John Amos

He Brings The Jungle To The Gym! Get on track with Disney's hilarious offbeat comedy starring Jan-Michael Vincent (TV's Airwolf) and Tim Conway - now on Disney DVD. Coach Archer (John Amos) is more famous for losing than winning, but a fateful African safari with his wacky assistant (Conway) leads them to a boy wonder named Nanu (Vincent) - who just might give them a winning streak. Coaxing him to America is one thing, but the laughs never stop when Nanu meets Jane, fame, and brings the jungle to the gym on his way to becoming the World's Greatest Athlete.

Half of the characters in this 1988 John Landis potboiler seem to be played either by Eddie Murphy or costar Arsenio Hall, swaddled in elaborate Rick Baker makeup appliances that render them unrecognizable but also weirdly immobile. As a pampered African prince who journeys incognito to Queens, New York, to find a bride who will love him just for himself, Murphy manages to look smug and naive at the same time.

Back in the day, when Richard Roundtree, Fred Williamson, Issac Hayes, and Pam Grier were stickin' it to the Man, Sidney Poitier and Bill Cosby collaborated on three buddy comedies that offered urban audiences an alternative to private dicks, sex machines, and bad muthas. The Uptown Saturday Nightstars re-team for an "outtasite" scam involving hypnosis, a hopeless beanpole boxer (Jimmie Good Times Walker), and two rival kingpins.

The plot for "Die Hard 2," which is more unsettling today than it was at the time, has a group of terrorists taking control of Dulles International Airport in Washington D.C in order to secure the release of a South American drug lord (Franco Nero) on his way to the United States for trial. If their demands are not met, they are going to start crashing the circling airplanes. Once again, John McClane (Willis) is in the wrong place at the wrong time, at the airport to pick up his wife, Holly (Bonnie Bedelia), who is on one of those circling airliners.