Charles Parker Movies

The first major breakdancing film, Breakin' stars Lucinda Dickey as a dancing student who dislikes the hidebound regimen of her demanding teacher. She breaks free from terpischorean tradition when she befriends a bunch of street kids devoted to breakdancing. Within a year of its release, Breakin' spawned a sequel, Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dale Wasserman's long-running Broadway smash comes to the screen in this musical based on Miguel de Cervantes' classic satire Don Quixote de la Mancha. Cervantes (Peter O'Toole) is arrested and put in prison by the soldiers of the Spanish Inquisition after staging a comic performance which mocked the Spanish government. Cervantes' fellow inmates are eager to divvy up his belongings, but the author is desperate to save a manuscript of his latest work; in order to win the prisoners over, he stages, with their assistance, his latest comedy about the delusional knight Don Quixote (O'Toole). Don Quixote, with the help of his loyal manservant Sancho Panza (James Coco), is determined to battle evil, though he most often finds himself combating windmills. Don Quixote encounters the beautiful virgin Dulcinea -- personified by a jailed prostitute, Aldonza (Sophia Loren) -- and is certain he has found the love of his life. However, tragedy befalls Don Quixote when a band of savages rape Dulcinea as he sleeps, and he must decide where his greatest loyalty lies when his niece Antonia (Julie Gregg) arrives, asking Quixote to please return home to his family. In a move which was widely criticized at the time of the film's release, Peter O'Toole's singing voice was dubbed for most of his musical numbers, while Sophia Loren did all of her own vocal tracks. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The logic behind inflating Robert Bolt's minimalist romantic drama Ryan's Daughter into a 12-million-dollar epic seems to have been "When David Lean directs, it's a super-spectacular." Sarah Miles (who at the time was married to Robert Bolt) stars as Rosy, the daughter of Irish pub keeper Tom Ryan (Leo McKern). Married to tweedy, sexless schoolmaster Charles Shaughnessy (Robert Mitchum), restless Rosy has an affair with British officer Randolph Doryan (Christopher Jones). When village idiot Michael (an Oscar-winning turn by John Mills) innocently uncovers evidence of Rosy's indiscretion, the local gossips begin wagging their tongues. Shaughnessy chooses to remain above the scandal, assuming that Rosy will come to her senses. Later, Rosy's father informs on a group of IRA insurgents, hoping to keep the peace in his village. The locals assume that Rosy, still enamored of Doryan, is the informer, and exact a humiliating punishment. Realizing that his very presence has caused disgrace for Rosy, Doryan kills himself. For Rosy and Shaughnessy, life goes on...not happily ever after, just ever after. The film was lensed on location in Ireland by frequent Lean collaborator Freddie Young. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In Guy Green's adaptation of John Fowles's acclaimed second novel, Michael Caine plays Nicholas Urfe, an English schoolteacher evading serious romantic commitment with stewardess Anne (Godard muse Anna Karina). As a last resort, Urfe escapes the clutches of his paramour by accepting a professorship on the Greek island of Phraxos, and, upon arrival, promptly discovers that his predecessor committed suicide. Via a clue left behind in the room of the deceased, Urfe soon encounters Conchis (Anthony Quinn), an impresario/psychic/black magician/filmmaker who may have been responsible for the former professor's death, and who twists Urfe's mind and perceptions, while subtly leading the young man down the path to higher consciousness. Urfe also discovers the radiant Lily (Candice Bergen), a Diana-like figure (and possibly a literal goddess incarnation), with whom he becomes instantly smitten - and who just happens to be Conchis's lover.

~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Joseph Conrad's cerebral, philosophical novel Lord Jim is streamlined and simplified by producer/director/writer Richard Brooks for the action-and-adventure crowd. Peter O'Toole plays the first officer of a tramp steamer, who, during a hurricane, cravenly abandons ship, leaving the passengers to drown. Disgraced, O'Toole seeks out ways to redeem himself--not only in the eyes of the British maritime commission, but in his own eyes. He signs on to deliver a shipment of dynamite to a tribe of natives somewhere in the uncharted Orient. He also joins the natives' fight against feudal warlord Eli Wallach, hoping perhaps to die in their service, thus purging himself from shame (and, in true Messianic fashion, becoming a martyr in the process). Despite the impressive star lineup of O'Toole, Wallach, Jack Hawkins, Curt Jurgens and Paul Lukas, most press coverage went to leggy leading lady Daliah Lavi--including the 1964 Saturday Evening Post article about the making of Lord Jim, written by Richard Brooks himself. Filmed in Cambodia and Hong Kong, Lord Jim isn't precisely the Conrad novel, but fans weaned on O'Toole's Lawrence of Arabia will be satisfied. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A woman has to choose between the rich man she wants and the bohemian type who loves her in this comedy. Michele O'Brien (Leslie Caron) is a young widow raising a baby in Greenwich Village. She's decided that her child needs a father, and she determines that her best bet as a prospective mate is Dr. Phillip Brock (Robert Cummings), a well-heeled child psychologist. The only trouble is, Phillip doesn't like children very much, so Michele tries to keep her baby a secret from him. Michele's upstairs neighbor, Harley Rummell (Warren Beatty), is in love with her and is more than happy to baby-sit; however, Harley makes his living shooting nudie films in his flat, and when the baby begins making cameo appearances in the films, Michele starts wondering if Harley might be a bad influence on the tyke. William Peter Blatty, later to write the best-selling novel The Exorcist, penned the screenplay. Keep an eye peeled for a young Donald Sutherland in a bit part. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This sweeping, highly literate historical epic covers the Allies' mideastern campaign during World War I as seen through the eyes of the enigmatic T. E. Lawrence (Peter O'Toole, in the role that made him a star). After a prologue showing us Lawrence's ultimate fate, we flash back to Cairo in 1917. A bored general staffer, Lawrence talks his way into a transfer to Arabia. Once in the desert, he befriends Sherif Ali Ben El Kharish (Omar Sharif, making one of the most spectacular entrances in movie history) and draws up plans to aid the Arabs in their rebellion against the Turks. No one is ever able to discern Lawrence's motives in this matter: Prince Feisal (Alec Guinness) dismisses him as yet another "desert-loving Englishman," and his British superiors assume that he's either arrogant or mad. Using a combination of diplomacy and bribery, Lawrence unites the rival Arab factions of Feisal and Auda Abu Tayi (Anthony Quinn). After successfully completing his mission, Lawrence becomes an unwitting pawn of the Allies, as represented by Gen. Allenby (Jack Hawkins) and Dryden (Claude Rains), who decide to keep using Lawrence to secure Arab cooperation against the Imperial Powers. While on a spying mission to Deraa, Lawrence is captured and tortured by a sadistic Turkish Bey (Jose Ferrer). In the heat of the next battle, a wild-eyed Lawrence screams "No prisoners!" and fights more ruthlessly than ever. Screenwriters Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson used T. E. Lawrence's own self-published memoir The Seven Pillars of Wisdom as their principal source, although some of the characters are composites, and many of the "historical" incidents are of unconfirmed origin. Two years in the making (you can see O'Toole's weight fluctuate from scene to scene), the movie, lensed in Spain and Jordan, ended up costing a then-staggering $13 million and won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. The 1962 Royal Premiere in London was virtually the last time that David Lean's director's cut was seen: 20 minutes were edited from the film's general release, and 15 more from the 1971 reissue. This abbreviated version was all that was available for public exhibition until a massive 1989 restoration, at 216 minutes that returned several of Lean's favorite scenes while removing others with which he had never been satisfied. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

One major film star referred to director Nicholas Ray as a "loser," because of Ray's alleged willingness to let his more temperamental actors walk all over him. Evidently, Ray had a very compliant and cooperative cast in King of Kings, inasmuch as the film emerged as one of the most disciplined Biblical epics ever made. Jeffrey Hunter is cast as Jesus Christ, delivering a wholly credible performance in this most taxing of roles (never mind the wags who referred to the film as "I Was a Teenage Jesus"). Siobhan McKenna is a radiant if somewhat overaged Mary; Hurd Hatfield offers a properly preening Pontius Pilate; Rip Torn portrays Judas more for the tragedy than the treachery; Robert Ryan (a personal favorite of Ray's) is one of the best John the Baptists you're ever likely to see; and Harry Guardino convincingly interprets Barabbas as a firebrand political extremist. The only false note in the casting is the MGM-dictated selection of teenaged Brigid Bazlen as Salome. The best aspect of the film is its handling of the days after the Resurrection; the "Jesus sightings" are offered as secondhand information, so as to retain some of the mystery inherent in the Scriptures. King of Kings was previously filmed in 1927 by Cecil B. DeMille, with a middle-aged H.B. Warner as Jesus. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

First filmed in 1934 with Norma Shearer, Fredric March and Charles Laughton, Rudolf Bessier's stage hit The Barretts of Wimpole Street was lavishly remade in CinemaScope and Metrocolor in 1957. This time around, Jennifer Jones stars as the beautiful invalid Elizabeth Barrett, who lives under the despotic rule of her Victorian-era father Edward Moulton Barrett (John Gielgud). Literally swept off her feet by dashing, romantic poet Robert Browning (Bill Travers), Elizabeth's hopes for happiness are dashed by her autocratic, implicitly incestuous father until Browning takes decisive action. Virginia McKenna, wife of star Bill Travers, plays Elizabeth's rebellious sister Henrietta. The Barretts of Wimpole Street was the final directorial effort of Sidney Franklin, who also helmed the 1934 version. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

MGM's first CinemaScope production was the lavishly appointed Knights of the Round Table. Without overlapping into any copyrighted material (specifically T.H. White's The Once and Future King), the film spins a lucid account of the King Arthur legend. The good king is played by Mel Ferrer, while Queen Guenevere is essayed by Ava Gardner. Arthur's efforts to create a perfect society in Camelot are compromised when Guenevere falls in love with trusted knight Sir Lancelot (Robert Taylor). The ambitious Mordred (Stanley Baker) uses his knowledge of the Queen's indiscretion to destroy both Camelot and King Arthur's round table. Most of the story material in Knights of the Round Table is lifted from Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A novel by Francis Brett Young and its theatrical adaptation by John Perry were the sources for the even-keeled melodrama A Man About the House. Handsome Italian laborer Kieron Moore works as caretaker of the Neopolitan villa inherited by plain-Jane Englishwomen Margaret Johnston and Dulcie Gray. Johnston is swept off her feet by the raffishly charming Moore, and before long they are wed. Their connubial bliss lasts just long enough for Moore to poison his bride; the villa had once belonged to his family, and he's willing to use any means to get it back. Though it seems as if Moore has committed the perfect crime, Dulcie joins forces with doctor Guy Middleton to prove that Moore murdered Johnston. Since the villa fronts a vertigo-inducing clifftop, it is inevitable that someone will topple into the ocean with a piercing scream. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide