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After supporting turns in Jonathan Demme’s WWII homefront comedy-drama “Swing Shift” (1984) and the innocuous teen farce “Secret Admirer” (1985), he landed a couple of lead roles in films that failed to catch on with the public. The one that you have probably heard of is “Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins” (1985), a film that was meant to launch a new franchise based on the Destroyer pulp novel series co-created by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir. Ward played the lead, a tough Brooklyn cop who is recruited by a clandestine US organization, renamed Remo Williams and trained in the deadly arts by Korean martial arts master Chiun, played by, of all people, Joel Grey. Okay, so perhaps certain aspects of the film have not aged particularly well over the years but the film, directed by one-time James Bond helmer Guy Hamilton, was still a sturdy action film (the action set piece set atop the Statue of Liberty is a standout) and Ward does a good job of handling both the straightforward action stuff and the lighter byplay between Remo and Chiun. Alas, for whatever reason, the final film just did not catch on with the general public, though it would go on to develop a cult following over the years thanks to repeated airings on cable television.
The one you most like haven’t hear of is “UFOria” and if I can hope for this article to do but just one thing, it would be to help point more people in the direction of this absolute charmer. (You can currently find it on YouTube, for example.) Written and directed by John Binder, the film features War as small-time con man Sheldon Bart and as the story opens, he has reunited with an old friend and fellow con man, Brother Bud (Harry Dean Stanton), who is now posing as a faith healer and seems to have genuinely developed the power to heal. While helping Bud, he meets and falls in love with Arlene (Cindy Williams), a religious grocery clerk with a genuine belief in aliens who is convinced that they will soon be visited by a UFO. While Bud tries t exploit her belief by using it to inspire a money-making cult, Sheldon tries to protect her while at the same time come to terms with both his life and the possibility that there is indeed life outside of our planet.
Now doesn’t that sound like a fairly intriguing premise for a movie to you. Hell, I would submit that just the existence of a film top lining the likes of Ward, Stanton and Williams would make it something to seek out regardless of what it was about. Happily, the film proved to be an absolute delight with a lot of offbeat humor, some thoughtful moments to boot and spirited performances from the three leads—if you liked the films of Jonathan Demme like “Melvin and Howard” and “Citizens Band,” this is a film right up your alley. Unhappily, Universal, who produced the film in 1981, lost faith in it and put it on a shelf until a good reception at a 1984 film festival inspired them to give it a brief release the next year, albeit without any ad support. Despite receiving glowing reviews, it quickly disappeared and, save for a brief VHS release in 1987, has remained maddeningly obscure, at least in part because of the expense of licensing the songs featured on the soundtrack. However, if you ever get a chance to see the film—again, I would like to stress that it is on YouTube—you must take it and you can thank me later.
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