Lindsay Crouse Movies

Conspiracy film specialist Alan J. Pakula turned journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's best-selling account of their Watergate investigation into one of the hit films of Bicentennial year 1976. While researching a story about a botched 1972 burglary of Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate apartment complex, green Washington Post reporters/rivals Woodward (Robert Redford, who also exec produced) and Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) stumble on a possible connection between the burglars and a White House staffer. With the circumspect approval of executive editor Ben Bradlee (Jason Robards), the pair digs deeper. Aided by a guilt-ridden turncoat bookkeeper (Jane Alexander) and the vital if cryptic guidance of Woodward's mystery source, Deep Throat (Hal Holbrook), Woodward and Bernstein "follow the money" all the way to the top of the Nixon administration. Despite Deep Throat's warnings that their lives are in danger, and the reluctance of older Post editors, Woodward and Bernstein are determined to get out the story of the crime and its presidential cover-up. Once Bradlee is convinced, the final teletype impassively taps out the historically explosive results. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

Paul Newman plays Reggie Dunlop, the coach of a pathetic minor-league American hockey team. His career at a standstill and his marriage in tatters, Dunlop has nothing to lose by taking on a new group of players who are one evolutionary step above Neanderthals. Only when the team begins winning does he decide to get behind these players, and to encourage the rest of the team to play as down-and-dirty as the newcomers. Straight-arrow team member Ned Braden (Michael Ontkean) resents this influx of gonzo talent, preferring to play clean. As the film's multitude of subplots play themselves out, Dunlop does his best to keep the outraged Braden on the team. Slap Shot is the sort of film for which the "R" rating was invented: Its nonstop barrage of profanity and its raunchy action sequences are of such intensity that the film will probably never be shown intact on commercial television. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a married man attends his high school reunion and finds himself falling for his ex-sweetheart's daughter. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Hollywood veterans Henry Fonda and Myrna Loy co-starred for the first and only time in the 60-minute TV drama Summer Solstice. Fonda and Loy portray Joshua and Margaret Turner, who during their fiftieth year of marriage pay a visit to the Cape Cod beach where they first fell in love. In flashback, we see how Joshua, an aspiring artist, began surreptitiously sketching Margaret as she reclined nude in an isolated section of the beach. We then follow their relationship through all its triumphs, tragedies and occasional infidelities. Stephen Collins and Lindsay Crouse play the younger Joshua and Margaret in the flashback sequences. Written by Bill Phillips and directed by the famed film editor Ralph Rosenblum, Summer Solstice was produced by Boston's WCVB-TV; its ABC network premiere occurred on December 30, 1981. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Sidney Lumet directed this film version of E.L. Doctorow's novel The Book of Daniel (scripted by Doctorow) that deals in a thinly veiled (although dispassionate way) with the Rosenberg spy case of the 1950s, as seen through the eyes of their children. The Rosenbergs are the Isaacsons here, and the first image of the film is a close-up of their son Daniel's (Timothy Hutton) eyes as he recites a dictionary definition of the word "electrocution." Daniel becomes a detective as he seeks out friends and relations of his parents -- Paul (Mandy Patinkin) and Rochelle (Lindsay Crouse) -- to discover some meaning from his parents' conviction as Russian spies and their execution in the electric chair during the communist paranoia of the 1950s. Daniel is prompted to investigate the past by the near-suicide of his hysterical sister Susan (Amanda Plummer). The film weaves back and forth in time, recalling the period from the 1930s to the 1950s. In a strangely uninvolving way, Lumet's film takes no point of view, the only emotion derived from the almost continuous sounds of Paul Robeson's singing on the soundtrack. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Of the three "mortgage on the farm" films of 1984 (Country and The River were the other two), Places in the Heart is the only one set during the Depression. After her husband is killed, Sally Field is forced to take over the debt-ridden Texas family farm herself. Though slightly embittered by the fact that a black man was responsible for her husband's death, Field accepts the help of another African-American, Danny Glover. She is also given aid and comfort by her blind boarder, John Malkovich. Despite almost insurmountable odds, Field manages to bring in the cotton crop and to hold her farm and family together. Throughout the film, director Robert Benton stresses the importance of solidarity in facing down disaster, underlining this point with a remarkable surrealistic finale, in which the "live" members of the cast are seen singing a hymn with the characters who have "died" in the course of the film. Places in the Heart won Sally Field her second Academy Award. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In his directorial debut, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet creates a stylish cinematic puzzle of games within games, as con men are joined by a psychologist in creating the perfect caper. Dr. Margaret Ford (Lindsay Crouse), the writer of psychological self-help books, meets Mike (Joe Mantegna) as she attempts to help a patient who owes heavy gambling debts. When she herself is the victim of a con, she becomes intrigued by the psychological drama of the con game and joins in a complicated scam involving a suitcase of cash. Mamet directs his extremely complicated plot with skill and complete control until it is impossible to tell who is the con and who is the victim. The suspense builds to an amazing surprise ending which is both reasonable and believable but completely unpredictable. Crouse and Mantegna are outstanding as are all the supporting performances. Mamet and his cinematographer Juan Ruiz-Anchia create a visually stunning, compelling film that does justice to Mamet's superbly written screenplay ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide

Adapted by Whitley Strieber from his book about his alleged contacts with aliens, Communion dramatizes a story all the more compelling for the author's insistence that it is true, complemented by Christopher Walken's enigmatic performance as Strieber. The film begins in October 1985, as Strieber is living in New York City with his wife Anne (Lindsay Crouse) and son Andrew (Joel Carlson). He is hunting for new book ideas without making much headway. He spends his days pacing around his apartment, thinking out loud or videotaping himself as he improvises bits of dialogue. It is soon decided that a vacation is in order, so, with their friends Alex (Andreas Katsulas) and Sara (Terri Hanauer), the Striebers head for their cabin in Upstate New York. In the middle of the night, an illumination descends on the cabin and surrounding forest, causing Strieber to wake up abruptly. In the semi-darkness of the cabin, he is able to make out a long face with narrow, tear-shaped eyes quietly observing him from a corner of the room. The next morning, he has forgotten -- or been made to forget -- the whole experience. He even shrugs off Alex's and Sarah's concern about "seeing lights" outside their bedroom window, claiming to have slept through the event. Back in New York, it becomes evident to Strieber and his family that something unusual did happen. He begins to have powerful hallucinations, and, after an inconclusive medical examination, he is encouraged by his wife to seek professional help from psychiatrist Janet Duffy (Frances Sternhagen). During hypnotic regression therapy, Strieber's lifelong contact with the "visitors" is brought to light, as well as the details of his more recent encounters. Still unable to accept these revelations, he returns to the cabin alone and finally communicates with the visitors, discovering that, although they are unable to reveal their true identity, their purpose may be to act as agents of personal transformation for himself and for others. An interesting and uneven film, Communion is bolstered considerably by Christopher Walken, whose role in the film, though appropriate for the subject matter, quickly transforms into a thesis on his own eccentricities as an actor. ~ Anthony Reed, All Movie Guide

The Desperate Hours directed by Michael Cimino, is an attempt to remake the Humphrey Bogart classic of the same name with indifferent results. Bosworth (Mickey Rourke), a brutal criminal on the run with his partners, takes over a house occupied by an unhappily married couple Nora (Mimi Rogers) and Tim (Anthony Hopkins) and their young son and daughter. Bosworth has escaped from jail with the help of his defense attorney Nancy Breyers (Kelly Lynch). The film focuses on the interactions of the family and Bosworth as he plans his escape to Mexico. Cimino wastes little time in developing the characters or explaining the implausible premise that Bosworth would chose an occupied house and hold an innocent family captive when the logical choice would be to lay low and wait for his chance to escape. Both Hopkins and Rourke, usually excellent actors, give wildly over-the-top performances, aided by the lurid, over-written dialogue of the screenplay and the badly paced, ill-conceived direction by Cimino, which instead of creating tension and suspense, simply confuses the already muddled and incomprehensible plot. The Desperate Hours is a pale example of the original with little to recommend it. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide

A group of seven women reunite three times a year to share their experiences with each other in this made-for-cable drama. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

A young female doctor is found murdered. While seeking out evidence, the detectives come across the woman's diary. The book paints a sordid picture indeed, suggesting that the woman's death may have been the outgrowth of a romantic triangle involving her fiancé, Danny Garrett (Frederick Weller), and Garrett's domineering psychiatrist, Diane Meade (Lindsay Crouse). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a woman attempts to recovering following a bout of schizophrenia. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide