Seymour Cassel Movies

Jake (Charles Grodin), an insurance investigator, is assigned to probe the killing of a wealthy businessman in Acapulco. To help him, he hires a beautiful New York model, Ellie (Farah Fawcett), to act as his wife, and they pretend to be tourists on vacation. Art Carney plays Marcus, a local detective who befriends Jake but gets him into various scrapes. Joan Collins also appears as the suspicious Nera. Sunburn was a made-for-TV movie which featured a pop-song soundtrack blaring from characters' tape recorders that included tunes by Herbie Hancock. The movie was based on the novel The Bind by Stanley Ellin. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

The CB (citizen's band) radio fad had nearly run its course when this feel-good action film was made by director Sam Peckinpah. In the story, based on C.W. McCall's song "Convoy", a group of struggling truckers (who stay in touch by CB) run into a situation which ignites their indignation. They arrange to form a truck convoy under the leadership of the man whose CB nickname is "Rubber Duck" (Kris Kristofferson). He is the most aggrieved of the bunch, having been harassed beyond the point of endurance by Lyle Wallace (Ernest Borgnine) a blackmailing traffic cop who pursues him ever more frantically through several states after he fails to submit to the phony speed trap he had set up. As news of the truck convoy spreads, unexpected allies join the line, and the now-gigantic illegal protest becomes the subject of national news reports. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Allegedly based on a real incident, this crime drama begins in San Francisco with a middle-aged man answering the doorbell. He is alone, as his wife and kids are away for the weekend. There he finds two attractive young women who ask to use his phone. Once they get into the house, they do in fact use the phone, but they also make a running commentary on his house and its furnishings, an action which seems a tad inappropriate. The two slightly odd women seduce him and stay the night. In the morning, their behavior again seems rather bizarre, and his angry attempt to get them to leave the house after they lasciviously smear ketchup and syrup has unfortunate consequences. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Rudolph Valentino, born in Italy in 1895 as Alfonzo Raffaele Pierre Philibert Guglielmi, emigrated to the U.S. and became for a time the reigning male romantic lead of the silent-film era. He died in 1926, having led a short, troubled and tempestuous life which included several stints in prison. The crowds surrounding his coffin before and during his funeral were among the largest ever seen in the U.S. In this film, Ken Russell has used events from the famous actor's life as the basis for an extended meditation on the nature of stardom, and especially on what it means to be a sex idol. Beginning and ending with the funeral of Valentino (Rudolf Nureyev), the story chronicles his rise to Hollywood stardom from life as an Italian emigrant dishwasher and show-dancer. Often embroiled in controversies about his manliness (or perceived lack of ), in the film he dies as a result of internal injuries suffered in a boxing match he fought in to defend his honor. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

John Cassavetes takes a contemporary film noir turn (which he would return to in Gloria) after exploring domestic melodrama in A Woman Under the Influence with The Killing of a Chinese Bookie. Ben Gazzara plays Cosmo Vitelli, the owner of a sleazy Los Angeles strip joint, who loses $20,000 at a mob gambling club owned by a small time gangster (Seymour Cassel). Since Cosmo doesn't have the $20,000, he is forced to murder a Chinese bookie in order to clear his debt to the mob. What Cosmo doesn't know is he's part of a set-up. The bookie is actually a West Coast mob boss protected around the clock by bodyguards. The mobsters figure that Cosmo will be killed in an impossible hit and they can take over his nightclub. But Cosmo proves luckier than the mobsters think -- he manages to kill his target, and now the mobsters have to track down Cosmo and kill him. Initially, at 133 minutes, the movie was subsequently re-edited by Cassavetes to 109 minutes. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Can a straight-laced woman find happiness with a scruffy hippie who has a bad habit of getting beaten up? Minnie Moore (Gena Rowlands) was a prom queen in high school but has become disillusioned with life now that she is a divorcée who has just turned 40. Her marriage ended badly, and her current relationship with her boyfriend Jim (John Cassavetes), who is inconveniently married to another woman, is hardly going any better. Jim treats Minnie with little respect, but she tries to calmly soldier on with her work as a curator at a museum. When Jim's wife threatens to commit suicide if he doesn't break off his affair with Minnie, he agrees to stop seeing her. He goes to museum where Minnie works, bringing along his two children to serve as witnesses, and he tells her that they're through. Emotionally shattered by this experience, Minnie blankly and uncomprehendingly accepts a blind date with a loud-mouthed boor named Zelmo Swift (Val Avery), who proposes marriage only an hour after they've met. Angered by her lack of enthusiasm for this proposal, Zelmo angrily follows Minnie to a nearby parking lot, where the attendant, Seymour Moskowitz (Seymour Cassel), comes to her rescue, though he hardly emerges victorious in battle. Shaggy-haired and steadfastly bohemian Seymour has just arrived in Los Angeles from New York City looking to make some changes, and after a few minutes with Minnie, he's convinced that he's met the love of his life. Minnie isn't buying it, but she eventually agrees to go out on a date with him, and before long, these two polar opposites find that they're attracted to each other after all. A typically low-budget labor of love from writer/director/actor John Cassavetes, Minnie and Moskowitz features John's wife Gena Rowlands as Minnie, his mother Katherine Cassavetes as Seymour's mom, his brother-in-law David Rowlands as a minister, and several of his children in a party sequence; John's friend and frequent collaborator Timothy Carey also appears in a small role. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

On California's Malibu Beach in the late 1960s, young people are enjoying a life with few responsibilities and plenty of romantic opportunities. Denny McGuire (Michael Sarrazin) is a beach bum without ambition. His roommate Collie Ransom (Tony Franciosa) is a professional tennis player who soaks up the admiration of other beach dwellers. Denny is attracted to Vickie Cartwright (Jacqueline Bisset), a mostly-out-of-work actress, and would like to settle down with her, but she is more enamored with a series of meaningless sexual encounters with men she meets on the beach or during acting jobs. The film turns more serious with the brutal beating death of Vickie. Denny pulls himself together and decides to become a more responsible adult by taking a job at a hardware store. Also working there is Choo-Choo Burns (Bob Denver), an off-the-wall jazz pianist. Choo-Choo joins Denny and Collie as another roommate. Pop music is provided by the San Francisco psychedelic band Moby Grape and the British balladeer Dusty Springfield. The script by Tom Mankiewicz was based on a novel by William Murray. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

Clint Eastwood stars as Walt Coogan, an Arizona deputy sheriff who has been sent to New York City to extradite escaped killer James Ringerman (Don Stroud). On arrival, he's forced to wait by NYPD detective Lieutenant McElroy (Lee J. Cobb), who informs him that Ringerman is recovering from a bad acid trip at Bellevue Hospital. After briefly flirting with attractive probation officer Julie Roth (Susan Clark), Coogan heads for Bellevue, where he's able to con the hospital's staff into releasing the criminal. The cop and the fugitive are on the way to catch a flight back to Arizona, when Ringerman's hippie girlfriend Linny (Tisha Sterling) and a large accomplice spirit the killer away, leaving Coogan unconscious. Luckily, Julie is the girl's probation officer, and Coogan manages to get her address from the woman's files while getting to know her better. He tracks the girl to a popular psychedelic club, whereupon, deciding she likes the deputy, she takes him back to her apartment for further interrogation. The first in a series of films on which Eastwood would collaborate with director Don Siegel, it features a memorable scene in which a battle fought with billiard balls and cue sticks suggests the birth of a new martial art. Although its seemingly innocuous scenes of sex and violence drew criticism at the time, it served as the source for television's considerably more benign McCloud, starring Dennis Weaver as the laconic fish out of water. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide

The Fugitive wraps up its four-season run with Part One of the series' legendary final episode "The Judgment". Having learned that Fred Johnson (Bill Raisch), the elusive one-armed man who committed the murder for which Kimble was wrongfully condemned, has been arrested in Tucson, Kimble makes a beeline to the police station--followed closely by his own perennial pursuer Lt. Gerard (Barry Morse). But both men manage to elude capture: Kimble is alerted to Gerard's presence by longtime friend Jean Carlisle (Diane Baker), while Johnson is bailed out by an unknown benefactor. During a confrontation with blackmailing bailbondsman Art Howe (Michael Constantine), Johnson commits another murder and also learns the identity of the person who posted his bond--whereupon he heads for Kimble's home town of Stafford, Indiana. Before long, Kimble has caught up with Johnson...only to be apprehended by the relentless Gerard. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Don Gordon stars as Salvatore Ross, a repulsively arrogant young man who thinks that the world owes him a living. When he is rejected by virtuous social worker Leah Maitland (Gail Kobe), Ross vows to improve himself, and to do that he harnesses his newly-found ability to acquire the physical and personal traits of other people. But Ross miscalculates when he tries out his special skills on Leah's saintly father (Vaughn Taylor). The supporting cast of this Twilight Zone entry ran the age gamut from 20-something Seymour Cassel to septuagenarian Douglas Dumbrille. Scripted by Jerry McNeeley (of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. fame) from a story by Henry Slesar, "The Self-Improvement of Salvatore Ross" made its network bow on January 17, 1964. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Don Siegal directed this made-for-TV remake of the western drama Ride The Pink Horse, in which Robert Culp stars as Harry Pace, who has set out to avenge the violent death of a good friend. Pace's search leads him to New Orleans during the Mardi Gras celebration, where he meets a beautiful woman, Lois Seeger (Vera Miles). Pace's infatuation with Seeger leads him into a dangerous conflict with her husband, Arnie Seeger (Edmund O'Brien), a ruthless political power broker. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

After his pioneering independent film Shadows (1960), actor/writer/director John Cassavetes made his major studio directorial debut with this gritty, low-key drama about jazz musicians. Bobby Darin plays John "Ghost" Walefield, a pianist who scuffles from gig to gig with his band, trying to keep body and soul together without betraying his muse. Ghost's agent Benny (Everett Chambers) introduces him to Jess (Stella Stevens), a would-be singer who looks beautiful, even though her voice is fair at best. Ghost falls hard for her and agrees to put her in the band, though it's hard to say if he believes in her musical talent or just wants her companionship. Ghost and his band score a record deal thanks to Jess' presence, but after a humiliating fight in a pool hall and Ghost's discovery that Jess occasionally turns tricks to pay the rent, he puts his integrity up for sale, fires his band, and starts spending his time with a rich woman who likes to hang out with musicians -- and is willing to pay for the privilege. A number of real-life jazz greats appear onscreen and on the soundtrack, including Slim Gaillard, Benny Carter, and Shelly Manne; the role of Ghost was originally written for Montgomery Clift, who was forced to back out at the last minute, leading to Bobby Darin's casting. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide