Warren Beatty Movies
It might have been easy to write off American actor Warren Beatty as merely the younger brother of film star Shirley MacLaine, were it not for the fact that Beatty was a profoundly gifted performer whose creative range extended beyond mere acting. After studying at Northwestern University and with acting coach Stella Adler, Beatty was being groomed for stardom almost before he was of voting age, cast in prominent supporting roles in TV dramas and attaining the recurring part of the insufferable Milton Armitage on the TV sitcom Dobie Gillis. Beatty left Dobie after a handful of episodes, writing off his part as "ridiculous," and headed for the stage, where he appeared in a stock production of Compulsion and in William Inge's Broadway play A Loss of Roses.The actor's auspicious film debut occurred in Splendor in the Grass (1961), after which he spent a number of years being written off by the more narrow-minded movie critics as a would-be Brando. Both Beatty and his fans knew that there was more to his skill than that, and in 1965 Beatty sank a lot of his energy and money into a quirky, impressionistic crime drama, Mickey One (1965). The film was a critical success but failed to secure top bookings, though its teaming of Beatty with director Arthur Penn proved crucial to the shape of movie-making in the 1960s. With Penn again in the director's chair, Beatty took on his first film as producer/star, Bonnie and Clyde (1967). Once more, critics were hostile -- at first. A liberal amount of praise from fellow filmmakers and the word-of-mouth buzz from film fans turned Bonnie and Clyde into the most significant film of 1967 -- and compelled many critics to reverse their initial opinions and issue apologies. This isn't the place to analyze the value and influence Bonnie and Clyde had; suffice it to say that this one film propelled Warren Beatty from a handsome, talented film star into a powerful filmmaker.
Picking and choosing his next projects very carefully, Beatty was offscreen as much as on from 1970 through 1975, though several of his projects -- most prominently McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971) and The Parallax View (1974) -- would be greeted with effusive praise by film critics and historians. In 1975, Beatty wrote his first screenplay, and the result was Shampoo (1975), a trenchant satire on the misguided mores of the late '60s. Beatty turned director for 1978's Heaven Can Wait, a delightful remake of Here Comes Mr. Jordan that was successful enough to encourage future Hollywood bankrolling of Beatty's directorial efforts. In 1981, Beatty produced, directed, co-scripted and acted in Reds, a spectacular recounting of the Russian Revolution as seen through the eyes of American Communist John Reed. It was a pet project of Beatty's, one he'd been trying to finance since the 1970s (at that time, he'd intended to have Sergei Bondarchuk of War and Peace fame as director). Reds failed to win a Best Picture Academy Award, though Beatty did pick up an Oscar as Best Director. Nothing Beatty has done since Reds has been without interest; refusing to turn out mere vehicles, he has taken on a benighted attempt to re-spark the spirit of the old Hope-Crosby road movies (Ishtar [1984]); brought a popular comic strip to the screen, complete with primary colors and artistic hyperbole (Dick Tracy [1991]); and managed to make the ruthless gangster Bugsy Siegel a sympathetic visionary (Bugsy [1992]). In 1998 he was able to breath new life into political satire with Bulworth, his much acclaimed film in which he plays a disillusioned politician who turns to rap to express himself. In 2001, Beatty rekindled memories of Ishtar as he starred in another phenomenal bust, Town & Country. Budgeted at an astronomical 90 million dollars and earning a miserable 6.7 million dollars during it's brief theatrical run, Town & Country was released three years after completion and pulled from theaters after a mere four weeks, moving critics to rank it among the biggest flops in movie history.
Fiercely protective of his private life, and so much an advocate of total control that he will dictate the type of film stock and lighting to be used when being interviewed for television, Beatty has nonetheless had no luck at all in keeping his many amours out of the tabloids. However, Beatty's long and well-documented history of high-profile romances with such actresses as Leslie Caron, Julie Christie, Diane Keaton, and Madonna came to an abrupt end upon his 1992 marriage to Bugsy co-star Annette Bening, with whom he later starred in 1994's Love Affair, his blighted remake of the 1957 An Affair to Remember. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1957
- Add Studio One: The Night America Trembled to Queue Add Studio One: The Night America Trembled to top of Queue
The prestigious CBS dramatic anthology Studio One launched its tenth season on the air with this elaborate dramatization of the nationwide panic which ensued after Orson Welles' famous War of the Worlds radio broadcast of October 30, 1938. Welles had chosen to update the H.G. Wells science fiction classic and present the drama in the form of an actual newscast, replete with special bulletins, on-the-scene reports of the Martian invasion of Grover's Mills, NJ, and moments of "spontaneous" (actually carefully scripted and directed) horror. Unfortunately, the listening public, many of whom tuned into the dramatization in progress and as such were unaware that it was all make-believe, were convinced that America was indeed under siege from hordes of invading Martians -- and, as everyone now knows, chaos ensued. Like the later made-for-TV movie The Night That Panicked America, this TV recreation alternates between the War of the Worlds performance in progress at CBS's New York studios with vignettes of the reactions of the listeners -- reactions which generally ranged from plain terror to stark, raw terror. The huge cast includes several stars-to-be, among them Ed Asner, James Coburn, Vincent Gardenia, Warren Oates, and, as a youthful poker player, Warren Beatty. Narrated by legendary newscaster Edward R. Murrow and originally telecast live, "The Night America Trembled" has happily been preserved in kinescope form and is available on videotape from several sources. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Edward R. Murrow, Alexander Scourby, (more)
- 1960
Yes, that's 23-year-old Warren Beatty as grouchy, middle-aged Harry Grayson, the husband of bitter, quarrelsome Ellen Grayson (Joan Fontaine). After a violent argument with his wife, Harry storms out of the couple's mountain cabin and drives away, vowing never to return. Shortly afterward, his car plunges off an icy road, rendering him unconscious and helpless at the bottom of a cliff. Meanwhile, Ellen, as yet unaware of her husband's plight, answers a loud and persistent knock at her door--and in walks a handsome, affable young man who looks just like the Harry Grayson of twenty years ago. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
1961's premiere "date" movie represented the screen debut of Warren Beatty. Set in the 1920s, William Inge's screenplay concerns the superheated romance between working-class high schooler Natalie Wood and rich kid Beatty. Trying their best to keep their relationship from going "all the way," Beatty and Wood go through a series of unsatisfying interim romances. The troubled Wood attempts suicide and is sent to a mental institution, while Beatty impregnates freewheeling waitress Zohra Lampert. Wood and Beatty still carry a torch for one another, but circumstances preclude their getting together -- and besides, Wood suddenly realizes that she's outgrown the still-floundering Beatty. Scriptwriter William Inge shows up as a minister in Splendor in the Grass, while comedienne Phyllis Diller does a cameo as famed nightclub entertainer Texas Guinan; also, keep an eye out for Sandy Dennis, making her first movie appearance. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Natalie Wood, Warren Beatty, (more)
Vivien Leigh plays Karen Stone, a middle-aged actress whose career is in a tailspin. To assuage her hurt feelings, Karen goes on a vacation to Rome with her husband, who dies en route. Her best friend (Coral Browne) compassionately arranges for a young Italian escort (read: gigolo) to keep Karen from wallowing in her grief in Rome. The man hired for the task is sneering, contemptuous Pablo di Leo, played by Warren Beatty. Despite Pablo's rude behavior, the lonely Karen throws herself at him, showering him with expensive gifts and demanding his undivided attention. This being an adaptation of a Tennessee Williams novel, Blanche Dubois --er, Karen Stone must pay the piper for her eleventh-hour surfeit of passion; she is dispensed with by an "Angel of Death" in the form of psycho Jeremy Spencer. More operatic than dramatic, The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone represents the only feature-film directorial effort of experimental-theatre maven Jose Quintero; his assistant was future Bullitt helmer Peter Yates. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Vivien Leigh, Warren Beatty, (more)
- 1962
- NR
In one of his first roles, Warren Beatty plays a callous, self-involved young man who is idolized by his younger brother Brandon DeWilde. When Beatty and DeWilde's parents Karl Malden and Angela Lansbury take in Eva Marie Saint as a boarder, Beatty makes violent love to the poor (but not entirely unwilling) girl. Saint becomes pregnant, a contingency which brings out the absolute worst in Beatty. When he deserts her, she kills herself. Only at this point does DeWilde (who has worshipped Saint from afar) realize that Beatty has feet of clay. Attempting to kill his older brother, DeWilde relents when he decides that Beatty is more pathetic than evil. Playwright William Inge adapted the screenplay for All Fall Down from a novel by James Leo Herlihy. So dependent is this film on its stark black and white photography that the currently available colorized version is tantamount to sacrilege. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Eva Marie Saint, Warren Beatty, (more)
- 1964
A woman has to choose between the rich man she wants and the bohemian type who loves her in this comedy. Michele O'Brien (Leslie Caron) is a young widow raising a baby in Greenwich Village. She's decided that her child needs a father, and she determines that her best bet as a prospective mate is Dr. Phillip Brock (Robert Cummings), a well-heeled child psychologist. The only trouble is, Phillip doesn't like children very much, so Michele tries to keep her baby a secret from him. Michele's upstairs neighbor, Harley Rummell (Warren Beatty), is in love with her and is more than happy to baby-sit; however, Harley makes his living shooting nudie films in his flat, and when the baby begins making cameo appearances in the films, Michele starts wondering if Harley might be a bad influence on the tyke. William Peter Blatty, later to write the best-selling novel The Exorcist, penned the screenplay. Keep an eye peeled for a young Donald Sutherland in a bit part. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Warren Beatty, Leslie Caron, (more)
Vincent Bruce (Warren Beatty) is a Korean War veteran who becomes an occupational therapist in a private mental hospital that cares for wealthy, schizophrenic clientele. He slowly begins to fall for Lilith Arthur (Jean Seberg), a patient who is mentally locked in her own little world. Vincent eventually begins his own psychological disintegration over his feelings for the woman and asks for help. Watch for early career performances from Olympia Dukakis and Gene Hackman in this depressing psychodrama. This was the final film from the gifted director Robert Rossen, who died in 1966. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Warren Beatty, Jean Seberg, (more)
- 1965
Often described as a French New Wave film made in Hollywood, Arthur Penn's 1965 art movie enters the unsettlingly paranoid world of a nightclub comic on the run from the Mob. Having fooled around with the wrong blonde and gambled himself into an unpayable debt, an entertainer (Warren Beatty) flees to Chicago, where he hides out and changes his name to Mickey One. He hooks up with Jenny (Alexandra Stewart) and Castle (Hurd Hatfield), the owner of the nightclub Xanadu, but he cannot shake the paralyzing conviction that he's being pursued no matter where he is. After being beaten by unknown assailants, Mickey finally decides that escape is impossible, so he might as well just do his thing. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi
- Starring:
- Warren Beatty, Hurd Hatfield, (more)
- 1966
A cardsharp comes up with the ultimate system for beating the casinos at their own game in this high-style caper comedy. Barney Lincoln (Warren Beatty) is a footloose playboy with a taste for gambling and an ingenious scheme for winning at the leading casinos in Europe. Barney discovers that nearly all of the major gambling houses use playing cards manufactured by the same company; by breaking into their plant and subtly altering the printing plates, he's able to mark the cards with a code only he can read, and he is soon pulling in record winnings across the continent. However, Barney's secret is discovered by his girlfriend Angel McGinnis (Suzannah York), a successful fashion designer, which might not be a problem if her father, "Manny" McGinnis (Clive Revill) weren't a top inspector at Scotland Yard. Manny approaches Barney and makes him a deal -- he won't reveal his secret about the cards if Barney will help him catch Harry Dominion (Eric Porter), a high-level international drug trafficker. Unfortunately, Barney's sleuthing goes awry after a certain amount of initial success, and when Harry gets wind of what he's been doing, he retaliates by kidnapping Angel and demanding repayment of his loss of sales. Jane Birkin makes her screen debut in this film, appropriately enough as a character named "Exquisite Thing." ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Warren Beatty, Susannah York, (more)
Producer/star Warren Beatty had to convince Warner Bros. to finance this film, which went on to become the studio's second-highest grosser. It also caused major controversy by redefining violence in cinema and casting its criminal protagonists as sympathetic anti-heroes. Based loosely on the true exploits of Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker during the 30s, the film begins as Clyde (Beatty) tries to steal the car of Bonnie Parker (Faye Dunaway)'s mother. Bonnie is excited by Clyde's outlaw demeanor, and he further stimulates her by robbing a store in her presence. Clyde steals a car, with Bonnie in tow, and their legendary crime spree begins. The two move from town to town, pulling off small heists, until they join up with Clyde's brother Buck (Gene Hackman), his shrill wife Blanche (Estelle Parsons), and a slow-witted gas station attendant named C.W. Moss (Michael J. Pollard). The new gang robs a bank and Clyde is soon painted in the press as a Depression-era Robin Hood when he allows one bank customer to hold onto his money. Soon the police are on the gang's trail and they are constantly on the run, even kidnapping a Texas Ranger (Denver Pyle) and setting him adrift on a raft, handcuffed, after he spits in Bonnie's face when she kisses him. That same ranger leads a later raid on the gang that leaves Buck dying, Blanche captured, and both Clyde and Bonnie injured. The ever-loyal C.W. takes them to his father's house. C.W.'s father disaproves his son's affiliation with gangsters and enters a plea bargain with the Texas Rangers. A trap is set that ends in one of the bloodiest death scenes in cinematic history. The film made stars out of Beatty and Dunaway, and it also featured the screen debut of Gene Wilder as a mortician briefly captured by the gang. Its portrayal of Bonnie and Clyde as rebels who empathized with the poor working folks of the 1930s struck a chord with the counterculture of the 1960s and helped generate a new, young audience for American movies that carried over into Hollywood's renewal of the 1970s. Its combination of sex and violence with dynamic stars, social relevance, a traditional Hollywood genre, and an appeal to hip young audiences set the pace for many American movies to come. ~ Don Kaye, Rovi
- Starring:
- Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, (more)
- 1970
- PG
Two star-crossed losers are looking for diversion but find love instead in this romantic drama. Fran Walker (Elizabeth Taylor) is a veteran Las Vegas showgirl who is also the kept woman of Lockwood (Charles Braswell), a San Francisco businessman who is happy to pay her rent and keep her in designer clothes but isn't willing to divorce his wife in order to make a long-term commitment with her. Fran falls into a fling with Joe Grady (Warren Beatty), a piano player who works with lounge comic Tony (Hank Henry) when he isn't succumbing to his addiction to gambling. Fran and Joe agree at the start that their relationship is to be about sex and nothing more, but before long, the two have fallen in love despite themselves. Though set in Las Vegas, most of The Only Game in Town was shot in Paris at the request of Taylor, whose then-husband, Richard Burton, was working in France at the time; this helped boost the budget to 11 million dollars, while the film earned less than a fifth of that figure at the box office. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Elizabeth Taylor, Warren Beatty, (more)
Memorably described by Pauline Kael as "a beautiful pipe dream of a movie," Robert Altman's McCabe & Mrs. Miller reimagines the American West as a muddy frontier filled with hustlers, opportunists, and corporate sharks -- a turn-of-the-century model for a 1971 America mired in violence and lies. John McCabe (Warren Beatty) wanders into the turn-of-the-century wilderness village known as Presbyterian Church, with vague plans of parlaying his gambling winnings into establishing a fancy casino-brothel-bathhouse. McCabe's business partner is prostitute Mrs. Miller (Julie Christie), who despite her apparent distaste for McCabe helps him achieve his goal. Once McCabe and Mrs. Miller become successful, the town grows and prospers, incurring the jealousy of a local mining company that wants to buy McCabe out. Filmed on location in Canada, McCabe & Mrs. Miller makes use of such Altman "stock company" performers as Shelley Duvall, René Auberjonois, John Schuck, and Keith Carradine. The seemingly improvised screenplay was based on a novel by Edmund Naughton and the movie features a soundtrack of songs by Leonard Cohen. McCabe & Mrs. Miller joined such other Altman efforts as M*A*S*H, The Long Goodbye, and Thieves Like Us in radically revising familiar movie genres for the disillusioned Vietnam era. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, (more)
Originally billed as merely $, Dollars stars top box office draws Warren Beatty and Goldie Hawn. Beatty plays a security whiz, employed in Hamburg, Germany. He devises a clever method of robbing the secret bank vaults of notorious criminals, reasoning that the crooks will never turn to the cops. The notion that the crooks may have a few words to say to him does not dissuade Beatty as he and gold-hearted hooker Hawn work out their carefully calculated, meticulously timed robbery. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Warren Beatty, Goldie Hawn, (more)
- 1973
This is a very personal documentary about women's liberation by the poet and novelist Sandra Hochman. Against the backdrop of the 1972 Republican and Democratic Presidential conventions, she reminisces about her own life, interviews many notable figures in political life and in the women's liberation movement, and makes satirical jabs at the male establishment. The fact that the media largely ignored the vice-presidential bid of Shirley Chisolm serves as a good illustration of how far the movement has yet to go. The documentary ends with shots of Hochman tap dancing around national monuments in Washington, D.C. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
While the Watergate scandal filled the headlines, Alan J. Pakula's 1974 thriller took its inspiration from the conspiracy theories surrounding the Kennedy assassination. Journalist Joe Frady (Warren Beatty) misses witnessing the assassination of a senator at Seattle's Space Needle, but his newswoman former girlfriend Lee Carter (Paula Prentiss) was there. Even after a government commission concludes that it was a freak lone assassin, Lee tells Joe that she fears for her life since other witnesses keep dying. After she too turns up dead, Joe investigates, travelling to the small town where another witness has mysteriously expired. Stumbling on a corporate identity for the killers, Joe decides to dig deeper by infiltrating the Parallax Corporation as one of their hired assassins. As Joe becomes increasingly isolated in his assumed identity, he discovers what Parallax is all about -- but Parallax knows all about Joe too. Made between Klute (1971) and All the President's Men (1976), The Parallax View was the second film in Pakula's "paranoia" trilogy; it proved too dark even for a 1974 audience that embraced such other challenging films of that year as The Godfather, Part II and Chinatown, making The Parallax View the sole flop of Pakula's trilogy. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi
- Starring:
- Warren Beatty, Hume Cronyn, (more)
A frankly adult comedy about the sex lives of the aimless and the rich, Shampoo is also a pointed commentary on the demise of 1960s idealism at the dawn of the Nixon era. It is Election Day, 1968, and randy Beverly Hills hairdresser George Roundy (Warren Beatty) is too worried about attending to all of his women's tonsorial and sexual needs, while trying to swing a bank loan to fund his own salon, to notice the fateful Presidential race. As George juggles the demands of girlfriend Jill (Goldie Hawn) and mistress Felicia (Lee Grant), not to mention Felicia's daughter (Carrie Fisher), he meets Felicia's husband Lester (Jack Warden) to get money for the salon and discovers that his beloved ex-girlfriend Jackie (Julie Christie) is now Lester's mistress. Lester asks George to escort Jackie to a banquet for Nixon supporters, leading to a series of climactic confrontations at the dinner and a Hollywood orgy that expose the conflicting demands of sex, love, and security among these terminally narcissistic L.A. denizens. As Nixon's victory speech drones in the background the following day and Paul Simon's mournful '60s music plays on the soundtrack, George's free-wheeling world collapses around him for reasons that he can barely begin to comprehend. Produced and co-written (with Chinatown scribe Robert Towne) by its star Warren Beatty, Shampoo became Beatty's second critical and popular success as a producer after Bonnie and Clyde, and it bolstered Hal Ashby's track record as director. Shampoo earned Grant an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, as well as a Supporting Actor nomination for Warden and Beatty's first nomination as writer. With Nixon's 1974 Watergate disgrace adding an extra edge to the humor for 1975 audiences, this tragic bedroom farce became one of the highest-grossing films in Columbia Pictures' history at the time. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi
- Starring:
- Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, (more)
- 1975
- PG
Three's a crowd in Mike Nichols's period caper comedy -- or is it? To dodge the 1920s Mann Act barring the transport of women across state lines for "immoral purposes," not-yet-divorced Nicky (Warren Beatty) has felonious buddy Oscar (Jack Nicholson) marry Nicky's runaway heiress sweetheart Freddy (Stockard Channing) so they can all escape New York for Los Angeles. The three set up house together, but trouble starts brewing when odd man out Oscar decides to get Nicky's attention by exercising his rights as a husband to Freddy. Exasperated with being stuck in the middle of the bickering pair, Freddy threatens to donate her impending inheritance to charity, inciting Oscar and Nicky to hatch a plan to bump her off and keep the money. But Freddy just will not die, prompting the three to reconsider the whole arrangement. With a period setting and pair of stellar lead actors similar to the 1973 blockbuster The Sting, a screenplay by Five Easy Pieces author Carol Eastman (under the name Adrien Joyce), and deft comedy director Nichols, The Fortune seemed like a can't-miss proposition. But it resoundingly flopped, as audiences preferred to see Beatty in his earlier 1975 starring role as a racy L.A. hairdresser in Shampoo, and to wait for Nicholson's later 1975 incarnation as an archetypal iconoclast in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. As with other late '60s-early '70s period films like Beatty's own Bonnie and Clyde (1967), The Fortune lends an updated sensibility to its old-fashioned milieu, complete with a very modern happy ending. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, (more)
Opting for light entertainment after the critical satire of Shampoo (1975), producer-director-writer-star Warren Beatty remade the 1941 comic fantasy Here Comes Mr. Jordan. Dimly amiable L.A. Rams quarterback Joe Pendleton (Beatty) is prematurely called to Heaven by an over-eager escort (Buck Henry, who co-directed) after a traffic accident. When archangel Mr. Jordan (James Mason) discovers the error, he offers to return Joe to his body, only to find that it has been cremated. On the verge of playing in the Super Bowl, Joe demands a fit body rather than the old about-to-be-murdered industrialist Farnsworth he has been offered, but he reconsiders when he sees environmentalist Betty Logan (Julie Christie) in Farnsworth's house. Assuming Farnsworth's body while keeping his sweet self, Joe hires his beloved coach Max Corkle (Jack Warden) to get him in shape (after convincing Max who he really is), sets Farnsworth's business on an eco-friendly path, and romances Betty. Farnsworth's homicidal wife (Dyan Cannon) and secretary (Charles Grodin), however, are still determined to succeed in their plan to kill him. When Mr. Jordan finally finds the Super Bowl body Joe wanted, Joe has to trade his old self for the new life -- but will he remember his love for Betty? Heaven Can Wait offered contemporary yet old-fashioned escapism and tapped into the late-1970s vogue for nostalgic fun, becoming one of 1978's most popular summer movies after Grease. Updating the original while following its blueprint, Beatty and co-writer Elaine May switched Joe's sport and turned Joe into a man of his '70s moment, adoring Betty for her convictions and favoring "green" policies over corporate greed. Gently breathing life into a classic form, Heaven Can Wait found romantic innocence in a jaded time, and it went on to receive nine Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi
- Starring:
- Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, (more)
Few filmmakers other than Warren Beatty would have had the courage and vision to fashion an epic film from the life of famed American Communist John Reed (who is the only US citizen buried in the Kremlin). The film is an effort to humanize a political movement that has previously been depicted on screen in a series of unsubtle and prejudicial broad strokes. The film begins in 1915, when Reed (Beatty) makes the acquaintance of married Portland journalist Louise Bryant (Diane Keaton). So persuasive is Reed's point of view--and so charismatic is Reed himself-- that Bryant kicks over the traces and joins Reed and his fellow radicals. Among the famous personages depicted herein are Emma Goldman (Maureen Stapleton), Eugene O'Neill (Jack Nicholson) and Max Eastman (Richard Herrmann). The second half of this nearly-200-minute film skims through the years when Reed, now a Russian resident, becomes disillusioned by the harsh realities of Bolshevism. Despite the celebrity line-up of real-life "witnesses" to the events depicted in the film (ranging from novelist Henry Miller to comedian George Jessel!), historians took Reds to task for its oversimplification of events and its laundering of the notoriously promiscuous Louise Bryant. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton, (more)
- 1984
- Add George Stevens: A Filmmaker's Journey to Queue Add George Stevens: A Filmmaker's Journey to top of Queue
The man who assembled the remarkable documentary George Stevens: A Filmaker's Journey had the benefit of knowing the subject intimately: the film was written, produced and directed by George Stevens Jr. Utilizing pristine-quality filmclips and interviews, Stevens Jr. details Stevens Sr.'s rise from silent-film cameraman to one of the top producer/directors in Hollywood. We are treated to snippets of Stevens' camerawork on the Laurel and Hardy films at Hal Roach Studios, then we are transported to his salad days as a feature director at RKO. Among the films highlighted from this first chapter of Stevens' directorial life are Alice Adams (1935), Swing Time (1936) and Gunga Din (1939) (one would like to have heard a bit more background info concerning Stevens' Wheeler and Woolsey comedies). Next we find Stevens as an autonomous entity at Columbia Pictures, producing and directing such classics as The More the Merrier (1943). The war years are thoroughly covered via Stevens' vivid color footage of the invasion of Europe. The last stages of Stevens' Hollywood career is traced through generous portions of A Place in the Sun (1951), Shane (1953), Giant (1956) and The Diary of Anne Frank (1959). The many interviewees include Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers and Warren Beatty. As an added filip, A Filmmaker's Journey includes rare home-movie sequences showing George Stevens at home and at work--all filmed with as much care and professionalism as Stevens' "mainstream" pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- George Stevens, Jr., George Stevens, (more)
- 1987
- PG13
Considered one of the great box-office turkeys of its decade, Ishtar was an attempt by writer/director Elaine May and stars Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty to do a modern-day road picture in the style of the much-loved Bob Hope and Bing Crosby comedy classics. Beatty is Lyle Rogers, a dimwitted songwriter who befriends and partners with Chuck Clarke (Hoffman), who is only slightly more intelligent but every bit as untalented. Together the duo dreams of becoming a big-time lounge act, but their songs, with titles like "That a Lawnmower Can Do All That," are unintentionally hilarious. Chuck becomes suicidal, but just when it seems they'll never strike it rich, the boys are offered a shady gig at a North African hotel, entertaining U.S. troops stationed in the tiny nation of Ishtar. On their way to accept the job, Lyle, Chuck, and their blind camel are sidetracked by a mysterious woman (Isabelle Adjani) and a scheming CIA agent (Charles Grodin), who are involved in a rebellion against the country's emir. The memorable songs crafted by Chuck and Lyle were written by actor and composer Paul Williams. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- Warren Beatty, Dustin Hoffman, (more)
With this rote but well-cast romantic comedy, writer-director James Toback began his long association with actor Robert Downey, Jr. The latter stars as Jack Jericho, a grade school teacher and smooth operator who zealously polishes his cliched pick-up lines in front of a mirror. Jack's come-ons even work on Randy Jensen (Molly Ringwald), a redheaded museum tour guide who dishes up a stream of retorts, matching Jack's verbal banter. After quickly trysting in the back of Jack's car, Randy flatly thanks him and walks off. Realizing that Randy is his soul mate, Jack gets his pal Phil (Danny Aiello) to find her. She's in Atlantic City, desperately trying to win $25,000 with her paycheck. Her father, Flash (Dennis Hopper), is an inveterate alcoholic who owes the money to a mobster, Alonzo (Harvey Keitel). Alonzo is willing to erase the debt if Randy will sleep with a South American kingpin, so she's trying to hit a jackpot that will get her and Flash off the hook. With a deadline of tomorrow, Jack sets out to get Randy's money and convince her that he's Mr. Right. The Pick-Up Artist was the final film appearance of actress Mildred Dunnock, who played Jack's grandmother. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- Molly Ringwald, Robert Downey, Jr., (more)
Warren Beatty directed and starred in this big-budget action comedy featuring Chester Gould's square-jawed, two-dimensional comic strip detective. Ruthless gangster Big Boy Caprice (Al Pacino) touches off a gang war against underworld boss Lips Manlis (Paul Sorvino), with Big Boy and his minions rubbing out enough of Manlis's goons (along with Manlis himself) to take over his nightclub, and a healthy percentage of the city's criminal activities in the process. Caprice also gains proprietary rights to Manlis's girlfriend, nightclub chanteuse Breathless Mahoney (Madonna). Big Boy's next move to is unite the rest of the city's crooks under his command; this wave of corruption attracts the attention of lawman Dick Tracy, who is determined to smash Caprice's criminal network once and for all. As Tracy plots to put Big Boy behind bars where he belongs, Breathless uses her considerable charms in an attempt to sway Tracy from the path of righteousness; this causes no small amount of anxiety for Tracy's long-suffering female companion, Tess Trueheart (Glenne Headly), and the street-smart kid (Charlie Korsmo) they've been keeping an eye on. The various bad guys, heavily made up to resemble Gould's cartoon characters (though Beatty is not made up to resemble Tracy), include Dustin Hoffman, James Caan, R.G. Armstrong, and William Forsythe. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Warren Beatty, Charlie Korsmo, (more)
Bugsy is a character study of mobster Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel wrapped up in a gangster movie. Siegel (Warren Beatty in a flashy performance) arrives in California in the Forties, assigned to oversee the L.A. rackets. He is quickly seduced by both the glamour of Hollywood and actress Virginia Hill (Annette Bening), whom he romances despite being unable to leave his wife and children. Siegel soon has a vision to transform a barren stretch of Nevada desert into an oasis of gambling and entertainment -- the seeds from which Las Vegas was sown. Funded by his gangster bosses, including Meyer Lansky (Ben Kingsley), the flamboyant Siegel sees his budget soar past its original $6 million, a problem compounded by the fact that Virginia has embezzled $2 million of it. In trouble with his superiors, Siegel flies back to L.A. to face the music, telling Virginia to keep the money. He would not live to see his dream of Las Vegas come true. The film is fast-paced and well-directed by Barry Levinson, with an intelligent script by James Toback and excellent support from Kingsley and Harvey Keitel as gangster Mickey Cohen. ~ Don Kaye, Rovi
- Starring:
- Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, (more)
Truth or Dare is an outrageous, insightful, carefully controlled and (to non-fans) overlong documentary of singer Madonna's 1990 Blonde Ambition tour. Though much of the film is a paean to self-love and self-aggrandizement, we are permitted to see Madonna at her worst as well as her best. Just when the audience is on the verge of giving up the flamboyant vocalist as a bad job, she displays a sudden attack of sensitivity, such as her protective attitude towards a timid homosexual in her troupe. Among the many celebrities who poke their heads into the proceedings are Warren Beatty, Sandra Bernhard, and Kevin Costner, who makes the fatal error of coming backstage to tell Madonna that he thinks she's "neat." If you've had your fill of the Material Girl, take a look at the parody documentary starring MTV's Julie Brown, Medusa: Dare to Be Truthful. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Madonna, Warren Beatty, (more)
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