Twiggy Movies
Pencil-thin British fashion model Leslie Hornsby, better (and appropriately) known as Twiggy, burst onto the fashion scene when she was a mere 17. For several months, Twiggy was the personification of "Swinging" London (or Mod London, if you prefer); she adorned the cover of virtually every magazine except Field and Stream, and was on hand for all the "in" parties and public events always decked out in the trendiest frocks. A 1967 TV special revealed this supermodel to be a giggly, somewhat airheaded cockney kid, but this "everygirl" quality only enhanced her charm. In 1971, Twiggy was chosen to star in Ken Russell's expensive filmization of the old stage musical The Boy Friend, acquitting herself quite nicely. Twiggy continued to play leading roles in films and TV productions into the late '80s. Never an award-winning actress, she was always a pleasing screen personality, with a disarming sense of humor regarding her 15 minutes of fame in the 1960s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2001
Five years after the events of Absolutely Fabulous: The Last Shout, Edina (Jennifer Saunders) has remodeled both her kitchen and her office, the former into a sleek modern room with a convenience-store freezer full of champagne, the latter into a paperless virtual meeting space. Partnering with manic TV presenter Katy Grin (Jane Horrocks), Eddy has also morphed her PR firm into a multimedia empire. Patsy (Joanna Lumley), meanwhile, has begun receiving injections of Parralox, a beauty treatment that paralyzes the facial muscles. Still living at home, but chasing a New Labour job so she can escape, Saffron (Julia Sawalha) dismisses Patsy's treatments as self-entombment, to which Eddy replies, "She still has emotions -- she just doesn't have to pay for them in wrinkles!" Later, at a hip club called Gate, Eddy and Patsy sneak in to hobnob with their new pal Lady Candida de Benison-Bender (Tilly Blackwood), but all three women are snubbed by the various celebrities on display. Eddy does chat a bit with Twiggy, who's now on her PR roster, about the pair's upcoming appearance on Richard and Judy (the British equivalent of Live With Regis & Kathie Lee). At home, Patsy convinces Eddy to prepare for her TV spot with just a few quick squirts of Parralox -- with disastrous results for both Eddy and Saffy. Originally broadcast on BBC 1 on August 31, 2001, Absolutely Fabulous: Parralox marked series four, episode one of this popular Britcom. Michael Greco of British TV soap Eastenders, Stephen Gately of teen group Boyzone, models Twiggy and Lady Victoria Hervey, and TV presenters Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan all make cameo appearances as themselves. The character Katy Grin is revealed to be the cousin of Eddy's assistant, Bubble; both characters are played by Jane Horrocks. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jennifer Saunders, Joanna Lumley, (more)
- 2001
Edina (Jennifer Saunders) suffers a professional crisis while Patsy (Joanna Lumley) begins menopause in the final episode of Absolutely Fabulous series four. After Bubble (Jane Horrocks) accidentally emails Eddy's address book to rival PR impresario Claudia Bing (Celia Imrie), Eddy's client roster is reduced to Twiggy -- until even the waifish supermodel abandons ship. Soon even Edina's new TV partnership with Katy Grin (Jane Horrocks) is in question, and Eddy must think on her feet if she wants to retain any sort of career. Meanwhile, Patsy's brittle bones begin cracking like matchsticks, and it's up to Saffy (Julia Sawalha) to educate her about menopause and osteoporosis. Saffy organizes a Menopause Anonymous meeting to help Patsy and Eddy get in touch with their inner crones; Bo (Mo Gaffney) crashes, adding her distinctively New Age touch to the proceedings. Ultimately, hormone patches effect strange changes in Patsy's behavior, leaving Saffy with horrific visions of a lifetime spent caring for the old hag. Originally broadcast on BBC 1 on October 5, 2001, Absolutely Fabulous: Menopause marked series four, episode six of this popular Britcom. Celia Imrie reprises her role as Claudia Bing from Absolutely Fabulous: Jealous. "AbFab" script editor Ruby Wax, a longtime collaborator of writer/star Jennifer Saunders, plays one of the menopausal masses; Wax previously guest-starred in Absolutely Fabulous: The End as one of the snooty New York fashion editors who snubs Patsy. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jennifer Saunders, Joanna Lumley, (more)
- 1997
Just before all three of them are to be wed to the men of their dreams, longtime friends Monique (Connie Sellecca, Eve (Twiggy) and Teri (Shawnee Smith) flying off to Australia for a pre-nuptual photo shoot. To fully appreciate the episodic events that follow, it should be noted that Monique is a magazine editor engaged to a control freak; Eve is a model whose trail is being dogged by a psychotic ex-suitor; and Teri is a bewitching lass who has not told her fiancé everything he should know about his past. Amidst a sea of romance-on-the-rebound, tense melodrama and deep dark secrets, the audience is afford a few islands of relief vis-à-vis the performance of Dina Merrill as Monique's ailing "old-money" mom. Adapted from the novel by Jillian Karr and Karen Katz,the made-for-TV Something Borrowed, Something Blue made its initial CBS network appearance on March 11, 1997. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1993
Horror virtuoso John Carpenter hosts this goofy horror anthology, originally produced for Showtime as a gory stepchild of HBO's Tales from the Crypt series. Playing an emaciated, eye-rolling "coroner," John introduces the audience to a triptych of creepy vignettes in the EC horror-comics mode while paddling about in the guts of assorted cadavers and cracking jokes more gag-inducing than anything oozing on the slab. Two of the stories are directed by Carpenter himself: "The Gas Station" is a retread (pun intended) of Halloween-style scare tactics as a pretty gas-station attendant watches various oddballs pass by her window after hearing that an escaped killer is on the loose; "Hair" is a morbid, hilarious look at man's obsession with his own virility in which Stacy Keach turns to a bizarre hair-growth clinic (run by David Warner & Debbie Harry) which promises instant results, but at a horrific price. The third segment, directed by Tobe Hooper, involves a baseball player (Mark Hamill) who receives an eye transplant after a car accident and soon begins having optical flashbacks revealing (you guessed it) the identity and tendencies of the eye's former owner -- a serial killer. The second segment is by far the most entertaining, featuring a wonderfully neurotic performance by Keach, but the first and last chapters are too derivative to offer much for the discriminating horror buff, although the same fans will enjoy several cute cameos from other genre directors, including Wes Craven, Sam Raimi and Roger Corman. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- 1990
- PG13
Istanbul, also released as Istanbul, Keep Your Eyes Open, is an old-fashioned, shallow, unbelievable thriller. Frank Collins (Timothy Bottoms) is an American reporter living in Sweden. Collins receives a video from his stepson's real father and goes to Istanbul, leaving his stepson at home, but taking his daughter. While in Istanbul, Collins meets Maud. Collins daughter is kidnapped and he finds out about a weapons-smuggling ring. The convoluted plot then involves false identities, murders and evidence of an impending assassination, with a number of car chases. The entire movie is jumbled, confusing and finally concludes in a downbeat, unconvincing muddle with most of the lost strings still untied. Views should beware of this low-rent rip-off of Roman Polanski's Frantic or Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Timothy Bottoms, Twiggy, (more)
- 1989
Aimed at the ten- to 15-year-old demographic, this six-episode British series offered an entertaining if not entirely accurate overview of celebrated comedian Charlie Chaplin's formative years. Though fairly explicit in detailing the alcoholism of Chaplin's music hall headliner father Charles Chaplin Sr. (Ian McShane) and the mental illness of Charlie's mother Hannah (Twiggy), the series had a predilection for broad, unsubtle comedy, suggesting that the Chaplin family's various tiltings with landlords, policemen, and orphanage officials were actually "dress rehearsals" for Charlie's famous two-reel comedy films (one sequence with David Kossoff was a virtual carbon copy of Chaplin's 1916 short The Pawnshop). Also, the chronology of events was sometimes fuzzy or misleading, especially concerning such famous Chaplin associates as vaudeville entrepreneur Fred Karno and fellow comic Stan Laurel. Otherwise, Joe Geary was excellent in the title role, as was Lee Whitlock as Charlie's protective half-brother Sydney. Originally telecast in England beginning on January 25, 1989, Young Charlie Chaplin was subsequently seen in America as part of the PBS Wonderworks anthology. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Twiggy
- 1988
- PG13
Shirley MacLaine is Madame Sousatzka, an aging piano instructor of Russian extraction. Entrenched in a dilapidated London rooming house, the Madame gives lessons only to the most gifted. She does not stop at mere instruction; Sousatzka insists that her pupils conduct their lives in the same genteel, cultured manner in which she was raised. Her prize student at the moment is an East Indian teenage boy (Navin Chowdhry), who forms a strong and loving bond with the old woman. Director John Schlesinger occasionally cuts away from the Madame and her pupil to allow comic space for the other tenants in Ashcroft's building, including an erstwhile songstress (Twiggy) and a gay osteopath (Geoffrey Baydlon). Navim Chowdhry's mother is played by Shabana Azmi, an important star of Indian films. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shirley MacLaine, Navin Chowdhry, (more)
- 1988
In a film originally made for television, a detective accidentally involves himself with a female con artist who is planning a $12 million diamond robbery. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- 1987
Keshia Knight-Pulliam stars as the title character, an orphaned waif of the 1920s who helps instill the Christmas spirit into a contentious New England family. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
Robin Williams' comic shtick sabotages any attempt at comic development in Harold Ramis' patchy comedy farce Club Paradise. Williams plays Jack Moniker, a Chicago fireman injured in the line of duty, who uses his disability money to open up a run-down Caribbean resort. Jack eagerly awaits the planeload of tourists who will be his first patrons. This group of low-rent jackanapes include Barry Nye (Rick Moranis) and Barry Steinberg (Eugene Levy), a couple of horny geek bachelors; Phillipa Lloyd (Twiggy) and Terry Hamlin (Joanna Cassidy) as a couple of gals on the make; and Linda White (Andrea Martin), as a bossy American tourist. While the tourists shindig around Jack's ramshackle resort, a revolution is brewing on the island headed by revolutionary Ernest Reed (Jimmy Cliff). Trying to prevent the revolutionary upheaval is the dissipated British governor-general of the island, Governor Anthony Cloyden Hayes (Peter O'Toole), and the pompous Prime Minister Solomon Gundy (Adolph Caesar). ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robin Williams, Peter O'Toole, (more)
- 1985
Children's Songs & Stories with the Muppets was culled from some of the best moments of the popular syndicated TV weekly The Muppet Show. Most of the sketches spotlight the star Muppets Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear et. al. There are few of the series' celebrity guests, an omission evidently made to avoid residual costs. The best moment is an all-infant band bursting forth with a rendition of "Tuxedo Junction". This 56-minute compilation can generally be found in the "Family Viewing" section of your local video store, and rightly so; like all of the best Muppet material, the tape transcends age boundaries and can be enjoyed with equal fervor by both children and adults. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A movie version of the stage play The Doctor and the Devils, written in the 1950s by Welsh poet/playwright Dylan Thomas, had been planned and shelved by several filmmakers before producer Mel Brooks and director Freddie Francis finally brought the project to fruition in 1985. Essentially, the story is the old one about grave robbers Burke and Hare and Scottish surgeon Dr. Robert Knox (which also yielded the 1945 Val Lewton classic The Body Snatcher). Timothy Dalton plays 18th century doctor Thomas Rock, who must rely upon the disreputable Robert Fallon (Jonathan Pryce) and Timothy Broom (Stephen Rea) to provide fresh cadavers for Dr. Rock's teaching hospital. When they can't dig up corpses fast enough to suit Dr. Rock, Fallon and Broom decide to streamline their methods via murder. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Timothy Dalton, Jonathan Pryce, (more)
- 1985
Part of the Muppet Video Series, which features episodes starring the beloved felt puppets, Muppet Video Series: Children's Song and Stories With the Muppets compiles new material with clips from previously aired Muppet Show episodes. Kids join Kermit, Miss Piggy, Gonzo, Animal, and the gang for a day of storytelling and song-singing. Guest stars Julie Andrews, Charles Aznavour, John Denver, Judy Collins, and Twiggy help make the party hop. ~ Betsy Boyd, All Movie Guide
Retrograde even at the time of its 1980 release, this filmed version of the mid-'70s play by the same title stars Tom Smothers as Timothy Westerby, the bumbling father of the bride, and his imaginary dance partner, Polly (Twiggy). Events of the chaotic wedding day are told in flashback as Westerby is shown sweating over an advertising assignment from a bra company and hoping that a photo of Polly from the bygone '20s will inspire him. Instead, Westerby bangs into a door and Polly comes fuzzily to life, but only he can see her, causing all sorts of havoc at the wedding and among the guests. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Smothers, Twiggy, (more)
Expanding on their Saturday Night Live characters, John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd star as Jake and Elwood Blues, two white boys with black soul. Sporting cool shades and look-alike suits, Jake and Elwood are dispatched on a "mission from God" by their former teacher, Sister Mary Stigmata (Kathleen Freeman). Said mission is to raise $5000 to save an orphanage. In the course of their zany adventures, the Blues Brothers run afoul of neo-Nazi Henry Gibson, perform the theme from Rawhide before the most unruly bar crowd in written history, and lay waste to hundreds of cars on the streets and freeways of Chicago. In case you aren't swept up in the infectuous nuttiness of the brothers Blue, you might have fun spotting film's legion of guest stars, including James Brown, Cab Calloway, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, John Candy, Carrie Fisher, Steve Lawrence, Twiggy, Paul Reubens (aka Pee-Wee Herman), Frank Oz, and Steven Spielberg. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, (more)
As co-hosted by Gene Kelly and Kathryn Crosby (the wife of Bing Crosby), this exclusive video compilation presents priceless back-to-back clips from many of Bing's Christmas specials that aired from the early 1960s through the late 1970s. Featured guests include: Jackie Gleason, Twiggy, David Bowie, Fred Astaire, Carol Burnett and many others. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bing Crosby, Gene Kelly, (more)
- 1976
The title told the whole story in this British anthology series. Seven famous 19th century British scandals were dramatized in brisk, 60-minute playlets, highlighting both the tawdry details and the human element. The very eclectic casts ranged from eminent Shakespearean Nigel Havers to former "mod" model Twiggy. Victorian Scandals was originally presented in 1976. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nigel Havers, Twiggy, (more)
- 1975
- R
This version of the classic 19th-century story includes audio by Roger Glover and animation/live action from Batchelor and Halas. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- 1974
- PG
In this film, also released under the title I Want Her Dead, Katie Lewis (Twiggy) and her husband Ben (Michael Witney) discover that they are the targets of a mysterious killer who leaves the letter W at the scene of their near-fatal "accidents." While trying to avoid death, the couple must struggle to discover where the source of these attacks stems from. This movie was Twiggy's first film appearance. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- 1971
- G
The Boy Friend began life as Sandy Wilson's small-scale pastiche of British musical comedies of the 1920s. When the play was brought to America in 1954, its star was the
teenage Julie Andrews. Because The Boy Friend requires a minimum of sets, props, and costumes, it has become a favorite of amateur theater groups throughout the world. But director Ken Russell, notorious for his onscreen excesses, abandoned the film's simplicity. He fashioned a humongous parody of the Busby Berkeley film musicals of the 1930s, staged on a scale that made Berkeley seem stylistically modest. Fashion model Twiggy plays Polly Browne, an aspiring musical comedy star, working as stage manager of a production of The Boy Friend. She is transformed into a star when she replaces leading lady Rita Monroe (Glenda Jackson, unbilled), who twists her ankle seconds before the curtain goes up. Before the evening is over, Polly is scampering over outsized sets, and ducking around seemingly thousands of chorus girls and boys. Christopher Gable, who plays Polly's on-stage leading man, also choreographed the lavish musical numbers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
teenage Julie Andrews. Because The Boy Friend requires a minimum of sets, props, and costumes, it has become a favorite of amateur theater groups throughout the world. But director Ken Russell, notorious for his onscreen excesses, abandoned the film's simplicity. He fashioned a humongous parody of the Busby Berkeley film musicals of the 1930s, staged on a scale that made Berkeley seem stylistically modest. Fashion model Twiggy plays Polly Browne, an aspiring musical comedy star, working as stage manager of a production of The Boy Friend. She is transformed into a star when she replaces leading lady Rita Monroe (Glenda Jackson, unbilled), who twists her ankle seconds before the curtain goes up. Before the evening is over, Polly is scampering over outsized sets, and ducking around seemingly thousands of chorus girls and boys. Christopher Gable, who plays Polly's on-stage leading man, also choreographed the lavish musical numbers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Twiggy, Christopher Gable, (more)
- 1969
This critically-panned, 85-minute montage film intercuts fleeting (and we mean fleeting), blurry concert footage of such music acts as The Rolling Stones, Joe Cocker, Twiggy and a posthumous Otis Redding with newsreel images from Vietnam, shots of the Atomic bomb being dropped, documentary footage of an Indian cremation, clips of animals being slaughtered, surfing footage and all sorts of other random inclusions. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- The Rolling Stones, Otis Redding, (more)
