James Taylor Movies

Judd Apatow casts his former real-life roommate Adam Sandler as George Simmons, a comic superstar who learns in the movie's opening scene that he suffers from a rare blood disorder that will likely kill him within a year. This news gives him the impulse to go back out and work on his standup, something he hasn't done in years thanks to the massive success of his movie career. At a club, he meets struggling standup Ira Wright (Seth Rogen), takes a shine to him, and hires the young man both to write jokes and to be his personal assistant. Ira, who's been sleeping on a friend's pull-out couch and working a day job at a deli, enjoys the glimpse into the superstar lifestyle, but soon the protégé discovers how selfish and egocentric his mentor really is. Jason Schwartzman and Jonah Hill, and a host of famous standup comics make cameo appearances as themselves. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Shot at The Cotton Bowl in Dallas, TX, this concert film features rock legend Eric Clapton and a host of other musicians performing before a live audience. Among the songs viewers will find in Eric Clapton: Crossroads Guitar Festival are Clapton's own "Cocaine," Robert Cray's "Time Makes Two," Joe Walsh's "Rocky Mountain Way," John Mayer's "City Love," and many others. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

Folk-rock troubador James Taylor has enjoyed a recording career which has spanned five decades, and he plays a cross section of favorites both old and new in this concert video. James Taylor: Pull Over features the singer/songwriter and a top-flight band performing twenty-three songs, including "Whenever You're Ready", "On The 4th Of July", "Raised Up Family", "That's Why I'm Here", "Your Smiling Face", "Mexico", "Carolina In My Mind", "Fire and Rain", "You Can Close Your Eyes", and more. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this unforgettable concert event, string virtuosos Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, and Mark O'Connor bring down the house with their lively interpretations of American traditional and folk music. Performed live at Avery Fisher Hall on April 5th, 2000, their much-anticipated follow-up to 1996's Appalachia Waltz features Meyer's 1B, Stephen Foster's Hard Times Come Again No More with special guest James Taylor, Slumber My Darling with Alison Krauss, and the title song from Appalachia Waltz. The video contains four bonus tracks as well as interviews with the musicians. ~ Sarah Welsh, All Movie Guide

Diana Ross hosts this four-hour TV special tracing the rise of Berry Gordy's Detroit-based Motown record label during the '60s. Clips were compiled from a variety of sources, including such TV shows as Teen Town, Where the Action Is and It's What's Happening Baby. The history covers the label's leading acts (Temptations, Supremes, Four Tops, Stevie Wonder, Martha and the Vandellas, Mary Wells, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, the Jackson 5, Marvin Gaye) and explores the talents who created the Motown style -- songwriters Holland-Dozier-Holland and Norman Whitfield, choreographer Cholly Atkins, finishing-school director Maxine Powell, arranger Maurice King, and the rhythm section (pianist Earl van Dyke, drummer Ben Benjamin, and bassist James Jamerson). With background on Gordy, the story moves forward into Motown's film/TV production, the solo career of Diana Ross, the Commodores, Teena Marie, Rick James, and many others. Interviews include Aretha Franklin, Little Richard, Branford Marsalis, Clive Davis, Jesse Jackson, James Taylor, Bonnie Raitt, George Schlatter, Julian Bond, Diahann Carroll, RuPaul, and Rod Stewart. The special premiered as a two-parter (February 15th and 19th, 1998) on ABC. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Originally broadcast on the Disney Channel in April of 1992, James Taylor: Squibnocket features performances of James Taylor classics including "Fire And Rain" and "You've Got a Friend", as well as some of his more recent compositions from later albums such as New Moonshine and Never Die Young. Insight on the work that goes into live performances is highlighted by means of several interviews with Taylor and various pieces of spoken commentary. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

This 1991 episode of Saturday Night Live is hosted by Steve Martin and features musical guest James Taylor. ~ Skyler Miller, All Movie Guide

This 1988 episode of Saturday Night Live is hosted by Robin Williams and features musical guest James Taylor. ~ Skyler Miller, All Movie Guide

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

This compilation documentary covers the massive anti-nuclear peace march held in New York City on June 12, 1982, including the preparations that led up to the march and interviews with concerned and knowledgeable people on the issue of peace, as well as Japanese survivors of the atomic bomb attacks on Nagasaki and Hiroshima in World War II (see No More Hibakusha). The producers, Robert Richter and Stan Warnow have smoothly spliced-together views of the protest march, its speakers and musicians, filmed by more than 40 separate individuals. Among the noted artists who either were there to lend their presence or contributed their talents in one way or another to the success of the protest (estimated at 1,000,000 people) are Pete Seeger, James Taylor, Carly Simon, Peter, Paul, and Mary, Jerry Stiller, Anne Meara, Roy Scheider, Orson Welles, Ellen Burstyn, Joan Baez, Judd Hirsch, Bianca Jagger, Susan Sarandon, Jill Clayburgh, and others. Meryl Streep and Anne Twomey did a moving voiceover of the testimony of the Japanese atomic bomb blast survivors. Among the non-artistic notables adding stature to the event were Dr. Benjamin Spock, and Helen Caldicott, representing Physicians for Social Responsibility. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Also known as The Muse Concert: No Nukes, this rock-concert film offers a good representative cross-section of old-line show business liberalism. Bruce Springsteen and Bonnie Raitt are the "newest" members of the aggregation by default. They're okay if not brilliant, which can also be said for their fellow troubadours Jackson Browne, Crosby, Stills, and Nash, James Taylor and the Doobie Brothers. The anti-nuke theme of the concert isn't as overbearing as it might have been under the circumstances (even "special guest" Jane Fonda is comparatively benign). The best sequences in the film are comprised of misleading government-propaganda clips from the old TV series "The Big Picture" (love those uniformed piglets!) The graininess of the film stock is the only real detriment of No Nukes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This 1979 episode of Saturday Night Live is hosted by Michael Palin and features musical guest James Taylor. ~ Skyler Miller, All Movie Guide

A '55 Chevy takes on a '70 GTO in a race across the Southwest in Monte Hellman's cult favorite. The Driver (James Taylor) and the Mechanic (Dennis Wilson) phlegmatically slouch from race to race, pitting their gray Chevy against any and all gearheads in order to make money for gas and food. They and the tag-along Girl (Laurie Bird) meet their match in "Oh Maybelline" fan GTO (Warren Oates), and they all set off on a cross-country race to Washington D.C., with the winner getting the loser's car. But it isn't the end that really counts; it is the process of getting there, as the Girl's fickleness forces the Driver to decide what matters more: endless races or her. Shot on location from a spare script by Rudolph Wurlitzer and Will Corry, Two-Lane Blacktop was trumpeted as the "film of the year" in Esquire magazine before its release. It bombed, and disputes over music rights kept it from home video until 1999, but repertory and TV screenings have gained it an avid following for its automotive detail, flashes of authentic idiosyncrasy, and artfully abstract examination of the urge to forge ahead, whether or not there is anywhere to go. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide