Irwin Winkler Movies
Fresh out of N.Y.U., Irwin Winkler landed a job as a messenger at the William Morris Agency, remaining with the firm in various capacities for six years. In 1966, Winkler became a film producer, forming a long and lucrative partnership with Robert I. Chartoff. The new team started modestly enough with an amusing Elvis Presley vehicle, Double Trouble (1967). Then followed a remarkable series of financial and critical successes, including They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969), The New Centurions (1971), and all five Rocky films. Winkler has picked up an Academy award for Rocky (1976), earned Oscar nominations for Raging Bull (1981), The Right Stuff (1984), and Goodfellas (1990), and has won scores of international film awards. Extending his activities to television, he has served as executive producer of the weekly series MacGyver and Monty. He added directing to his list of accomplishments with 1991's Guilty by Suspicion, which he also wrote. Irwin Winkler has since co-written and directed Night and the City (1992) and The Net (1995). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 2010
Jason Statham stands in for Charles Bronson in this remake of the 1972 action thriller of the same name, in which a veteran hitman teaches his trade to an apprentice who has a connection to one of his previous victims. Simon West directs from a script adapted by Karl Gajdusek. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
Six months after one of the worst natural disaster in U.S. history, crime and corruption sink to new levels of depravity as a pair of New Orleans cops work to clean up the streets. New Orleans has been ravaged by Hurricane Katrina, opening the floodgates for a sea of criminals seeking to assert their control over the city's seedy underworld. But when the stakes are this high, there's sure to be corruption within the ranks of the local police force, too. When a veteran detective with a violent history (Val Kilmer) is assigned a new partner with a dark secret (Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson), the perceptive police psychiatrist (Sharon Stone) suspects that the officers may have become morally compromised by the chaos that threatens to consume the city that's already synonymous with vice and decadence. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Val Kilmer, Michael Biehn, (more)
- 2008
Plenty of young movie buffs come to Hollywood hoping to break into the movie business, but Mardik Martin traveled a bit farther than most. Born and raised in Iraq, Mardik Martin's father was an Iraqi intelligence officer, but at an early age Mardik became fascinated with the movies and dreamed of going to America. When he was 18, after a stint working in MGM's Baghdad distribution office, Martin traveled to California to attend college, and while a political overthrow soon left his family penniless and unable to support him, the aspiring filmmaker refused to turn his back on his dreams. Mardik made friends with a fellow film student and rabid movie buff named Martin Scorsese, and Mardik would not only help the young Scorsese make several of his early films, he would help write the screenplays for some of Scorsese's signature works, including Mean Streets, Raging Bull and New York, New York. Mardik: From Baghdad to Hollywood is a documentary which follows Mardik Martin's story from his youth in the Middle East to his salad days in Hollywood, only to lose his career to drugs and start a new life in academia. Mardik: From Baghdad to Hollywood was an official selection at the 2008 Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose, California. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
As their tour of duty in Iraq draws to a close, four American soldiers learn that they are scheduled to embark on one final, fateful mission that will forever change their concept of war. Shortly after receiving the news that they will soon be reunited with their families back in the United States, a unit serving in Iraq is deployed on a humanitarian mission to deliver medical supplies to a remote Iraqi village. Upon arriving in the village, the unit is viciously ambushed and many lives are lost. Now, as the surviving members of the battalion return home and attempt to readjust to civilian life, the physical injuries and psychological scars sustained during that tragic event continue to take a heavy emotional toll on the war-torn soldiers. Samuel L. Jackson, Jessica Biel, and rapper-turned-actor 50 Cent star in an affecting psychological war drama from Academy Award-winning director Irwin Winkler. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Samuel L. Jackson, Jessica Biel, (more)
An in-name-only, direct-to-video sequel to 1995's blockbuster thriller The Net, The Net 2.0 begins with a new character - a stunning computer tech named Hope Cassidy (North Shore'sNikki DeLoach) - who travels to Istanbul, where she plans to take a new job. Yet Hope soon finds herself pursued by dozens of unsavory characters and underhanded types, who threaten to "erase" her identity by wielding the power of the internet's dark side. Helmed by Charles Winkler (the son of The Net's director, Irwin Winkler), The Net 2.0 co-stars Keegan Connor Tracy and Demet Akbag. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nikki DeLoach, Demet Akbag, (more)
Sylvester Stallone returns to the director's chair for Rocky Balboa, the fifth sequel to the film that made him a superstar 30 years before. The movie begins with Rocky (Stallone) still mourning the death of his loyal and beloved wife, Adrian, who died three years previously after losing a battle against cancer. Rocky owns an Italian restaurant and spends his days living in his working-class Philadelphia neighborhood, visiting with his customers, and telling stories about his past. His grown son has a job as a business professional, but the relationship between the two is strained. Rocky's growing dissatisfaction leads him to attempt to purge the feelings of frustration and loss by applying for a boxing license. When the current heavyweight champion, Mason "The Line" Dixon (Antonio Tarver), needs to rehabilitate his image as a pretty boy who has never shown any real heart in the ring, his manager offers Rocky an exhibition match. This comeback allows Rocky to get his own life back on track, while also offering him the opportunity to help those around him redeem themselves and once again be a symbol of hope for the common man. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sylvester Stallone, Burt Young, (more)
The public and private lives of famed songwriter Cole Porter are both explored in this musical drama, in which the aging Porter (played by Kevin Kline) looks back on his life while watching a rehearsal of a stage musical based on his story. As Porter compares notes on the play with director Gabe (Jonathan Pryce), he shares thoughts on his rise to fame in the mid-'20s, writing witty and sophisticated tunes for a string of successful Broadway musicals. Porter seemed to be living a charmed life when he met Linda Thomas (Ashley Judd), a beautiful American woman who, like Porter, was enjoying a sojourn in Paris following the collapse of her first marriage. Thomas is immediately taken with Porter, whose intelligence and charm is a welcome change after her brutal first husband, and the two discover they share a remarkable understanding of one another. Porter and Thomas marry, even though she's aware that her new husband is gay; Thomas is willing to forgive Porter's indiscretions with other men in favor of the emotional support he brings her. However, as the years wear on and the couple takes up residence in Hollywood as Porter begins writing tunes for motion pictures, Thomas finds Porter drifting away from her as his liaisons become more frequent and more serious. Then tragedy enters their life when Porter loses the use of his legs in a riding accident and Thomas is diagnosed with cancer. De-Lovely features a number of noted pop singers interpreting classic songs from Porter's catalog, including Diana Krall, Sheryl Crow, Alanis Morissette, Elvis Costello, Robbie Williams, Mick Hucknall, and others. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin Kline, Ashley Judd, (more)
A Cinderella story turns into a nightmare when a former waitress' perfect marriage gives way to adultery and physical abuse in this combination of domestic drama and revenge thriller. Motherless young woman Slim (Jennifer Lopez) works in a San Francisco diner with her best friend, Ginny (Juliette Lewis). After almost succumbing to the slick flirtation of an insincere customer (Noah Wyle), she is rescued by another dashing diner named Mitch (Bill Campbell). A few years later, the now happily married couple seem to have it all -- a perfect house, a precocious daughter (Tessa Allen), and a comfortable life. Then, Slim discovers that Mitch is actually a lothario who has been sleeping with other women behind her back. When she protests, he slaps her around and uses daughter Gracie as leverage to keep her in line. Slim enlists the help of her friends to escape with her child, though Mitch attacks and very nearly kills her in the process. Going on the lam, Slim adopts a series of new identities, wigs, and residences to avoid the goons Mitch has sent to retrieve her. Along the way, she receives help from Joe (Dan Futterman), a friend and old flame from college. Ultimately, Mitch and his unexpected allies so terrify Slim that she must turn the tables and transform herself from hunted to hunter. In doing so, she receives some surprise assistance of her own -- from Jupiter (Fred Ward), the rich father who abandoned her mother years ago. Although the soundtrack to Enough features the music of star J. Lo, the title song was written especially for the film by Magnolia tunesmith Aimee Mann. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jennifer Lopez, Bill Campbell, (more)
Kevin Kline stars as George, a down-on-his-luck architect in this tearjerker from Irwin Winkler (At First Sight, Guilty By Suspicion). A disdainful local character who draws disapproval from the community, particularly his neighbor played by Mary Steenburgen, George sets out to change his life after suddenly losing his longtime job and discovering he's terminally ill (he has cancer). Attempting to reconnect with his estranged and troubled son, Sam (Hayden Christiansen), George endeavors to spend the summer they have together building his dream home by the sea. The laborious process leads to the rebuilding of dissipated relationships, the birth of new ones, and all-around healing. ~ Rachel Deahl, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin Kline, Kristin Scott Thomas, (more)
The Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by E. Annie Proulx becomes this drama from director Lasse Hallström. Kevin Spacey stars as Quoyle, a struggling, emotionally drained newspaper reporter suffering through a wretched marriage with the abusive Petal (Cate Blanchett), a promiscuous wild woman who tries to sell their daughter, Bunny, into adoption before she's killed in a car wreck. Retrieving his daughter, Quoyle sets out for Newfoundland, his ancestral home, with his long-lost Aunt Agnis (Judi Dench). Although he initially finds life on the island to be as forbidding and severe as Agnis herself, Quoyle gets work as a shipping columnist for the local newspaper "The Gammy Bird," owned by eccentric fisherman Jack Buggit (Scott Glenn). Quoyle's work soon finds an appreciative audience and he begins to rebuild his life, dating local single mother Wavey (Julianne Moore), learning some sea craft, discovering his family's dark history, and finally earning some self-respect. Agnis, in the meantime, starts her own successful business and faces a traumatic incident from her childhood involving Quoyle's late father. The Shipping News (2001) co-stars Rhys Ifans and Pete Postlethwaite. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin Spacey, Julianne Moore, (more)
New York architect Amy Benic (Mira Sorvino) meets blind masseur Virgil Adamson (Val Kilmer) and falls in love. As she learns his lifelong blindness may be curable through experimental surgery, she convinces him to undergo the operation. Virgil then learns vision may not quite be what he expected. At First Sight is directed by Irwin Winkler and also stars Bruce Davison, Nathan Lane, and Kelly McGillis. At First Sight is a romance adapted by writer Steve Levitt based upon the story To See and Not See from noted writer Dr. Oliver Sacks' collection, An Anthropologist on Mars. Dr. Sacks' work is also the basis for the Penny Marshall film Awakenings, starring Robert De Niro and Robin Williams and the opera The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat by Michael Morris with music by Michael Nyman. In his original story, Dr. Sacks tells of receiving a call in October 1991 from a retired minister in the Midwest. His daughter was about to marry a fifty-year old man, Virgil, who had been blind since early childhood. He had thick cataracts and been diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a disease which slowly eats away the retinas. As he could still make the distinction between light and dark, it was found he was misdiagnosed and simple cataract extraction could possibly restore his sight. While surgery was a success, Virgil, like his cinematic counterpart, found he would have to learn to use his vision much like an infant would, even though he was adept at relating to the world through touch. In his A New Theory of Vision, written in 1709, George Berkeley concluded there was no necessary connection between a tactile world and a sight world; a connection between them could be established only on the basis of experience. This same story was also adapted into the play Molly Sweeney by Brian Friel. ~ Ron Wells, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Val Kilmer, Mira Sorvino, (more)
- 1998
This TV drama series, produced and scripted by Irwin Winkler and Rob Cowan, is adapted from their feature film, The Net (1995), a thriller with Sandra Bullock as reclusive Venice, California computer expert Angela Bennett, whose life is threatened. Brooke Langton (Melrose Place) portrays Angela Bennett in this new interpretation. During the debut TV series episode, Angela is puzzled by a cryptic computer message on her screen and goes out jogging. On her return, she discovers her bank account closed, her credit cards canceled, and her identity wiped and switched. Files show that she has been given the name Elizabeth, and state secrets are now stored on her hard disk -- which explains why the feds capture her at gunpoint. A stranger, Trelawney (Joseph Bottoms), engineers her release, but his true program is a kill file. After navigating to the info he wants, he intends to delete Angela right out of existence. Her only hope is Sorcerer (voice of Tim Curry), a helpful but anonymous voice from cyberspace. Filmed in Vancouver, B.C., the series premiered July 19, 1998 on the USA Network. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brooke Langton, Joseph Bottoms, (more)
A woman serving on the jury of an anti-Mafia trial must protect herself and her young son from a psychopathic gangster in this thriller. Demi Moore stars as Annie Laird, a single mother and artist who readily agrees to do her civic duty on the jury in the trial of a major organized crime figure. She quickly comes to regret this decision when a mysterious and eccentric Mafia associate known as The Teacher (Alec Baldwin) threatens to kidnap her son and harm her friends unless she promises to vote not guilty. Fearing for their lives, she plays along, but unfortunately the Teacher shows no sign of backing away from his plans, having become personally obsessed with Annie. Unwilling to trust the authorities, Annie instead develops a plan to save her child by taking on the Teacher and the mob. Adapting a novel by George Dawes Green, the screenplay was written by Ted Tally (The Silence of the Lambs). ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Demi Moore, Alec Baldwin, (more)
Irwin Winkler's paranoid thriller focuses on a high-tech nightmare, as a computer programmer finds herself on the run from an unknown enemy dedicated to ruining her life by digital means. Sandra Bullock stars as Angela Bennett, a programmer who unwittingly comes into possession of software that allows access to secret government information. At first, she thinks little of it, heading off to Mexico on vacation. However, thanks to a series of odd events that culminates with the death of a close friend, Angela starts to suspect she may be in danger. This fear is confirmed when she returns to America to find that her identity has been erased, with police computers showing her as a wanted criminal. She soon realizes that a group of evil conspirators are after the program, and she sets out to clear her name and keep the program from falling into the wrong hands. The central concept later inspired a cable TV series. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sandra Bullock, Jeremy Northam, (more)
- 1994
Ann-Margret stars in the made-for-cable movie Nobody's Children, filmed on-location in Bucharest, Romania, and based on a true story. Ann-Margret and Jay O. Sanders star as the real-life Carol and Joe Stevens, a married couple from Detroit who are unable to conceive a child of their own. They travel to Bucharest in 1990, just following the end of Ceausescu's regime, where a secret police controls the populace and state institutions are filled with abandoned children. The Stevenses bear witness to the deplorable conditions under which the unwanted babies must live as well as the extreme poverty and illness of the other Romanian children. French doctor Stephanie Vaugier (Dominique Sanda) helps Carol wade through the bureaucracy so she is able to adopt two children and return to the States. Originally aired on the USA television network in March of 1994. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- 1992
- R
Night and the City is a remake of the 1950 Richard Widmark vehicle of the same name. Major changes: As played by Robert DeNiro, the Widmark character, one Harry Fabian, is no longer merely a two-bit tout but instead a two-bit lawyer; and the film is set in New York, as opposed to the London setting of the original. While embroiled in a lawsuit involving a boxer, Fabian becomes fascinated in the world of championship prizefights. Always susceptible to get-rich-quick schemes, Fabian tries to organize his own big boxing event, but to do that he needs the help of hardnosed promoter Alan King--and to get to King, Fabian uses the promoter's father, former boxer Jack Warden, to act as front man. Fabian scurries around lying and double-dealing in order to sell percentages of the upcoming bout, while King warns Fabian of the consequences should anything unfortunate happen to the ailing Warden. Disaster plagues Fabian as his boxers fail to pass their physicals, and Warden dies while setting up the big event. Pursued by King and his creditors, the terrified Fabian is urged by girlfriend Jessica Lange to get of town. Instead, Fabian decides to face up to his failings for the first time in his life, and stands his ground for the final, fatal confrontation. Like the earlier Widmark film, the 1992 Night and the City is based on a novel by Gerald Kersh. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert De Niro, Jessica Lange, (more)
The directorial debut of producer Irwin Winkler, Guilty by Suspicion is a sobering account of one movie executive's woes in dealing with the political fallout from the McCarthy Era Hollywood blacklist. Robert De Niro stars as David Merrill, a film director in the 1950s whose obsession with his burgeoning career has estranged him from his wife Ruth (Annette Bening) and their son. When he returns from a trip to Paris, Merrill is surprised when told by his boss, Darryl F. Zanuck (Ben Piazza) that he's been summoned to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee, which is investigating Communist ties to Hollywood. Although Merrill once attended a meeting years before, he's not a Communist, and he refuses to help the committee wreck the career of his friend Bunny Baxter (George Wendt). Merrill becomes blacklisted, unable to find work even in menial positions or under assumed names as the editor of a B-movie or the director of a low-budget Western. Reconciled with his family, Merrill caves in and agrees to testify, but as he prepares to "name names," his conscience plagues him. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert De Niro, Annette Bening, (more)
Martin Scorsese explores the life of organized crime with his gritty, kinetic adaptation of Nicolas Pileggi's best-selling Wiseguy, the true-life account of mobster and FBI informant Henry Hill. Set to a true-to-period rock soundtrack, the story details the rise and fall of Hill, a half-Irish, half-Sicilian New York kid who grows up idolizing the "wise guys" in his impoverished Brooklyn neighborhood. He begins hanging around the mobsters, running errands and doing odd jobs until he gains the notice of local chieftain Paulie Cicero (Paul Sorvino), who takes him in as a surrogate son. As he reaches his teens, Hill (Ray Liotta) is inducted into the world of petty crime, where he distinguishes himself as a "stand-up guy" by choosing jail time over ratting on his accomplices. From that moment on, he is a part of the family. Along with his psychotic partner Tommy (Joe Pesci), he rises through the ranks to become Paulie's lieutenant; however, he quickly learns that, like his mentor Jimmy (Robert DeNiro), his ethnicity prevents him from ever becoming a "made guy," an actual member of the crime family. Soon he finds himself the target of both the feds and the mobsters, who feel that he has become a threat to their security with his reckless dealings. Goodfellas was rewarded with six Academy Award nominations including Best Picture; Pesci would walk away with Best Supporting Actor for his work. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, (more)
Touted upon its release as the finale of the Rocky saga, this fifth entry in the long-running series of sports dramas reunites star Sylvester Stallone with John G. Avildsen, director of the Oscar-winning original. Stallone is Rocky Balboa, suffering from career-ending brain damage as a result of his punishing bout with Ivan Drago at the finale of the previous film. Upon their return to Philadelphia, Rocky and his wife, Adrian (Talia Shire), discover they are broke, their fortune squandered by an incompetent accountant. Forced to move back to their working-class neighborhood, Rocky finds that his only asset is the run-down gym willed to him by Mickey (Burgess Meredith, who appears in new flashback sequences). Resisting big money offered to him by Don King-like boxing promoter George Washington Duke (Richard Gant), Rocky becomes a trainer and finds a talented comer in Tommy Gunn (real-life boxer Tommy Morrison, nephew of John Wayne). Rocky's son (played by Stallone's real-life son Sage Stallone) feels neglected by his father, who lavishes attention on his protégé, but Tommy ultimately turns his back on his mentor to sign a more lucrative deal with Duke, leading to a street-fight showdown. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, (more)
Jessica Lange plays an attorney whose affable Hungarian-immigrant father Armin Mueller-Stahl is arrested. He is threatened with deportation for lying about his activities during World War II; part of the charge is that Mueller-Stahl was a Nazi collaborationist, guilty of wartime atrocities. Absolutely convinced that her father is being railroaded by a revenge-seeking Hungarian communist government, Lange handles Mueller-Stahl's defense, expertly blowing huge holes in prosecuting attorney Frederic Forrest's case. But in doing her own research, Lange discovers that her father has spent a lifetime paying off a blackmailer. Why? In contrast to the fervency of his earlier Z, Costa-Gavras refuses to make things easy by proselytizing in The Music Box (nor does screenwriter Joe Esterhas indulge in his usual right-between-the-eyes fervency). Everything in the film is offered on the same calm, collected level, making the ultimate horror of the story all the more effective. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jessica Lange, Armin Mueller-Stahl, (more)
Set in Iowa, Betrayed stars Debra Winger as an FBI agent who infiltrates a Klanlike white supremacist organization. Allegedly a woman of intelligence and perception, Winger throws caution and logic to the winds when she falls in love with local farmer Tom Berenger. Much to her surprise Berenger turns out to be the most rabid racist of all. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Debra Winger, Tom Berenger, (more)
A French music lover befriends a once-great American jazz artist and attempts to save him from self-destruction in this moody drama. Saxophonist Dexter Gordon portrays Dale Turner, a fictional musician inspired by a number of famed jazz figures, including Bud Powell and Lester Young. Largely forgotten in his home country, Turner has moved to Paris in search of a more appreciative audience. He finds it in the form of Francis Borler (Francois Cluzet), a bebop aficionado who befriends the expatriate player. Borler soon becomes familiar with Turner's darker side, including his struggles with alcoholism, drug addiction, and depression. Fearing for the musician's life, the fan becomes his caretaker, an arrangement that leads to a brief improvement in Turner's health and fortunes but places great emotional strain upon them both. Director Bertrand Tavernier pays great attention to the visual and aural details of the jazz world, with outstanding musical supervision provided by Herbie Hancock. 'Round Midnight's greatest asset, however, is Gordon's Academy Award-nominated performance, informed by his own life experiences. His naturally fascinating presence combines with the film's obvious love of the music and its milieu to provide what many have hailed as one of the more authentic and affectionate presentations of the jazz world on the silver screen. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dexter Gordon, François Cluzet, (more)
Director Rob Reiner's The Sure Thing is essentially It Happened One Night for the 1980s, but its lack of surprise in no way impedes its entertainment value. John Cusack plays Walter "Gib" Gibson, a self-involved college freshman who makes plans to head to California, there to touch base (and a few other things) with a "sure thing" played by Nicollette Sheridan. Likewise planning a westward journey is coed Alison Bradbury (Daphne Zuniga), a control freak who has a wealthy, stuffy fiancé over there. Gib and Alison despise one another on sight -- so naturally, they are compelled to travel to California together. The fact that everyone in the audience knows precisely how this one will end up is inconsequential; Cusack and Zuniga deliver such engaging performances that we're pulling for them to wise up and discover one another from the very first scene. One of the best bits: the mismatched couple being bombarded with an ear-piercing rendition of "The Age of Aquarius" by their dippy traveling companions. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Cusack, Daphne Zuniga, (more)
The third sequel to Sylvester Stallone's boxing blockbuster combines the ringside sports melodrama of the previous installments with the Cold War patriotism of the star/director's other motion picture series of the 1980s, the Rambo saga. Stallone is back as Rocky Balboa, the heavyweight champion of the world and now good friend of his one-time nemesis, Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers). Creed is brutally slaughtered in the boxing ring during a lop-sided exhibition match against the superhuman Russian boxer Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren), an event that Rocky takes personally. Vowing revenge against Drago in the name of Creed and the United States, Rocky is invited to the Soviet Union for a matchup and hires Creed's former manager (Tony Burton) to get him in shape. While Drago trains using the latest technology, Rocky's ascetic preparations are a low-key affair of carrying logs up hills through knee-deep Russian snow. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, (more)
- 1985
Burt Lancaster is eminently hissable as a tabloid publisher in the made-for-TV Scandal Sheet. The current target of Lancaster's smears is alcoholic actor Robert Urich, who is on the verge of making a comeback through the auspices of his movie-star wife Lauren Hutton. Ruthlessly going after Urich merely for the purpose of selling newspapers, Lancaster "persuades" impoverished reporter Pamela Reed, the best friend of Urich and Hutton, to help him wield the hatchet. Sublimely trashy, Scandal Sheet is held together by the despicably dynamic performance of Burt Lancaster. The film was of course made long before tabloid publishers were being lauded as "news analysts" on TV talk shows. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
