Daniel J. Travanti Movies
The youngest son of an American Motors auto worker, Daniel J. Travanti excelled in high school on both the football and debate teams. While attending the University of Wisconsin, Travanti developed an interest in drama; so eager was he to jump-start his career that he begged the faculty to allow him to graduate in three years. He remained the archetypal overachiever at the Yale School of Drama; by the time he was 25, he was co-starring with Colleen Dewhurst in a road company version of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Moving to Los Angeles in 1966, the actor appeared on scores of TV shows, playing misfit high schoolers and braying bad guys (he billed himself under his actual last name of Travanty until the early '70s). To counter career frustrations, Travanti grew increasingly dependent upon liquor, an addiction that had plagued him on a lesser scale since his college days. Only when his boozing began adversely affecting his on-stage performances (at one point he was replaced by his understudy in full view of the audience) did he seek professional help. After a six-month stint on the ABC daytimer General Hospital, Travanti was cast as Captain Frank Furillo on Hill Street Blues, a job he held down from 1981 through 1987. During this period, he also showed up in a number of well-received TV movies and specials, including the title role in a 1985 made-for-cable biography of Edward R. Murrow. Daniel J. Travanti was back behind the badge as a Chicago police lieutenant in the brief 1993 TV series Missing Persons. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
When a recently divorced woman moves into a new house and becomes obsessed with solving a murder that once occurred there, she is troubled to discover that their may be a link between the violent crime and the neighbor who has attracted her affections in a tense thriller starring Lisa Zane, Barbara Niven, and Gary Hudson. As the clues begin to pile up and the psychological tension gradually bubbles to a boil, the realization that the man whom she has grown to adore may in fact be a cold-blooded killer prompts her to begin a dangerous investigation. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Niven, Daniel J. Travanti, (more)
- 2002
The sad and sometimes darkly funny lives of various denizens of Chicago's social and economic underside provide the focus of this adventurous independent comedy-drama. Seamus (Davidson Cole) is a sad sack working as a security guard at a warehouse. Misfortune befalls Seamus as regularly as the sun rises, and while his relationship with his girlfriend Kate (Mary Kay Cook) might be expected to buffer some of life's hard edges, her eccentric sexual tastes often leave him disoriented rather than satisfied. Meanwhile, Peter (Daniel J. Travanti) is a former teacher who now works a dispiriting job as a door-to-door salesman. Despondent since his wife left him, Peter has turned to alcohol to drown his sorrows, drinking himself into a stupor every night, leaving his teenage daughter Sonya (Jennifer Morrison) to see that he eats, changes clothes, and goes to bed. And Nicholas (Edward Cunningham) is a professional photographer whose hobby is snapping humiliating shots of strangers when they're not aware, often caught through windows. Nicholas' pastime creeps out his girlfriend (Kipleigh Brown), and when he moves on to sexually abusing the bride at a wedding he's been hired to shoot for the sake of his private photos, he's soon on the run from her family, determined to get revenge. The first feature film from writer and director Davidson Cole (who also plays Seamus), Design was screened in competition at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel J. Travanti, Jennifer Morrison, (more)
- 2000
A young woman learning to make her own way in the world has to deal with the disapproval of her family -- who, as it turns out, have some secrets they haven't been sharing -- in this independent drama. Mel (Lauren Stamile) is a law student whose father Harrison (Daniel J. Travanti) insists that she take a job working as a clerk at his legal firm. Harrison is at the home of his mother (Anne Jackson) recovering from a recent illness, so Mel doesn't have the heart to tell him that she's losing interest in the law and would prefer to take up cooking as her profession. Without telling Harrison, Mel quits her position at the firm and takes a job as a chef at a restaurant run by Lee (Nick Chinlund). When Harrison finds out the truth about Mel's new situation, he's not at all happy, but Mel soon learns that her father has been keeping an even bigger secret from her. Something Sweet was the first feature from writer and director Olivia Pi-Sunyer; the film was shown at the 2000 American Film Institute Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nick Chinlund, Anne Jackson, (more)
- 1998
This program tells the story of the man who many feel was the greatest singer who ever performed: Enrico Caruso. The film follows the life of the singing idol, who thrilled both the sophisticated opera enthusiast and the common people with his singular voice and charisma. Despite the technical shortcomings of the recordings from the early days of broadcasting, the magic of Caruso comes through. The biography presents archival photographs, film clips, and personal recollections of family and friends. Interviews with opera stars, such as Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo, offer insight into the genius of the singer, whose untimely death was mourned around the world. ~ Rose of Sharon Winter, All Movie Guide
- 1996
This made-for-TV sequel to the 1968 theatrical feature To Sir With Love stars Sidney Poitier, recreating his role as Mark Thackery, an American-born schoolteacher who in the original film had taken a post in a tough East Side London neighborhood. Thirty years have passed, and Thackery has been forcibly retired, much to the dismay of the thousands of underprivileged students both past and present who have grown to love him. Although he has received several offers to teach in America's most prestigious universities, Thackeray chooses instead to start his career all over again, teaching so-called "incorrigible" students at an inner-city Chicago school presided over by cynical, weak-willed principal Horace Weaver (Daniel J. Travanti). Anyone who has seen the original To Sir With Love can pretty much guess the outcome of the sequel, though a subplot involving Thackeray's search for a lost love is less easy to second-guess. In addition to Sidney Poitier, actresses Lulu and Judy Geeson appear in brief cameos as the now grown-up characters they played in the 1968 film. Directed by Peter Bogdanovich, To Sir, With Love II first aired April 7, 1996 on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sidney Poitier, Daniel J. Travanti, (more)
- 1995
Roger Corman executive-produced this made-for-cable remake of his 1960 horror-camp classic. Jennifer Rubin plays an aging model who owns a cosmetics company; when a researcher experimenting with wasps brings her a serum that will turn back the aging process, she decides to first try it on herself. The good news is -- the serum works! The bad news is --- sometimes, it also turns her into a wasp woman who tends to kill people ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jennifer Rubin, Daniel J. Travanti, (more)
The novel by John Katzenbach becomes this legal thriller starring Sean Connery as Harvard Law School professor Paul Armstrong. A legal expert whose days of trying cases are long behind him, Armstrong is moved by a plea he receives from a Florida death row inmate, Bobby Earl (Blair Underwood). It seems that the educated, upstanding Earl has been railroaded by an overeager sheriff (Laurence Fishburne) zealously trying to solve the kidnapping and murder of a little girl. Once Armstrong arrives in Florida, he is able to locate the murder weapon and cast doubt on Earl's innocence, even identifying a much more likely culprit in the homicidal genius Blair Sullivan (Ed Harris). All is not as it seems in the case of Bobby Earl, however, and Armstrong is going to end up regretting his interest in the case. Ruby Dee, Kate Capshaw, and Ned Beatty costar in this film from producer-turned-director Arne Glimcher. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sean Connery, Laurence Fishburne, (more)
- 1995
This Taiwanese comedy is set in Lower Manhattan and chronicles the travails of two Taiwanese illegal aliens as they try to get a green card. The woman, Siao-yu, works as a sweatshop seamstress while her lover, Jiang Wei, is a student who works in a fish market. They meet an Italian-American, Mario, who has racked up a large gambling debt. They agree to give him the $10,000 he needs if he will only marry Siao-yu and get her a green card. Mario is anything but an ideal husband as he is slovenly, middle-aged, and dull; his idea of fun is to play cards and occasionally sleep with his wife, from whom he is separated. Following the "wedding" Siao-yu moves into his spare bedroom, and gradually the two become friends. As they become closer, their lovers begin to feel jealous, and eventually Siao-yu must choose whether to be with Jiang or stay with Mario. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1994
Kate (Donna Mills) is an alcoholic--and, as is often the case, she is in full denial regarding her illness. Only when she is threatened with mass desertion by her husband, children and best friend does the sullen Kate agree to seek out treatment. A lengthy and often harrowing rehabilitation period with a varied group of recovering addicts seems to have a enlightening effect on Kate, who promises her loved ones--and herself--that she has taken her last drink. Thus is established the tension that permeates the final half of the made-for-TV My Name Is Kate, for which Donna Mills pulled double duty as star and producer. The film made its initial ABC appearance on January 24, 1994. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1993
In this suspenseful mystery, two rival sisters vie for the love of a powerful businessman. One of them ends up murdered and then the real trouble begins. The story is based on a best-seller by Mary Higgins Clark. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel J. Travanti, Kristin Scott Thomas, (more)
Saving the homestead is the essential plot of this Christmas movie in which a Welsh teenager fights a land developer who wants her dead grandfather's horse ranch. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sian McLean, Daniel J. Travanti, (more)
- 1991
Eyes of a Witness stars Daniel J. Travanti as a stereotypical "ugly American" at large in Kenya. He has come to Africa to convince his estranged daughter Jennifer Grey, a bush doctor, to abandon her practice and return to America. Through an improbable series of random events, Travanti finds himself accused of murder. His daughter buries her animosity and attempts to clear her father's name. Already a sure cure for insomnia, the made-for-TV Eyes of a Witness is rendered doubly dull by its characters' endless recitations of Kenyan law and medical nomenclature. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1991
- R
In a futuristic world, the U.S. is ruled by a repressive government that bans most forms of media. As part of the enforcement, a cop (Billy Zane) is sent to the rebel state of Megaville on an undercover mission to infiltrate an unlawful media organization. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Billy Zane, J.C. Quinn, (more)
- 1990
A disabled ex-Green Beret who served in Vietnam begins getting clues of his forgotten past via flashbacks and attempts to make sense of it. Apparently, he makes somebody uncomfortable in doing so, and soon is a target for a more complete cover-up. This story of intrigue and dangerous political games was made for cable TV. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- 1989
The controversial case of a black man killed in Howard Beach, a working-class all white neighborhood of Queens, NY provides the basis of this docudrama. Much of the story centers around the attempts of Joe Hynes, the state prosecutor to bring the case to trial. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1989
- PG13
Where has director Michael Anderson been since Logan's Run? Earning his keep on such slick TV-style time-fillers as Millennium. Kris Kristofferson plays the head of an official committee investigating the head-on collision of two commercial jets. A thorough analysis reveals the presence of a weapon of unknown origin in the wreckage; it is also pointed out that some of the victims' watches are running backwards. This, coupled with the cryptic warnings by flight attendant Cheryl Ladd to drop the investigation, prompts Kristofferson to burrow further and uncover the truth: Ladd is a sentinel from 1000 years in the future, who has come back to the 20th Century to help repopulate her dying civilization. Plot pegs and obstacles are in the hands of such sideline characters as enigmatic professor Daniel Travanti and amiable android Robert Joy. Millennium was adapted by John Varley from his own story Air Raid. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kris Kristofferson, Cheryl Ladd, (more)
- 1989
Filmed in Britain, Fellow Traveller is set during the waning days of Hollywood's Communist "witchhunt". The film begins with the suicide of "unfriendly" movie star Hart Bochner; we then briefly flash back to the friendship between Bochner and his close friend, blacklisted writer Ron Silver. Working pseudonymously in England, Silver seeks out the late Bochner's girl friend Imogen Stubbs, who has not renounced her leftist views. He has an affair with Imogen, and through her regains his commitment to his own political preferences. Incidentally, the TV series for which Silver writes in Fellow Traveller is the popular The Adventures of Robin Hood, which actually did hire blacklistees in the mid-1950s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ron Silver, Hart Bochner, (more)
Helen Barton (Faye Dunaway) and her insurance salesman husband Morely (Daniel J. Travanti) set sail with Lexa (Kim Cattrall) and her husband Jeff (John Laughlin) in this modern-day pirate adventure. Jeff's late father and Morely are searching for the treasure the two buried on a remote island 35 miles from Cuba in 1959. Lexa and Morely are engaged in a secret love affair, while Helen suffers from glaucoma-related blindness. Ned Beatty plays the old salt Ellis. There are more crosses and double-crosses than depicted on the Jolly Roger, complete with excessive sex and violence, with an interesting premise ruined by stilted dialogue and uneven continuity. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Faye Dunaway, Daniel J. Travanti, (more)
- 1987
This program is an award-winning production aimed at educating parents on how to teach their children to be street wise. In an increasingly complicated and dangerous world, the potential for being in harm's way has affected the way today's children live. Child advocate John Walsh offers tips on ways to share advice with small children and how to warn them but not frighten them about the dangers they face. Specific situations such as talking to strangers, refusing offers of drugs, standing up to peer pressure, and other important issues are addressed. ~ Rose of Sharon Winter, All Movie Guide
- 1986
Adam: His Song Continues is a sequel to the highly regarded fact-based 1983 TV movie Adam. The first film was the heartrending story of Floridians John and Reve Walsh (Daniel J. Travanti, JoBeth Williams) whose six-year-old son Adam was kidnapped and murdered in 1981, whereupon the Walshes lobbied for creation of the Federal Missing Child Act, which allowed public access to FBI files of other lost youngsters. The sequel, also starring Travanti and Williams, doesn't have the emotional drive of the original, but is still absorbing in its chronicling of John Walsh's efforts to create a advocacy service for missing kids--and the pressures brought to bear on Reve, who is expecting another baby. Both Adam films end with a roll call of missing children, with His Song Continues listing those children who'd been found since the first movie. The real-life John Walsh later became the host of a Fox "reality" series America's Most Wanted. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1985
Daniel J. Travanti plays a glum, no-nonsense Edward R. Murrow in this made-for-TV biopic. We follow Murrow's rise to prominence as America's foremost news commentator between the years 1940 through 1955, beginning with his on-the-spot radio coverage of the bombing of London. After the war, Murrow hosts CBS television's documentary series See It Now, which eventually leads to his legendary confrontation with Red-baiting Senator Joseph McCarthy. Murrow's own occasional compromises with his conscience, and his extramarital affairs, are bypassed in Ernest Kinoy's lean, spare script. Of more importance in the scheme of things is Murrow's edict that TV "can teach, can illuminate, and damn it, can inspire." Also in the cast are Dabney Coleman as CBS head-honcho William Paley, John McMartin as Frank Stanton, Edward Herrmann as Fred Friendly, David Suchet as William L. Shirer, and Robert Vaughn as President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Murrow debuted January 19, 1986, as an HBO Premiere Films presentation ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
