michael runs to find the alien dying. As Mary sees both E.T. and Elliott ill, she becomes frightened, at which point government agents invade their home.

The scientists set up a medical facility in the house as scientists hospitalize the two, finding their psychic connection. The link soon disappears as E.T. apparently dies. Elliott is left alone with the motionless alien, at which point E.T. revives, revealing that his space-faring companions are returning for him. Elliott gets Michael to steal the car the supposedly dead E.T. is loaded into, and a chase soon ensues. The two boys meet up with Michael’s friends and escape on their bikes, which fly thanks to E.T.’s powers. The boys reach the spaceship, and Mary, Gertie and Keys, a government agent, show up. E.T. gives Eliott a tearful goodbye, and the alien leaves in his spaceship, though he promises “I’ll be right here” as he points to Eliott’s heart.

Production
See also: Night Skies
Spielberg had filled a void in his childhood following his parents’ divorce with the story of an alien coming into his life. Spielberg said that E.T. was “a friend who could be the brother I never had and a father that I didn’t feel I had anymore.”[5] During filming of Raiders of the Lost Ark Spielberg related to Melissa Mathison a project he was developing with John Sayles called Night Skies, about malevolent aliens who terrorize a farm family and Mathison was very moved by a subplot involving the family’s young son and one of the more friendly aliens. Spielberg then commissioned Mathison to write a script, and she wrote a first draft in eight weeks which Spielberg considered perfect.[2]
E.T. was designed by Carlo Rambaldi, who previously created aliens for Spielberg on Close Encounters of the Third Kind and both decided to make the character unique with an extendable neck. Rambaldi was inspired by his past painting Women of Delta in the facial characteristics of the alien,[2] as well as the faces of Carl Sandburg, Albert Einstein and Ernest Hemingway.[6] Four E.T. heads and three bodies were created for the character: one the main animatronic, the second for facial expressions and the third a costume.[6] The finished character was created in three months and Spielberg called it “something only a mother could love”.[2]
E.T. was filmed on location at 7121 Lonzo Street, Tujunga, California,[7] as well as at Northridge, California, a redwood forest near Crescent City and at a high school and Laird International Studios in Culver City.[8] E.T. was shot in 61 days, four ahead of schedule,[9] and was a secretive production, lensing under the title A Boy’s Life.[8]
Spielberg shot the film in roughly chronological order to get convincing emotional performances from his cast. For example, Robert MacNaughton first saw the character on set in the same scene Michael does. This caused MacNaughton to jump back and cause the shelves to fall over.[4] Spielberg also made sure the puppeteers kept away from the set, to maintain the illusion of a “real” alien, and for the first time in his career Spielberg did not storyboard most of the film in order to allow spontaneity in the performances.[9] Dee Wallace personally never thought of E.T. as a puppet, but simply a person.[2] Stylistically, the film is shot so adults bar Wallace could rarely be seen from the waist up, a tribute to the cartoons of Tex Avery.[2]
A notable deleted scene from the film had Harrison Ford as Eliott’s principal, with his face unseen. The scene featured Eliott being told off for his behavior in the science class, and humorously saw Eliott’s chair being levitated while E.T. was also levitating his “phone” equipment up the staircase with Gertie.[2] At the time of the film’s release, Ford was married to screenwriter Melissa Mathison.
Longtime Spielberg collaborator John Williams composed the score for E.T. Uniquely, Spielberg allowed Williams to score the music for the final chase as written, and he edited the sequence to suit it

Indiana Jones

Dr. Henry “Indiana” Jones, Jr. (also known as Indy), is a fictional professor, archaeologist, and adventurer – the main protagonist of the 1981 adventure film Raiders of the Lost Ark (later retitled Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark), its prequel Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and sequel, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Jones is notable for his trademark bullwhip, fedora, leather jacket, and extreme fear of snakes.
The character is most famously played by Harrison Ford; however he has also been portrayed by River Phoenix (Phoenix played the young Indiana in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade), Corey Carrier, Sean Patrick Flanery, and George Hall (The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles).
In addition to his film and television appearances, the character has been featured in novels, comics, video games, and other media. A fourth film was recently announced (once again starring Ford), and is expected to be released worldwide Thursday, May 22nd, 2008, with filming taking place throughout 2007. Sean Connery and Cate Blanchett have both been mentioned in connection with the project.

Origins
Indiana Jones is modeled after the strong-jawed heroes of the matinee serials and pulp magazines that George Lucas and Steven Spielberg enjoyed in their childhoods (such as the Republic Pictures serials, and the Doc Savage series). The two friends first discussed the project in Hawaii during the time of release of the first Star Wars film.[1] Spielberg told Lucas how he wanted to direct a James Bond film – Lucas responded that he “had something better than that”.[1]
The character was originally named Indiana Smith; however Spielberg disliked the name, and Lucas casually suggested “Indiana Jones” as an alternative.[1] Indiana was the name of an Alaskan malamute Lucas owned in the 1970s (the same dog was also the inspiration for Chewbacca).[1] His name is also a reference to the character “Nevada Smith,” played by Steve McQueen in the 1966 film of the same name

Casting
During an intensive casting process, Lucas and Spielberg auditioned many actors, including Nick Mancuso, Peter Coyote (who would later star in E.T. for Spielberg in 1982), and Tim Matheson[2]. Actor Nick Nolte (who had previously been considered by Lucas whilst casting Han Solo) was offered the role, but turned it down[2]. Finally the duo cast[1] then little-known actor Tom Selleck as Indiana Jones, and pre-production began in earnest on Raiders of the Lost Ark.
However, CBS refused to release Selleck from his contractual commitment to the television show Magnum, P.I. (which, whilst very early in its run, was gradually gaining momentum in the ratings), forcing him to turn down the role. As a replacement, Spielberg suggested Harrison Ford; Lucas initially resisted the idea, allegedly since he had already cast the actor in three of his movies (American Graffiti, and the first two installments of the Star Wars series), and did not want Ford to become known as his “Bobby DeNiro” (in reference to the fact that fellow director Martin Scorsese regularly cast Robert DeNiro in his films). [1] However, after auditioning several other actors, Lucas finally capitulated and Ford was cast in the role – less than 3 weeks before principal photography began.

Costume and equipment
George Lucas obtained the services of comic book artist Jim Steranko to design the physical appearance of Indiana Jones[3]. Steranko delivered a number of paintings, which were used as a reference by the costume and set designers. The general appearance chosen was an amalgam of several characters – most notably treasure hunter Fred C. Dobbs (as played by Humphrey Bogart in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre), and adventurer Harry Steele (as played by Charlton Heston in Secret of the Incas[4]).
Upon requests by Spielberg and Lucas the costume designer was given the task to give the character a distinctive silhouette through the styling of the hat; after examining many hats, the designers chose a tall-crowned, wide-brimmed fedora, the Herbert Johnson Poet. Although other hats were also used throughout the movies, the general style and profile remained the same. Other elements of the outfit include:
The leather jacket – a variation on the famous A-2 bomber jacket, made by Wested Leather Co.
The bag – a modified Mark VII British gas mask bag.
The whip – a 10ft Bullwhip crafted by David Morgan (although different lengths were used in specific stunts)
The revolver – usually a World War I era revolver. Examples include the Webley Mk VI (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade), or a .45 ACP Smith & Wesson Hand Ejector 2nd model revolver (Raiders of the Lost Ark). He has also been seen using a M1917 revolver, and a 9mm Browning Hi-Power.[3]
The collection of props and clothing from the films has become a thriving hobby for aficionados of the franchise

Appearances
Main article: List of Indiana Jones appearances
Since his introduction in 1981‘s Raiders of the Lost Ark (later retitled on VHS and DVD box covers as Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark), the character of Indiana Jones has become a cultural icon.

Indiana Jones with his father Dr. Henry Jones, Sr. (portrayed by Sir Sean Connery).
He has made appearances in two more feature films, a three-season TV series, dozens of novels, comic books, video games, and even has his own amusement park ride.
The initial trilogy of theatrical films (starring Harrison Ford) comprised of:
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) – set in 1936, featuring a 37 year old Jones
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) – a prequel set in 1935
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) – a sequel set in 1938
In 1992 a television series named The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles was first produced; the series aired between 1992 to 1996, and featured a 17-year-old Jones (played by Sean Patrick Flanery), a 93-year-old Jones (George Hall), and a 10-year-old Jones (portrayed by Corey Carrier). The show chronicled the early portion of Jones’s life; it began with his childhood travels with his father, and carried through to the solo journeys of his youth, his activities during World War I, and beyond. The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles was originally conceived by Lucas as edutainment, a vehicle to educate children about key historical events and important individuals. To this end each episode features an appearance by an important historical figure of the time integrated into the story. In one of the later shows, Harrison Ford (whilst filming The Fugitive) briefly reprised the role of Jones in a cameo appearance.
The upcoming fourth Indiana Jones movie is in an advanced stage of pre-production, and is scheduled to be filmed in June 2007 for a May 22, 2008 release.[12] Numerous rumours have surrounded the film; however no story elements or casting choices have yet been confirmed by Lucasfilm.

Howard the Duck (1986)

In the film, Howard was brought to Cleveland by a laser experiment gone awry, which also summoned an evil alien spirit called a Dark Overlord of the Universe intent on destroying the Earth.
Besides Howard (who was portrayed by an assortment of stunt actors in a duck suit), the only character borrowed from the comic book was Beverly Switzler, though in this version she became a rock singer. The film was widely panned and was a box office bomb, but it renewed enough attention on the character for Marvel Comics to keep using the character on occasion. It also still gets television showings on RTL 2 and VOX in Germany, TVE2 in Spain and the occasional screening in the UK on satellite broadcasts.
The character of Beverly was originally offered to then-unknown singer Tori Amos, but the offer was retracted when Thompson expressed interest. At the time, Amos was the lead singer in a rock band.
Steve Gerber told Starlog that he liked it better than any other Howard the Duck script that he had not written. He has retracted this statement numerous times.
As for my comments at the time about the film script, well — to put it bluntly, I lied. I was hoping against hope that the script and the movie itself weren’t as bad as I thought they were. Or at least, that they wouldn’t be received as badly as I thought they would. I hated most of the movies coming out of Hollywood at the time, and the ones I hated most turned into box office blockbusters. I didn’t think my own tastes were a reliable indicator of what the public might want, so I tried to say nothing that would discourage people from seeing the film.Sadly, the HTD movie was one of the few instances in which my taste and the public’s coincided.

Ladyhawke (1985)

The film is set in medieval Europe. Phillipe “The Mouse” Gaston (Matthew Broderick), a peasant thief, is imprisoned in the dungeons of Aquila and set for execution for his petty crimes — but he escapes by crawling through the prison sewers to freedom. He makes a run for it into the countryside away from the city.
His escape comes to attention of the evil Bishop of Aquila (John Wood), who rules over his portion of France with an iron grip. The dungeons of Aquila are considered to be inescapable and so the Bishop fears that news of Phillipe’s escape could “ignite the flames of rebellion”. The Bishop sends his captain of the guard, Marquet (Ken Hutchinson), into the country to find Phillipe and kill him. Phillipe uses his cunning to survive a while, but is soon found by Marquet and several of the Bishop’s guards. As he is about to be killed, Phillipe is saved by a strange knight in black (Rutger Hauer), who is identified as Etienne Navarre. Navarre battles and defeats all the soldiers present, riding away with Phillipe. Marquet warns the Bishop of Navarre’s “return.”
Navarre, a quiet man who travels with a companion hawk, tells Phillipe that he intends to ride back to Aquila and use Phillipe’s unique knowledge to get inside the prison. Once inside, Navarre intends to kill the Bishop. Navarre reveals very little about his background or motivation. Phillipe refuses to return, but agrees only after Navarre passively threatens to kill him if he should decide otherwise. As the pair begin to take the long journey back to Aquila, Phillipe starts to notice that Navarre disappears at night, while a wolf seems to always be prowling in his absence. He also notices that the hawk disappears at nightfall, and a beautiful woman (Michelle Pfeiffer), Isabeau, manifests out of nowhere each evening.
Marquet’s men capture Phillipe one night and use him to find Navarre. They battle and Navarre manages to defeat the Bishop’s guards, but both he and the hawk are wounded by crossbow bolts. As the hawk barely clings to life, Navarre seems broken. Navarre looks to the sunset and orders Phillipe to travel down a nearby road to an old monk named Imperius (Leo McKern) who will “know what to do.” Phillipe finds Imperius, who heals the wounded hawk. Imperius then tells Phillipe a story that confirms what he already suspects. Years ago, Isabeau, a young French beauty, fell in love with Navarre, the captain of the guard. The Bishop saw Isabeau and fell in love with her but Isabeau “sensed his wickedness” and rejected his advances. Imperius reveals that in a drunken confession it was he who informed the Bishop of Isabeau’s love for Navarre. Enraged with jealousy, the Bishop made a pact with the Devil to place a transformation curse upon both the lovers, swearing that “if he could not have her, then no man would”. With the curse in effect, Isabeau becomes a hawk during the daytime while Navarre becomes a wolf during the night. They are eternally apart and only see each other for the briefest of moments during sunset and sunrise. Navarre later laments that while hawks and wolves mate for life, the Bishop did not even leave them that option.
Three of the Bishop’s guards arrive the next day and storm Imperius’ castle. Phillipe manages to get Isabeau away but they are both trapped by the guards on top of a tower. Navarre arrives in human form to save Imperius, Phillipe and Isabeau (who is now a hawk). Imperius says that he has a found a way to break the curse, explaining that in three days, there will be a “day without a night. A night without a day.” During that brief moment, he and Isabeau will both be in their human forms, and must confront the bishop together as man and woman to break the curse. Navarre refuses to accept Imperius’ suggestion as the monk had already betrayed Isabeau and Navarre before when he told the Bishop of their love.
Meanwhile, the Bishop concocts a plan. As he seems unable to kill Navarre in his human form, he instructs a hunter, Cezar (Alfred Molina), to trap wolves, hoping to actually kill Navarre during the night when he is in his wolf form. He is instructed to look for a black wolf. Isabeau sees the wolf pelts on Cezar’s horse and she rides into the forest to save Navarre from Cezar’s deadly traps. She sneaks behind Cezar with a dagger in her hand, but before she can kill him, Navarre enters the scene in his wolf form. Cezar sees the black wolf, but before he can get to Navarre, Isabeau kicks him to the floor and he falls into one of his own traps and is killed.
Phillipe tells Isabeau of Imperius’ plan. Phillipe, Isabeau and Imperius develop a plan to trap Navarre when he is in his wolf form so that they can prevent him from killing the Bishop before the day that Imperius has told him to confront him on, the “day without a night”. Phillipe and Imperius dig a hole to trap the wolf in while Isabeau tries to summon him, but before Navarre can reach the trap he falls through the ice crossing the river. Phillipe jumps into the water to save him. The next morning, Isabeau in her human form awakes alongside the wolf in the hole that they had dug to trap him in. The sun rises and Navarre transforms into a human. The two lovers see each other, but before they can reach out to touch one another, Isabeau transforms into a hawk. Navarre learns that Phillipe saved his life, and he finally agrees to follow Imperius’ plan.
Navarre and company continue on and reach Aquila. Navarre is still skeptical about Imperius’ “night without a day, day without a night” theory, but Imperius’ says that he must confront the Bishop now or the curse will never be broken. Navarre orders the monk to kill the hawk should he not return in a certain time period, for this will likely mean his quest has ended in death and he will then meet Isabeau again in the afterlife. Using Phillipe’s knowledge of the prison inner workings, Navarre enters the cathedral during service and defeats Marquet in combat. Just as he is about to kill the seemingly defenseless bishop, Navarre looks outside and sees the eclipse, the “day without a night, a night without a day”. Navarre realizes that Imperius was right, however, the time period for him to return is over and so he assumes that Isabeau is already dead, whether the spell actually could be broken or not. Navarre is set to kill the bishop when Isabeau walks in — appearing in human form. Everyone present is awestruck. By looking at the both of them, the Bishop breaks the curse and the lovers are freed. The enraged Bishop’s anger begins to show and he arms his spear, but before he can attack, Navarre launches his sword at him and the corrupt Bishop is impaled onto his altar. Navarre and Isabeau embrace in the cathedral, while Phillipe and Imperius feel proud of their work in the adventure.

Filming locations
Layhawke was filmed in Italy, principally in the Province of L’Aquila, as well as in the provinces of Parma and Cremona. Castles include Torrechiara, Fontanellato, Bacedasco and Castell’Arquato. Some of the exterior scenes were shot in Campo Imperatore, a high plain adjacent to the Apennines’ highest peak, and at the ancient ruin of Rocca Calascio, both in the Province of L’Aquila and within Italy’s Gran Sasso National Park. Other locations include Rocca Sforzesca in Soncino in the Province of Cremona.

Runaway (1984)

Typically for a Crichton work, this movie deals with how technology can have devastating and sinister consequences. Runaway is set in the near future, where robots have become commonplace and a part of everyday life. Sgt. Jack R. Ramsay (Selleck) is a member of a special division of the police force which deals with robots which go haywire, or become “runaways”.
Ramsay stumbles upon integrated circuit templates for killer robots. Dr. Charles Luther (Simmons) is the mastermind developing an army of homicidal robots which use the circuits. Luther not only developed the deadly templates, but can seem to tap into any computer network and turn them to his advantage.
With his new partner, Karen Thompson (Rhodes), Ramsay attempts to track down Luther and apprehend him. Their attempts are continually foiled, however, by Luther’s army of insidious robots. His small “spider” robots can get into almost any facility and can climb almost any surface, so they can easily hide before attacking their intended victims – and the spiders are just one variety of robot assassin.
Eventually Ramsay makes a deal with Luther to turn over the templates by meeting him at the top of an unfinished skyscraper. Through luck and quick thinking, Ramsay is able to trick Luther’s spider robots into turning on their creator, killing him.

In & Out (1997)

Howard Brackett (Kevin Kline), an English literature teacher living a quiet life in Greenleaf, Indiana and his fiancée, fellow teacher Emily (Joan Cusack). Amid eager anticipation in his hometown, a former student of Brackett’s, Cameron Drake (Matt Dillon), who has achieved Hollywood stardom, is nominated for an Academy Award. Cameron does indeed win the Best Actor award, beating Clint Eastwood and other established stars for playing a heroic gay soldier, and in his acceptance speech, finally thanks Brackett, adding, “…and he’s gay!” Howard’s parents, friends and fiancée are naturally shocked, but that is nothing compared to Howard’s own reaction, which is one of disbelief and indignation, as he angrily tries to reassure those who know him that he is a heterosexual, while reporters invade his hometown, harassing him for interviews when he shows up for school. One of them even seems to have a personal interest in him: Peter Malloy (Tom Selleck), himself gay, is visibly delighted with Howard’s repeated but in the end unsuccessful attempts to turn things back to “normal”. After Howard’s final measure, an audio cassette that is supposed to restore his “manliness”, fails, he finally accepts the truth about himself, and cancels his wedding just in time for Emily to race off with Cameron Drake, who had a crush on her in high school. Howard is fired from the school but goes to the graduation ceremony. When the students learn that he was dismissed for being gay, they proclaim themselves, one by one, to be gay themselves. Howard’s family follows suit, as do his friends, and all the townsfolk assembled.

The Secret of My Succe$s (1987)

Fox plays Brantley Foster, a recent college grad from Kansas State University, who moves to New York City to start a new financing job. However, the company where he is supposed to work was taken over by another corporation, and he gets immediately laid off.
After several unsuccessful attempts to get another job, he ends up working in the mailroom of his Uncle Howard Prescott’s (Jordan) company, Pemrose. Pemrose was actually founded by his father-in-law, and he got the ownership of the company only because he was married to Vera Pemrose (Whitton).
Foster, after looking at company reports, realizes that a lot of executives are not making effective decisions that benefit the company. Noticing that there is an empty office in the building due to a firing, Foster pretends to be a company executive using the alias Carlton Whitfield.
Aside from his conflicts at handling two jobs (mailboy and executive) with having to strip himself to switch between jobs, Foster also falls head over heels for Christy Wills (Slater), a financial wizard who graduated Harvard. At the same time, he cannot stop his Aunt Vera from hitting on him (they’re not related by blood). Meanwhile, his uncle (without Foster’s knowledge) has been having an affair with Wills and has asked her to spy on Whitfield (though Wills retracts and falls for Carlton, not knowing he is Brantley). The Pemrose company is in the process of being taken over by the Davenport company, and Uncle Howard (unware that Whitfield is Foster) believes Whitfield may be a spy for Davenport. In the end, Foster and Vera buy enough company stock to own the company. Vera finds out that her husband was cheating on her and fires (as well as divorces) him. Foster and Wills begin to date as well.

Doc Hollywood (1991)

Doc Hollywood is a 1991 comedy film based on the book “What? Dead again?” by Neil Shulman M.D. Doc Hollywood stars Michael J. Fox as Benjamin Stone, a hotshot young doctor, whose cross-country drive to become a Beverly Hills cosmetic surgeon is interrupted when he crashes in the rural hamlet of Grady, South Carolina, and penalized to serve 32 hours of community service at the local hospital. Since their idiosyncratic local physician is retiring, Dr. Stone is urged by the folksy locals to stay–an offer made tempting by his romance with Vilula (Julie Warner), a law student. The film features popular song “Crazy” by Patsy Cline. The opening credits features “The One and Only” by Chesney Hawkes.

Mannequin (1987)

McCarthy plays Jonathan Switcher, a struggling artist who goes from one dead-end job to another. This all changes when a mannequin (Cattrall) he created for a department store window comes magically to life. The mannequin was actually once Ema Hesire, a real-life princess from ancient Egypt. Her beauty and love inspires Switcher to become the best window dresser in town. Of course, there is intrigue involving a rival department store’s attempt to drive the heroes out of business, and together the two star-crossed lovers must outwit the store’s bumbling security guard, the rival store’s scheming executives, and others intent on the store’s demise.
The story has a subplot: in order to regain full status as a real life person, the mannequin must find true love, first. The film is often mistaken to be a remake of the 1948 classic One Touch of Venus, starring Robert Walker and Ava Gardner.