Seymour Cassel Movies
Fair-haired and often mustached character actor Seymour Cassel began making film and TV appearances as scruffy hippie types in the 1960s. He studied at the American Theatre Wing and the Actor's Studio before making his film debut in John Cassavetes' first film, Shadows (1959), for which he also served as associate producer. He then co-starred with Cassavetes in Too Late Blues (1961) and The Killers (1964). When Cassavetes turned to directing full-time, he utilized Cassel's talents as often as possible. The actor was Oscar-nominated for his portrayal of an aging hippie in Faces (1968) and later played Moskowitz in Minnie and Moskowitz (1971). A somewhat heavier Seymour Cassel continued as a character actor over the next few decades with roles in Tin Men, Colors, and the made-for-TV movie Blood Feud. In the '90s, he played Sam Catchem in Warren Beatty's Dick Tracy, dog-sled adventurer Skunker in the Disney classic White Fang, and a chauffeur in Indecent Proposal. His role as the shyster Joe in the black comedy In the Soup also earned special recognition at Sundance. Cassel then appeared in two romantic comedies with director Andrew Bergman: It Could Happen to You and Honeymoon in Vegas. For the rest of the '90s, his career prospered with small, but memorable, roles in such independent comedies and dramas as Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead, Trees Lounge, and Dream for an Insomniac. During this period, he developed a rapport with filmmaker Wes Anderson, who cast him as Max Fisher's barber father in Rushmore and Royal's friend Dusty in The Royal Tenenbaums. Cassel occasionally makes appearances in screwball teen movies like Stealing Harvard and the 2003 Farrelly brothers effort Stuck on You. He also had a few choice roles in the family drama The Sleepy Time Gal, Nicolas Cage's directorial debut Sonny, and the romantic comedy Passionada. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide- 2008
The owner of a Idyllwild counter-culture radio station finds his modest business unexpectedly threatened when the daughter of a conservative senator comes to town and sparks a heated political tempest by attempting to undermine a push to clear cut a nearby forest. Now, as the unassuming citizens of the sleepy community are suddenly jarred awake due to the fierce debate that rages around town, the radio station owner finds the illusions that have propelled him through life don't have the same power that they did when he was a young idealist. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jonathan Sachar, Irene Bedard, (more)
- 2008
LeVar Burton writes, directs, and stars in this drama set in a hospice, and following two patients who realize how to live and love as they begin the dying process. Alfre Woodard and Seymour Cassel star. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alfre Woodard, Seymour Cassel, (more)
- 2007
Mexican screen legend Angelica Maria returns to the silver screen for the first time in twenty years to star alongside Brazilian star Sonia Braga in this magic realism style film that eschews the cynicism and violence so common in 21st Century cinema to explore the mysteries and wonders of human relationships. Convinced that she shares a powerful connection with the sea, a beautiful woman defies everyone around her and soon discovers that, in a world where myths are reality and truth imaginary, sometimes humans can connect with nature in the most remarkable ways. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnathon Schaech, Sendi Bar, (more)
- 2007
A recently paroled prisoner attempts to pick up where he last left off by landing a job at a Los Angeles warehouse and taking care of the pregnant girlfriend he once left behind in director Ben Rodkin's melancholy character study. But while the ageing warehouse foreman (Seymour Cassel) is sympathetic to the young ex-con's plight, things seem to take a turn for the worse when the girl he intended to marry is nowhere to be found. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shawn Andrews, Seymour Cassel, (more)
- 2007
Oscar Wilde's Salome is given a new contemporary interpretation in this independent drama from director Erick Ifergan. Sally (Nina Brosh) is a young woman who lonely and emotionally isolated, despite her beauty. When she isn't busy looking after her ailing mother (Louise Fletcher), Sally works as a hair stylist in a salon along the seedy side of Hollywood Boulevard. One day Sally encounters Johnny (Vincent Gallo), a street preacher who spends his days talking to passers-by and handing out leaflets in which he testifies to his belief in God's love. Sally is drawn to Johnny and the gentle passion of his message, and she attempts to seduce him. While Johnny is drawn to her, in time he decides that his calling to the Lord is more important than a physical relationship with Sally and while she tries to follow in his spiritual path, ultimately he rejects her. Sally, however, refuses to allow Johnny to ignore her need for him. Also known as Hollywood Salome, most of Johnny 316 was shot in 1998, but the film was not completed until 2006. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vincent Gallo, Nina Brosh, (more)
- 2006
Apparently inspired by the success of the 2001 remake of Ocean's 11 and its sequels, the NBC series Heist spent its entire first season following a gang of clever and charismatic criminals as they prepared to rob three Rodeo Drive jewelers simultaneously on the eve of the annual Academy Awards ceremony. Dougray Scott played ringleader Mickey O'Neil, who engaged the series of a team of "specialists" -- chief among them Lola (Marika Dominczyk) and Ricky (David Walton) -- to carry out his elaborate scheme. As O'Neill's team pulled off a series of smaller robberies to finance the big caper, police detective Amy Sykes (Michele Hicks) began to dog their trail, determined to gather enough evidence to throw the gang into the clink before anything else was stolen. Alas, Amy was hampered not only by her squabbling partners, Tyrese Evans (Reno Wilson) and Billy O'Brien (Billy Gardell), but also by the fact that she had fallen in love with O'Neill. Others in the cast included Steve Harris as James Johnson, O'Neill's best friend/severest critic/sounding board, and Seymour Cassel as veteran career criminal Pops. To boost its initial ratings, Heist was unveiled by NBC on March 22, 2006, in the Wednesday-night time slot usually reserved for the league-leading Law & Order. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dougray Scott, Michele Hicks, (more)
- 2003
Lucky was the weekly comedy drama series for which star John Corbett turned down the opportunity to recreate his role in My Big Fat Greek Wedding for the CBS spin-off sitcom My Big Fat Greek Life. The title was a bit ironic; to be sure, high-stakes gambler Michael Linkletter fully deserved his nickname "Lucky," but he nearly always ran out of luck by the end of each episode. Determined to give up his compulsive gambling, "Lucky" did not do himself a favor by continuing to reside in the heart of Las Vegas. A typical episode was the series premiere, in which Linkletter garnered one million dollars at during a championship poker tournament, only to lose it all within a matter of hours. Even when he managed to build up a bankroll, Lucky was beholden to number of creditors: his so-called pals, a few assorted shady types with broken noses and cities for nicknames, and the parents of his deceased wife, from whom he borrowed 8,000 dollars to pay for her funeral. As reckless as Lucky was with his cash, he was even more so with his emotions, falling hard for another recovering gambler named Theresa McWatt (Ever Carradine) -- who happened to already have a husband. Adroitly wringing laughs from otherwise pathetic people and situations, Lucky first aired April 8, 2003, on the FX cable network. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Corbett
Film superstar Nicolas Cage's directing debut, Sonny follows a very unconventional family as they struggle to overcome personal and financial adversity. Young Sonny (James Franco) returns home to New Orleans from Army service to find his mother Jewel (Brenda Blethyn), a prostitute, in dire financial straits due to her marketability decreasing exponentially as her age increases. Jewel takes heart at her son's return, however, as she had raised him to be a male prostitute and his mid-'20s vitality should be able to provide a much-needed boost to her family's income -- which until now has primarily been based on Jewel's boyfriend Henry's (Harry Dean Stanton) small-time thievery, as well as the income generated by Jewel's new recruit, Carol (Mena Suvari). Sonny initially scoffs at the thought, having been offered a chance for a legitimate job from his Army buddy (Scott Caan), but when that possibility falls through, Sonny finds he has no choice but to work for his mother. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Franco, Brenda Blethyn, (more)
Noted baseball fan Billy Crystal directed this made-for-cable drama set in the summer of 1961, as two of the strongest hitters in the major leagues, Mickey Mantle (Thomas Jane) and Roger Maris (Barry Pepper), find themselves neck and neck in a battle to break Babe Ruth's long-standing record for most home runs in a season. Both men were playing for the New York Yankees at the time, and as the two men came within grasping distance of Ruth's record, their loyalty as friends and teammates was put to the ultimate test. 61 also features Richard Masur, Bruce McGill, Anthony Michael Hall, and Renee Taylor; the scenes set in Yankee Stadium were filmed at Michigan's Tiger Stadium, shortly after the Detroit Tigers shuttered the venerable playing field and relocated to a newer facility. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barry Pepper, Thomas Jane, (more)
Herman Melville's short story Bartleby the Scrivener gets a slightly surreal update in this offbeat comedy drama. The manager (David Paymer) of the city records department in a mid-sized California community decides that his staff of three -- flirty chatterbox Vivian (Glenne Headly), sloppy Vietnam vet Ernie (Maury Chaykin), and slick-suited, Don Juan wannabe Rocky (Joe Piscopo) -- could use some help, so he places an ad looking for a new employee. The boss ends up hiring the one and only applicant who wants the position, a quiet, pale young man named Bartleby (Crispin Glover). At first, Bartleby is a model of efficiency, but before long he loses enthusiasm for his job, much to the annoyance of his co-workers, and soon he's spending his days staring at an air conditioning vent. The Boss asks Bartleby to get back to work, but Bartleby's repeated reply to such requests is, "I prefer not to," and the Boss sees little recourse but to fire him. However, Bartleby refuses to leave his desk, and it soon becomes obvious that Bartleby has not only stopped doing his work -- he's stopped going home and has moved into the office. Bartleby was the first feature film for producer/director Jonathan Parker; he also wrote the screenplay, in collaboration with Catherine Di Napoli. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Paymer, Crispin Glover, (more)
Two women connected by family are drawn closer by fate in this low-key drama. Frances (Jacqueline Bisset) is a woman in her early fifties who had already begun to sense time was running out for her when she learned that she has cancer. While Frances is fighting the disease through medical treatment, she decides it's a good idea to do some travelling before it's too late, and she pays a visit to Bob (Seymour Cassel), a former boyfriend who now owns a farm in rural Pennsylvania. To Bob's surprise, Frances strikes up a fast friendship with his wife Betty (Peggy Gormley), and Frances shares a confession with her -- while Frances maintains a close relationship with her son Morgan (Nick Stahl), she also had a daughter by Bob that she put up for adoption, and she's not certain if she should track down the child while there's still time. Coincidentally, Frances' daughter is Rebecca (Martha Plimpton), a successful lawyer who has begun to express a curiosity about her birth parents. Rebecca has been hired by a large communications firm to deal with the paperwork regarding the purchase of a radio station in Florida, and while in the Sunshine State, Rebecca gets to know the station's manager, Jimmy (Frankie R. Faison). As Jimmy and Rebecca ease into a short-term romance, he shares stories about the "Sleepy Time Gal," a mysterious female disc jockey who worked at the station back in the '50s; what neither Jimmy nor Rebecca know is that the Sleepy Time Gal was actually Frances. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jacqueline Bisset, Martha Plimpton, (more)
A groom-to-be wanting to put his best foot forward finds that's not so simple in this updated screwball comedy. Isaac Adler (Timothy Hutton) is a straight-laced college professor who is invited to give a lecture in San Francisco on the day before his wedding. Adler accepts the invitation, certain he has plenty of time to get back home in time for the nuptials, but he makes the mistake of leaving his shoes out to be shined -- and only one of the shoes returns. Adler sets out to find his missing shoes, or obtain a new pair of dress shoes before he reaches the altar, but that proves to be a lot more complicated than he expected; along the way, he meets a lovely and free-spirited woman named Aurora (Maria Grazia Cucinotta) who offers to help him, but Aurora's "helpful" ideas include visiting several nightspots, getting tattoos, and eventually spending the night in jail. Is there any hope for Adler -- or his shoes? Just One Night also features Udo Kier and Seymour Cassel. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Timothy Hutton, Maria Grazia Cucinotta, (more)
Actor-turned-director Steve Buscemi follows up on his restrained 1996 directorial debut Trees Lounge (1996) with this gritty, understated prison drama. Twenty-one-year-old suburban kid Ron (Edward Furlong) got busted for dealing drugs and slapped with an especially severe jail sentence. Though he tries to keep a low profile at prison, he soon attracts unsavory attention of various sex-starved goons. Fearing rape, he appeals directly to Earl (Willem Dafoe), a fellow prisoner who runs the place like it was his own fiefdom. Though Ron's request is strictly against this rarified culture's baroque rules, Earl takes him under his wing, and soon he is a part of Earl's inner circle. Slowly Ron learns the breadth of Earl's power, ranging from the easy procurement of drugs to the violent dispatching of a prisoner who gets out of line. As Ron grows increasingly indebted to Earl, he wonders how he is expected to repay him. Yet Earl, who shows his fondness for the lad with fatherly tenderness counterbalanced with repressed yearning, never pushes his advantage. Other members of the cast include Tom Arnold as a salivating hill-billy and an almost unrecognizable Mickey Rourke as a cross-dressing prison queen. This film was highly praised at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Willem Dafoe, Edward Furlong, (more)
- 1999
An indie Gen-X film recalling the The Big Chill (1983), this movie concerns a group of friends in their late 20s who are still working out what they want to be when they grow up. Ally, a fledging filmmaker, jumps from one temp job to another; her boyfriend Ben works as a consultant, though he wants both a more permanent job and a relationship; and their friend Jane is a gynecological model, stripper, and entrepreneur. All of the characters suffer from an overabundance of choice. Fearing that they will make the wrong one, they instead shuttle from one temporary job to the next. Only when Ally dares to risk failure does she find the means of success. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gabrielle C. Burton, Robert Pemberton, (more)
- 1999
Austrian director Stephan Wagner makes his feature debut with this edgy deadpan film noir about two friends who -- upon opening an antique shop -- learn more about the themselves and the world around them than they cared to know. Former thug Bernd (Thomas Morris) grows weary of the crime racket and particularly of his psychotic partner Erwin (Wolfgang S. Zechmayer) and decides to buy a curio shop from an old man with his buddy Paul (Simon Licht). Paul manages to pool some money together for the purchase thanks to the family of his girlfriend Eva (Eva-Marie Straka). Problems arise when Paul throws his relationship with Eva in jeopardy when he involves himself in an increasingly intense affair with Lisa (Tatjana Alexander). Meanwhile, Bernd, who is using the shop as a cover for his drug-dealing ring, garners some unneeded notice from his scorned colleague Erwin. Matters come to a head when Bernd is ordered by crime boss Dragan to kill Erwin while Paul's romantic double-dealing finally catches up with him. Kubanisch rauchen was screened at the 1999 Denver Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Simon Licht, Thomas Morris, (more)
Tara (Jennifer Tilly) hosts a dinner party. When she discusses the HIV-positive results of her lover's brother, others join in with their opinions on AIDS. Black artist Buzz (T.C. Carson), brought to the party as the date of Vincey (Mitchell Anderson), quickly becomes a twosome with Javi (Eddie Garcia). Megan (Serena Scott Thomas) breaks up with her black lover Sarina (Cynda Williams) after Megan reveals her affair with Sarina's cousin Jered (Billy Wirth). With lesbian, gay, and straight interactions throughout, the film's framework leans toward Schnitzler's La Ronde (1900), as an assortment of characters talk directly into the camera to introduce other characters. Shown at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jennifer Tilly, Mitchell Anderson, (more)
This crime drama, based on the best-selling novel by Mario Puzo, follows 20 years in the long reign of powerful Mafia kingpin Don Domenico Clericuzio (Danny Aiello). For years, the Clericuzios have been warring with a rival crime family, the Santadios, which is not helped when Domenico's daughter Rose Marie (Kirstie Alley) decides to marry the son of the head of the Santadio clan. On the night of Rose Marie's wedding, Domenico orders the execution of the entire Santadio family, including his new son-in-law. Rose Marie is pregnant as a result of her brief honeymoon, and her son Dante (Rory Cochrane) grows up to become a hired killer with a bitter hatred of his grandfather. Meanwhile, Pippi De Lena (Joe Mantegna), Domenico's key enforcer who carried out the slaughter of the Santadinos, has been grooming his son Croccifixio (Jason Gedrick) to take over as the Clericuzio's new trigger man. However, after he muffs a crucial execution, Croccifixio is sent to work with the family's operations in Las Vegas, where he becomes involved with starlet Athena Aquitane (Daryl Hannah). Soon Dante makes a risky bid to seize control of the Santadio family's crime empire. Originally produced as a television miniseries, the home video release of The Last Don is 262-min. long and it includes material not used for television broadcast. The video version features adult language and nudity and received an R rating. The Last Don co-stars Robert Wuhl, Penelope Ann Miller, Seymour Cassel, Burt Young, and k.d. lang. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Danny Aiello, Joe Mantegna, (more)
In order to solve a family mystery, John, a stonemason from Zimbabwe, travels to Berlin to search for 1928 footage of a tightrope walker at Niagara Falls. While there, he becomes romantically obsessed with Miriam, a French rock musician in an all-girl band. Unfortunately, Miriam is totally in love with her boyfriend Pierre, a talented scientist. Running parallel to the main plot is that of Jacob, a Jewish tailor who in the film's early scenes is caught shoplifting, an act that will have troubling ramifications for John, who gets caught in the middle of Jacob's attempt to flee the crime scene. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Heike Makatsch, Charles Berling, (more)
- 1996
Set upon the island of Cyprus, a pair of good friends who run a prominent nightclub/prostitution ring find their good life about to come unraveled when they receive a damning film that reveals them having disturbingly kinky sex. These acts happened years ago when both friends were migrant workers in the Persian Gulf. The man who sent them the tape is a greedy American who participated in the shenanigans and now wants a piece of their lucrative club. His demands have tragic repercussions. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1994
In this thriller, a young art critic falls for a psychotic artist. Jennifer Cole can't help it. She is in love with artist Julian Jons. It doesn't matter that he was just released after spending 7 years in prison for killing his model/girlfriend in the heat of obsessive passion. It doesn't matter that her roommate and editor warn her that Julian is unstable. She is in love with him. Unfortunately, her friends are right. All Julian can paint are images of his dead girlfriend. Things really heat up after an art collector commissions Julian to paint a portrait of his daughter who is the spitting image of -- the murdered woman. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brent Fraser, Finola Hughes, (more)
