Stephen Tobolowsky Movies
Perhaps one of the most instantly recognizable -- yet seemingly unidentifiable -- character actors to have succeeded in Hollywood, Stephen Tobolowsky's non-movie star looks have enabled the native Texan to portray a wider variety of characters more conventional movie stars simply could not. Born and raised in Dallas, Tobolowsky attended Southern Methodist University for his undergraduate degree and went on to earn a Master's degree in acting from the University of Illinois. While at S.M.U., the young Tobolowsky won his first film role in a low-budget horror film entitled Keep My Grave Open. Soon after finishing his studies, he went west to Los Angeles and started working somewhat consistently in both television and film in the early '80s -- while gaining some notice for his work in the films Swing Shift and Mississippi Burning. After toiling on the West Coast for a few years, Tobolowsky became a bi-coastal star with a role in a 1981 Broadway production of Beth Henley's play The Wake of Jamey Foster. In 1986, he collaborated with Henley -- who also happened to be a fellow student of Tobolowsky's during his undergraduate studies at S.M.U. -- and David Byrne to co-write the script for Byrne's 1986 film True Stories. The multi-talented thespian then went on to write and direct his own play, Two Idiots in Hollywood, which he also turned into a film in 1988. The early '90s brought Tobolowsky his greatest exposure to the movie-going public, with a number of diverse and interesting roles that highlighted the actor's great range and skill -- nearly to the extent of upstaging these films' higher-profile stars. Perhaps the most prototypical Tobolowsky characterization can be found in the 1993 Harold Ramis comedy Groundhog Day, in which Tobolowsky portrayed the hapless insurance salesman Ned Ryerson. Other memorable performances from this decade include Thelma & Louise, Basic Instinct, Sneakers, and The Radioland Murders. Tobolowsky continued creating endearing characters into the 2000s, starting with Christopher Nolan's indy hit Memento. As amnesiac Sammy Jankis, Tobolowsky created one of the most powerful dramatic performances of his career. His next significant film role came via the 2002 Spike Jonze/Charlie Kaufman film Adaptation, which further displayed the nearly chameleon-like actor's range and talent that make him one of the best character actors in the industry. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide
In this comedy (which claims a strong pedigree -- it was written by John Sayles and directed by Bill Forsyth), Burt Reynolds plays Ernie, an aging career burglar who knows just about everything there is to know about breaking and entering. One night, Ernie has stealthily slipped into a home only to discover someone else is already there -- Mike (Casey Siemaszko), a guy in his early 20's who likes to sneak into other people's houses so he can raid their refrigerators and watch their televisions. Ernie is taken aback by Mike's recklessness, but is impressed by his skills; he's convinced the kids has the makings of a first-class thief, and offers to make him his protege. Mike agrees, and soon the two are working together, with Ernie trying to explain the importance of playing it as safe as possible while Casey follows every youthful impulse to make some fast money and throw it away just as quickly. Breaking In marked a change-of-pace role for Burt Reynolds, in which he acknowledged his age and played a character role instead of an action hero; the results garnered him some of the best notices of his career. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Burt Reynolds, Casey Siemaszko, (more)
Jeff Daniels stars in this tedious situation comedy concerning the middle-aged terror of illness and mortality. Scripted by Joe Eszterhas, Daniels plays Southern Californian Ray Macklin, who thinks he will live forever but realizes the fallacy of his idea when his best friend drops dead in front of him after issuing the set-up to the old joke, "Why don't Italians like barbecues?" (Which begs the question, "Why can't Joe Eszterhas write funny scripts?" The answer: "He did. Showgirls.") Anyway, after that shock trauma, Macklin becomes convinced that he is set to suffer the same fate and, as a result, becomes a raving hypochondriac. As Macklin continually clutches his chest and checks his heart monitor, he sinks himself deeper and deeper into the mindset that he is doomed, even though his tests turn out fine. All of this comes to a head in a bizarre dream sequence in which Macklin imagines Heaven as a Hawaiian resort populated by extras from a Federico Fellini picture. At that point, he wills himself to return to consciousness after surgery to remove his appendix. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeff Daniels, Melanie Mayron, (more)
Norman Jewison directed this subdued character study of the effect of the Vietnam War on a small-town Kentucky family -- based on the novel by Bobbi Ann Mason. The film centers upon 17-year-old Samantha (Emily Lloyd) who lives in Hopewell, Kentucky with her Uncle Emmett (Bruce Willis), a quiet, laid-back veteran of Vietnam suffering from post-traumatic stress. Samantha's father was killed in Vietnam when he was 19-years-old (almost her age now), and her mother Irene (Joan Allen) has remarried. Samantha finds some old photographs of her father, and she becomes obsessed with finding out more about him. Irene, who has moved to Lexington with her second husband, wants Samantha to move in with them and go to college. But Samantha would rather stay with Uncle Emmett and try to find out more about her father. Her mother is no help, as she tells Samantha, "Honey, I married him four weeks before he left for the war. He was 19. I hardly even remember him." Finally Samantha, Emmett and her grandmother (Peggy Rea) go to visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington. Finding her father's name in the memorial releases cathartic emotions in Samantha and her family. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Willis, Emily Lloyd, (more)
Mississippi Burning is an all-names-changed dramatization of the Ku Klux Klan's murders of three civil rights workers in 1964. Investigating the mysterious disappearances of the three activists are FBI agents Gene Hackman (older, wiser) and Willem Dafoe (younger, idealistic). A Southerner himself, Hackman charms and cajoles his way through the tight-lipped residents of a dusty Mississippi town while Dafoe acts upon the evidence gleaned by his partner. Hackman solves the case by exerting his influence upon beauty-parlor worker Frances McDormand, who wishes to exact revenge for the beatings inflicted upon her by her Klan-connected husband Brad Dourif. Many critics took the film to task for its implication that the Civil Rights movement might never have gained momentum without its white participants; nor were the critics happy that the FBI was shown to utilize tactics as brutal as the Klan's. The title Mississippi Burning is certainly appropriate: nearly half the film is taken up with scenes of smoke and flame. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Hackman, Willem Dafoe, (more)
- 1988
2 Idiots in Hollywood is an expansion of the cult theatrical production of the same name. Jim McGrath and Jeff Doucette play a pair of star-struck guys with all sorts of million-dollar showbiz schemes. Two roadblocks stand in the way of their success: (1) They live in Dayton, Ohio; and (2) they're terminally stupid. In a rare moment of lucidity, the boys decide head to Hollywood to seek their fortune. In the course of their 10 day westward journey, our heroes meet an assortment of eccentrics, including a crazed cop with a pet shark and an outer-space robot. 2 Idiots in Hollywood was written and directed by Stephen Tobolowsky, the Texas-born character actor who previously masterminded the 1986 laughfest True Stories. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A space bum helps rescue a princess from an evil overlord with the help of a benevolent elder in this Star Wars send-up written and directed by Mel Brooks. Lone Starr (Bill Pullman) and his half-man, half-dog co-pilot, Barf the Mawg (John Candy), are content to scour the galaxy living the easy life. But they reluctantly come to the rescue when Druish Princess Vespa (Daphne Zuniga) is threatened by the evil Lord Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis), who wants to steal all of the air from her planet, Druidia. Trapped on a harsh desert world with Vespa and her robot chaperone, Dot Matrix (voice of Joan Rivers), Lone Starr and Barf are helpless to prevent Helmet from kidnapping the girl. But assistance arrives in the form of Yogurt (Brooks), a wizard who turns Lone Starr on to a mysterious power known as The Schwartz. Catching up with Helmet just as he's transforming his spaceship into a giant vacuum cleaner in orbit around Druidia, the reluctant heroes stage a dramatic showdown. Although it borrows most of its plot from the Star Wars series, Spaceballs also pokes fun at Star Trek, Snow White, and Planet of the Apes -- as well as the entire videocassette and movie marketing industries. The large supporting cast includes Dick Van Patten, Jim J. Bullock, and the voice of Dom DeLuise. John Hurt makes a cameo in a parody of the exploding chest scene he played in Alien. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mel Brooks, John Candy, (more)
This sharp drama is about the trials and tribulations of a young woman defeated by her past, yet tempted to overcome it through a meaningful relationship. Cassie (Rosanna Arquette) works as a waitress in a southwestern town. Not that long ago, she stabbed her lover (and the father of her baby) in public, and even though he recovered, she did not. The most immediate result of her action is that she gave away her baby, and the next, more severe result is that she lost all of her self-respect. Now she takes care of her mother and younger, offensive brother and also dallies on and off with her ex-lover -- who is married. Then Riley (Eric Roberts) comes into town for awhile with a theatrical troupe and he falls for Cassie. He is only in town for a short period of time and that may or may not be enough to convince Cassie to leave with him when he goes. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rosanna Arquette, Eric Roberts, (more)
Director David Byrne (of Talking Heads) takes an outside-looking-in glance at Texas and Texans in True Stories. Casting himself as the protagonist/narrator, Byrne adopts what he thinks is "standard" western garb and drives his red convertible into the small town of Virgil. Here he observes the town's preparations for celebrating Texas' sesquicentennial, taking time out to introduce us to several of the local oddballs. Swoosie Kurtz plays Miss Rollings, the Laziest Woman in the World; Alix Elias is The Cute Woman, who decorates her home in the most hideously "sweet" manner imaginable; John Goodman is talent-contest entrant Louis Fyne, who harbors dreams of being a C&W star; Spalding Gray is Earl Culver, a vegetable-obsessed civic leader; Jo Harvey Allen is The Lying Woman; and so it goes. The script by Southerners Byrne, Beth Henley and Steven Tobolowksy strives to avoid subtlety. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Byrne, John Goodman, (more)
- 1985
Once again short of funds, Vera (Beth Howland) takes a second job as a radio deejay. Calling herself "Nightbird", Vera adopts an uncharacteristically sexy voice for her on-mike persona. Sure enough, our heroine attracts a huge fan following consisting of lonely males--and nearly wrecks her marriage to Elliot (Charles Levin) in the process. Watch for prolific character actor Stephen Tobolowsky in a supporting role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Director Jonathan Demme made one of his more conventional movies with Swing Shift, an examination of life on the American home front during WWII. Goldie Hawn, who also served as the film's producer, stars as Kay, a woman who takes a job on the line at a plant producing war planes after her husband goes off to fight in Europe. One of her coworkers is her best friend Hazel, played by Christine Lahti, whose performance earned an Oscar nomination and a New York Film Critics award. Kay falls in love with another coworker, Lucky (Kurt Russell), who couldn't enlist because of a weak heart. Kay's husband Jack (Ed Harris) comes home on leave and finds out that his wife has betrayed him. Lucky then decides to pursue Hazel, driving a wedge between the two best friends. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Goldie Hawn, Kurt Russell, (more)
This science fiction thriller was inspired by a mythical real-life event, the WWII era disappearance of an entire naval vessel during a radar-cloaking test. In 1943, David Herdeg Michael Pare and Jim Parker Bobby DiCicco are sailors stationed aboard a Virginia battleship. Their vessel is undergoing an experiment conducted by brilliant scientist Dr. Longstreeet (Eric Christmas), who is attempting to render Allied craft invisible to radar. The ship becomes briefly invisible, but the test is a disaster and most of the crew are horribly killed. However, two crewmen are missing. In 1984, Herdeg and Parker emerge in the Nevada desert, having somehow traveled through time. Longstreet, still trying to perfect the device after 40 years, is running another experiment that pulls the missing sailors into the present. Realizing what's occurred, Herdeg and Parker flee, fearing for their lives. Fugitives, they befriend a skeptical modern woman, Alison Hayes (Nancy Allen). An effect of time pulls Parker back into 1943, leading to a bizarre reunion between Herdeg, still trapped in the future, and Parker, now a senior citizen. The film was followed by a sequel nine years later. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Paré, Nancy Allen, (more)
- 1983
Cocaine and Blue Eyes was the pilot film for a TV detective series starring former footballer O.J. Simpson (who also produced the film). Playing a private eye in San Francisco, Simpson is hired by a man who ends up seriously dead. The deceased client had wanted Simpson to locate a former girl friend, and in carrying out his assignment Simpson unearths a deadly (and very well connected) cartel of drug dealers. Cocaine and Blue Eyes gathered dust until O.J. Simpson's murder trial in 1994. After that, this tiresome old TV movie became a staple of "Late Late Shows" everywhere. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- O.J. Simpson, Candy Clark, (more)
- 1980
- R
This unsettling but moody low-budget psycho-thriller -- a drive-in version of Repulsion with a Southern Gothic flavor -- stars the eerie-looking Camilla Carr as a demented young recluse who believes herself to be possessed by the spirit of her long-lost brother (who is presumed dead), and slays any man who makes sexual advances toward her -- usually running them through with a sword. Her dementia intensifies, leading her to take her own life by chewing on broken glass (a particularly unsettling scene). The chief plot twist and subsequent dramatic punchline -- involving the brother's true identity and whereabouts -- is a long time coming, but fairly satisfying nonetheless. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
