Michael McKean Movies
You knew him as Lenny Koznowski, the nasal, nerdish pal of Andrew "Squiggy" Squigman (David L. Lander) on the hit TV series Laverne and Shirley. Show-biz insiders knew Michael McKean as an intelligent, versatile actor and writer. Shedding himself of the "Lenny" image after Laverne and Shirley folded in 1983, McKean became involved in several ensemble comedy projects with such kindred spirits as Harry Shearer, Rob Reiner and Christopher Guest. In the 1984 "rockumentary" spoof This Is Spinal Tap, McKean played the cockney-accented heavy metal musician David St. Hubbins. Apparently McKean enjoyed posing as an Englishman, inasmuch as he has done it so often and so well since Spinal Tap, most recently as Brian Benben's snippish boss on the cable TV sitcom Dream On. In the early '90s, McKean was one of the stars of another, less memorable TV comedy, Grand, and appeared for two season on Saturday Night Live. He continues to land film roles, usually in comedies, including the successful The Brady Bunch Movie (1995). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1990
- R
Hider in the House is a well-made and produced but ultimately unsatisfying and formulaic slasher thriller. Tom (Gary Busey) was an abused child who learned to avoid the abuse by hiding under sinks, in closets or anywhere he could be out of sight. After spending 10 years in a mental institution for setting a fire that killed his parents, Tom is released and finds a newly built house where he makes his home in the attic. The house is bought by Julie (Mimi Rogers) and Phil Dryer (Michael McKean) and their children. Tom begins to feel that he is part of the family, but when Phil is unfaithful to Julie, Tom plots his revenge. Busey is compelling in his role and builds Tom's character with skill to show him as both a dangerous and sympathetic psychopath. Unfortunately, the film does not fulfil its potential and slides into a predictable, formula ending, but the skillful direction and the good performance of Busey make this film well-worth viewing. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gary Busey, Mimi Rogers, (more)
Another "get even with Hollywood" satire in the tradition of SOB and Movers and Shakers, The Big Picture is an elongated inside joke complete with un-billed celebrity cameos. In this first feature-film directorial effort by actor/writer Christopher Guest, Kevin Bacon plays a "boy wonder" director whose willingness to compromise his ideals allows him to keep afloat in Tinseltown. Bacon's corruption begins when his first Hollywood project, a black-and-white experimental film about an over-40 menage a trois, is distorted beyond recognition into a color, big-budget "youth trip". Bacon hasn't really sold out; he's merely waiting to accrue enough industry clout to strike back at the Philistines in charge. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin Bacon, Emily Longstreth, (more)
In this madcap comedy, Geena Davis plays Valerie, a manicurist living in the valley with her cold fiancé, Dr. Ted Gallagher (Charles Rocket). At the Curl Up and Dye beauty salon where she works, Valerie enlists the help of her boss, Candy Pink (Julie Brown), for some style advice to try and win back Ted's affections. After undergoing a brand-new hairstyle, Valerie learns that Ted is having an affair and she kicks him out of the house. Soon, while lounging around in her bikini, a spaceship from the planet Jhazzalan crash-lands in her swimming pool. Curious, Valerie befriends the ship's inhabitants -- three horny aliens covered in fur named Mac (Jeff Goldblum), Whiploc (Jim Carrey), and Zeebo (Damon Wayans). Introducing her new friends to Candy, the aliens get a shave and a total makeover transformation into hot, available dates. They all go out dancing at L.A. nightclubs and party. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Geena Davis, Jeff Goldblum, (more)
- 1988
Comic actor Michael McKean delivers a powerful dramatic performance in Father's Homecoming. Long separated from his teenaged son (Jonathan Ward) and daughter (Marcianne Warman), Michael (McKean) comes into contact with them in a most unexpected fashion. He is appointed headmaster of the exclusive New England private school where they both are enrolled. Future Star Trek regular Nana Visitor has a good supporting role. Made for TV, Father's Homecoming was released with a remarkable lack of fanfare on June 19, 1988. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1988
Portrait of a White Marriage is an outgrowth of Martin Mull's wickedly satirical The History of White People in America, with a bit of Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman tossed in. Mull plays a self-involved TV talk host who journeys to Hawkins Falls, Ohio, to reactivate his flagging career. While glad-handing the locals, he enters into an affair with bouffanted housewife Mary Kay Place. Also appearing are such frequent Mull colleagues as Fred Willard, Michael McKean and Jack Riley. Made for cable, Portrait of a White Marriage was directed by humorist Harry Shearer, who'd also helmed the History of White People installments. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Fisher Stevens reprises his role of Ben Jahrvi, the co-inventor of the cute robot Number Five, in this sequel to Short Circuit. Since the last film, Ben has moved to the city, where he lives in a truck and sells toy Number Fives as a street vendor. Ben plies his trade until one day luck strikes in the form of Sandy (Cynthia Gibb), a toy buyer in dire straits who offers Ben $50,000 if he can quickly churn out a thousand toy robots. Offering to help the naive Ben is street con man Fred (Michael McKean), who becomes Ben's partner and finances the burgeoning enterprise through a loan shark. Ben and Fred begin to manufacture the toys in a warehouse; unfortunately, they soon find the building also houses the entrance of a tunnel dug by thieves, preparing to rob the bank across the street. With things appearing their bleakest, a crate arrives from Montana. Inside is the new and improved Number Five, who now insists on being called Johnny Five. Johnny Five has even learned to talk in a litany of phrases gleaned from television shows, and now helps Ben get started in the toy business. In the process, Ben and Johnny Five contend with the temptations and corrupt business practices of a big city environment. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fisher Stevens, Michael McKean, (more)
- 1987
- PG13
A brother and sister grapple with family and lifestyle issues in this rock-n-roll drama. Real-life rocker Joan Jett stars as Patti Resnick, an unwed mother who sings and plays guitar in a Cleveland bar band with her brother Joe (Michael J. Fox). Estranged from her parents and struggling to make ends meet, Patti decides to dive headlong into a carefree rock-n-roll lifestyle. Good-guy Joe pulls away from music to provide some stability for her tiny son. It takes a family crisis to bring Patti back home and force her to face the prickly past with her devoutly Christian mother (Gena Rowlands). Despite a somewhat thin story, the film has solid performances all around, most especially from the refreshingly compelling Jett. Bruce Springsteen penned the title song. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael J. Fox, Gena Rowlands, (more)
- 1987
Double Agent stars Michael McKean in a dual role as the Starbinder twins. One twin is a cool, nerveless secret agent; the other (the one with glasses) is a mild-mannered veterinarian and family man. It must needs be that the spy twin is incapacitated, forcing the veterinarian twin to take his place on a dangerous mission. Lloyd Bochner costars as "Secret Agent Vaughn"--a cute reference to Man From UNCLE star Robert Vaughn. Double Agent was first telecast March 29, 1987, on the Disney Sunday Movie series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1987
- R
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Were it not for its profanity-laden opening scenes, John Hughes' Planes, Trains and Automobiles might have been suitable family entertainment: certainly it's heaps less violent and mean-spirited than Hughes' Home Alone. En route to Chicago to spend Thanksgiving with his family, easily annoyed businessman Neal Page (Steve Martin) finds his first-class plane ticket has been demoted to coach, and he must share his flight with obnoxious salesman Del Griffith (John Candy). A sudden snowstorm in Chicago forces the plane to land in Wichita. Unable to find a room in any of the four-star hotels, Neal is compelled to accept Del's invitation to share his accommodations in a cheapo-sleazo motel. Driven to distraction by Del's annoying personal habits, the ungrateful Neal lets forth with a stream of verbal abuse. That's when Del delivers the anticipated (but always welcome) "I don't judge, why should you?"-type speech so common to John Hughes flicks. The shamefaced Neal tries to make up to Del, but there's a bumpy time ahead as the mismatched pair make their way back to Chicago, first in a balky train, then by way of a refrigerator truck. We know from the outset that the oil-and-water Neal and Del will be bosom companions by the end of Planes, Trains and Automobiles, but it's still a fun ride. The best bit: a half-asleep Del thinking that he's got his hand tucked between two pillows -- until his bedmate, Neal, bellows "Those aren't pillows!" ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steve Martin, John Candy, (more)
Penny Marshall in her feature film directing debut, four screenwriters, and a ebullient Whoopi Goldberg join forces to make Jumpin' Jack Flash, a modern espionage comedy. Goldberg plays Terry Doolittle, a computer operator in a large New York City bank who picks up a cry of help on her computer. The signal is from a man who signs off as Jumpin' Jack Flash. Based on the Rolling Stones tune of that name, she figures out his secret password and opens up a Pandora's box of international intrigue. It seems Jack Flash is a pseudonym for a British agent who is trapped in Russia and desperate for information from the British Embassy that will help him escape. When Terry agrees to help him, the CIA, the KGB, British intelligence, and sundry other law enforcement organizations are all hot on her tail as she tries to help the beleaguered British agent. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Whoopi Goldberg, Jonathan Pryce, (more)
- 1986
To spice up their tepid social lives three ad execs from Manhattan place ads in the personals column of a local magazine. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1985
A sequel to Martin Mull's spoof about the hardships of white life in middle America. ~ All Movie Guide
Barret Oliver stars as robot boy Daryl (Data Analyzing Robot Youth Lifeform). The film begins with an intense chase through hairpin mountain roads as a helicopter chases after a racing automobile and the driver of the car shoves a young boy out of the door. The child is rescued and is adopted by Joyce (Mary Beth Hurt) and Andy (Michael McKean) Richardson, a well-meaning, childless couple. It is only after the Richardsons have adopted Daryl and find that the child can't stop hitting home runs that they realize their adopted son is, in fact, a robot. The Richardsons decide to take Daryl back home -- home being a top security research facility where scientists Dr. Jeffrey Stewart (Josef Sommer) and Ellen Lamb (Kathryn Walker) have "given birth" to the boy robot. Once at the research facility, the Richardsons realize that government forces are determined to destroy Daryl and anyone who knows about him. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Beth Hurt, Michael McKean, (more)
In this spoof of McCarthy-era paranoia and 1950s wholesomeness, the characters and plot are drawn from the popular Parker Brothers board game of the same name. On a dark and stormy night in 1954, six individuals with ties to Washington are assembled for a dinner party at the swanky mansion of one Mr. Boddy (Lee Ving). Boddy's butler, Wadsworth (Tim Curry), assigns each guest a colorful name: Mr. Green (Michael McKean), Col. Mustard (Martin Mull), Mrs. Peacock (Eileen Brennan), Professor Plum (Christopher Lloyd), Miss Scarlet (Lesley Ann Warren), and Mrs. White (Madeline Kahn). Two additional servants, the Cook (Kellye Nakahara) and Yvette, the maid (Colleen Camp), assist Wadsworth as he informs the guests that they have been gathered to meet the man who has been blackmailing them: Mr. Boddy. When Boddy turns up dead, however, the guests must try to figure out who killed him so they can protect their own reputations and keep the body count from growing. Three separate endings were filmed for Clue and shown in different theaters; all three are collected for the video edition. Although the film is set in the 1950s, the original Clue game was actually devised by Anthony Pratt, a clerk in Leeds, England, to pass the time during World War II air-raid drills. First released in 1946 under the name Cluedo by British manufacturer Waddington's, Clue was renamed and released in the U.S. in 1949. Today, Clue/Cluedo is marketed in 70 countries around the world and has been adapted into a British game show and an off-Broadway musical. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eileen Brennan, Tim Curry, (more)
- 1984
This 1984 episode of Saturday Night Live is hosted by Michael McKean and features musical guests Chaka Khan. ~ Skyler Miller, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael McKean, Chaka Khan, (more)
Largely improvised by director Rob Reiner and his cast, This Is Spinal Tap looks and sounds like a "real" documentary, with Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, and Christopher Guest as David St. Hubbins, Derek Smalls, and Nigel Tufnel, the key members of a going-nowhere British heavy metal band called Spinal Tap. The "group" started as an informal skiffle band, eventually maturing into an R&B act called the Thamesmen (their hit was "Gimme Some Money"). After going through a psychedelic period with "Listen to the Flower People," the band mutated into Spinal Tap, a hard rock outfit responsible for such albums as "Intravenous DeMilo," "The Sun Never Sweats," and "Bent for the Rent." This Is Spinal Tap finds them in the midst of their first American tour in years as they support their new LP Smell the Glove, with filmmaker Marty DiBergi (Rob Reiner), who specializes in TV commercials, on hand to document the occasion. Just about anything that can go wrong does: shows get canceled, stage props go wrong, wireless guitar pickups start broadcasting air-traffic reports, no one shows up for in-store appearances, David's girlfriend tries to take over the band, they wind up billed second to a puppet show at an amusement park, and the group teeters on the verge of breakup. After the film's initial release, McKean, Guest, and Shearer did a short club tour as Spinal Tap; the "band" reunited in 1992 for a new album, Break Like the Wind, followed by a full-fledged tour and TV special, The Return of Spinal Tap. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rob Reiner, Michael McKean, (more)
- 1983
Laverne & Shirley was Laverne & Shirley in name only as the series entered its eighth and final season. For a variety of reasons, chief among them her feelings that she was being overshadowed by co-star Penny Marshall (Laverne) and that the producers were insensitive to the work limitations imposed by her pregnancy, Cindy Williams had walked off the series after completing only two season-eight episodes. Providentially, the first of these, the season opener of September 28, 1982, had contrived to marry off Shirley to an army medic named Walter Meany (making her Shirley Feeney Meany!), thereby explaining away the many absences that Williams was expected to take before giving birth. No one (except perhaps the actress herself) could have suspected that the next episode telecast, "Window on Main Street, would constitute Williams' last appearance on the series. Thus, Laverne soldiered on throughout the rest of the season without Shirley, as the writers tried to recapture the old magic by briefly teaming Penny Marshall with such guest stars as Julie Brown, Carrie Fisher, Laraine Newman, Carol Kane, and Vicki Lawrence, the latter reprising her role as bombastic WAC sergeant Plout. And in an unrelated distaff development, series co-star David L. Lander, normally cast as the goofy Squiggy, shows up in drag as Squiggy's sister Squendolyn! Perhaps the highlight of the season is future Tonight Show host Jay Leno's guest appearance as duplicitous radio DJ Bobby Bitts in the episode "Do the Carmine." Ranking 25th in the ratings during its terminal season -- not bad, but far below its onetime ranking as America's Number One series -- Laverne & Shirley concluded with the unremarkable episode "Here Today, Hair Tomorrow." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Penny Marshall, Cindy Williams, (more)
- 1982
Hoping to be selected as a Playboy Bunny, Rhonda (Leslie Easterbrook) sends Laverne out to pick up an application. Not surprisingly, Laverne ends up trying to earn her own set of bunny ears, competing against her new friend Cathy (played by none other than Carrie Fisher). During the final selection process, the girls must prove their worth by waiting upon the "world's most obnoxious customer"--who turns out to be Squiggy (David L. Lander). Hugh Hefner himself makes a cameo appearance in this episode, which was directed by series regular Michael McKean (Lenny). As a bonus, guest star Carrie Fisher sings "My Guy". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1982
Here's the status quo as Laverne & Shirley enters its seventh season. Ex-Milwaukeeans Laverne (Penny Marshall) and Shirley (Cindy Williams) are still living in Burbank, CA, still working at Bardwell's Department Store, and still trying to break into the movies. The girls' zany pals Lenny (Michael McKean) and Squiggy (David L. Lander) are trying their luck as talent agents; Laverne's sometime boyfriend Carmine (Eddie Mekka) is still tap-dancing around the notion of marriage, though he very nearly makes it to the altar in the episode "I Do, I Don't." And although Laverne's dad, Frank (Phil Foster), continues to manage the Burbank eatery Cowboy Bill's, his wife, Edna, is nowhere to found (longtime regular Betty Garrett has left the series). Although ostensibly set in the mid-'60s, Laverne & Shirley is now emphatically "early '80s" in its look and attitude: for example, "Friendly Persuasion" features actor Charles Grodin as his successful movie-and-TV personality "self" of the 1980s, not as the struggling young character actor that he was 20 years earlier. At least Joey Heatherton is pretty much the same person she was "back in the day" in the episode "Night at the Awards." In other season-seven highlights, former semi-regular Carole Ita White returns briefly as Laverne and Shirley's high-school nemesis Rosie Greenbaum in "Class of '56"; and Squiggy's father (Wynn Irwin) shows up out of nowhere in "Helmut Weekend." Although Laverne & Shirley was no longer America's top-rated series, it remained in a respectable 20th place through its seventh season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Penny Marshall, Cindy Williams, (more)
In this comedy, a group of randy young interns turn City Hospital upside down with their romantic liaisons and their blunders. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael McKean, Sean Young, (more)
- 1981
To counteract a precipitous drop in its ratings during its previous season, Laverne & Shirley launched season six by shifting the series' locale from Milwaukee, WI, to Burbank, CA. Fired from their jobs when Shotz Brewery decides to switch to automation, Laverne (Penny Marshall) and Shirley (Cindy Williams) pack their bags and leave Beertown in favor of the Golden State, where Laverne's dad, Frank (Phil Foster), and his new bride (and the girls' former landlady), Edna (Betty Garrett), have already resettled and opened a restaurant called Cowboy Bill's. In the interests of continuity, Laverne and Shirley are soon joined in California by their zany ex-co-workers Lenny (Michael McKean) and Squiggy (David L. Lander), and by Laverne's erstwhile boyfriend Carmine (Eddie Mekka). Moving into an apartment managed by part-time stuntman Sonny St. Jacques (Ed Marinaro), Laverne and Shirley immediately come into contact with their new neighbor, airheaded model-dancer Rhonda Lee (Leslie Easterbrook), and not long afterward the girls land jobs in the gift-wrapping section of Bardwell's Department Store. They also launch an ongoing effort to break into the movies, beginning with the famous episode in which Troy Donahue appears as himself. Evidently, several years have passed between season five, which was ostensibly set in the very early '60s, and season six. How else can one explain how Lenny and Squiggy end up as guests on TV's The Dating Game, which didn't debut until December of 1965, or how Frank and Edna, who were married in the early months of season five, are suddenly celebrating their fifth wedding anniversary? Highlights this season include the return of Vicki Lawrence as the redoubtable Sgt. Plout of the WACS, now seeking help from her former "grunts" Laverne and Shirley as she goes AWOL; Eric Idle and Peter Noone, showing up as pot-smoking rock singers in the episode "I Do, I Do"; Lenny and Squiggy imagining themselves as silent movie stars in "Born Too Late"; and "Laverne's Broken Leg," which may well have been the first sitcom episode inspired by the 1946 feature film It's a Wonderful Life (but certainly not the last)! The move from Milwaukee to Burbank did wonders for Laverne & Shirley's ratings: not even showing up in the Top 30 during season five, the series shot up to 20th place for season six. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Penny Marshall, Cindy Williams, (more)
- 1980
Season five of Laverne & Shirley begins with the conclusion of a two-part story inaugurated on its "sister" series Happy Days: "Shotgun Wedding, Part 2," wherein big-hearted Laverne (Penny Marshall) and Shirley (Cindy Williams) become engaged to hapless teenagers Richie (Ron Howard) and Potsie (Anson Williams) to rescue the boys from a forced marriage to a pair of toothsome farmer's daughters. Other memorable episodes this season include "Upstairs, Downstairs," in which our heroines imagine themselves in the hereafter, with Shirley in Heaven and Laverne in a hot place not called California; "What Do You Do With a Drunken Sailor?," guest-starring Ed Begley Jr. as Shirley's alcoholic brother, Bobby; the unforgettable two-part "You're in the Army Now," directed by Joel Zwick of thirtysomething fame and introducing Vicki Lawrence in the role of shrill WAC sergeant Plout; another two-parter, "Murder on the Moosejaw Express," with Charlene Tilton of Dallas fame as "herself" (and never mind that Charlene would have been a toddler in the early '60s!); "The Beatnik Show," featuring Art Garfunkel as a hipster called "The Mighty Oak"; and "Antonio the Amazing," co-starring Ed Marinaro as the title character, one year before he would join the series in the role of Sonny St. Jacques. Arguably the most famous of the year's episodes is the telecast of November 1, 1979, in which Laverne's father, Frank De Fazio (Phil Foster), finally marries the girls' landlady, Edna Babish (Betty Garrett). Traditionally, a popular sitcom relies upon a "wedding" episode only when its ratings are faltering, and Laverne & Shirley was no exception: rated as America's most popular series during season four, the show's viewership plummeted disastrously during season five. Clearly, what was called for was a radical change in format -- which in this case translated as a change of locale, from Milwaukee to California. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Penny Marshall, Cindy Williams, (more)
Used Cars is one of Robert Zemeckis' pre-Roger Rabbit and pre-Forrest Gump efforts starring Kurt Russell is a devious car salesman who goes to work for affable but monumentally unsuccessful used car dealer Jack Warden. Warden's principal rival is his more prosperous twin brother, also played by Warden, who schemes to take over the "good" brother's lot. After a series of raunchy vignettes, the film boils down to an every-man-for-himself price war between the two Wardens, which rages on even after we're one Warden short. The supporting cast of Used Cars is populated by such reliables as David L. Lander, Michael McKean, Al Lewis, Dub Taylor, Dick Miller and Betty Thomas. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kurt Russell, Jack Warden, (more)
