Paul Michael Glaser Movies
The possessor of a BA from Tulane University and an MA from Boston University, Paul Michael Glaser first appeared on a New York stage in Joseph Papp's 1968 production of Rockabye Hamlet.. Billed in the early stages of his career as Michael Glaser, he was featured on Broadway in The Man in the Glass Booth, in such films as Fiddler on the Roof (1971, as Perchik) and Butterflies are Free (1972) and on the TV soap operas Love is Many Splendored Thing and Love of Life. He reverted to his three-barreled name when cast as Detective David Starsky, one of two hotshot young police officers who jetted around an unnamed crime-ridden municipality in their bright red 1974 Ford Torino and attempted to wipe the streets clean of the criminal element, on the long-running (1975-79) TV cop series Starsky and Hutch.
After 1984, Glaser cut back sharply on his acting appearances to concentrate on directing such TV movies as Amazons and such theatrical features as The Running Man (1987), The Air Up There (1994) and Kazaam (1996), and episodes of series programs including The Agency, Judging Amy, Third Watch and Las Vegas. In 2003, Glaser landed a small role opposite Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton in Nancy Meyers's romantic comedy Something's Gotta Give. The following year, Warners released a tongue-in-cheek big screen cinematization of Starsky in which Ben Stiller played the character of David and Owen Wilson played his partner, Detective Ken Hutchinson. Glaser and longtime series co-star David Soul made cameo appearances at the end of the film, billed respectively as The Old Starsky and The Old Hutch.
In the late 1980s Glaser's life was torn apart by the most appalling of tragedies. As the result of a contaminated blood transfusion, his wife Elizabeth and their two children were infected with the HIV virus, and in 1988, their daughter Ariel died at age seven. Subsequently, Paul and Elizabeth became the most adamant, tireless, and omnipresent AIDS awareness activists in any profession. In 1988 the two helped found the Pediatric AIDS Foundation. Sadly, Elizabeth died in December of 1994. Since then, the Elizabeth Glaser Scientists Award was established to fund research into the AIDS virus. Glaser subsequently remarried producer/writer Tracy Barone in 1996; after a little over a decade together, the two filed for divorce. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
In keeping with the light and slick tones of her earlier film What Women Want, Nancy Meyers writes and directs the romantic comedy Something's Gotta Give. Jack Nicholson plays Harry Langer, a swinging sixtysomething entertainment executive surrounded by plenty of young girlfriends. His latest romance is young petite sophisticate Marin (Amanda Peet), who takes him to her mother's beach house in the Hamptons for a weekend fling. However, Marin's successful Broadway playwright mother Erica Barry (Diane Keaton) is already vacationing at the house with her sister Zoe (Frances McDormand). Marin and Harry stay anyway, and Harry ends up having a heart attack. He goes to the hospital and is looked after by thirtysomething doctor Julian Mercer (Keanu Reeves). Impressed by her writing, Dr. Mercer finds himself pursuing a romance with Erica. Because of his serious health condition, he orders Harry to stay near the hospital. While Marin returns to Manhattan, Erica agrees to stay on and look after Harry. Of course they are repulsed by each other at first, but they end up falling in love throughout the recovery process. Also starring Jon Favreau as Harry's assistant. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jack Nicholson, Diane Keaton, (more)
Based on a true crime story, the two-part TV movie And Never Let Her Go recounts the disappearance of Anne Marie Fahey in June of 1996, and the subsequent arrest and conviction of her accused murderer. Hired as a secretary by powerful Delaware attorney and gubernatorial aide, Thomas Capano (Mark Harmon), Anne Marie enters into a torrid and ofttimes abusive affair with her kinky boss. When Anne Marie's relatives report that she is missing, the governor of Delaware solicits the aid of the U.S. Department of Justice to solve the case. Although detective Frank Gugliatta (Paul Michael Glaser) and assistant U.S. attorney Colm Connolly (Steve Eckholdt) suspect that Capano has done away with Anne Marie, they are stymied by a lack of tangible proof...notably, the girl's body. It is not until Anne Marie's diary turns up in a most unexpected manner that Gugliatta and Connolly are able to fully act upon their suspicions -- and even then, the ultimate solution rests with the cooperation (or lack of same) of Capano's brother, Gerry (David Hewlett). Oscar winner Olympia Dukakis appears as Thomas Capano's formidable mother. Filmed in Toronto and told largely in flashback, And Never Let Her Go was originally telecast by CBS on April 1 and 4, 2001. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Mark Harmon, Rachel Ward, (more)
Being a lone young boy in the 'hood" is dangerous and unpleasant. This is what Max (Francis Capra) experiences when he fools a gang of local toughs who cornered him at school. The gang finds out that the key he gave them is of no value in committing a robbery, and they chase him through the streets of his neighborhood, bent on revenge. He tries to escape by slipping into the open door of an old warehouse, but they follow him there, too. While running from them through aisles filled with all kinds of stuff, he bumps into an old boom box. By doing that, he manages to release Kazaam (basketball great Shaquille O'Neal), a genie who has been held captive for thousands of years. In order to stay free, Kazaam must give Max three wishes. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Shaquille O'Neal, Francis Capra, (more)
It's off to Africa for a former B-ball player who'd like to find a top-notch basketball recruit to help him become a successful coach. Kevin Bacon has the lead in this Paul Glaser-directed film. ~ Rovi
- Starring:
- Kevin Bacon
Can a rough and tumble hockey player and a snooty ice dancer find love and a gold medal at the same time? That's the burning (or more appropriately freezing) question in this romantic drama. Kate Moseley (Moira Kelly) is a world-class figure skater training for the Olympics; she has genuine talent, but years of being spoiled by her wealthy family have made her all but impossible to work with. Doug Dorsey (D.B. Sweeney) is a hockey player with drive, skill, and a full complement of arrogance; his team is also on the fast track to the Olympics. Unfortunately, an eye injury suffered during a game affects Doug's peripheral vision enough to put him on the bench for the rest of the season. At the same time, Kate's colossal ego scares off yet another skating partner, and her coach, Anton (Roy Dotrice), needs to find a replacement as soon as possible. Desperate to stay in Olympic competition, Doug agrees to try working as Kate's partner, even though he has a hockey player's macho contempt for figure skating. Needless to say, the first few practices between Kate and Doug do not go well, but in time they learn to work together and become a pair to be reckoned with both on and off the ice. The Cutting Edge was released within a few months of the 1992 Winter Olympic Games. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- D.B. Sweeney, Moira Kelly, (more)
Directed by former Starsky and Hutch TV star Paul Michael Glaser, this post-apocalyptic science fiction yarn satirized American entertainment, mocking pro wrestling, game shows, and law-and-order reality programming. Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as Ben Richards, a cop in the totalitarian America of 2019, framed for massacring rioting civilians during a famine. After escaping from jail, Richards tries to prove his innocence, but his efforts are thwarted at every turn by a regime in need of a scapegoat. Richards is captured along with an innocent civilian, Amber Mendez (Maria Conchita Alonso), and they are forced to participate in a violent game show called "The Running Man," hosted by the unctuous Damon Killian (Richard Dawson). The object of the game for Richards and Mendez: obtain freedom by staying alive against a gauntlet of skillful assassins like "Subzero" (Prof. Toru Tanaka) and "Captain Freedom" (Jesse Ventura), each armed with unique weapons like razor-sharp hockey sticks and chainsaws. With the help of some fellow "contestants," Richards is able to tap into government computers and prove his innocence. The Running Man was very loosely based on a short story by Stephen King, who wrote it under the name Richard Bachman. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Conchita Alonso, (more)
- 1987
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This animated film introduces children to the story of Hanukkah and the many traditions surrounding this important holiday. In one way, this film is the story of a people struggling to preserve their identity in the face of a cruel world. In another, this film addresses the larger issue of the right to be different. Leonard Nimoy and Judd Hirsch are two of the voices children will hear. ~ Rob Ferrier, Rovi
Former Starsky and Hutch star Paul Michael Glaser warmed the director's chair for Band of the Hand. The film zeroes in on five juvenile delinquents who are plucked from their various detention facilities and unceremoniously dumped in the wilds of the Everglades. The boys begin to panic until hardcase Vietnam veteran Stephen Lang arrives. Lang explains that they've been paroled in his custody, and that it is his task to teach them how to work as a team in order to survive. The logic of this plan is to whip the boys into an elite vigilante unit, then sic them on the various drug dealers of America. The film features early performances by Lauren Holly and Larry Fishburne and Bob Dylan can be heard singing the title song. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Stephen Lang, Michael Carmine, (more)
- 1985
Detectives Crockett (Don Johnson) and Tubbs (Philip Michael Thomas) follow crooks north to New York in this premiere episode of Miami Vice's second season. ~ John Bush, Rovi
- 1984
This made-for-TV fantasy was directed by former Starsky and Hutch star Paul Michael Glaser. In one of her earliest roles, Madeleine Stowe plays Dr. Sharon Fields, who stumbles upon a secret plot by a covert organization of women to take over the world and execute all the men. The veteran cast of this silly timekiller includes cult favorites Stella Stevens, Tamara Dobson, and William Schallert, as well as more mainstream performers such as Peter Scolari, Nicholas Pryor, and Jennifer Warren. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi
- 1984
In this made-for-TV movie, a group of lonely, unattached people meet up in a local bar in search of love and friendship. ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi
- Starring:
- Shelley Hack, Paul Michael Glaser, (more)
- 1984
Attack on Fear was based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning series of newspaper articles by Dave and Cathy Mitchell. Paul Michael Glaser and Linda Kelsey play the Michaels, who labor away at a tiny California daily. Upon hearing of iniquities at the famed Santa Monica drug-rehab center Synanon, the Michaels begin publishing their evidence. Despite legal pressure from Synanon and bizarre anonymously mailed threats, the Mitchells' story results in a major investigation of the revered institution. Completed in 1982, the made-for-TV Attack on Fear was not telecast until October of 1984, and then only after (presumably) being reshaped to satisfy Synanon's battery of attorneys. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
This melodrama is the second of a two part story based on a novel by Judith Krantz. In this episode, Daisy, the daughter of a Russian prince and an American movie star, must leave college and begin looking for a job in New York so that she can pay her sister's enormous medical bills. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Lindsay Wagner, Paul Michael Glaser, (more)
- 1983
When his wife becomes the new family breadwinner, a football coach must learn the ins and outs of child care and housecleaning. ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi
- Starring:
- Paul Michael Glaser, Dee Wallace, (more)
- 1980
- R
In this grim horror movie, the only one ever made by director John Huston, patients from a psychiatrist's phobia group are being murdered in ways that reflect their deepest fears. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Paul Michael Glaser, John Colicos, (more)
- 1976
Made for television, The Great Houdinis tells the life story of famed American illusionist/escape-artist Harry Houdini and his wife Bess. Studiously avoiding covering the same ground as the 1953 Houdini theatrical-film biopic, director Mel Shavelson's script for Great Houdinis spends a great deal of time on the conflict between Harry's Catholic wife Bess and his Jewish mother. The spiritualism angle so important to the Houdini story allows the 1976 film to recreate Houdini's meetings with "true believer" Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Again departing from the 1953 Houdini, this later film does not end with Houdini's death from peritonitis in 1926; instead, we watch as the widowed Bess desperately tries to make contact with her husband in the "other world," all the while debunking phony mediums, just as her husband had done. Paul Michael Glaser and Sally Struthers star as the Houdinis, with Ruth Gordon as Harry's mother Mrs. Weiss, Peter Cushing as Conan Doyle, Jack Carter as Houdini's brother, Adrienne Barbeau as his mistress, Nina Foch as a medium, and Vivian Vance as the all-around best friend/severest critic, who narrates the film. The Great Houdinis first aired on October 8, 1976. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1976
The weekly, 60-minute adventure series Starsky and Hutch was expanded to two hours for this episode titled Murder at Sea. Detectives Dave Starsky (Paul Michael Glaser) and Ken "Hutch" Hutchinson (David Soul) are assigned to solve a double murder. This entails their boarding a luxury liner bound for Acapulco (it's a dirty job, but somebody's got to do it). While dallying with bikinied lovelies, S and H discover that there's a syndicated drug operation being carried out on board. Paul Picerni of Untouchables fame and his stuntman brother Charles play two of the mobsters. Murder at Sea aired as the second-season Starsky and Hutch opener on October 2, 1976. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1975
A pre-Starsky and Hutch Paul Michael Glaser plays a mysterious drifter in The Impersonation Murder Case. A wealthy man has been murdered, and Glaser is the prime suspect. Evidence suggests that Glaser is the dead man's long-lost son-an allegation he hotly denies, and understandably so, since this bit of information could well put a noose around his neck. Detective Ed Ames does his best to separate fact from fancy. Kim Hunter and Arlene Golonka also star in this videotaped 90-minute drama. The Impersonation Murder Case was first telecast April 15, 1975, on the latenight anthology The ABC Wide World of Mystery. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1974
The inspiration for the made-for-TV movie was an actual event which occurred in June of 1973. A crew of four sinks in a minisub off the Florida coast. As half the nation (apprised of the disaster by TV and radio) holds its breath, a daring rescue mission is organized. Lee J. Cobb and Martin Balsam are among the rescuers. Paul Michael Glaser, Joshua Bryant, Cliff Potts and Roger Kern are the helpless rescuees. Trapped Beneath the Sea was telecast fifteen months after the real-life crisis was resolved. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1974
As a favor to pretty young sociologist Lindsay Walker (Sian Barbara Allen), Kojak (Telly Savalas) embarks on a search for her boyfriend, paroled convict Lou Giordino (played by a pre-Starsky and Hutch Paul Michael Glaser). But Lou has no intention of being located by Kojak or any other law-enforcement official. He has jumped parole in order to locate his ex-wife--and also settle accounts with his former cohorts, who had let him take the fall for a crime while they escaped scot-free. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1974
Jim (James Garner) is understandably confused when a woman (Joan Van Ark) identifying herself as Florence Baker hires him to find her--that's right, to find HER! He soon discovers that Florence is actually Barbara Kelbaker, and that she has stolen $50,000 from her live-in lover Ralph Correll (played by a pre-Starsky and Hutch Paul Michael Glaser). This doesn't quite explain why Florence, or Barbara, or whoever has hired Jim--but it does tell more than we want to know about Correll and his sinister motives. Curiously, guest star Joan Van Ark's name is spelled "Van Arc" in the opening credits...a mistake that certainly would not occur in future years. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1973
Olivia's birthday party is interrupted by the forced landing of mail pilot Todd Cooper (Paul Michael Glaser) on Walton's Mountain. Putting their own concerns aside for the moment, the family pitches in to repair Todd's damaged plane--and, indirectly, to patch up his faltering relationship with his wife Sue (Julie Cobb). This done, everyone comes forth with a present for birthday girl Olivia (Michael Learned)...but Todd's present is the most impressive of all, and one that Olivia will never forget! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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