Ralph Waite Movies
Upon earning his BA at Bushnell University, Ralph Waite embarked upon no fewer than three careers before deciding upon acting. First, Waite was a social case worker in New York's Westchester County, a job he quit after running into the stone walls of indifference and bureaucracies. Then, after spending three at the Yale School of Divinity, he was a practicing Presbyterian minister; this, too fell by the wayside due to Waite's unwillingness to conform to church protocol and his disenchantment over the perceived hypocrisy of his fellow clerics. Finally, he worked as a religious editor for the publishing firm of Harper & Row. This job might have panned out, but Waite, separated from his wife and suffering an identity crisis, felt the need to "prove himself" by entering a tougher, more competitive field. Thus, at the age of 30, Waite began taking acting lessons. His professional debut in the off-Broadway production The Balcony proved so disastrous that it is little wonder he chooses to regard his 1965 Broadway bow in Hogan's Goat as the true beginning of his career. After an excellent showing as Jack Nicholson's impotent brother in Five Easy Pieces (1971) the offers began pouring in. In 1972, Waite was cast as John Walton in the immensely popular TV series The Waltons. During the nine-season run of that ratings bonanza, Waite helped form the Los Angeles Actors' Theatre. He also was prominently featured in the blockbuster miniseries Roots (1977), and wrote and directed (but did not star in) the 1980 film On the Money. His post-Walton credits include the TV series Mississippi (1985) and such films as Cliffhanger (1993). In retrospect, it is fitting that two of Ralph Waite's TV-movies of the 1990s bore the titles Crash and Burn and Sin and Redemption. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1967
The Borgia Stick opens with a funeral: the "guests of honor" are also the film's stars, Don Murray and Inger Stevens. In flashback, we learn that Murray and Stevens were for all intents and purposes a happily married suburban couple. Before long, we discover that the couple wasn't married at all, nor were they particularly happy. In fact, Murray and Stevens were employees of an all-powerful crime syndicate, plunked down in suburbia to lay the groundwork for a mob takeover. When the couple decides to go straight, they sign their own death warrant....maybe. A tremendous improvement over the handful of made-for-television films that preceded it, The Borgia Stick was the first TV movie to enjoy favorable notices from the critics. Its first telecast on February 25, 1967, was one of the highest-rated events of the 1966-67 season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Paul Newman was nominated for an Oscar and George Kennedy received one for his work in this allegorical prison drama. Luke Jackson (Paul Newman) is sentenced to a stretch on a southern chain gang after he's arrested for drunkenly decapitating parking meters. While the avowed ambition of the captain (Strother Martin) is for each prisoner to "get their mind right," it soon becomes obvious that Luke is not about to kowtow to anybody. When challenged to a fistfight by fellow inmate Dragline (George Kennedy), Luke simply refuses to give up, even though he's brutally beaten. Luke knows how to win at poker, even with bad cards, by using his smarts and playing it cool. Luke also figures out a way for the men to get their work done in half the usual time, giving them the afternoon off. Finally, when Luke finds out his mother has died, he plots his escape; when he's caught, he simply escapes again. Soon, Luke becomes a symbol of hope and resilience to the other men in the prison camp -- and a symbol of rebelliousness that must be stamped out to the guards and the captain. Along with stellar performances by Newman, Kennedy, and Martin, Cool Hand Luke features a superb supporting cast, including Ralph Waite, Harry Dean Stanton, Dennis Hopper, Wayne Rogers, and Joe Don Baker as members of the chain gang. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Newman, George Kennedy, (more)
- 1968
Schuyler (Kirk Douglas) is a hard-boiled detective who turns in his badge when he believes the criminals are being handled with kid gloves and too much respect. He is hired by prominent attorney Fredericks (Eli Wallach) as a bodyguard for his client Rena (Sylva Koscina), who is accused of murdering her husband. Her playboy boyfriend Fleming (Kenneth Haigh) is also under suspicion. Schuylur keeps one eye on his beautiful suspect while trying to uncover more information about the murder. Fredericks displays a disarming, folksy nature which belies his shrewdness. The detective soon comes to believe that Rena is being framed for the murder. Singer Jackie Wilson delivers the song "A Lovely Way To Die" during the opening credits of this murder mystery. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kirk Douglas, Sylva Koscina, (more)
- 1969
- R
Last Summer is a frank coming-of-age tale that refuses to prettify its young characters or their activities. A group of aimless teens get together for sex, drugs and rock-and-roll on Fire Island. Timid, overweight Rhonda (Catherine Burns) is goaded into aberrant behavior by her peers, especially the promiscuous Sandy (Barbara Hershey). Enjoying Rhonda's discomfiture, Sandy encourages the boys in the group to gang-rape the poor girl. It was this scene, the first of its kind in a general-release American picture, that earned Last Summer its initial X rating. The film was later judiciously trimmed to qualify for an R rating without blunting its dramatic impact. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Hershey, Richard Thomas, (more)
- 1970
William Popper (Michael Sarrazin) is the son of a stockbroker and is thoroughly disenchanted with "the system." So much so that even though he can prove that he ran over a woman in his car entirely by accident, he accepts a sentence for manslaughter. His participation in some prison violence motivates him to attempt to escape, though he has only a week to go on his sentence. Having escaped, he and his old girlfriend (Barbara Hershey) make a run for Canada. The story is adapted from the novel The Pursuit of Happiness by Thomas Rogers. As William's starchy grandmother, Ruth White, notable for her work in To Kill a Mockingbird and Midnight Cowboy makes her last film appearance. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1970
Having accumulated $67,000 from a gold strike, prospector Chris Keller (Christopher Connelly) finds himself the target of virtually every confidence trickster in the country. To save himself and his cash, Chris hides out at the Ponderosa, only to be lured into the open by lovely Charity McGill (Elaine Giftos). By an amazing coincidence, sweet Charity needs $65,000 to pay for her dear father's medical expenses. The Cartwrights are certain that Charity is yet another con artist-but is she? Ralph Waite of The Waltons fame appears in the supporting role of Hoby. Written by Preston Wood, "The Lady and the Mark" first aired February 1, 1970, then was chosen by NBC for an encore presentation in June of 1972. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, (more)
A disaffected man seeks a sense of identity in one of the key films of Hollywood's 1970s New Wave. Once a promising pianist from a family of classical musicians, Bobby Eroica Dupea (Jack Nicholson, in his first major starring role) leads a blue-collar life as an oil rigger, living with needy waitress girlfriend Rayette (Karen Black) and bowling with their friends Elton (Billy "Green" Bush) and Stoney (Fannie Flagg). Feeling suffocated by responsibilities, Bobby seeks out his sister, Tita (Lois Smith), and, discovering that his father is gravely ill, he reluctantly heads back to the patrician family compound in Puget Sound with a pregnant Rayette in tow. After a road trip featuring a harangue from hitchhiker Palm (Helena Kallianiotes) about filth, and Bobby's ill-fated attempt to make a menu substitution in a diner, he tucks Rayette away in a motel before heading to the house. There Bobby seduces his uptight brother Carl's cultured fiancée, Catherine (Susan Anspach), but Rayette shows up unexpectedly. As Rayette's crassness collides with the snobbery of the Dupea circle, Bobby loses patience with both sides. After trying to reconcile with his mute father, Bobby departs, unwilling to give in to either destiny. Director Bob Rafelson and screenwriter Adrien Joyce (aka Carole Eastman) used the creative control afforded by the low budget to craft a European-influenced character study, catching a cultural mood of anomie and resentment as it was embodied in Bobby. Neither older generation nor hippie, Bobby fits in nowhere, and his desire for independence conflicts with his emotional emptiness. Nicholson's nuanced performance of simmering frustration resonated with 1970 audiences caught between Nixon's "silent majority" and the troubled counterculture; a substantial hit, Five Easy Pieces was nominated for several Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actor, and established Nicholson as a star. Offering no "easy" answers to Bobby's existential crisis, Five Easy Pieces is one of the pre-eminent films in the early-'70s cycle of alienated American art movies, as even the fantasy of rebellion is reduced to merely running away. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Nicholson, Karen Black, (more)
The Grissom Gang is a remake of the notorious 1949 British melodrama No Orchids for Miss Blandish. Kim Darby plays a 1920s-era debutante who is kidnapped and held for ransom. Her captors are the Grissoms, a family comprised of sadists and morons, and headed by Ma Barker clone Irene Dailey. One of the Grissoms, played by Scott Wilson, takes a liking to his prisoner, which results in a bloody breakdown of the family unit. Both The Grissom Gang and the original No Orchids for Miss Blandish were inspired by the best-seller by James Hadley Chase, though neither film retains Chase's original ending. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kim Darby, Scott Wilson, (more)
Charles Bronson stars in this revisionist western directed by Michael Winner. The film concerns an Apache half-breed, Pardon Chato (Charles Bronson), who finds himself pursued by a relentless posse, headed by Joshua Everette (Jack Palance), after Chato has killed a white sheriff. But when members of Everette's posse rape Chato's wife, Chato stops running. Instead, Chato reverses course and begins to hunt down the posse, seeking vengeful retribution for the rape. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Bronson, Jack Palance, (more)
- 1971
- R
This exploitative melodrama is set in northern Michigan where an exclusive private hunting club is located. There some of the country's richest, most powerful men come to relax and get closer to nature. Unfortunately, that means that they become engaged in debauchery and become brutal, amoral killers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
In Lawman, Burt Lancaster is Jered Maddox, a dedicated marshal with an inflexible adherence to upholding the law at all costs. Riding into a nearby town to pick up a group of local carousers who, during a drunken spree, killed an old man, Maddox meets up with Vincent Bronson (Lee J. Cobb). Bronson is the local town boss, and Maddox discovers that the men he is looking for work for him. Unlike most western heavies, Maddox, although he is powerful and unscrupulous, abhors violence. But violence is something Maddox cultivates. A major confrontation between the reluctant Bronson and the intransigent Maddox builds -- particularly when Maddox enlists the help of weak-willed local sheriff Cotton Ryan (Robert Ryan). ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan, (more)
Introduced to viewers in the 1971 TV movie The Homecoming: A Christmas Story, the Walton family of Jefferson County, VA, began showing up on a weekly basis as The Waltons had its first season. In the middle of the Great Depression (1934 or thereabouts), the Waltons, headed by dad John (Ralph Waite) and mom Olivia (Michael Learned), manage to keep home and hearth together with income from the lumber mill run by John and his father Zeb (Will Geer), better known as Grandpa to the seven Walton youngsters. Grandpa of course lives on Walton mountain with the rest of the brood, as does his wife Esther (Ellen Corby, aka "Grandma"). The season's episodes are narrated by series creator Earl Hamner Jr., who recalls the events through the eyes of the Walton's oldest son John-Boy (Richard Thomas), a high-school student who aspires to be a writer. The remaining Walton kids include Mary Ellen (Judy Norton-Taylor), Jim-Bob (David W. Harper), Elizabeth (Kami Cotler), Jason (Jon Walmsley), Erin (Mary Beth McDonough), and Ben (Eric Scott).
Among the other regulars introduced during the series' freshman season are the Reverend Matthew Fordwick (John Ritter), who makes his first appearance in the episode titled "The Sinner;" schoolteacher Rosemary Hunter (Mariclare Costello), not yet Mrs. Fordwick; and storekeeper Ike Godsey (Joe Conley), Sheriff Bridges (John Crawford), town gossips Mamie and Emily Baldwin (Helen Kleeb, Mary Jackson), and the Walton's black neighbor Verdie Grant (Lynn Hamilton). In the opening episode "The Foundling," the Waltons briefly take care of a little deaf girl. In subsequent episodes, the kids try to hide the family calf when John decides to sell it, John-Boy has a crisis of conscience when he goes on his first hunt, the family wins the confidence of a tough street kid who has run away from a nearby CCC camp, a group of Jewish refugees show up on Walton's Mountain after fleeing Nazis, Mary Ellen is smitten by a wandering troubador, schoolteacher Miss Hunter risks her job by teaching Evolution, and Sissy Spacek guest stars as a troubled young girl who tries to trap John-Boy into marriage. In the two-episode season finale "The Easter Story," the family is plunged into despair when Olivia Walton is stricken with polio. ~ All Movie Guide
Among the other regulars introduced during the series' freshman season are the Reverend Matthew Fordwick (John Ritter), who makes his first appearance in the episode titled "The Sinner;" schoolteacher Rosemary Hunter (Mariclare Costello), not yet Mrs. Fordwick; and storekeeper Ike Godsey (Joe Conley), Sheriff Bridges (John Crawford), town gossips Mamie and Emily Baldwin (Helen Kleeb, Mary Jackson), and the Walton's black neighbor Verdie Grant (Lynn Hamilton). In the opening episode "The Foundling," the Waltons briefly take care of a little deaf girl. In subsequent episodes, the kids try to hide the family calf when John decides to sell it, John-Boy has a crisis of conscience when he goes on his first hunt, the family wins the confidence of a tough street kid who has run away from a nearby CCC camp, a group of Jewish refugees show up on Walton's Mountain after fleeing Nazis, Mary Ellen is smitten by a wandering troubador, schoolteacher Miss Hunter risks her job by teaching Evolution, and Sissy Spacek guest stars as a troubled young girl who tries to trap John-Boy into marriage. In the two-episode season finale "The Easter Story," the family is plunged into despair when Olivia Walton is stricken with polio. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Waite, Michael Learned, (more)
This is the final sequel to The Magnificent Seven. In this chapter, the lead gunslinger has settled down with a new wife, and has become the marshal of a little town. His peaceful existence is disrupted when a psychotic outlaw rides in, robs the bank, wounds the marshal with his gun, and then rapes and kills his new wife. The marshal is then assigned to save some widowed women from ruthless banditos. To help him, he rallies an eastern journalist and five hardened convicts to ride in and stop them. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stefanie Powers, Mariette Hartley, (more)
An inner-city point man is on the run from both the cops and the crooks in this streetwise blaxpolitation drama. T (Robert Hooks) is a combination pool shark, private detective, and all-purpose ghetto fixer who operates out of a billiards parlor in South Central Los Angeles. T has done well for himself -- he drives a fancy new car, wears expensive suits, and lives in an upscale apartment -- but he also looks out for folks on the block, and knows how to tell the good guys from the bad guys on either side of the law. T is approached by Chalky (Paul Winfield) and his partner, Pete (Ralph Waite), who run a floating dice game in the neighborhood. Chalky tells T they've been ripped off by a band of thieves several nights running, and they want him to find out who the masked stick-up men are. T is willing to do the job for the right price, but it turns out Chalky and Pete are trying to take down rival crime kingpin Big (Julius Harris), and when one of Big's underlings turns up dead, T is blamed for the crime by both Big and corrupt police captain Joe Marx (Bill Smithers). Trouble Man also stars Paula Kelly's as T's love interest, and features an original score by Marvin Gaye. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1972
In this episode from the first season of the long-running television series The Waltons, 16-year-old John-Boy (Richard Thomas) is deemed old enough to go hunting and he volunteers to join a turkey shoot. But John-Boy hates the idea of killing animals, and when a prize bird is in his rifle's sight, he finds that he can't pull the trigger. John-Boy is worried that his father (Ralph Waite) will think he's a coward, but soon John-Boy is given another opportunity to prove his bravery. Meanwhile, Mary-Ellen (Judy Norton-Taylor) has been saving her money to buy a baseball glove, but when G.W. Haines (David Doremus), a boy that she likes, begins spending his time with a pretty girl, Mary-Ellen wonders if she should buy a nice dress instead in hopes of winning back G.W.'s attentions. The Waltons: The Hunt first aired on October 5, 1972. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1973
John-Boy (Richard Thomas) learns a few harsh and bitter life lessons when he accepts a job collecting debts for shifty absentee landlord Graham Foster (Charles Tyner). Meanwhile, John-Boy's sister Erin (Mary Elizabeth McDonough), feeling that her brother has let her down by aligning himself with Foster, shifts her affections to a wild fawn--and refuses to set the animal free, even when her family gets in trouble with the local authorities. This episode was directed by series regular Ralph Waite (John Walton). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Season two of The Waltons takes place sometime in the mid-1930s in Jefferson County, VA, home of the large and loving Walton family. As in season one, the stories are told from the viewpoint of oldest son John-Boy Walton (Richard Thomas), who, in the course of this season, graduates from high school and prepares for college -- and, hopefully, a professional writing career somewhere down the line. John-Boy's dad, John (Ralph Waite), continues to keep the wolf from the door with income provided by the family's lumber mill that he runs with patriarch Zeb "Grandpa" Walton (Will Geer). Newcomers to the series include Hal Williams and Erin Blunt as Harley and Jody Foster, two additions to the county's ever-expanding black population. Major story developments include John-Boy's crisis of conscience when he sees family friend Yancey Tucker (Robert Donner) stealing chickens and a more serious dilemma arising from an accident at the sawmill which leaves John-Boy temporarily blind; two blossoming romances, one between Jody Foster and Verdie Grant (Lynn Hamilton), the other between the Rev. Fordwick (John Ritter) and schoolteacher Rosemary Hunter (Mariclare Costello) (both couples would eventually wed); Walton daughter Mary Ellen (Judy Norton-Taylor), all of 14 years old, experiencing her first serious romance with an older boy; the belated honeymoon of John Walton and wife Olivia (Michael Learned) at Virginia Beach; and younger Walton son Jason (Jon Walmsley) experiencing his first brush with mortality when his best friend, Seth Turner (Ron Howard), becomes terminally ill. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Waite, Michael Learned, (more)
- 1973
- PG
Thomas J. Schmidt directed this little-known exploitation film getting a second life on video thanks to a double bill re-release with Werewolves on Wheels as part of the "Golden Age of Leather" series from Anchor Bay. After an unusual credit sequence featuring busty cult starlet Uschi Digart, the film follows the story of two girls (Kathleen Cody and The Fifth Floor's Diane Hull) on their way to a hippie encounter session run by Ralph Waite (The Waltons). They pick up a crazed Vietnam veteran (Michael Ontkean from Twin Peaks) who has grainy flashbacks in both black & white and distorted color, aside from having a bipolar mood disorder. He might just be the serial killer who is murdering hippies in Waite's peaceful village by the ocean, and the average viewer will figure out the answer in less than ten minutes. Familiar faces in this rather dull Fanfare International drive-in dud include Charles Picerni, Ruth Warshawsky, and Paul Sorenson. Schmidt, who had been working in films since the mid-'60s, died in 1975 with this his only credited feature as director. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- 1973
- R
The John Gardner novel A Complete State of Death became this bloody crime flick that united frequent action genre collaborators Charles Bronson and director Michael Winner. Bronson stars as Detective Lieutenant Lou Torry, a grizzled undercover New York City cop who ruins his career when he is caught going violently overboard while apprehending a ghetto punk. As punishment, Torry is banished all the way to the L.A. Police Department, where he begins investigating a mysterious chain of events involving ex-soldiers that seem to be Mob related. It turns out that Don Alberto Vescari (Martin Balsam), an aging Mafia chieftain, is planning the use of mentally disturbed Vietnam vets as assassins in a campaign of murder. With one broad, gory stroke, Vescari schemes to wipe out his underworld enemies, retaliating for a massacre that wiped out a generation of Sicilian mobsters 40 years earlier. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Bronson, Martin Balsam, (more)
- 1973
In the first half of a two-part story (originally telecast as a single two-hour episode), John-Boy (Richard Thomas) is afforded the opportunity to qualify for a scholarship at Boatwright University--and, as icing on the cake, his former girlfriend Jenny (Sian Barbara Allen) is paying a return visit to Walton's Mountain. But joy turns to despair when John-Boy is injured in an accident, which may render him permanently blind. Meanwhile, Jason (Jon Walmsley) is beginning to have second thoughts about accepting a job from the dithery Baldwin Sisters (Mary Jackson, Helen Kleeb). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1973
- PG
In this western set at the turn-of-the-century, an outlaw finds himself at one of life's crossroads as he must decide whether to go straight or continue a life of crime. After bungling a train robbery he decides he should go straight and settle down. He chooses the town of Dime Box, Texas. There he undertakes a series of simple jobs under the watchful, ever-suspicious eye of the town sheriff. Try as he might, the outlaw cannot resist the lure of robbery. He ends up stealing a local factory's Christmas payroll and taking off into the desert with some renegade Indian pals. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1973
Lynn Hamilton makes her first series appearance as Verdie Grant (Lynn Hamilton), one of the black residents of Walton's Mountain. Receiving word that her daughter is about to graduate from college, Verdie is reluctant to attend the ceremonies because she is unable to read or write, a secret she has always been too proud to reveal. John-Boy (Richard Thomas) offers to tutor Verdie on the condition that no one will ever find out about her illiteracy. The two work out a subterfuge whereby John-Boy will instruct Verdie while pretending to "play school" with his little sister Erin (Mary Elizabeth McDonough)--who reveals the truth at a critical juncture in the story. This episode earned an Emmy Award for scriptwriter John McGreevey. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1973
This special 2-hour episode of The Waltons was penned by series creator Earl Hamner Jr. As the Depression-era Walton family prepares for Thanksgiving, oldest son John-Boy (Richard Thomas) is injured in a freak accident. The crisis is compounded when John-Boy tries to cover up the accident's side effects in order to qualify for an important scholarship examination. The various plotlines converge, and not a few are resolved, at the dinner table as John Walton (Ralph Waite) leads the family in prayer. Thanksgiving Story was first telecast November 15, 1973. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Set in Jefferson County, VA, in the year 1935 or thereabouts, season three of The Waltons opens with the two-parter "The Conflict," in which oldest Walton son, John-Boy (Richard Thomas), is shot while trying to protect a relative. Fortunately he survives the ordeal and is packed off to his freshman year at Boatwright College right on schedule. Meanwhile, John-Boy's mother, Olivia (Michael Learned), considers enrolling in art school, and his 15-year-old sister Mary Ellen (Judy Norton Taylor) makes the decision to become a nurse. Of the many individual story strands, there are a few standouts, notably the episode in which Grandpa and Grandma Walton (Will Geer and Ellen Corby) move off the family mountain after an argument with son John (Ralph Waite); and at season's end, John is working himself into pneumonia while trying to keep his lumber mill active and prosperous in the depths of the depression. Also, the Waltons draw even closer together than unusual when Grandpa suffers a heart attack; and Ronnie Claire Edwards becomes a regular in the role of Corabeth Godsey, the alcoholic wife of storekeeper Ike Godsey (Joe Conley). ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Waite, Michael Learned, (more)
- 1974
Veteran Hollywood leading man John Beal guest stars as Mason Beardley, an old friend of Grandpa Walton (Will Geer). When Grandpa's family offers to fix up Mason's house, he is delighted, jubilantly declaring that it will be perfect for his wife, whom he expects to show up on the Mountain at any time. But there's something very odd about Mason's obsessive devotion to his missing spouse...and it takes the intervention of his son James (George Garro) to clear up this oddness. Meanwhile, Elizabeth (Kami Cotler) causes havoc in the Walton household when she insists she has an invisible friend. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
