Joanna Cassidy Movies
American actress Joanna Cassidy may not be a household name, but she is well-respected in Hollywood and has appeared in numerous feature films and on television. Before becoming a thespian, Cassidy had spent a year in college as an art major, been married and divorced, and modeled in San Francisco. She first entered films as a bit player in Bullitt (1968) and Fools (1970) then continued modeling while also working in television commercials. Cassidy had her first real part in the police drama The Laughing Policeman (1974). Though it wasn't a large, role, it did lead to her being cast in two more films that year: The Outfit and Bank Shot, in which she received prominent billing. Other notable roles from the '70s include The Stepford Wives (1975) and Stay Hungry (1976). Between 1977 and 1978, Cassidy was part of the short-lived ensemble of the sketch comedy/variety series Shields and Yarnell.Her film career continued too, but it was not until she played Zhora, the stripper/snakecharmer in Ridley Scott's Blade Runner (1982) that she made her biggest impression. She next appeared in Roger Spottiswoode's Under Fire (1983). Despite the early promise of her career, Cassidy, who specializes in playing strong-willed, independent and highly intelligent women, has never found a solid niche in Hollywood's galaxy of major movie stars. Through the '80s, Cassidy appeared most frequently on television in series such as Buffalo Bill (1983) -- where she played Dabney Coleman's girlfriend -- and in guest-starring roles and in various telemovies and miniseries, though she also continued getting supporting roles in various features, notably as Bob Hoskins' long-suffering barmaid girlfriend in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). Her film career picked up again in the '90s, but she still primarily appears on television. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Robin Williams' comic shtick sabotages any attempt at comic development in Harold Ramis' patchy comedy farce Club Paradise. Williams plays Jack Moniker, a Chicago fireman injured in the line of duty, who uses his disability money to open up a run-down Caribbean resort. Jack eagerly awaits the planeload of tourists who will be his first patrons. This group of low-rent jackanapes include Barry Nye (Rick Moranis) and Barry Steinberg (Eugene Levy), a couple of horny geek bachelors; Phillipa Lloyd (Twiggy) and Terry Hamlin (Joanna Cassidy) as a couple of gals on the make; and Linda White (Andrea Martin), as a bossy American tourist. While the tourists shindig around Jack's ramshackle resort, a revolution is brewing on the island headed by revolutionary Ernest Reed (Jimmy Cliff). Trying to prevent the revolutionary upheaval is the dissipated British governor-general of the island, Governor Anthony Cloyden Hayes (Peter O'Toole), and the pompous Prime Minister Solomon Gundy (Adolph Caesar). ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robin Williams, Peter O'Toole, (more)
- 1986
The beautiful beaches of Mexico have long been a playground for both the rich and famous, as well the frugal and resourceful traveler. The travel destination experts at Rand McNally offer their insights and tips for a trip to Mexico's famed coastal area. There are stops in well-known places hot spots such as Acapulco and Cozumel, as well as some lesser traveled roads that hold appeal for those seeking a quieter vacation by the sea. ~ Rose of Sharon Winter, All Movie Guide
- 1986
The Children of Times Square are alienated and disenfranchised kids from all over the country. With nowhere to go and no real purpose in life, they converge on the streets of New York, totally vulnerable despite their outward toughness. Howard Rollins plays a ruthless cocaine dealer who, in the tradition of Fagin, wins the confidence of many of these kids and organizes them into a criminal gang. The film traces the "recruitment" by Rollins of two teenagers, runaway Brandon Douglas and New Yorker Danny Nucci. Joanna Cassidy plays Douglas' mother, who desperately tries to free her son from Rollins' influence. Made for TV, Children of Times Square debuted on March 3, 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1985
After her ex-lover threatens to explode a nuclear warhead, a former CIA agent organizes a team of crack female operatives to bring him back to justice. The film is also known as Slay It Again Sam. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- 1985
Based on the novel by Jackie Collins, the steamy ABC TV minseries Hollywood Wives began its three-evening run on February 17, 1985. Advertised with the teaser "If you think nothing can shock you anymore," part one got things up and running by introducing the central players, among them Elaine Conti (Candice Bergen), the ruthlessly ambitious wife of B-list movie star Ross Conti (Steve Forrest), and the promiscuous Gina Germaine (Suzanne Somers), who hopes to emerge from her famous hubby's shadow by pursuing her own screen career. The most realistic aspect of the series is the fact that the actors playing the male stars and producers are all considerably older than the women portraying their "trophy" wives. In part two of the miniseries, Elaine continues wheeling and dealing to advance the career of her husband, a fading matinee idol. Meanwhile, the craven Gina tries to sleep her way into a major role in the latest epic directed by Neil Gray (Anthony Hopkins). And Karen Lancaster (Mary Crosby), a second-generation celebrity, embarks upon a romantic misadventure that may have consequence for her celebrated father and mother -- not to mention nominal heroine Elaine. In the miniseries' third and final part, Elaine throws a huge Hollywood party to advance the career of her aging movie-star husband Ross. The site of the party is the home of established film favorite George Lancaster (Robert Stack), whose daughter, Karen (Mary Crosby), has made no secret of her intention to steal Elaine's hubby away from her. Frances Bergen, real-life mother of star Candice Bergen, is seen as George Lancaster's missus, Pamela. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This minor made-for-TV effort from horror auteur Wes Craven is one of the oddest attempts at seriously blending supernatural horror and science fiction elements, which amounts to a muddled but amusing failure. The convoluted plot involves scientist Robert Urich's experiments with a new spacesuit designed to detect non-human lifeforms for a proposed expedition to Venus. When a sultry succubus (Susan Lucci, who was born for such a role) begins exerting her demonic influence on the members of a country club -- including Urich's wife and children -- he dons the completed suit for a literal journey into hell itself to rescue them. Craven's skill manages to elevate this loopy premise slightly above the level of pure nonsense, but low production values and the constraints of TV censorship prevent it from being adequately explored. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Susan Lucci, Robert Urich, (more)
This gripping, emotional story of a roving photographer's transformation from a neutral artist with a camera to an involved human rights activist with a camera begins in Chad, travels to Nicaragua in the early 1980s, and ends when the Nicaraguan dictator Somoza takes off for the palm trees and beaches of Florida. Nick Nolte brilliantly interprets his role as the photographer Russell Price, and Joanna Cassidy is Claire, the radio journalist he meets while in Chad, along with her lover, Time Magazine reporter Alex (Gene Hackman), who ends up opting for a plush job as a TV anchorman and a quiet life on Long Island. When Alex leaves, Claire heads off to the next hot spot, Nicaragua, and Russell decides to tag along -- not because he is that interested in Nicaragua, but because he is interested in Claire. Once in the war-torn, Central American country, it does not take Russell long to see the vast difference between the corrupt, U.S.-backed dictatorship and the struggling guerrilla forces who have been fighting for a decade already. As his eyes are opened, he and Claire decide to go along with the rebels and film their fighting behind the lines. During one battle, the much-venerated rebel leader is shot dead, and Russell reluctantly agrees to fake a photo of the man as though he were still living, so as not to demoralize the army that looks up to him for leadership. The photo appears in the news around the world and causes such a furor that Alex shows up to demand an interview with the leader for national American television. It is on the way to this supposed interview that Alex leaves the car for a moment and is senselessly shot and killed by a government soldier, the whole episode filmed for the world by Russell's camera. This outrage (which actually occurred when journalist Bill Stewart was inhumanly shot by a Somoza soldier in full view of the video camera) soon makes global news and helps to hasten the overthrow of the corrupt dictatorship. Meanwhile, Russell has new issues to consider once his camera has become an "active" and not a "passive" observer of political unrest. René Enriquéz who plays the dictator Somoza in this film is a native Nicaraguan, related to a newspaper reporter killed by Somoza's government. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nick Nolte, Gene Hackman, (more)
A blend of science fiction and noir detective fiction, Blade Runner (1982) was a box office and critical bust upon its initial exhibition, but its unique postmodern production design became hugely influential within the sci-fi genre, and the film gained a significant cult following that increased its stature. Harrison Ford stars as Rick Deckard, a retired cop in Los Angeles circa 2019. L.A. has become a pan-cultural dystopia of corporate advertising, pollution and flying automobiles, as well as replicants, human-like androids with short life spans built by the Tyrell Corporation for use in dangerous off-world colonization. Deckard's former job in the police department was as a talented blade runner, a euphemism for detectives that hunt down and assassinate rogue replicants. Called before his one-time superior (M. Emmett Walsh), Deckard is forced back into active duty. A quartet of replicants led by Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer) has escaped and headed to Earth, killing several humans in the process. After meeting with the eccentric Eldon Tyrell (Joe Turkel), creator of the replicants, Deckard finds and eliminates Zhora (Joanna Cassidy), one of his targets. Attacked by another replicant, Leon (Brion James), Deckard is about to be killed when he's saved by Rachael (Sean Young), Tyrell's assistant and a replicant who's unaware of her true nature. In the meantime, Batty and his replicant pleasure model lover, Pris (Darryl Hannah) use a dying inventor, J.F. Sebastian (William Sanderson) to get close to Tyrell and murder him. Deckard tracks the pair to Sebastian's, where a bloody and violent final confrontation between Deckard and Batty takes place on a skyscraper rooftop high above the city. In 1992, Ridley Scott released a popular director's cut that removed Deckard's narration, added a dream sequence, and excised a happy ending imposed by the results of test screenings; these legendary behind-the-scenes battles were chronicled in a 1996 tome, Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner by Paul M. Sammon. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, (more)
As a once-famous fashion designer prepares to make her big comeback, a mysterious killer begins stalking the beautiful models who gather for the gala celebration in his made-for-television thriller starring Eleanor Parker, Clive Revill, and Jessica Walter. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
In this youthful drama, a high-school senior aspires to become a track star while simultaneously dealing with the other travails of youth. One of his best friends is drafted and ends up getting killed in Vietnam. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Scott Jacoby, Deborah Benson, (more)
- 1978
- R
In this actioner, bounty hunter Sam Kellough, who is also an ex-cop, and an ex-ballplayer, is out to earn the $20,000 reward for the capture of Victor Hale, a psychotic killer wanted for beating a prison guard to death with a "riot glove." The villain is not as horrible as he seems. When the fugitive is not beating victims to a pulp, he is seen playing his guitar to impoverished children. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Saxon, Roosevelt Grier, (more)
Robert Forster delivers a well-turned performance as a professional stuntman in this Hawksian murder mystery. Forster is Glen Wilson, an ace stuntman who travels from movie set to movie set, performing dangerous professional work. Fiona Lewis is B.J. Parswell, a journalist whose presence creates dissension within the ranks of this all-male group. She turns into an admirer of Glen's skill and then, later, his lover. Pressure increases when Glen's brother, also a stuntman, is killed on an oceanfront movie set in San Luis Obispo. The producer, Blake (James Luisi) thinks it is an accident, but Glen suspects foul play. Glen wants to take the place of his brother, telling the producer that he wants to finish his deceased brother's stuntwork. Actually, he wants to more fully investigate his brother's death by snooping around the movie set. The producer is reluctant, but Glen's old stuntmen pals -- Paul (Ray Sharkey), Chuck (Bruce Glover), and Patti (Joanna Cassidy) -- insist on Glen being hired. Glen proves his mettle, performing a series of dangerous stunts. Along the way he discovers that his brother had been sleeping with Judy (Candice Rialson), Blake's nymphomaniac wife. Glen then suspects Blake might be responsible for his brother's death. After more unexplained "accidents" on the set, Glen is sure that the killer is after him and determines to find him and stop him before he kills again. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Forster, Fiona Lewis, (more)
Even though he barely makes enough money to cover his expenses and finds divorce cases (his bread and butter) unsavory, aging detective Ira Wells (Art Carney) is determined to stay active and to retain some amount of self-respect. When his partner Harry Regan (Howard Duff) is killed while on assignment, Ira agrees to take on his current case, although he can't see how it has anything to do with his friend's murder, which he is anxious to solve. In order to survive, by solving the case of his client's missing cat, and solving the murder of his friend, Ira winds up accepting a lot of help from his client Margo (Lily Tomlin). By the end of the film, it looks like an offbeat romance, or perhaps a new business partnership, is blooming. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Art Carney, Lily Tomlin, (more)
In this offbeat comedy, Jeff Bridges plays Craig Blake, a rich kid who works with a group of hard-living Southern real-estate men led by Jabo (Joe Spinell), who are buying up a business district in Birmingham, Alabama in order to clear the space and put in a new project. Craig is supposed to work out a deal to buy the Olympic Spa, a gym popular with local weight-lifters, but after spending some time at the club, Craig finds himself fascinated with the people there, especially Joe Santo (Arnold Schwarzenegger), a world-class body builder from Austria who sometimes works out in a superhero costume and likes to play bluegrass fiddle to relax. Craig also makes the acquaintance of Mary Tate Farnsworth (Sally Field), a feisty gal who hangs out with Joe. Mary Tate finds Craig attractive, but she isn't sure he's being all that sincere, and she wonders why a wealthy real estate man is hanging out with a bunch of low-rent gym rats. Stay Hungry was a critical comeback for director Bob Rafelson and kick-started the careers of both Sally Field and Arnold Schwarzenegger in their first major film roles (unless you count Arnold's misbegotten appearance as "Arnold Strong" in Hercules In New York). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeff Bridges, Sally Field, (more)
In the William Goldman-scripted, Bryan Forbes-directed adaptation of Ira Levin's savagely satiric sci-fi novel The Stepford Wives, housewife Joanna (Katharine Ross) moves with husband Walter (Peter Masterson) and their children to the "ideal" suburban community of Stepford, CT. Slowly, Joanna deduces that something is amiss; most of the other housewives are vapid creatures who speak in trivialities and live only to please their husbands. Together with new friend Bobby (Paula Prentiss), she investigates this curious status quo. When Bobby also succumbs to cloying sweetness, Joanna discovers that Stepford's husbands have conspired with male chauvinist scientists to replace all the wives with computerized android duplicates. The Stepford Wives became a massive, runaway hit, earning four million dollars domestically. Mega-producer Scott Rudin and director Frank Oz teamed up for a remake in 2004. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Katharine Ross, Paula Prentiss, (more)
- 1975
- R
The Cursed Medallion may not be a household title, but it certainly has received generous airplay on the many UHF television stations throughout the land. The titular medallion is a gift presented to young Nicole Elmi. Once the girl places the gift around her neck, she is possessed by the spirit of a dead child. Actually, it's worse than that: the deceased youngster was a murderess. Richard Johnson and Joanna Cassidy are the "name" stars in this internationally produced chiller-diller. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This crime-caper film from director Gower Champion stars George C. Scott as a visionary thief. He doesn't merely intend to rob a bank; his plan is to steal the whole bank. This is accomplished by lifting the structure with house-moving machinery in the dead of night, then painting it pink and squirreling it away in a trailer park. The Bank Shot was based on a novel by Donald E. Westlake who also wrote the book that became 1972's The Hot Rock. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1973
- PG
A two-bit criminal takes on the Mafia to avenge his brother's death in this drama based on a novel by Donald E. Westlake. Earl Macklin (Robert Duvall) is a small time criminal who is released from prison after an unsuccessful bank robbery only to discover that a pair of gunmen killed his brother. As it turns out, the bank that Earl and his brother hit was controlled by gangster Mailer (Robert Ryan). Macklin learns that he's on the mob's hit list as well, so he teams up with his old partner Cody (Joe Don Baker) to take on Mailer and his second in command, Jake Menner (Timothy Carey). The Outfit also features a top-notch supporting cast, including Karen Black, Sheree North, Joanna Cassidy, Richard Jaeckel, and Anita O'Day; Marie Windsor and Elisha Cook, Jr. also appear, 18 years after their memorable turn together in The Killing. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Duvall, Karen Black, (more)
Stuart Rosenberg's taut police thriller, based on the Martin Beck novel by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahlöö, concerns a serial killer who is targeting bus riders. When a bus full of innocent commuters are killed on a San Francisco street, Jake Martin (Walter Matthau) is assigned to track down the killer. Jake has a personal stake in the killings because his partner was one of the victims. Teamed up with new partner Leo Larsen (Bruce Dern), Jake investigates the back alleys of San Francisco to find the serial killer. The trail leads to a tour of the underbelly of the city's gay subculture. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Walter Matthau, Bruce Dern, (more)
- 1973
Art thief Van Cleve (Ed Nelson) steals $5 million worth of priceless pre-Columbian artifacts. To determine the hiding place of the precious booty, the IMF hatch a scheme whereby Van Cleve becomes convinced that he has precognitive powers. Essential to the mission's success is an outsized simulated earthquake. Originally telecast on March 2, 1973, "The Western" was written by Arnold Peyser and Lois Peyser. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Graves, Greg Morris, (more)
