Robert Ginty Movies
A Yale man, American actor Robert Ginty was of the Sid Haig / Harry Dean Stanton / Charles Napier school of film performing. Whether good guy or bad, Ginty's acting style was sullen and laconic, as if he held some appalling secret that it was best the world not know. He specialized in low-budget films, where his expertise shone all the more in his many performance as drifters, loners, and troubled war vets. Ginty has also directed from time to time, though no festival awards have been garnered by The Bounty Hunter (1989) and Vietnam, Texas (1990). Among Robert Ginty's TV series credits are Black Sheep Squadron (1976), The Paper Chase (1979), and Hawaiian Heat (1984) (a rare "establishment" role as a cop). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi- 1998
This episode introduces yet another in a long line of Xena lookalikes: Leah, the high priestess of the Hestian Virgins (a role played, of course, by Lucy Lawless). When Leah is threatened with death, bordello operator Meg (who also is the spitting image of Xena, and is also enacted by Lucy Lawless) offers to take her place. And as is customary in episodes of this nature, Xena's friend Joxer (Ted Raimi) is hopelessly confused. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Lucy Lawless
- 1998
Sara Rose Peterson guest stars as the sinister Jade D'Mon, who turns out to be the earthly incarnation of the demon goddess Hecate. At the moment, "Jade" is trying to conceive a demon child, and to that end has stolen the boyfriend (Todd Cattell) of an innocent young girl (Christie Lynn Smith). Having enchanted the boy into proposing marriage, the goddess arranges a wedding party -- which, by a strange coincidence, is being catered by Piper Halliwell (Holly Marie Combs). Sensing that there's danger afoot, Piper and her sisters try to foil Hecate's evil scheme -- a scheme that has already claimed the life of the priest who was to have performed the marriage ceremony. ~ Rovi
- Starring:
- Sara Rose Peterson, Barbara Stock, (more)
- 1995
In this made-for-TV comedy adapted from the once-popular TV series The Munsters, Herman Munster (Edward Herrmann) and his wife Lily (Veronica Hamel) learn that they are no longer welcome in Transylvania, so they relocate to California with their children Eddie (Matthew Botuchis) and Marilyn (Christine Taylor), as well as Grandpa (Robert Morse). As the Munsters try to adjust to their new life in laid-back, sunny Los Angeles, they're faced with a crisis -- Marilyn not only discovers she's adopted but that her biological father has disappeared. Here Come the Munsters first aired on Halloween in 1995. Keep an eye peeled for cameo appearances by Yvonne De Carlo, Al Lewis, Butch Patrick, and Pat Priest, all of whom played Munster family members in the original series.
~ Mark Deming, Rovi
~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Edward Herrmann, Veronica Hamel, (more)
- 1993
- R
In this erotic thriller, a luckless yacht captain is accused of tossing the millionaire boat owner into the briny and then raping the drowned owner's luscious young girl friend. The millionaire's twin brother is the one calling it murder. Fortunately a feisty old lawyer abandons retirement to defend the hapless captain. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1992
- R
Martial arts expert Cynthia Rothrock stars as a widow who learns karate in order to gain revenge on the crime boss (Richard Norton) who killed her husband. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
- 1991
Lonely Hearts is a modern film noir in which a lonely woman meets and falls for a man whom she refuses to let go. Alma (Beverly D'Angelo) is a wallflower who lives with her mother and works at a Social Security office. In her desperation to make some sort of social life for herself, she answers a personal ad and meets Frank (Eric Roberts) with whom she falls in love. Frank turns out to be a con man and a swindler, but Alma is obsessed with him. She begins to help him by posing as his sister while he cons other women, until she and Frank are forced to flee when one of the victims hires a private detective. Beverly D'Angelo plays Alma with the perfect mixture of both predator and victim and director Andrew Lane understands and directs his actors well, making Lonely Hearts a very well-thought-out and executed thriller despite a somewhat languid pacing. ~ Linda Rasmussen, Rovi
- Starring:
- Beverly D'Angelo, Eric Roberts, (more)
- 1991
The superb, utterly convincing special effects in the two-part TV movie The Big One: The Great Los Angeles Earthquake cannot be faulted. Less convincing are the scenes in which the fictional TV reporters, demoralized and in tears, can't bring themselves to describe the extent of the destruction. Part One, telecast November 11, 1990, finds seismologist Joanna Kerns trying in vain to convince authorities that the entire LA basin will be shake-and-bake within a few days. This portion of the drama ends with "The Big One" wreaking havoc throughout Lala-land. Part Two, broadcast November 12, concerns itself with the aftermath, the rescues, the tragedies, and above all the effect the natural disaster has on Kerns and her friends and family. Also appearing in The Big One is Ed Begley Jr. as the one political official willing to listen to Kerns' warnings, and Richard Masur as one of those "I can't bear it!" TV journalists. The video version titled The Great Los Angeles Earthquake runs 106 minutes. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1991
- R
- Add Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man to QueueAdd Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man to top of Queue
Mickey Rourke and Don Johnson star in this buddy-buddy futuristic action movie. Rourke is Harley Davidson, a biker with the Halloween-costume garb of a leather jacket, short haircut, earring, and a scar. Johnson joins Rourke in the trick-or-treating as Marlboro, an ex-rodeo rider wearing a cowboy hat, vest, and dilapidated boots. They hang out at a neighborhood bar. When they find that a collection of greedy bankers want to increase the bar's payments so it will be forced to close, the two decide to help the bar out of its financial straits by robbing the bank of $2.5 million in order to pay the inflated tab and keep the bar in business. Unfortunately for the boys, the bank deals in an illicit drug called "the dream," and when they rob the armored car, they steal the drugs and not the cash. Of course, the boys become the targets for the bank's sadistic squad of hit men, led by a pleasant chap by the name of Alexander (Daniel Baldwin). ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Mickey Rourke, Don Johnson, (more)
- 1991
The focus in this episode is on Mort Metzger (Ron Masak), sheriff of Cabot Cove, Maine, and a close personal friend of Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury). When Metzger jails a young man named Bradley (David Lansbury) on a drunk driving charge, he refuses to drop the matter despite the power and influence wielded by Bradley's ambassador father Chandler Hellman (Jack Colvin). Subsequently, Bradley turns up dead, whereupon the vengeful Hellman pulls just the right strings to bring Metzger up on a murder charge. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1990
- R
From a script by Tom Badal and C. Courtney Joyner comes this film about a man whose wartime experiences continue to affect his life back in the U.S. Robert Ginty, a veteran low-budget actor who specializes in portraying drifters and loners, directs himself as Thomas McCain, an American GI who returns home and tries to wipe out the past by becoming a priest. McCain is haunted by his acts in Vietnam, where he had a baby with a Vietnamese lover but abandoned both of them. When he learns that his daughter has come to the U.S. with her mother, McCain goes to Houston to reconcile his newfound morality with his past and to try to get his daughter back from the notorious drug dealer whom the mother of his child has married. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi
- Starring:
- Robert Ginty, Dr. Haing S. Ngor, (more)
- 1990
- PG13
John Larroquette starred with Kirstie Alley in this comedy involving a couple's troubles with their starter home. An array of obstinate houseguests refuse to leave and provoke the anger of all involved. ~ John Bush, Rovi
- Starring:
- John Larroquette, Kirstie Alley, (more)
- 1989
- R
In this drama, the witness to a brutal killing launches a private investigation and discovers a seething hotbed of local corruption. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Robert Ginty, Kathy Shower, (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
- R
A former CIA agent (Robert Ginty) is released from prison to track down his terrorist rival (James Ryan), who has kidnapped the family of a Middle Eastern monarch. ~ John Bush, Rovi
- Starring:
- Robert Ginty, Shannon Tweed, (more)
- 1989
- R
The title is the story so far as Bounty Hunter is concerned. Doubling as star and director, Robert Ginty plays a soldier of fortune who hires on to catch a killer. Ginty is not as mercenary as he seems: the fugitive has murdered his best friend. Bo Hopkins costars as a crooked sheriff who impedes Ginty's mission. This direct-to-video effort is available in both R-rated and unrated versions. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Robert Ginty, Bo Hopkins, (more)
- 1987
- R
A trio of agents are summoned by Interpol to trail the villain Harry Pimm (Sylvester McCoy) in this low-budget spy feature. Elliot Cromwell (Robert Ginty), Sergeant Terry O'Shea (Victoria Barrett), and Major Shan (Shakti) combine forces to track down the international crime boss ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Robert Ginty, Victoria Barrett, (more)
- 1986
- R
The corpse of a beautiful Middle Eastern terrorist is outfitted with a special computer, programmed to reanimate and to seek and destroy other terrorists. The trouble in this sci-fi actioner begins when something goes wrong and she tries to kill her creators. The film is also known as The Retaliator. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Robert Ginty, Sandahl Bergman, (more)
- 1986
- R
Weapons expert Cooper (Robert Ginty) travels to Central America to help deliver arms to a rebel force, but his friend (Cameron Mitchell) is killed by a mercenary force. Cooper takes over command of the rebel army, determined to finish what his friend started. ~ John Bush, Rovi
- 1985
- R
Robert Ginty, star of James Glickenhaus's The Exterminator (1980), returns for a similar outing in the 1985 actioner Mission Kill. He plays Cooper, an explosives expert summoned by a Green Beret friend Harry (Cameron Mitchell), on a mission to smuggle arms into the (fictional) South American country of Santa Maria. The picture co-stars Merete Van Kamp and Harry Darrow. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- Robert Ginty, Merete Van Kamp, (more)
- 1984
First telecast September 14, 1984, the weekly TV series Hawaiian Heat starred Robert Ginty and Jeff McCracken as Mac Riley and Andy Senkowski, a pair of Chicago cops forced to leave the City of Big Shoulders when Mac's police-officer father is accused of taking a bribe. Moving to Honolulu, Mac and Andy are hired as troubleshooters by Major Oshira (Mako) of the city's police department. In this 2-hour opening episode, our heroes' first mission is to pose as drug buyers in order to smash a gang of heroin smugglers. A lot of Hawaiian Heat's thunder was stolen when the remarkably similar Miami Vice premiered two days later. By the end of the 1984-85 TV season, Miami Vice was one of the top-rated series in networkdom, while Hawaiian Heat had already expired after 13 epsiodes. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1984
- R
This violent follow-up to the sadistic actioner The Exterminator (1980) again features Johnny Eastland (Robert Ginty), a Vietnam vet who is triggered into vengeful killing when his dancer girlfriend (Deborah Geffner) is first badly beaten and permanently crippled and later murdered by a gang of street thugs led by "X" (Mario Van Peebles). Johnny dresses up in a special uniform and helmet, grabs a flamethrower, and aided by Be Gee (Frankie R. Faison), a former vet turned garbageman, the two incinerate their way through the rest of the film. Like other Death Wish clones, this film is derivative, violent, and mindless. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Robert Ginty, Mario Van Peebles, (more)
- 1984
A plane with a cargo of $200 million in gold is searched for in the Jungle of Laos by a dedicated secret agent team. ~ Rovi
- 1984
- R
This sci-fi adventure is set in a distant future wherein the scorched, irradiated Earth is run by the tyrannical Omega Force until a courageous motorcycle-riding maverick shows up to stop him. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Robert Ginty, Persis Khambatta, (more)
