Brett Halsey Movies
Actor Brett Halsey came into this world as Charles Oliver Hand, the son of a San Francisco contractor. Formerly a page at the CBS studios in Hollywood, the 20-year-old Halsey was signed to a Universal contract in 1953. His earliest film efforts include The Glass Web (1953) and Ma and Pa Kettle at Home (1954), in which he played one of the myriad of Kettle offspring. He went on to play leads in bottom-budget juvenile delinquent films, including the immortal 1958 howler Speed Crazy. Under contract to 20th Century-Fox in the late 1950s-early 1960s, Halsey starred in Return of the Fly (1959) and was seen on a weekly basis as swinging journalist Paul Templin in the TV series Follow the Sun (1961). He then packed his bags and headed to Italy, where he played leads in swashbucklers and spy actioners. His experiences as a journeyman actor in Europe were encapsulated in his novel Magnificent Strangers. Halsey returned to the U.S. in the early 1970s, where he showed up in such TV daytime dramas as Love is a Many Splendored Thing, Search for Tomorrow and, General Hospital. More recently, he was cast to good advantage in Francis Ford Coppolas' Godfather III (1990). Brett Halsey was at one time married to actress Luciana Paluzzi. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1995
Walter Isaacson's book Kissinger: A Biography served as the basis for this made-for-television movie about the famed political leader. Beau Bridges stars as President Richard Nixon and Ron Silver portrays Henry Kissinger, Nixon's national security advisor. The adaptation shows how Kissinger worked to try and end the Vietnam crisis while Nixon maneuvered to keep his political image strong until election time. Bridges was nominated for an Emmy for his lead performance. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ron Silver, Beau Bridges, (more)
- 1995
- R
This cheesy martial arts flick has two government agents fighting to get out of a compound that trains assassins with virtual reality. Some good computer effects (for a film of this type) but still unable to achieve anything resembling entertainment. ~ Sean D. MacLaggan, All Movie Guide
In this suspenseful detective drama, a police detective's personal involvement with a beautiful widow takes a professional turn when she is accused of murdering her husband. The gumshoe feels it is his job to prove her innocent. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rob Lowe, Leslie Hope, (more)
- 1993
Diana (Diana Calenti) is a dancer/choreographer living in Toronto. She has a "thing" about Egypt, beginning with having haunting visions of a previous life during the reign of the rebellious monotheistic pharoh Akhenaton. She incorporates some of her uncanny memories in self-performed "ancient Egyptian dance." When she goes to Egypt for real to visit her best friend (Brett Halsey), it turns out that he is troubled by his own past-life memories. Apparently he served the ancient polytheistic priesthood of Egypt during that same period, and his visions prompt him to want to sacrifice Diana to the old gods. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brett Halsey
In Beyond Justice-- an Italian-made action film directed by Tessari Duccio with an unusually fine cast -- Christine Sanders (Carol Alt), American millionairess and mother of the grandson of a fanatic Emir (Omar Sharif), hires mercenary Tom Burton (Rutger Hauer) to return her son after the Emir has him kidnapped. Against the advice of her lawyer (Elliott Gould) and her friend Sal (Brett Halsey), Christine accompanies Tom and endures a series of hardships such as a surprise attack and a sandstorm. This rather old fashioned, slow film is entirely predictable and tedious. Nothing can keep the audience interested despite the beautiful color photography of the desert or the excellent musical score by Ennio Morricone. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rutger Hauer, Carol Alt, (more)
- 1992
John Wayne Gacy was a respected member of his suburban Illinois community -- he was an active member of several service organizations, ran his own business, and entertained children as Pogo the Clown in his spare time. But Gacy had a terrible secret, and before he was finally brought in by the police, he had raped and killed over 30 young men and buried them beneath his house. To Catch a Killer is a made-for-TV movie that examines Gacy's life and crimes, and Joe Kozenczak (Michael Riley), the cop who finally brought John Wayne Gacy (Brian Dennehy) to justice. The supporting cast includes Margot Kidder and Meg Foster. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brian Dennehy, Michael Riley, (more)
After a break of more than 15 years, director Francis Ford Coppola and writer Mario Puzo returned to the well for this third and final story of the fictional Corleone crime family. Two decades have passed, and crime kingpin Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), now divorced from his wife Kay (Diane Keaton), has nearly succeeded in keeping his promise that his family would one day be "completely legitimate." A philanthropist devoted to public service, Michael is in the news as the recipient of a special award from the Pope for his good works, a controversial move given his checkered past. Determined to buy redemption, Michael and his lawyer B.J. (George Hamilton) are working on a complicated but legal deal to bail the Vatican out of looming financial troubles that will ultimately reap billions and put Michael on the world stage as a major financial player. However, trouble looms in several forms: The press is hostile to his intentions. Michael is in failing health and suffers a mild diabetic stroke. Stylish mob underling Joey Zaza (Joe Mantegna) is muscling into the Corleone turf. "The Commission" of Mafia families, represented by patriarch Altobello (Eli Wallach) doesn't want to let their cash cow Corleone out of the Mafia, though he has made a generous financial offer in exchange for his release from la cosa nostra. And then there's Vincent Mancini (Andy Garcia), the illegitimate and equally temperamental son of Michael's long-dead brother Sonny. Vincent desperately wants in to the family (both literally and figuratively), and at the urging of his sister Connie (Talia Shire), Michael welcomes the young man and allows him to adopt the Corleone name. However, a flirtatious attraction between Vincent and his cousin, Michael's naïve daughter Mary (Sofia Coppola) develops, and threatens to develop into a full-fledged romance and undo the godfather's future plans. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, (more)
In this Italian splatter film, director Lucio Fulci plays a horror filmmaker who goes to a psychiatrist because the types of films he makes are starting to disturb him, he suspects that his German producers are Nazis, and he believes he may be a killer himself. Much of the movie consists of clips from Fulci's previous films. ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide
- 1990
Italian filmmaker Luigi Cozzi (Starcrash) was a long-time collaborator of acclaimed director Dario Argento, and this amusing horror film was his homage to his mentor. It's about a director who plans to complete Argento's "Three Mothers" trilogy, which began with Suspiria (1977) and Inferno (1980). Unfortunately for the cast and crew, the third witch is real and begins killing people off. The film is full of thunder and lightning, gore effects, and a familiar cast including Brett Halsey, Florence Guerin, Caroline Munro, and fellow Argento protégé Michele Soavi (Cemetery Man). ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Caroline Munro
Italian cult favorite Lucio Fulci (Zombi 2) directed this atmospheric return to the Gothic themes which had brought him such success in the early '80s, and reminds the viewer of a pair of those early works in the opening scenes. Beginning with the horrifying torture, crucifixion, and flaming deaths of a group of nuns beneath a convent in 1486 Sicily (reminiscent of the opening murder of the warlock in L'Aldila), the film then flashes forward to modern-day Toronto, where Liza (Meg Register) has visions of their deaths at a séance (as in the opening of Paura nella Citta dei Morti-Viventi). Naturally, Liza soon finds herself in Sicily, along with archaeologist Professor Paul Evans (Brett Halsey) and his colleague, Porter (Al Cliver). Nosing around the convent, she breaks open the crypt, unleashing the nuns' expectedly bloody occult vengeance. People are impaled on spikes, a woman (Carla Cassola) has her eyes ripped out by her pet cats, a mean butcher (Lino Salemme) has a meathook driven through his neck and his tongue nailed to a board, and so on. Things reach a predictable frenzy with an angry mob, a nun with no face, demonic possession, and a man ripped completely in two. There's also a bizarre back story about the nuns seducing local youths and murdering them at the moment of orgasm to obtain their blood for Satanic rituals. None of it makes much sense, and most fans of the director seeking a return to form found Demonia a pale imitation of his notorious Gothics, particularly coming so soon after Michele Soavi's similar -- and more successful -- La Chiesa. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- 1988
One year to the day after Trans-Regional Airline Flight 332 crashed and burned, the same airline's Flight 662 meets a similar grisly fate. Renee Brennan (Jaclyn Smith) of the National Transportation Safety Board investigates the tragedy, with the "assistance" of her FAA rival (and current boyfriend!) Mark Ettinger (Bruce Boxleitner). By and by, Renee begins receiving cryptic messages from a mysterious man who seems to know a lot about both crashes. He should: The man is the widower of the female pilot who was blamed for the Flight 332 disaster, and who, seeking revenge against those whom he feels unfairly persecuted his late wife, has caused the crash of Flight 662. And now, he has targeted Trans-Regional Flight 795 for "extermination"--and only Renee can stop him. Made for cable, Free Fall premiered January 17, 1999 on the Fox Family network. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Lucio Fulci's gory, tongue-in-cheek horror film stars Brett Halsey as a gold-digging psycho preying on wealthy widows with physical handicaps. Woman are cut apart with chainsaws, cooked in microwaves, and so forth, courtesy of effects-man Angelo Mattei, before being immaculately disposed of by the strangely prissy killer. Ria DeSimone, Pier Luigi Conti, and Sasha Darwin co-star in this peculiar, uneven bloodbath. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- 1986
- PG13
This drama follows an unlikely "ratboy" (S.L. Baird) after he is discovered living in a makeshift shelter in a garbage dump. Along comes Nikki Morrison (Sondra Locke, also the director) who meets the half-rodent, half-human creature and takes him over. She talks to a Hollywood producer and holds forth about him on a television talk show but when she brings ratboy to a press conference, he bolts for freedom -- enough is enough. The garbage dump was better. From that point onward, Nikki begins to change her mind about her treatment of the misbegotten creature and he develops an ambivalent feeling for her. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sondra Locke, Robert Townsend, (more)
- 1986
Yeung Fan writes and directs this melodrama about Rose (Maggie Cheung Man-yuk), a beautiful orphaned teenager who has boys pursuing her by the boatload. When she decides to study in France, her overly protective brother Charles (Chow Yun-fat) begs her to return to Hong Kong. Instead, she marries one of her fellow students and eventually has a daughter. Later, Charles dies of a long painful illness. Grief-stricken, Rose gets a divorce and returns to her family home. One day, she meets Ga-ming, who is the spitting image of Charles (and who is also played by Chow). A passionate, if creepy, relationship ensues only to be complicated by the return of an old flame from her school days. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chow Yun-Fat, Maggie Cheung, (more)
- 1984
The Duke boys save the life of movie star Brock Curtis (Barry Van Dyke), who narrowly escapes a fatal accident while making a film in Hazzard County. As a reward, the boys are offered parts in a Hollywood movie, obliging Boss (Sorrell Booke) and Roscoe (James Best) to accompany the family to Tinseltown in order to make sure they don't break parole. It turns out that the "accident" which nearly claimed Brock's life was no accident--and now the would-be murderers have added Bo (John Schneider) and Luke (Tom Wopat) to their hit list! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1982
Accompanied by Coy (Byron Cherry) and Vance (Christopher Mayer), Enos picks up his footlocker at the bus depot. What Enos doesn't know is that the locker contains stolen emeralds--but a couple of crooks do know this, and they aren't above committing murder to get their hands on the gems. Boss Hogg (Sorrell Booke) gets in on the dirty doin's when he tries to claim the emeralds for himself so he can open up his own fast-food chain, "Fricasseed Pig." Featured as the bad guys are two former good guys from 1960s television: Brett Halsey (Follow the Sun) and Anthony Eisley(Hawaiian Eye). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1979
Mel Tillis, who'd later show up as "himself" on Dukes of Hazzard, is here cast as horse-farm owner Burl Tolliver. Mr. Tolliver owns an extraordinarily fast stallion, which Boss Hogg (Sorrell Booke) plans to steal and enter in the "Mrs. J.D. Hogg Stake Race"--after framing Bo (John Schneider) and Duke (Tom Wopat) for the crime, of course. Unfortunately for all concerned, the prize horse has also attracted the attention of some professional rustlers who have a bad habit of killing people. Seen as Burl Tolliver's wife Sherri is Dorothy Collier, who later married series regular James Best (Roscoe P. Coltrane). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1978
Originally made for television and based on true events from 1972, the story concerns an airline crash in the Everglades and the courageous adventures of the 73 survivors. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- 1976
This biopic chronicles the romantic life of noted Florentine sculptor and swordsman Benvenuto Cellini. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1972
In the tradition of Akira Kurosawa's classic tale Rashomon comes this wild sex farce from Italy's master of the macabre, Mario Bava. Last night was a wild one for Tina (Daniela Giordano) and Gianni (Brett Halsey), but for the life of her, the confused woman can't quite recall how she ended up in bed with her handsome and mysterious date. Did the seemingly pleasant date lead to a night of passion-fueled consensual sex between Gianni and Tina, or did Gianni deliberately force himself on Tina in a horrific act of rape? Both the scratches on Gianni's forehead and Tina's torn dress seem to point to some mishap that may have occurred over the course of their date, but matters are infinitely complicated when Tina's overly protective mother and her nosey concierge chime in with two entirely different takes on the evening's events. Only when viewers witness the story from all four unique vantage points will they begin to understand the events that truly unfolded over the course of Tina and Gianni's lost evening together. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 1972
- R
Where Does It Hurt? is a hospital comedy which is carefully designed to leave no interest group unoffended. In the broadest of broad comic manners, it recounts its tale of greed, ignorance and corruption in the medical profession. Dr. Albert T. Hopfnagel (Peter Sellers), a hospital administrator, is a doctor who is expert in the arts of bill-padding, unnecessary surgery, and kickbacks. His assistant (Jo Ann Pflug) has finally had enough of his destructive and dishonest shenanigans and gets him sent to prison. He is released a little too soon for comfort, however. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
