Walter Bernstein Movies
Dartmouth graduate Walter Bernstein developed his writing skills while on the staff of Yank magazine during World War II. Upon being mustered out of service, Bernstein accumulated a single screenwriting credit, Kiss the Blood Off My Hands (1948), before plunging into the virgin territory of live television. His writing career came to a screeching halt when he was blacklisted after testifying before the House UnAmerican Activities Committee in 1951. The ban was lifted when director Sidney Lumet hired Bernstein for the 1959 Sophia Loren picture That Kind of Woman. Of his subsequent credits, Bernstein's Fail Safe (1964), The Molly Maguires (1977) and Semi-Tough (1977) are particular highlights. He has also penned two understandably vitriolic screenplays on the Blacklist years, 1976's The Front (which earned him an Oscar nomination) and 1989's House on Carroll Street. Walter Bernstein made an unexpected-and uncharacteristically sentimental-directorial bow with his 1981 remake of Damon Runyon's Little Miss Marker. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Based on the Ferenc Molnar play Olympia, A Breath of Scandal serves as an elegant vehicle for a ravishing Sophia Loren. The star plays Princess Olympia, who despite her station in life cannot resist the urge to satisfy her sexual appetites. Exiled to the countryside, Olympia falls in love with American millionaire Charlie Foster (John Gavin). Meanwhile, a marriage of state is arranged between the princess and Prince Ruprecht of Prussia (Carlo Hintermann). Jealous rival Countess Lina (Angela Lansbury) endangers this union by threatening to tell all about Olympia and Foster. A cute, continental plot twist brings this harmless confection to a close. Maurice Chevalier dispenses his usual all-knowing glances and sly smiles as Olympia's understanding father. A Breath of Scandal was directed by Michael Curtiz, who uncharacteristically allows the pace to lag at crucial junctures. Scriptwriter Sidney Howard was credited with the script posthumously, some 21 years after his death. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sophia Loren, Maurice Chevalier, (more)
Inside jokes about the film industry dominate this slight tale of ambition and romance at the Cannes Film Festival. Keith Carradine plays a first-time director who has sunk two years and all his money into a movie about the execution of murderer Gary Gilmore. With his last bit of cash, he flies himself and his picture to Cannes, but the film is seized by French customs. The wife of an Italian producer (Monica Vitti) helps him retrieve his work, and the two become embroiled in a passionate, yet ultimately ill-fated, affair. Carradine gets the first-time, self-important director mostly right, but the movie is so specific to the film industry that viewers may lose interest. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Keith Carradine, Monica Vitti, (more)
Woody Allen's romantic comedy of the Me Decade follows the up and down relationship of two mismatched New York neurotics. Jewish comedy writer Alvy Singer (Allen) ponders the modern quest for love and his past romance with tightly-wound WASP singer Annie Hall (Diane Keaton, née Diane Hall). The twice-divorced Alvy knows that it's not easy to find a mate when the options include pretentious New York intellectuals and lifestyle-obsessed Rolling Stone writers, but la-di-dah-ing Annie seems different. Along the rocky road of their coupling, Allen/Alvy weigh in on such topics as endless therapy, movies vs. TV, the absurdity of dating rituals, anti-Semitism, drugs, and, in one of the best set pieces, repressed Midwestern WASP insanity vs. crazy Brooklyn Jewish boisterousness. Annie wants to move to Los Angeles to find that fame that finally does in the relationship -- but not before Alvy gets in a few digs at vacuous, mantra-fixated California. Originally entitled Anhedonia (the inability to enjoy oneself), Annie Hall blended the slapstick and fantasy from such earlier Allen films as Sleeper (1973) and Bananas (1971) with the more autobiographical musings of his stand-up and written comedy, using an array of such movie techniques as talking heads, splitscreens, and subtitles. Within these gleeful formal experiments and sight gags, Allen and co-writer Marshall Brickman skewered 1970s solipsism, reversing the happy marriage of opposites found in classic screwball comedies. Hailed as Allen's most mature and personal film, Annie Hall beat out Star Wars for Best Picture and also won Oscars for Allen as director and writer and for Keaton as Best Actress; audiences enthusiastically responded to Allen's take on contemporary love and turned Keaton's rumpled menswear into a fashion trend. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, (more)
This HBO docudrama tells the real-life story of Dr. Gerald Bull (Frank Langella), a genius weapons designer whose services were used by the CIA for some highly suspect operations. After these operations were exposed, the CIA denied all knowledge of them and Bull was put in prison; following his release, he began to work with Saddam Hussein to build an extremely dangerous supergun that threatened the security of Israel. Doomsday Gun also stars Kevin Spacey, Alan Arkin, Rupert Graves, and Francesca Annis. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frank Langella, Alan Arkin, (more)
A seemingly-minor electronic error sets the world on the verge of nuclear annihilation in this made-for-TV adaptation of the novel by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler (which was previously filmed in 1964). Due to the burn-out of a piece of circuitry, a computer orders a U.S. Air Force jet on a strategic bombing raid, destroying targets in Russia with nuclear weapons. As Generals Bogan (Brian Dennehy) and Black (Harvey Keitel) desperately search for a way to recall the planes once the mistake has been discovered, the bomber's commander, Col. Grady (George Clooney) sets out on his mission with grim determination, while the President (Richard Dreyfuss) and his translator (Noah Wyle) stay in contact with the Soviet premier, trying to convince him that this was all a terrible mistake. Fail Safe was first presented as a live television broadcast which aired on CBS on April 9, 2000. The supporting cast includes Hank Azaria, Don Cheadle, James Cromwell, and Sam Elliott. Star George Clooney spearheaded the unique project and served as executive producer. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Clooney, Noah Wyle, (more)
Based on the novel by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler, Fail-Safe is set for the most part at Strategic Air Command headquarters, where a misguided transmission sends a squadron of bombers hurtling towards Russia, fully prepared to drop their atomic weaponry on Moscow. Air Force commander Frank Overton desperately tries to establish radio contact with the bombers, but once the pilots have passed the "fail safe" point, they've been instructed to disregard any reversal of orders. Racing against time, US President Henry Fonda, through his interpreter (Larry Hagman), informs the Russian premiere of the impending nuclear disaster. Working in concert with SAC, the Russians send up interceptors to shoot down the American bombers, while some of the planes run out of fuel and crash. Unfortunately, one aircraft, piloted by Edward Binns, manages to escape destruction and continues on its fatal mission. Realizing that Moscow is doomed, the President must decide how to avert World War III. Featured in the cast of Fail Safe are Walter Matthau as a hawkish scientist, Fritz Weaver as a round-the-bend colonel, and Dom DeLuise (billed as "DeLouise") as a weeping sergeant. Fail-Safe is followed by a government-dictated disclaimer insisting that the events leading up to the nuclear disaster depicted in the film could not possibly happen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Henry Fonda, Walter Matthau, (more)
Though the original Fletch was drubbed by critics, it proved a major success for star Chevy Chase. It was inevitable, then, that a sequel would make an appearance. Surprisingly, Fletch Lives didn't come out until 1989--a full five years after the original. Once more, Chase stars as Irwin Maurice "Fletch" Fletcher, the gonzo investigative reporter created by novelist Gregory McDonald. Indulging his penchant for disguises and bizarre aliases, Fletch investigates a deep dark mystery at a crumbling Southern plantation. Various friends and enemies are portrayed con brio by Hal Holbrook, Cleavon Little, Juliane Phillips, Randall "Tex" Cobb, Richard Libertini and Richard Belzer (Chase's cohort from the old Groove Tube days). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chevy Chase, Hal Holbrook, (more)
The talents of the cast and director George Cukor (A Star Is Born, My Fair Lady), combine to bring off this otherwise routine Western based on a Louis L'Amour novel. Sophia Loren is Angela Rossini, a woman who seems to create the situations she gets into, and Anthony Quinn is the strong, silent but soft-hearted Tom Healy. Rather than playing it straight, Cukor opts for satire and effective comedy in taking "The Great Healy Dramatic and Concert Co.," with its two-wagon loads of thespians and their gear, and turning it into a fun romp. As the troupe carries on with their performances heading through Wyoming, they are fighting for their economic survival and, as often as not, running like the devil from the law. There is a likeable villain in the piece, Mabry (Steve Forrest), a zany woman who has "sacrificed" her own dubious stage career for that of her daughter (Eileen Heckart), a so-called Shakespearean actor (Edmund Love), a banker with menacing undertones (Ramon Novarro), and a really hysterical Indian attack. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sophia Loren, Anthony Quinn, (more)
- 1998
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Winner of the Best Jewish Experience Documentary award at the 1998 Jerusalem Film Festival, this A&E program directed by Simcha Jacobovici was also hailed as "provocative and engaging" by John Leonard in New York Magazine and "shrewdly on target" by Caryn James in The New York Times. Essentially an adaptation of Neal Gabler's award-winning, somewhat controversial book Hollywood: An Empire of Their Own: How The Jews Invented Hollywood, this documentary chronicles the amazing success story of the half-dozen Jewish immigrants or sons of immigrants who created the movie industry studio system and became the moguls of Hollywood during its Golden Age. Highlights include archival footage, interviews, and commentary on these leaders, including Adolph Zukor, founder of Paramount; Carl Laemmle, founder of Universal; Jack and Samuel Warner, founders of Warner Bros.; Louis B. Mayer, founder of MGM; William Fox, head of 20th Century-Fox; and Harry Cohn, who ran Columbia Pictures. ~ Steve Blackburn, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bernard Avishai, Judith Balaban, (more)
- 1948
In this film noir drama, Bill Saunders (Burt Lancaster) is a former Prisoner of War living in England whose experiences have left him emotionally unstable and prone to violence. One night, while drinking in a pub, he gets into an argument with the owner which quickly escalates into a brutal fist fight; Bill kills the publican and flees with the police giving chase. Bill is given shelter by Jane Wharton (Joan Fontaine), a kind-hearted nurse who believes Bill when he tells her that the killing was an accident and that he's innocent of any wrongdoing. Bill soon gets in a fight with a policeman and ends up in jail, but Jane, who has fallen in love with Bill, still has faith in him, and upon his release she finds him a job driving a truck delivering drugs for the clinic where she works. Career criminal Harry Carter (Robert Newton), who witnessed Bill's murder of the pub owner, now sees a perfect opportunity for blackmail, and he forces Bill to tip him off for his next major drug shipment, which can then be routed to the black market at a high profit. Bill has little choice but to agree, but when Jane ends up tagging along when Bill is to make the delivery in question, he refuses to jeopardize her and makes the delivery to the clinic without incident. This quickly earns Harry's wrath, and they soon find themselves at the mercy of a very dangerous man. Miklos Rozsa composed the film's highly effective score. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Fontaine, Burt Lancaster, (more)
Screenwriter Walter Bernstein made his directorial debut with Little Miss Marker, a re-make of the Damon Runyon story that has been filmed many times before (most notably as Little Miss Marker with Shirley Temple, Sorrowful Jones starring Bob Hope, and the Tony Curtis vehicle 40 Pounds of Trouble). Here the cute little moppet is played by Sara Stimson, with Walter Matthau as the kid's nemesis Sorrowful Jones. The story concerns the relationship between the two when Little Miss Marker is left with Sorrowful as a down payment for one of her father's bets. Jones is involved with Blackie (Tony Curtis), who's trying to open an undercover casino in a mansion owned by Amanda (Julie Andrews). Jones and the kid find themselves in a number of dangerous scrapes as they try to keep one step ahead of the law -- and of Blackie. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Walter Matthau, Julie Andrews, (more)
Produced for the HBO cable network, this docudrama explores the social and ethical issues at the heart of the infamous Tuskegee Study of Untreated Blacks With Syphilis. From 1932 through 1972, the U.S. Public Health Service studied 600 poor African-American sharecroppers in Macon County, AL -- 399 chronic syphilitics and a 201-man healthy control group. Doctors treated the men with placebos, hid the true nature of their research, and withheld penicillin even after it became the standard and highly effective treatment for the disease in the mid-'40s. Although the experiment was hardly a secret, it was not until the early '70s that a public outcry developed; by then, all but 127 of the original study group had died. A class-action lawsuit obtained modest financial reparations for the participants and their descendants, but it was not until 1997 that President Bill Clinton offered an official government apology for the study. Framed as a series of flashbacks during the 1971 congressional hearings about the experiment, the film employs the viewpoint of Eunice Evers (Alfre Woodard), a local nurse who knew of the study's true nature, but devoted her life to caring for the men as they suffered horrifying physical and mental debilities and eventually died. The film charts her warm personal relationships with many of the participants -- the title refers to a singing and dancing troupe named in her honor -- and her failed romance with Caleb Humphries (Laurence Fishburne), an experimental subject who obtained penicillin from a military doctor and left the study to fight in World War II. Miss Evers' Boys was adapted from the play by David Feldshuh, which was itself based on the book Bad Blood: The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment by James H. Jones. Although fictionalized, the title character is based on the real-life Eunice Rivers. The film won three Emmy Awards, including top acting honors for Woodard. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- 1961
The second film of director Martin Ritt with both Paul Newmanand Sidney Poitier, it's set in a city that has long been a haven for black musicians eager to escape the racism of the U.S. Newman is Ram Bowen, a trombone player who makes his living in a jazz group, which also includes tenor man Eddie Cook (Sidney Poitier), while studying music and aspiring to a career as a "serious" composer. Eddie stays in Paris to bask in the respect that its people feel for his music, a respect rarely accorded him in the States. A pair of tourists, Connie Lampson (Diahann Carroll) and Lillian Corning (Joanne Woodward) arrive in the city for a two-week vacation, and the two musicians lose no time in hooking up. Soon both relationships take a serious turn and the musicians are forced to make some important decisions about the possibility of returning to their native soil. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, (more)
Burt Reynolds and Kris Kristofferson star as two pro-football pals who both fall for the team-owner's very rich daughter. Kind of goofy, kind of funny, and somewhat endearing--those are the qualities that surface in this light-hearted comedy built upon an extremely predictable scenario. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Burt Reynolds, Kris Kristofferson, (more)
- 1959
That Kind of Woman stars Sophia Loren as an Italian girl, Kay, who enjoys a brief wartime romance with American paratrooper Red (Tab Hunter). But Kay is already the property of a suave millionaire (George Sanders) known only as "The Man." When next we see her, Kay is living Hollywood's concept of the life of a kept woman: luxurious apartment, limitless wardrobe, and an ever-so-slightly repentant facial expression. When Red reenters her life, she forsakes her wanton lifestyle -- only to lose her newfound love to enemy bullets. Essentially a remake of the World War I war-horse The Shopworn Angel, That Kind of Woman relies solely on Sophia Loren for its emotional punch; Tab Hunter is, after all, Tab Hunter. Watch for fleeting appearances by John Fiedler as a GI and Bea Arthur as a WAC. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sophia Loren, Tab Hunter, (more)
The wife of a British army officer falls in love with an African American G.I. in this made-for-cable World War II drama. When her unfaithful husband (Ciaran Hinds) goes off to war, small-town homemaker Maggie Leyland (Kerry Fox) spends her time caring for her young son (Rory Jennings) and helping with the war effort. She's therefore present at a dance the locals throw for a newly arrived platoon of black soldiers from the United States. Despite Maggie's prim and proper demeanor, an unlikely friendship develops between her and Travis Holloway (Courtney B. Vance), a private who works as an army cook and dreams of actually fighting in the trenches for his country. Although the townspeople give the black G.I.'s a pleasant reception, the American brass frets about fraternization between their African-American soldiers and the local lasses. The white soldiers stationed nearby bitterly resent the competition, causing trouble for both participants in any interracial romance. Nonetheless, as the friendship between Travis and Maggie deepens, they're unable to suppress their feelings for one another. Into this clandestine relationship steps Maggie's husband, who returns unexpectedly and promptly accuses Travis of rape when he discovers the couple making love. Based on true events, The Affair was filmed by House of Cards director Paul Seed for HBO. Malcolm X's Leland Gantt co-stars as one of Travis' fellow soldiers who also pays dearly for a romance with a British woman. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Courtney Vance, Kerry Fox, (more)
Based on the novel by Harold Robbins, this is the story of Loren Hardeman, Sr., a Midwestern automobile manufacturer (Lord Olivier) who pins his future on The Betsy, a "wonder car" named after his daughter (Kathleen Beller). The Betsy is designed to last practically forever, which doesn't rest well with the "planned obscolence" mindset of the auto industry. Flashbacks cover his career from his 40s to the present, when he is in his 90s. Hardeman, Sr. has a weak-willed son, Hardeman, Jr., (Robert Duvall) who is forced into taking charge of the family business. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laurence Olivier, Robert Duvall, (more)
Michael Ritchie's The Couch Trip follows a long line of Hollywood films (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Disorderly Orderly) in which the psychos are seen as saner than the psychiatrists. Charles Grodin plays Dr. George Maitlin, a pompous radio self-help guru, who is having his own personal mental breakdown. Maitlin's lawyer puts in a call to a Cicero, IL, mental facility and the telephone is answered by schizophrenic mental patient John Burns (Dan Aykroyd). Thinking Burns is a crony of Maitlin, Burns is offered the job of replacing Maitlin during his recovery. Of course, Burns accepts the job. Immediately jetted to Los Angeles, Burns meets panhandler Donald Becker (Walter Matthau) at the airport. While wearing the garb of a priest, Becker sounds off against the madness of societal conventions; Burns takes to him immediately and they become fast friends. When Burns assumes command of the airwaves in Maitlin's place, his words of wisdom are so obvious and commonsensical that he is an overnight sensation. Meanwhile, in London, where Maitlin is convalescing, he gets wind of Burns' success. With renewed vigor and outrage, Maitlin leaves his recovery room and hops on a plane back to Los Angeles in an effort to recover his radio show. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dan Aykroyd, Walter Matthau, (more)
The McCarthy-era "witch hunts" in the entertainment industry set the stage for this comedy drama set in the 1950s. Howard Prince (Woody Allen) is a cashier at a corner bar who works as a small-time bookie on the side, with little success. One day, Howard's old friend Alfred Miller (Michael Murphy), a successful television writer, makes a business proposal to him; Alfred's leftist political views have resulted in him being blacklisted from the major television networks, and he can no longer get work. Alfred asks Howard to act as a "front" -- Howard puts his name on Alfred's scripts, sells them, and takes a cut of the payment for his trouble. Howard's new career as a "writer" is an instant success, and soon Howard is fronting for a handful of blacklisted scribes while earning a healthy income and becoming the toast of the television industry; another fringe benefit is a romance with beautiful network employee Florence Barrett (Andrea Marcovicci). However, comic Hecky Brown (Zero Mostel), who had a brief fling with socialism years before, now finds his past catching up with him, and he's told in order to save his job as host of a weekly television show, he has to get the goods on some suspicious figures, among them Howard Prince, whose background looks a little too clean for comfort. The Front was written by Walter Bernstein, who was himself blacklisted during the 1950s, as were co-stars Zero Mostel, Herschel Bernardi, and Lloyd Gough. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Woody Allen, Zero Mostel, (more)
Yes, there are commies under the bed. But are there Nazis there too? Emily Crane (Kelly McGillis) is a modestly successful Life photo editor living in 1950s New York, until she is called before the Senate Un-American Activities Committee to testify about her "communist" associations. When she refuses to divulge the names of friends in her civil liberties group, she loses her employment and her friends. In desperation, she takes a job reading books for Miss Venable, a somewhat crotchety lady (Jessica Tandy) who lives in a quiet residential neighborhood. Then, while taking a break in Miss Venable's back yard, Emily overhears something from the house behind that compels her to investigate and leads her eventually to conclude that it is the headquarters of a group smuggling in ex-Nazi scientists for some mysterious purpose. Meanwhile, she is being harassed by two FBI men, on behalf of the Senate Committee, as well as by a sinister, McCarthyite, Senate investigator named Salwen (Mandy Patinkin). One of the FBI men, Cochran (Jeff Daniels), takes a liking to Emily and humors her by agreeing to investigate her suspicions. This quiet mystery is a nostalgia piece. It's '50s backgrounds are authentic and the plot device -- an innocent becoming entangled in an unbelievable conspiracy -- is closer to one of Hitchcock's masterpieces of that period (e.g., North by Northwest) than to Reservoir Dogs or Speed. The people seem to be from a simpler time, too, when the distinction between good and evil was clearer. Emily shines with idealistic integrity and the naive Cochran is so honest that he finds it impossible to deceive the target of his investigation. There is even a terrifying, "acrophobe's nightmare" scene played out in a dome high above Grand Central Station. For those tired of endless shoot-em-ups and car chases, this is the mystery to choose. ~ Michael P. Rogers, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kelly McGillis, Jeff Daniels, (more)
- 1985
- PG13
With their father dead and their mother busy trying to land a steady beau, pretty teen Billy Jean Davy (Helen Slater) and her younger brother, Binx (Christian Slater), spend their time riding Binx's moped and dreaming of life in Vermont -- several climate zones away from the humid, omnipresent heat of their Texas town. One day, on their way from their trailer park home to a swimming hole, the Davy kids run afoul of rich boy Hubie Pyatt (Barry Tubb) and his cronies, who steal -- and later trash -- the scooter Binx bought with his father's paltry life insurance benefits. Demanding payment from Hubie and his merchant dad (Richard Bradford) for the damage that's been inflicted on both the bike and her brother's face, Billie Jean narrowly escapes being raped by the elder Pyatt. In the ensuing scuffle, Binx accidentally shoots Mr. Pyatt, sending himself, Billie Jean, and their friends, Ophelia (Martha Gehman) and Putter (Yeardley Smith), on the lam. When the "Billie Jean Gang" becomes a media sensation, Pyatt capitalizes on their notoriety by selling T-shirts and bric-a-brac, while policeman Ringwald (Peter Coyote), who feels guilty for having refused to help Billie Jean, tries to bring the kids in without anyone getting hurt. However, when the gang mock-kidnaps rich amateur filmmaker Lloyd (Keith Gordon), unaware that he's the district attorney's son, the situation spins out of control. Soon, Lloyd's videotape of the suddenly crop-topped, Joan of Arc-emulating, eminently telegenic Billie Jean elevates a local headline into a national sensation, and even Lloyd's attraction to Billie Jean can't protect her from the media lightning rod she's become. The Legend of Billie Jean marks the screen debut of Christian Slater, who is no relation to co-star Helen Slater. Actor Gordon, who made his debut as a screenwriter with Mark Romanek's Static the year Billie Jean came out, would go on to direct a number of critically acclaimed films. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Slater, Keith Gordon, (more)
Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai (1954) is westernized as The Magnificent Seven. Yul Brynner plays Chris, a mercenary hired to protect a Mexican farming village from its annual invasion by bandit Calvera (Eli Wallach). As Elmer Bernstein's unforgettable theme music (later immortalized as the "Marlboro Man" leitmotif) blasts away in the background, Chris rounds up six fellow soldiers of fortune to help him form a united front against the bandits. The remaining "magnificent six" are played by Charles Bronson, Steve McQueen, Horst Buchholz, Robert Vaughn, James Coburn, and (the one that everybody forgets) Brad Dexter. Though jam-packed with action, William Roberts's screenplay pauses long enough to flesh out each of its characters, allowing the audience to pick their own favorites. The Magnificent Seven was followed by three sequels, not to mention dozens of imitations. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yul Brynner, Eli Wallach, (more)
This grim historical drama from director Martin Ritt was loosely based on real-life events. Richard Harris stars as James McParlan, an operative for the Pinkerton Detective Agency in 1876. The Pinkertons have been hired by a major coal company to infiltrate and expose an underground terrorist organization, the "Molly Maguires," operating within the impoverished mining communities of Pennsylvania. As most of the miners are Irish, the recently emigrated McParlan is selected to pose as a new worker just arrived in the area. He quickly wins the trust and loyalty of the local terrorist leader, Jack Kehoe (Sean Connery), as well as the affection of his landlord's beautiful daughter, Mary Raines (Samantha Eggar). As it becomes clear that the group he's supposed to betray is protesting truly wretched working conditions, the lawman's loyalties become divided between the law and his fellow countrymen. The Molly Maguires (1970) was Oscar nominated for Best Art and Set Direction. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sean Connery, Richard Harris, (more)
- 1966
In this well-regarded film noir thriller, Joe Barron (Glenn Ford) is a police detective whose wife Lisa (Elke Sommer) has inherited a stock portfolio from her father. Joe and Lisa go on a spending spree, but when their new holdings fail to pay dividends, Joe finds himself deep in debt. Dr. Horace Van Tilden (Joseph Cotten), a rich doctor who caters to high-society clientele, shoots an intruder in his home, and Joe is assigned to investigate; Joe discovers that Van Tilden has a lucrative sideline selling drugs, and that the shooting victim was actually an addict looking for dope. When Joe learns that Van Tilden keeps his drug money in a safe at home, he sees a way to finally pay off his debts, but his partner, Pete Delanos (Ricardo Montalban), gets wind of Joe's scheme and demands a cut of the action. Matters become more complicated for Joe when he learns that the man Van Tilden shot was married to Rosalie (Rita Hayworth), whom he loved many years ago. The Money Trap was directed by Burt Kennedy, who was best known for his witty and unconventional westerns. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glenn Ford, Elke Sommer, (more)
John Frankenheimer directs Burt Lancaster in the tense spy thriller The Train. Lancaster plays Labiche, a French railway inspector. Allied forces are threatening to liberate Paris, so Col. Franz von Waldheim (Paul Scofield) is ordered to move the priceless works of art from the Jeu de Paume Museum to the fatherland. The head of the museum (Suzanne Flon) attempts to convince Labiche that he should sabotage the train on which they are transporting the art. Labiche is more focused on destroying a trainload of German weapons. After his friend is killed trying to stop the train with the art, and after a consciousness-raising conversation with a hotel owner (Jeanne Moreau), Labiche resolves to save the antiquities. Lancaster and Frankenheimer had worked together previously on both Birdman of Alcatraz and Seven Days in May. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Burt Lancaster, Paul Scofield, (more)
