Chris Warfield Movies
A narcissistic psychopath and neglectful single mother concocts a deadly scheme to sell the family house, and the only thing standing in the way is her still-breathing father in a cynical and serious-minded suburban soap-opera from director Paul Goldman and first-time screenwriter Alice Bell. Kat (Emily Barclay) is a nineteen-year-old single mother whose life revolves around manicures, cell phone conversations, petty crime, and cheap sex. She lives in a typical suburban home in a typical small town, and she has long since grown bored with her vanilla-flavored surroundings. Kat's brother Danny (Laurence Breuls) is currently serving a life sentence for murder, and the dangerously unpredictable hellion is now forced to move in with her father John (Robert Morgan) or face a life of destitution. Despite the fact that she is utterly dependent on her dad, her hatred for him reaches a breaking point when he informs her that he will sever her financial support and turn her child over to social services unless she finds a job. Subsequently unloading her toddler on her latest boyfriend Rusty (Michael Dorman) before embarking on a sex-fueled bender with Danny's decidedly slow-witted friend Kenny (Anthony Hayes), the enraged Kat soon cooks up a scheme to manipulate one of the men in her life to murder her father so she can sell his home, collect the cash, and carry on in her wild ways. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Emily Barclay, Steve Bastoni, (more)
Diane Keaton made her directorial debut with this drama, adapted from the autobiographical novel of sportswriter Franz Lidz. Lidz's story was set in his New York childhood and told of how living with his four eccentric uncles helped him overcome his grief at the death of his beloved mother. The movie is set in southern California and the four uncles from the novel have been whittled down to two. Lidz was christened Steven (Nathan Watt) and he is raised by the luminous Selma (Andie McDowell) and Sid (John Turturro), his father. When Selma is taken ill, Sid keeps Steven and his sister out of her bedroom, fearing they will upset her. Sid is an ingenious but cool-hearted inventor whose head is more developed than his heart. He sends Steven off to live with his two brothers. Danny (Michael Richards) is a high-spirited, paranoid man who suffers from delusions. Arthur (Maury Chaykin) is a big-hearted guy who likes to collect other people's junk. Together they rename the child Franz and teach him to value his own uniqueness. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Andie MacDowell, John Turturro, (more)
- 1993
Jonathan Younger (Donald Sutherland) runs his offbeat storage facility as if it were an odd amalgam of a nightclub for the rich and famous and a pied a terre for The Addams Family. He greets each customer and potential customer with the flair and sinister graciousness of Bela Lugosi at the door of Castle Dracula. From time to time, mysterious organ music audibly emanates from the basement. His wife (Lolita Davidovich) has the messy business of making sure that this very ordinary business pays the bills. Both of them are hoping that their son (Brendan Fraser) will come back from his pricey college studies in England and take over the business. Things take a sharp left turn when some of his customers become media celebrities, suspected of killing the man in their family. This quirky black comedy was made by the director of the sublimely zany Baghdad Cafe. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donald Sutherland, Lolita Davidovich, (more)
- 1973
- R
Director Douglas Heyes once told an interviewer to "forget all about" Heyes' Kitten with a Whip (1964). Evidently Chris Warfield had no intention of following this advice, if indeed any advice was solicited. Warfield's Little Miss Innocence is Kitten with a Whip all over again, minus the star power of Ann-Margret and with plenty of gratuitous sex, violence and nudity. Record executive John Alderman picks up a couple of nubile female hitchhikers. He tries-and fails-to resist their charms, leading to plenty of raw (and most embarrassing) consequences. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1971
- R
- Add The Erotic Adventures of Pinocchio to QueueAdd The Erotic Adventures of Pinocchio to top of Queue
This is a bawdy burlesque of the famous fairy tale. Instead of Gepetto, the old man wood-carver, we have Geppeta (Monica Gayle), an apparently frustrated nubile young virgin. Geppeta carves Pinocchio (Alex Roman) for herself as a gorgeous young hunk. Geppeta's fairy godmother, a bawdy blonde played by Dyanna Thorne, magically transforms the young stud Pinocchio into a living man, who is quickly brought to work in the local whorehouse as a prize stud and exhibitionist. Nothing — not even sex — is taken seriously in this fairy tale for grown-ups.
- 1970
- R
In this unusual exploitation film, a war widow expresses her grief by sleeping with any man who will oblige her. A year later she decides that this is a bad thing and so visits a psychiatrist who uses hypnosis to get to the bottom of her problem. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1963
Based on the story "The Horla" by Guy de Maupassant, this grim low-budget potboiler stars Vincent Price as Simon Cordier, a ruthless magistrate in 19th-century Paris who becomes possessed by the malevolent spirit (or "horla") of a condemned murderer whom Cordier was forced to kill in self-defense. Driven by the madman's ghost to continue his pattern of brutal crimes, Cordier comes to the realization that the only way he can purge the violent demon from his soul is to immolate himself in a blazing pyre. Though the riveting Price (whose very presence can enliven even the most dismal of horror duds) does an admirable job as the tormented Cordier, he is unable to bear the ponderous weight of this tedious production. Although a parallel between the callousness of Cordier's office and the insensate evil of his crimes would have provided an interesting subtext, the script forfeits this potential, relying instead on a pat, self-righteous finale with religious overtones. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vincent Price, Nancy Kovack, (more)
- 1962
Though Lucy (Lucille Ball) and Viv (Vivian Vance) had promised each other that they would go out to entertain their respective boyfriends Harry (Dick Martin) and Eddie (Don Briggs), all four of them wind up in the girls' house at the same time. The boys have been promised a home-cooked meal, but their just isn't enough room in the kitchen for both Lucy and Viv. This incident inspires Lucy to expand their living quarters by building a rumpus room--a task for which she and Viv are spectacularly unqualified. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dick Martin, Donald Briggs, (more)
- 1962
Rod Serling penned the story on which this crime melodrama was based. The trouble begins when as a policeman rushes toward the scene of a robbery. En route he hears a woman scream in a dark alley and gets there just in time to see someone tearing away. The cop calls out, but the runner does not stop. The cop opens fire and fatally shoots a young teenage boy. Apparently the youth had only accidentally bumped the lady and knocked her down. Though the cop is eventually acquitted, his reputation amongst his peers is destroyed. This leads the disgraced officer to launch his own investigation in hopes of clearing his sullied name. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chris Warfield, Erin O'Donnell, (more)
- 1962
This routine crime drama about a mysterious, abandoned yacht is directed by Robert Gottschalk who also wrote the original story. The action begins when three impoverished fishermen working along the California coast come across a yacht with no crew. The only thing they do find on the boat is a corpse, someone who had died of the mumps. The fishermen contact the right authorities and actually end up using the yacht themselves as a charter vessel. The American Coast Guard figures that if they let the men put the yacht to their own use, the real owners will show up sooner or later. They were right. The owners turn out to be some shady characters who carry guns, deal in drugs, and make the fishermen an offer they had better not refuse. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chris Warfield, Sally Fraser, (more)
- 1960
Gambling-casino owner George Anclitis (Henry Lascoe) has two big problems on his hands: His second-in-command Slim Marcus (H.M. Wynant) has been caught cheating in a high-stakes card game, and Slim's girlfriend Vivian (Jeanne Moody) has been murdered. Hoping to kill several birds with a single stone, Anclitis uses a hot gun and a few ounces of marijuana to frame Betty Roberts (Joan O'Brien), a cigarette girl who "knows too much", for Vivian's murder. Lucky for Betty that she'd previously engaged the services of Perry Mason (Perry Mason) because she'd figured that Anclitis and Marcus were up to something fishy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1954
Edmund Purdom plays Prince Karl, but Mario Lanza sings the bold tunes coming out of Purdom's mouth, in this MGM remake of the 1927 Ernst Lubitsch silent picture based on the renowned 1924 operetta by Sigmund Romberg and Dorothy Donnelly, which itself was based on the novel and play by Wilhelm Meyer-Foerster. Lanza was signed to play the German Prince of Heidelberg, but weight and temperament problems caused the director Richard Thorpe to use Purdom instead. Lanza's pre-recorded tenor tones come out of Purdom's lip-synching mouth in the many lusty tunes such as "Drink, Drink, Drink" and "Golden Days." Prince Karl's grandfather, the king (Louis Calhern), wants his sheltered grandson to see the world and sow a few wild oats before he returns to the marriage that has been pre-arranged with Princess Johanna (Betta St. John). The prince ends up in a tavern in Heidelberg and meets and falls in love with Kathie (Ann Blyth), the niece of the local innkeeper. But the King gets sick and dies, and Prince Karl must return to assume the throne. He can't have a peasant girl as his queen, so he must part with his secret lover. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ann Blyth, Edmund Purdom, (more)
- 1954
Leave it to MGM to turn the Korean War into a splashy, big-budget, all-star extravaganza. Men of the Fighting Lady is set on the US aircraft career of the same name. Van Johnson stars as Lt. Howard Thayer, while other MGM stalwarts in the cast include Walter Pidgeon, Kennan Wynn and Louis Calhern. The film's highlight is the famous fact-based scene wherein Lt. Thayer "talks in" blinded pilot Kenneth Schechter (Dewey Martin), assuring a safe landing for the incapacitated flyer. As a novelty, no concessions are made to the "love stuff" addicts in the audience: there is no contrived romantic subplot in the film, nor are there any women in the cast. Men of the Fighting Lady was based on two literary works: "The Case of the Blinded Pilot" by Cmdr. Harry A. Burns, and "The Forgotten Heroes of Korea" by James A. Michener (who is impersonated in the film by Louis Calhern). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Van Johnson, Walter Pidgeon, (more)
- 1953
"You guys will never be soldiers!" With these words Richard Widmark opens and closes Take the High Ground. Widmark plays a tough drill sergeant, whipping his recruits through basic training in preparation for shipment to Korea. Carleton Carpenter is the standard-issue private who just can't seem to cut it, despite Widmark's relentless special attention. To prove that the behemoth sergeant has a tender side, the script contrives a romantic triangle involving Widmark, Elaine Stewart, and Karl Malden. The film is an amalgam of rugged realism and Hollywood hokiness, with Widmark terrific as the topkick you love to hate. Filmed at Fort Bliss, Texas, Take the High Ground utilizes several real-life soldiers in the drill sequences (you can recognize the real ones; they aren't afraid of Richard Widmark). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Widmark, Karl Malden, (more)
Joan Crawford's first Technicolor feature has come to be known as a textbook example of "high camp." Crawford stars as musical comedy luminary Jenny Stewart, who has been hardened by the worst life has to offer. Romance enters her life in the form of her new piano accompanist, blinded war-veteran Tye Graham (Michael Wilding). The fact that Graham refuses to kowtow to the temperamental Jenny's demands, coupled with the adversarial behavior of Graham's seeing-eye dog, makes the pianist all the more attractive to the lonely songstress. Torch Song is a favorite of bad-movie buffs and female impersonators the world over: Highlights include Crawford's blackface musical number, and the now-classic scene in which she simulates blindness to better understand the taciturn Graham. Director Charles Walters, a former choreographer, appears as Crawford's two-left-feet dancing partner in the opening scenes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Crawford, Michael Wilding, Sr., (more)
