Vic Tayback Movies
Born to a Syrian-Lebanese family in Brooklyn, Victor Tayback grew up learning how to aggressively defend himself and those he cared about, qualities that he'd later carry over into his acting work. Moving to California with his family, the 16-year-old Tayback made the varsity football team at Burbank High. Despite numerous injuries, he continued his gridiron activities at Glendale Community College, until he quit school over a matter of principle (he refused to apologize to his coach for breaking curfew). After four years in the navy, Tayback enrolled at the Frederick A. Speare School of Radio and TV Broadcasting, hoping to become a sportscaster. Instead, he was sidetracked into acting, working as a cab driver, bank teller and even a "Kelly Girl" between performing gigs. Shortly after forming a little-theatre group called the Company of Angels, Tayback made his movie debut in Door-to-Door Maniac (1961), a fact he tended to exclude from his resumé in later years. His professional life began to improve in 1967, when he won an audition to play Sid Caesar's look-alike in a TV pilot. Throughout the early 1970s the bulging, bald-domed actor made a comfortable living in TV commercials and TV guest-star assignments, and as a regular on the detective series Griff (1973) and Khan (1975). In 1975, he was cast in the secondary role of Mel Sharples, the potty-mouthed short-fused owner of a greasy spoon diner, in the theatrical feature Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. When the film evolved into the weekly TV sitcom Alice in 1976, Tayback was engaged to recreate his "Mel" characterization. He remained with the program for the next nine years. In contrast to his gruff, abusive screen character, Tayback was dearly loved by the rest of the Alice cast, who regarded him a Big Brother and Father Confessor rolled into one. Five years after Alice's cancellation, Vic Tayback died of cancer at the age of 61; one of his last screen assignments was the voice of Carface in the animated feature All Dogs Go to Heaven. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi- 1991
Jonathan (Melvil Poupaud) is an imaginative young man. This film unveils what goes on in his mind as he mulls over his recent reading of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic Treasure Island and the television adventure shows he is watching. This story device allows the highly regarded and very innovative Chilean-born director Raul Ruiz to transform Stevenson's classic adventure tale into a much darker and more complex depiction of treachery and hidden identities. Distributors and producers were not entranced by this transformation, and money for completing the film was withheld, so despite its completion date of 1986, this version, which evinces numerous technical and other problems, was not released until 1991. Gaps in the sometimes confusing storyline are dealt with in a voiceover narrative. Ruiz' work has usually met with a warmer reception, but in this case it received a great deal of (possibly well-deserved) ridicule. One high point of the film, however, is when Pedro Armendariz Jr., as Mendoza, recounts the story of Herman Melville's less-well-known novel Benito Cereno. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Melvil Poupaud, Martin Landau, (more)
- 1991
- R
Kurt Voss' neo-noir stars Brad Dourif as ex-con Bud Cowan, who falls prey to the schemes of an artist (M.K. Harris) and his twisted sister (Sammi Davis). ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
- Starring:
- Brad Dourif, Sammi Davis, (more)
One of the most expensive of Don Bluth's animated cartoon features, All Dogs Go to Heaven was also among the most successful. Set in late-'30s New Orleans, the story centers upon a roguish German shepherd named Charlie B. Barkin (voice of Burt Reynolds), who is killed early in the proceedings by his business partner, Carface (voice of Vic Tayback). Charlie travels to Heaven, and is promptly warned that if he heads back to Earth, he can never return; he does decide to go back to Earth, however, to exact revenge on Carface, who has kidnapped Anne-Marie, a little orphan girl who can talk to Animals.
The film also includes the vocal skills of Dom DeLuise, Charles Nelson Reilly, Vic Tayback, Melba Moore, Loni Anderson, and a host of others. All Dogs Go to Heaven was the first production of the Dublin-based Sullivan Bluth Studios. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
The film also includes the vocal skills of Dom DeLuise, Charles Nelson Reilly, Vic Tayback, Melba Moore, Loni Anderson, and a host of others. All Dogs Go to Heaven was the first production of the Dublin-based Sullivan Bluth Studios. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Burt Reynolds, Judith Barsi, (more)
Joan Micklin Silver's farce stars Patrick Dempsey as a pizza delivery boy who begins satisfying the romantic needs of a group of bored Beverly Hills housewives. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
- Starring:
- Patrick Dempsey, Kate Jackson, (more)
- 1989
This dreadfully unfunny horror-comedy is notable only for fans of Vic Tayback (Mel from TV's Alice), here in his final role as a goofy mortician who teams up with an even-goofier mad scientist (Frank Gorshin, doing a Boris Karloff impression for the length of the film) to concoct a method of reanimating cadavers, unwittingly financed by the local mob boss (Art Metrano). They are assisted in their work by the boss's nephews, sort of teenage versions of Burke & Hare (or is it Bill & Ted?), sent there to keep tabs on how their uncle's money is being spent. No prizes guessing whose corpse ends up rising from the slab to make them an offer they can't refuse. This could have been darkly-funny fare in more experienced hands; instead we're left with a film that's dead on arrival. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi
- Starring:
- Vic Tayback, Frank Gorshin, (more)
- 1988
In the quest to find out whatever prompted a rat to emerge in their newspaper's bathroom, Pam Weiss (Catherine Bach) and Sharon Fields (Charlene Dallas) head down to the tunnels that begin in their building's basement. They imagine all sorts of scenes from horror movies, but instead discover a bunch of murderous real-estate developers. Their delectable looks notwithstanding, the two newswomen show off some admirable martial arts skills as they stop the bad guys from having their way with them. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Catherine Bach, Charlene Dallas, (more)
In this 1988 film, a young deaf woman realizes that the hamburger sold by a local meat market contains something other than beef. ~ John Bush, Rovi
- 1988
- Add George Carlin: Playin' with Your Head to Queue Add George Carlin: Playin' with Your Head to top of Queue
This video presents comedian George Carlin at his best, before a live and appreciative audience. In this particular tape, Carlin performs a variety of his classic routines on stage. Also included is a short film with co-star Vic Tayback. Intended for adult audiences, parents will likely find that the language and content of this video make it inappropriate for young viewers. ~ Rob Ferrier, Rovi
- 1988
- R
Danny Warren (Edward Albert) is a former minor-league shortstop who becomes a narc to uncover drug dealing in this situation comedy. Investigating at a high-school adult-education class, he falls for the tempting teacher Katherine, played by the exotic Barbara Carrera. Danny forgets the reward of $10,000 per arrest when he elects to continue his "education." He joins a colorful group of characters that includes ex-cons, illegal aliens, and brain-dead baby boomers who cause more trouble than their younger counterparts. Swimming classes and wine tasting serve as background for a series of comic catastrophes. Danny soon suspects Katherine's colleague Mrs. Grant (Susan Tyrell) of being in cahoots with the drug dealers, and Katherine and Mrs. Grant have a prolonged fight scene that is memorably funny. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Edward Albert, Barbara Carrera, (more)
- 1987
The made-for-TV Three Kings stars Jack Warden, Lou Diamond Phillips and Stan Shaw as three patients in a Los Angeles-area mental institution. Dressed as the Three Wise Men for a Christmas pageant, the trio is suddenly struck with the delusion that they are really their Biblical counterparts. As TV cameras grind away, the three ersatz Kings ride out of the Pageant--on camels--and into the mean streets of LA. As the story draws to its conclusion, the three escapees find themselves providing Christmas cheer for a group of homeless people on the outskirts of the city. Aaron Spelling's original story veers dangerously close to being devoured by its own cuteness at times, but Stirling Silliphant's script for Three Kings keeps the whimsy in check and the sillier events reasonably credible. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1986
- R
This comedy is set in Hollywood in 1961, where a group of young men join the National Guard in an attempt to escape Vietnam. The men basically do nothing while on supposed weekend duty until they get a visit from the Army, which threatens to ship them out on active duty unless they shape up. Their solution is to hire a troupe of actors to portray convincing soldiers, put on a stage show to impress the Army officers, and make sure that enough winsome nurses are around to satisfy the proverbial lecherous tendencies of a certain colonel. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Chris Lemmon, Vic Tayback, (more)
- 1986
Jerry Orbach returns as hard-boiled Boston private eye Harry McGraw, who once again teams up with Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) to solve a murder. This time the victim is a popular actor, who had agreed to serve as one of the auctioneers accepting bids for a torrid diary written by a onetime sex symbol. Not only is the author of the diary under suspicion, but so are several others who'd been a part of her tragic past, obliging Jessica to burrow through the sizeable suspect list so that Harry can make a pinch. Watch for Angela Lansbury's former Picture of Dorian Gray costar Hurd Hatfield--not to mention Jean VanderPyl, the longtime voice of cartoondom's Wilma Flintstone! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Dorian Harewood stars as the legendary black athlete in this made-for-TV biography that follows Jesse Owens from his collegiate career, to his pinnacle at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, where he won four gold medals--much to the dismay of Adolf Hitler and his squad of Aryan super-athletes. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
- 1984
It has taken nine seasons, but waitress Alice Hyatt (Linda Lavin, widowed protagonist of the popular sitcom Alice, has finally landed a permanent boyfriend, one Nicholas Stone (Michael Durrell). And just in cast Alice had any doubts about her newest beau, Nicholas proves his mettle when he helps her cope with her 20-year-old son Tommy's (Philip McKeon) drinking problem. Meanwhile, fellow waitress Vera (Beth Howland) adjusts to her new life as the spouse of policeman Eliot Novak (Charles Levin). Among those making guest appearances in the series' ninth and final season are Golden Girls' Rue McClanahan, cast against type as syrupy day-school owner Mother Goose; Gregory Walcott, B-picture perennial and survivor of the infamous Plan 9 From Outer Space as Big Jake Hunnicutt, father of Alice's waitress pal Jolene; Fred Berry the former "Rerun" of What's Happening, as a chubby break-dancer named Bobo; and future political satirist Bill Maher as a cop. Plus, Mel's Diner continues to attract new regular customers, adding Danny (Jonathan Price) and Doug (Doug Robinson to this season's roster. In the final episode, Mel sells the diner, Alice is on the verge of becoming a fulltime professional singer in the entourage of country star Travis Marsh (Kip Niven), Jolene sets up her own beauty salon, and Vera is about to become a mother. What is there left for the cast to do but reminisce about the past nine years, with the help of an abundance of choice clips from past episodes? ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Linda Lavin, Vic Tayback, (more)
- 1983
It's plate-carriers vs. plungers when Alice (Linda Lavin), Vera (Beth Howland) and Jolene (Celia Weston) participate in a TV quiz show. The category is "musical trivia", and the girls' competition consists of a trio of plumbers, led by peppery oldster Louie (Cliff Norton). For a while, it looks like the waitresses are going to win--but that's when the competition starts flushing up the dirty tricks. This episode was codirected by series regular Vic Tayback (Mel). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1983
Season Eight of Alice offers the series' one-and-only crossover episode, "Mel is Hogg-Tied, in which Mel's Diner is visited by Sorrell Booke and Sonny Shrover in their familiar Dukes of Hazzard roles as Boss Hogg and Enos Strait. Also seen this season is former Brady Bunch matriarch Florence Henderson, playing a popular singer who inexplicably proposes to ill-tempered diner owner Mel (Vic Tayback). Otherwise, it is business as usual for waitresse Alice (Linda Lavin) and Jolene (Celia Weston), and for Alice's 19-year-old son Tommy (Philip McKeon). But it's a different story for Alice's ditzy waitress pal Vera (Beth Howland), who in the appropriately yclept episode "Vera Gets Engaged" meets the love of her life, policeman Eliot Novak (Charles Levin), when he gives her a ticket for jaywalking. One episode later, Vera and Eliot are married. Eleswhere, comedian Joey D'Auria, one year away from being hired as the star of the popular Chicago-based cable series Bozo's Circus, plays a cop in the episode "Lies My Mother Told Me". And the versatile stage and screen actor James Coco shows up in a subsequent episode as a dentist who falls in love with Alice--or, more specifically, with Alice's X-rays! One of the Season Eight episodes, "Vera's Secret Lover", was actually filmed for the seventh season, but held back in anticipation of a planned Hollywood writer's strike. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Linda Lavin, Vic Tayback, (more)
- 1982
Alice moved from its familiar Sunday night slot to a Wednesday night berth for its seventh season, then shifted to Mondays in February of 1983. Whatever the night, the series' fans faithfully flocked around the tube to watch the latest shenanigans at Mel's Diner, and the misadventures of waitresses Alice (Linda Lavin, Vera (Beth Howland) and Jolene (Celia Weston), short-fused proprietor Mel (Vic Tayback), and Alice's now 18-year-old son Tommy (Philip McKeon). Halfway through the season, Martha Raye, hitherto confined to sporadic appearances in the role of Mel's meddlesome mother Carrie Sharples, becomes a regular when Carrie moved in with Mel after divorcing her most recent husband. Not surprisingly, she is soon driving everyone at the diner crazy with her overbearing personality, but the regular patrons--including newcomer Artie (Tony Long)--simply love the old broad! The season opener features Debbie Reynolds as a famously promiscuous actress who includes Mel in her tell-all autobiography--or at least that's what Mel thinks. Later on, Jerry Stiller appears as Mel's longtime rival, who shows up at the diner with his young trophy bride. A two-part episode features Joel Grey as himself, headlining a musical revue featuring Alice and financed by Mel--whose ineptitude nearly sinks the project before it can even open. Doris Roberts makes a return appearance as Alice's insufferable mother Mona, this time wreaking havoc at Thanksgiving dinner. Prolific character actor Guich Koock drops in to play Jolene's black-sheep brother Jonas. Cassandra Peterson, better known as buxom horror-movie hostress Elvira, has a flashy role in the episode "Mel's Dream Car." Richard Deacon of Dick Van Dyke Show fame guests as the snobbish owner of a catering firm for whom Mel briefly goes to work; Harlem Globetrotters star Meadowlark Lemon) stops over to give Tommy a few basketball pointers; and series star Linda Lavin essays a dual role, as both Alice and Vera's elderly, obnoxious landlady Debbie Walden, in "Vera the Torch." One of the Season Seven episodes, "The Secret of Mel's Diner", was actually filmed for Season Six, but held back due to a writer's strike. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Linda Lavin, Vic Tayback, (more)
- 1982
In this sci-fi adventure, space aliens try to convince a couple of cynical Earthlings to come and help them establish a new colony on a better world. The film is also known as Follow Me If You Dare. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1982
In this children's fantasy, a lad finds himself magically sent back to ancient Egypt where he and the young King Tut team up to stop their evil and overly ambitious elders. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1981
The two-part TV movie Through the Magic Pyramid stars Chris Barnes as a contemporary youngster who is whisked back to the days of King Tut. Neither the Egyptian ruler nor his minions are any match for the Yankee resourcefulness of Master Barnes, as he wriggles in and out of various misadventures. Among the people who cross Chris' path in Days Gone By are Hans Conried, Vic Tayback, Gino Conforti, and (as Nefertiti) Elaine Giftos. Ron Howard executive-produced and directed, while Ron's dad Rance Howard coproduced and wrote the script. Through the Magic Pyramid was originally offered in two one-hour helpings, which first aired December 6 and 13, 1981. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1981
Season Six of Alice finds most of the series' original cast still intact: Linda Lavin as waitress and wannabe singer Alice, Philip McKeon as her now 17-year-old son Tommy, Vic Tayback as her bombastic boss Mel, and Beth Howland as airheaded fellow waitress Vera. Missing from the scene is Diane Ladd as waitress Belle Dupree, who'd been brought in during season four to replace departing regular Polly Holliday. Filling the gap left by Ladd is Celia Weston as the newest waitress at Mel's Diner, brassy Jolene Hunnicutt. Additionally, Mel's celebrated chili has attracted several new regular customers, among them Jerry (Jerry Potter) and Mitch (Phillip R. Allen). Heading the guest-star manifest this season is Donald O'Connor, appearing as himself in an episode wherein Vera attempts to enter the Guinness Book of World Record's with history's longest sustained tap-dance. Later episodes feature Doris Roberts (Everybody Loves Raymond) as Alice's meddling mom Mona Spivak, who shows up just in time to ruin her daughter's 40th birthday celebration; former Welcome Back Kotter regular Ron Pallilo) and future Tonight Show host Jay Leno as a brace of skuzzy bikers named Muther and Bones; George Wendt, still two years removed from Cheers, as Alice's would-be suitor, who threatens to commit suicide when she spurns him; and, for the fourth successive season, Martha Raye as Mel's mom Carrie Sharples, who once again succeed in making her son's life miserable by planning to publish his top-secret chili recipe in her new cookbook. Two of the episodes seen during Season Six, "Mel's Cousin" and "Vera's Bouncing Check", were actually filmed for the 4th season, but held back from view due to a Hollywood writer's strike. And finally, we have "Mel's Christmas Carol", which honors the unwritten law that every sitcom must offer at least one takeoff of the Dickens Yuletide classic (For the record, the "Marley" counterpart is herein played by Jack Gilford). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Linda Lavin, Vic Tayback, (more)
- 1980
Actress and popular culture icon Marilyn Monroe is the subject of yet another made-for-television movie. This film, which aired as part of the on-going Moviola series, chronicles young Marilyn's (Constance Forslund) relationship in both business and her personal life, with agent Johnny Hyde (Lloyd Bridges) during the early part of her career. ~ Bernadette McCallion, Rovi
- 1980
Husband, father, rapist. All three succinctly describe the character portrayed by David Soul in the made-for-TV Rage. Though he would seem to be a hopeless case, Soul is subjected to prison therapy sessions, on the theory that he might be curable. As the sessions continue under the guidance of therapist James Whitmore, Soul pours out a lifetime worth of anger, revealing the deep psychological wounds that have formed his warped personality. Contrasted with Soul is Yaphet Kotto, as an allegedly rehabilitated prisoner. Based on several case histories as recorded by New Jersey's Avenel Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center, Rage was originally telecast September 25, 1980 ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1980
This film profiles the early career of Marilyn Monroe when she develops a relationship with her Hollywood agent, Johnny Hyde. (AKA This Year's Blonde) ~ Rovi
- Starring:
- Lloyd Bridges, Constance Forslund, (more)
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