Joseph Walsh Movies

With Poltergeist, directed by Tobe Hopper, Steven Spielberg had his first great success as a producer. Released around the same time as Spielberg's E.T., the film presents the dark side of Spielberg's California suburban track homes. The film centers on the Freeling family, a typical middle class family living in the peaceful Cuesta Verde Estates. The father, Steve (Craig T. Nelson), has fallen asleep in front of the television, and the dog saunters around the house revealing the other family members -- Steve's wife Diane (JoBeth Williams), sixteen-year-old daughter Dana (Dominique Dunne), eight-year-old son Robbie (Oliver Robins), and five-year-old Carol Ann (Heather O'Rourke). Soon strange things begin to happen around the house; the pet canary dies, mysterious storms occur, and Carol Ann is summoned to the TV set, where a strange shaft of green light hits her and causes the room to shake ("They're he-e-ere!"). As curious events continue, Carol Ann is repeatedly drawn to the television, where she begins to talk to "the TV people." Soon Carol Ann is sucked into a closet, disappearing from this reality plane. Unable to find his daughter, Steve consults Dr. Lesh (Beatrice Straight), a para-psychologist from a nearby college. Lesh finds that paranormal phenomena is so strong in the Freelong household she is unable to deal with it and sends for clairvoyant and professional exorcist Tangina (Zelda Rubinstein) to examine the house in hopes of finding Carol Ann. Tangina makes a horrifying discovery: Carol Ann is alive and in the house, but is being held on another spectral plane. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

The most narratively loose of Robert Altman's '70s films, California Split details the haphazard lives of two compulsive gamblers searching for that ever-elusive big score. Newly single and soon-to-be-unemployed Bill (George Segal) joins live-wire pal Charlie (Elliott Gould), as the pair moves from Fruit Loops with Charlie's hooker roommates Sue (Gwen Welles) and Barbara (Ann Prentiss) to bets on horses, backroom card games, boxing, and basketball. They make it to Reno, but Bill comes to realize that even the big score may not be the answer to the meaning (or meaninglessness) of life. For Charlie, however, that's all there is. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

This Dino De Laurentiis-produced re-creation of the decisive Italian military operation top-bills Robert Mitchum as a battle-weary war correspondent. Robert Ryan and Arthur Kennedy play generals, Peter Falk is the lovable Brooklynese corporal, and Earl Holliman is the country-boy sergeant. Anzio was based on the book by Wynford Vaughan Thomas. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the conclusion of a two-part story, Hanley (Rick Jason) has lost ten men in two futile uphill assaults on a pair of well-fortified German pillboxes--and making matters worse, Saunders (Vic Morrow) has been severely wounded and is unable to provide backup. After a third unsuccessful attack upon the enemy stronghold, Hanley tells his superiors that the squad refuses to proceed any further, only to be ordered to keep fighting to the last man. In the final analysis, the survival of King Company depends upon the ingenuity of privates Kirby (Jack Hogan) and Caje (Pierre Jalbert). This episode was directed by series star Vic Morrow, whose vivid, hand-held camerawork rivals anything ever done by such filmmakers as Samuel Fuller and Steven Spielberg. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Gregory Peck plays a benevolent God-like figure in a white smock as Captain Josiah Newman, the head of a psych-unit at a Southwestern army base during the waning days of World War II. Newman is a patriarchal protector to his patients, preferring to keep him in his ward, rather than return them to certain death on the battlefield. The matriarchal figure of the ward is Lieutenant Grace Blodgett (Jane Withers), but Newman is more interested in his assistant Lieutenant Francie Corum (Angie Dickinson), with whom he is having an affair. Further help is provided by human nature expert, Corp. Jackson Laibowitz (Tony Curtis), the orderly. And Newman needs all the help he can get. Particularly with three patients: Colonel Bliss (Eddie Albert) is suffering from a guilt complex from all the men he has sent to death; Corporal Tompkins (Bobby Darin, in an Academy Award-nominated performance), although decorated for bravery in combat, calls himself a coward for failing to save his pal from a burning plane; and Captain Winston (Robert Duvall) is guilt-ridden and has lapsed into catatonia because he had hidden for over a year in the basement of a building in Germany. Although Newman wants to cure these men of their psychological problems, he doesn't want to see them returned to the war to be killed. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

A man finds himself running from both the police and his own troubling memories in this drama. Hans Muller (Kirk Douglas), a German Jew, was once a well-known juggler before he was committed to a concentration camp; Muller survived, but his wife and children did not. After the war, Muller and many other displaced people found themselves in a temporary camp in Israel; his experiences have left him upset and confused, and several of the guards notice that he's behaving oddly. Muller flees the camp after one day, but while running away, he's stopped by Kogan (Richard Benedict), an Israeli policeman. When Kogan asks to see Muller's papers, he immediately flashes back to an unsetting memory in which a Nazi officer asked the same question; Muller panics, attacks the cop, and flees for Mount Carmel. In the morning, Muller encounters a group of children who believe the story he tells them: that he's a tourist from the United States. One of them, Yehoshua (Joseph Walsh), is making his way to a kibbutz in Syria, and Muller, who hopes to get to some friends in Egypt, joins him. Muller entertains the young man by teaching him to juggle, and they become close friends. When Yehoshua is injured by a land mine, Muller rushes him to a hospital, where he meets Ya'el (Milly Vitale), a woman who lost her husband to Arabs. A romance soon blossoms between Muller and Ya'el, and he confesses to her that he's on the run from the police; meanwhile, Israeli Detective Karni (Paul Stewart) is combing the nation, searching for the juggler -- not to arrest him, but to convince him that he's not wanted for murder, and that others want to help him. Michael Blankfort, who wrote the original novel upon which The Juggler was based, adapted the screenplay and also served as executive producer. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Hans Christian Andersen was Sam Goldwyn's final production for RKO Radio release, and also the producer's last Danny Kaye vehicle. The Moss Hart-Myles Connolly screenplay largely disregards the facts concerning Denmark's great storyteller, opting for a fanciful blend of comedy, fantasy, romance and music. As played by Kaye, Hans Christian Andersen starts out as a small-town cobbler whose gift for spinning fairy tales is keeping the local kids from attending school. Asked to leave town, Hans heads to Copenhagen to seek his fortune as a writer. After having his heart broken by the beautiful ballerina Doro (Jeanmaire), Hans finds solace--and happiness--in the knowledge that hundreds of thousands of children the world over are devoted to his enchanting fantasy stories. The lilting Frank Loesser score includes such tunes as "No Two People," "The King's New Clothes," "Wonderful Copenhagen," "Inchworm," "The Ugly Duckling," "Thumbelina," and the title song. Though Hans Christian Andersen was a smashing box-office success, and as a bonus earned five Oscar nominations. Originally released at 112 minutes, the film is generally available in its 104-minute TV-release form. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide