Alan Weeks

Brighton Beach Memoirs -- Neil Simons' hilarious adaptation of his Broadway hit about growing up in Brooklyn during the late 1930's.

The French Connection -- New York City detectives Popeye Doyle (Gene Hackman) and Buddy Russo (Roy Scheider) hope to break a narcotics smuggling ring and ultimately uncover The French Connection. But when one of the criminals tries to kill Doyle, he begins a deadly pursuit that takes him far outside the city limits. Based on a true story, this action-filled thriller, with its renowned chase scene, won five Academy Awards in 1971, including Best Picture, Best Director (William Friedkin) and Best Actor for Hackman.

Issac Hayes, bald, black and bad, stars as a modern day bounty hunter who works for a Bail Bondsman. Hayes and his partner are approached by a white bondsman who begs them to trace a strong-arm pimp who has skipped bail. In the hunt and chase the pimp is killed, but his girlfriend takes out a contract on Hayes with a local mobster.

Fifteen-year-old Eugene Jerome is desperately trying to uncover life's mysteries, but his family keeps hiding the clues. Even so, he manages to keep his priorities - baseball and girls - firmly in order throughout Neil Simon's hilarious adaptation of his Broadway hit about growing up in Brooklyn during the late 1930's. Life is definitely never dull with seven people living under the same roof. Dad works two jobs to make ends meet, older brother Stanley is eager to dispense sage advice and Aunt Blanche tries to cope as a single parent. Brighton Beach Memoirs is a wonderful, semi-autobiographical comedy with heart, wit and hysterical insights into family life and growing up - just a little off-center.