Seymour Cassel Movies

Character actor Steve Buscemi made his debut as a writer and director with this seriocomic tale of a guy who is going through something but doesn't know just what it is. Tommy is a 31-year-old auto mechanic who lost his last job after "borrowing" 1,500 dollars from the cash register and heading to Atlantic City, where he wasted no time losing it all at the tables. The fact that he can't get his own car to run isn't impressing any prospective employers, so Tommy spends much of his time at the Trees Lounge, a local watering hole conveniently located downstairs from his apartment. Eventually Tommy lands some work driving an ice cream truck and becomes acquainted with his ex-girlfriend's 17-year-old niece, Debbie (Chloë Sevigny). When they half-heartedly fall into a romance, it's just one more thing for Tommy to be confused about. Buscemi draws upon a rich cast of supporting actors, including Elizabeth Bracco, Anthony LaPaglia, Carol Kane, Debi Mazar, Samuel L. Jackson, and Mimi Rogers. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

While at the Cannes Film Festival, producer Sy Learner (Seymour Cassel) makes a bet that he can turn any nobody into a star. A cabbie from New York named Frank (Francesco Quinn) becomes his test case as Sy tries to get Frank noticed amidst the stars and glitter of Cannes. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In the mode of Quentin Tarantino, this film, directed by Gary Fleder from a script by Scott Rosenberg, concerns itself with hip, smart gangsters. The film is set in Denver, and the title comes from a Warren Zevon song. A retired, good-hearted gangster named Jimmy the Saint (Andy Garcia) runs a company that videotapes dying people giving life advice to their children and grandchildren, to be delivered when they come of age. Jimmy's former crime boss, The Man with the Plan (Christopher Walken), summons him. The Man is wheelchair-bound and doesn't have long to live; he explains that Jimmy owes him a favor and must perform one final job. It involves frightening the boyfriend of the ex-girlfriend of Bernard (Michael Nicolosi), the son of The Man, who has been so shaken by the girl's rejection of him that he has been fondling schoolyard children. Jimmy rounds up his old gang -- including Pieces (Christopher Lloyd), a porno theater projectionist; Franchise (William Forsythe), an ex-biker with a trailer-trash family to support; Critical Bill (Treat Williams), a psychotic, trigger-happy ex-con; and Easy Wind (Bill Nunn), an exterminator. Pieces and Bill pose as cops as part of the needlessly elaborate plan, which misfires badly. The Man, enraged, gives Jimmy 48 hours to leave town, and he orders his comrades wiped out, hiring the notorious hitman Mr. Shhh (Steve Buscemi) to track them down. But Jimmy can't seem to get the others to leave town, and despite The Man's decree, Jimmy is also reluctant to leave, because he's become romantically entangled with Dagney (Gabrielle Anwar). Jack Warden's character serves as a kind of Greek chorus who comments from time to time on the unfolding action. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

Usually cast in showy or unsympathetic supporting roles, Harvey Keitel here gets the rare chance to play a leading role as a "nice guy" -- albeit a nice guy with some serious problems -- in this family drama. Ray Weiler (Keitel) is the widowed father of two girls, high school senior Sonya (Fairuza Balk) and her younger sister Greta (Elizabeth Moss). Ray is full of get-rich-quick schemes that never quite pan out and often skirt the edges of the law. While it's obvious that he loves his daughters, he's hardly a healthy role model, and Sonya and Greta both know it -- dealing with bill collectors and angry investors who've dumped money into one of their father's schemes is just a part of life at the Weiler household. Ray has enrolled Sonya in a private school that he can't actually afford, but he's certain his latest mining venture is going to bring him some real money. Mr. Webster (Vincent D'Onofrio), one of Sonya's teachers, thinks she has a real gift as a writer and should go on to college. Sonya, however, knows that Ray would be against it -- and even if he did approve, how would they pay for it? Meanwhile, Ray seems to have found a backer for his latest mining project -- a man named Jarvis (Chris Penn) -- but one of his partners starts to get cold feet, and Jarvis looks like a man who does not take disappointment well. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Similar to the premise of American Graffiti, this film centers on eight California high school students whose lives intersect over two nights in the hot summer of 1965. As the Watts riots begin, the young people make decisions that will impact their entire lives. Writer-director Floyd Mutrux examines at the graduating class of 1965 of Westwood High School in Los Angeles, which was featured on the cover of Look magazine in 1961. The story is narrated by the class valedictorian, Mary Beth (Lucy Deakins). Kelli Williams plays Sunshine, a prototypical flower child. Characters played by Dermot Mulroney and Rick Schroder and others struggle with decisions about the Vietnam war, aspire to be rock musicians, and take divergent paths on politics while navigating various romantic entanglements. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

In this quirky drama a trio involved in a self-contained world revolving around a remote tollbooth in the Florida Keys. Jack, an aspiring policeman, works in the tollbooth. There he dreams of his new career and of starting a new life in Miami with his high school sweetie Doris. She works at the Gator Gas fuel depot down the road. She daydreams about her estranged father Leon and takes care of her mother Lillian who suffers from chronic depression. When not caring for her mom, Doris sees Dash, a bait salesman. Leon suddenly returns. A new toll collector, Vic, comes to the booth. He is a suspicious character and soon the state police are carefully watching him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Adrian Lyne buffs the premise of Honeymoon in Vegas to a fine gloss in this yuppie melodrama that poses the conundrum of whether the loving husband of an equally loving wife will accept $1 million to allow his wife to spend one night with a billionaire who looks like Robert Redford. All the cynics please take a number and form a line at the right. Demi Moore and Woody Harrelson play Diana and David Murphy, high-school sweethearts who marry and who are doing very well -- Diana is a successful real-estate agent, and David is an idealistic architect who has built a dream house by the ocean -- until the recession hits. Suddenly, David loses his job, and they can't make the mortgage payments. Dead broke, they borrow $5000 from David's father and head to Las Vegas to try to win money to pay the mortgage on their house. At first, they get $25,000 ahead -- but inevitably the house always wins, and they end up losing it all. While Diana is in the fancy casino boutique trying to lift some candy, she is spotted by billionaire John Gage (Robert Redford), who is immediately attracted to her. John invites Diana and David to an opulent party, and it is there that John offers David $1 million for a night with his wife. David is wracked by this moral dilemma, but Diana finally makes the decision on her own, with ensuing consequences for their ideal marriage and their bank account. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Marty (Alfred Molina) is a down-and-out jazz musician with colorful dreams of making it big, but right now he's living on the edge and making small money by giving music lessons to people who don't seem to want them. His sometimes girlfriend, Sheila (Maggie O'Neill), is a barmaid at the Rose of Sharon, a local pub owned by the hot-tempered Frank (Seymour Cassel). One day Sheila takes an old rocking chair out of the pub's storage and gives it to Marty; he then discovers that the chair is haunted by two ghosts, a middle-aged woman named Lilly (Marianne Faithfull) and a precocious little girl named Ruthie (Rachel Bella). Ruthie seems to be from the turn of the century, but Lilly is contemporary. These easygoing souls appear to Marty and enliven his life with non-threatening pranks, but things turn serious when Marty discovers Lilly was Frank's wife, who killed her in a fit of rage. With the help of the mortal, the ghosts plan revenge.

~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide

Alexandre Rockwell's quirky autobiographical comedy stars Steve Buscemi as Adolpho Rollo, a would-be screenwriter who is obsessed with getting his 500-page script "Unconditional Surrender" produced. Desperate for money, he places an ad for financial backing, which is answered by con man Joe (Seymour Cassel). The film was shot in color, but was released theatrically in black & white. Both verisions eventually made their way to home video release. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

In this lively crime thriller, luckless ex-con Harry Talbot wins several thousand dollars and a luxury car in a poker game. He is delighted, having no idea that the others let him win because the trunk of the Lincoln contains the remains of Gordo. No, Harry is finally feeling lucky and in his shiny convertible sets off across the country in search of more card games. While driving, he picks up a lovely hitchhiker named Kit. She is out on a personal vendetta and is pursued by her grandmother, a crime boss, and her dim-bulbed cousin Danny. Realizing that he is a gambling addict, Kit manipulates him into driving to a certain mob-operated casino where she plans to off her father's killer. Things get more sticky when a gangster informs the card sharps who put Gordo in the trunk, that the deceased is carrying a key to a safe-deposit box containing a vast amount of money. They immediately set out after Harry as he fatefully heads for the gambling house. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Adventures in Spying brings the Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew formula kicking and screaming into the 1990s. During the dog days of his summer vacation, young Bernie Coulson tumbles to the fact that one of his neighbors is a presumed-dead fugitive drug lord. Since no adult is going to swallow this story, Bernie is forced to rely upon his preteen friend Jill Schoelen to help him get the goods on the criminal. There's a $50,000 reward at stake-which seems like small potatoes as the kids confront one life-threatening situation after another, compounded by a preponderance of crooked authority figures. The adult cast of Adventures in Spying is certainly eclectic enough, ranging from onetime John Cassavetes associate Seymour Cassel to none other than G. Gordon Liddy as the bad guy! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this fictionalized account based on true figures, a foursome of young thugs decides to team up and take control of New York's east side from the aging bosses who control it. Bugsy Siegel (Richard Grieco) and Frank Costello (Costas Mandylor) control the physical elements of the operation, while Lucky Luciano (Christian Slater) and Meyer Lansky (Patrick Dempsey) bring up the business end. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

In Randal Kleiser's entertaining adaptation of Jack London's classic novel White Fang, Ethan Hawke plays Jack Conroy, a young man who travels to Alaska with the intent of finding his father's lost gold mine. During the course of his travels, he's accompanied by a big white wolf that he rescued from a professional dog fight promoter. Conroy and the wolf, which he names White Fang, have a number of adventures and make a few enemies on their way to finding the gold mine. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide