Lindsay Crouse Movies
Tall, thin, and blonde, Oscar-nominated actress Lindsay Crouse has been appearing onscreen since the mid-'70s -- though contemporary, television-savvy fans may be more familiar with her thanks to memorable small-screen roles on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Providence, and Hack. Crouse is a New York City native and the daughter of Life With Father author Russel Crouse; her literary father named her after his longtime writing partner Howard Lindsay. An education at Radcliffe first led Crouse to a career as a dancer, though it wasn't long before she began leaning toward acting; she made her screen debut in 1976's All the President's Men. Roles in Slap Shot (1977) and The Verdict (1982) found Crouse managing to hold her own opposite screen heavy Paul Newman, and after remaining under the direction of Sidney Lumet for Daniel (1983), Crouse earned an Oscar nod for her performance opposite Sally Field in the 1984 drama Places in the Heart. With the exception of a season of Hill Street Blues, Crouse would stick mainly to feature films for the remainder of the 1980s. Her leading role as a conflicted psychiatrist in 1987's House of Games (under the direction of then-husband David Mamet) seemed to capitalize on her status as one of John Willis' Screen World's "Most Promising New Actors of 1984."If the 1990s found Crouse edging almost exclusively into small-screen work, the occasional feature, such as The Juror (1996) and Prefontaine (1997), proved that she had lost none of her enduring big-screen appeal. Indeed, Crouse was equally effective in both film and television; small-screen roles in Norma Jean and Marilyn and If These Walls Could Talk (both 1996) proved just as compelling as her turn in Michael Mann's acclaimed 1999 drama The Insider. In 2000, Crouse took on the role of Caroline Ingalls in the made-for-TV family film Beyond the Prairie: The True Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Before returning to the character in the 2002 sequel, she played supporting roles in Imposter and Cherish (both 2002). ~ Jason Buchanan, 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
- Starring:
- Sally Field, Lindsay Crouse, (more)
We first see Asian cave dweller John Lone as he wanders around what seems to be his natural habitat of some 10,000 years ago. Soon we learn that Lone is in a controlled environment in a scientific lab--and that his frozen body was recently discovered during an expedition to the North Pole (hence the nickname "Iceman"). Scientists Lindsay Crouse and Timothy Hutton hope to learn to communicate with Lone, and in so doing discover life was truly like for our neanderthal ancestors. The other, less altruistic scientists want to dissect Lone and analyze his innards. With Hutton's help, Lone escapes, but soon both men realize that there's really no place for "the Iceman" in modern society. Though the settings are convincingly arctic, Iceman was filmed in Manitoba. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Timothy Hutton, Lindsay Crouse, (more)
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
- Starring:
- Timothy Hutton, Mandy Patinkin, (more)
In Sidney Lumet's powerful courtroom drama The Verdict, Paul Newman stars as Frank Galvin, an alcoholic Boston lawyer who tries to redeem his personal and professional reputation by winning a difficult medical malpractice case. Frank, down on his luck, is presented with the case of his life when he is approached by the family of a woman who has been left in a coma following an operation in a large Catholic hospital. Helped by his assistant Mickey (Jack Warden), he agrees to take the case, hoping for a fast settlement. When he visits the victim in the hospital, he becomes emotionally involved, turns down a sizable settlement offer made by the hospital, and decides to bring the case to trial despite the formidable opposition of the Church and its lawyer, Newman (James Mason). He is also assisted by his new girlfriend, Laura (Charlotte Rampling), a woman who turns out to have an unusual past. Oscar-nominated for "Best Picture" and "Best Director" (Lumet) as well as for "Best Adapted Screenplay" (David Mamet from a novel by Barry Reed), The Verdict is an outstanding, if not very legally accurate, courtroom drama; Frank's decision to try the case without telling the family of the victim of the settlement offer would probably lead to his real-life disbarment. Paul Newman and James Mason give fine, Oscar-nominated performances, and Charlotte Rampling is quite good as the deceitful Laura, who never seems to turn down a drink. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Newman, Charlotte Rampling, (more)
Inspired by a true story, Prince of the City stars Treat Williams as a Manhattan detective who agrees to help the US Department of Justice weed out corruption in the NYPD. Williams agrees on the assurance that he'll never have to turn in a close friend. Wired for sound, Williams almost immediately stumbles upon a police conspiracy to smuggle narcotics to street informants in order to insure cooperation. While this might be condonable in a stretch, the fact is that the many cops are using the drugs on their own, and are also highly susceptible to bribes. Williams gets the goods on the miscreants, but in so doing he breaks the "code" and becomes a pariah to his fellow officers. As we learn in the unsettling final scene, Williams will always be considered a "fink," even by honest cops. Prince of the City is too long for its own good, but its opening expository sequences and its final twenty minutes more than compensate for the duller stretches. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Treat Williams, Jerry Orbach, (more)
- 1981
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
- Starring:
- Henry Fonda, Myrna Loy, (more)
This family oriented made-for-TV adaptation of a story by Willa Cather, tells the tale of a poor but ambitious young man living in the poor section of Pittsburgh in the early 19th century as he works his way to the highest levels of New York society. Henry Fonda introduces the story. ~ Sandra Brennan, 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
- Starring:
- Paul Newman, Strother Martin, (more)
- 1977
- R
Director Joan Micklin Silver's follow-up to her acclaimed debut, Hester Street, is a more ambitious film that manages to be both an entertaining comedy and a pointed look at the corrupting power of money on an idealistic enterprise. Writer Fred Barron's characters are all associated with a weekly alternative newspaper in Boston, modeled after the Phoenix. (Silver did once work on the Village Voice, but this enterprise is several rungs below that esteemed paper.) Harry (John Heard) is an ambitious reporter romantically involved with Abbie (Lindsay Crouse), the paper's star photographer. Michael (Stephen Collins) is a writer trying to work on a novel and stay faithful to his loving wife, Laura (Gwen Welles), while Max (Jeff Goldblum), the paper's rock critic, shamelessly uses his job to try to pick up women. Lynn (Jill Eikenberry), a typist who is the paper's mother-hen figure, is also its most principled employee. When a publishing mogul (Lane Smith) buys the paper and promises changes that will compromise its aggressive political stance in favor of more "lifestyle" articles, Lynn resigns, and it's clear to the group that their carefree days are behind them. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Heard, Lindsay Crouse, (more)
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
- Starring:
- Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford, (more)
