Irwin Winkler Movies

Covering some 15 years, The Right Stuff recounts the formation of America's space program, concentrating on the original Mercury astronauts. Scott Glenn plays Alan Shepard, the first American in space; Fred Ward is Gus Grissom, the benighted astronaut for whom nothing works out as planned; and Ed Harris is John Glenn, the straight-arrow "boy scout" of the bunch who was the first American to orbit the earth. The remaining four Mercury boys are Deke Slayton (Scott Paulin), Scott Carpenter (Charles Frank), Wally Schirra (Lance Henriksen) and Gordon Cooper (Dennis Quaid). Wolfe's original book related in straightforward fashion the dangers and frustrations facing the astronauts (including Glenn's oft-repeated complaint that it's hard to be confident when you know that the missile you're sitting on has been built by the lowest bidder), the various personal crises involving their families (Glenn's wife Annie, a stutterer, dreads being interviewed on television, while Grissom's wife Betty, angered that her husband is not regarded as a hero because his mission was a failure, bitterly declares "I want my parade!"), and the schism between the squeaky-clean public image of the Mercury pilots and their sometimes raunchy earthbound shenanigans. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Successful playwright Al Pacino can't get any work done as long as he is pestered by his wacko wife Tuesday Weld. Making things worse are the couple's obstreperous children, many of them products of her previous marriages. Just as Pacino is completing his latest work, his wife walks out on him. That's the good news: the bad news is that he's saddled with a bunch of snot-nosed kids. Still and all, Pacino finds time to inaugurate an affair with his play's leading lady, played by Dyan Cannon, while attempting to juggle the stresses of opening night with the needs of the demanding, often obnoxious children. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Martin Scorsese's brutal character study incisively portrays the true rise and fall and redemption of middleweight boxer Jake La Motta, a violent man in and out of the ring who thrives on his ability (and desire) to take a beating. Opening with the spectacle of the over-the-hill La Motta (Robert De Niro) practicing his 1960s night-club act, the film flashes back to 1940s New York, when Jake's career is on the rise. Despite pressure from the local mobsters, Jake trusts his brother Joey (Joe Pesci) to help him make it to a title bout against Sugar Ray Robinson the honest way; the Mob, however, will not cave in. Jake gets the title bout, and blonde teenage second wife Vickie (Cathy Moriarty), but success does nothing to exorcise his demons, even as he channels his rage into boxing. Alienating Vickie and Joey, and disastrously gaining weight, Jake has destroyed his personal and professional lives by the 1950s. After he hits bottom, however, Jake emerges with a gleam of self-awareness, as he sits rehearsing Marlon Brando's On the Waterfront speech in his dressing room mirror: "I coulda been a contender, I coulda been somebody." Working with a script adapted by Mardik Martin and Paul Schrader from La Motta's memoirs, Scorsese and De Niro sought to make an uncompromising portrait of an unlikable man and his ruthless profession. Eschewing uplifting Rocky-like boxing movie conventions, their Jake is relentlessly cruel and self-destructive; the only peace he can make is with himself. Michael Chapman's stark black-and-white photography creates a documentary/tabloid realism; the production famously shut down so that De Niro could gain 50-plus pounds. Raging Bull opened in late 1980 to raves for its artistry and revulsion for its protagonist; despite eight Oscar nominations, it underperformed at the box office, as audiences increasingly turned away from "difficult" films in the late '70s and early '80s. The Academy concurred, passing over Scorsese's work for Best Director and Picture in favor of Robert Redford and Ordinary People, although De Niro won a much-deserved Oscar, as did the film's editor, Thelma Schoonmaker. Oscar or no Oscar, Raging Bull has often been cited as the best American film of the 1980s. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

In this tearjerker, an impoverished jazz musician falls into a deep depression following the deaths of his wife and child in a terrible fire. Just as the man begins to contemplate suicide, he encounters a handicapped youth. The two become friends and manage to shore each other up through their rough times. Maynard Ferguson dubbed the trumpet playing. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Martin Scorsese combined the splashy atmosphere of the old studio musical with an unromanticized marriage story in his valentine to Hollywood and the Big Band era. On V-J Day 1945, newly minted civilian saxophonist Jimmy Doyle (Robert De Niro) meets USO singer Francine Evans (Liza Minnelli) at a dance, but she rebuffs every advance that he makes. A day and a hotel lobby meeting later, Jimmy finally wins Francine over after she uses her pop instincts to save his too-jazzy audition at a nightclub. When she goes on tour with Frankie Harte (Georgie Auld) and his Orchestra, Jimmy tracks her down, taking a job with the orchestra to be with her. Together on stage, they make beautiful music; off stage they marry, but the struggle between two artists begins to take its toll. Unable to understand that Francine's needs and talents are just as important as his, and unwilling to compromise his music for security, Jimmy abandons Francine after their baby is born. Separately, the two succeed even more, as Francine becomes a music and movie star, while Jimmy has a top hit and opens a jazz club. When they are reunited several years later, the pair must decide if their relationship is worth another try. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone), a Philadelphia boxer, is but one step removed from total bum-hood. A once-promising pugilist, Rocky is now taking nickel-and-dime bouts and running strongarm errands for local loan sharks to survive. Even his supportive trainer, Mickey (Burgess Meredith), has given up on Rocky. All this changes thanks to Muhammad Ali-like super-boxer Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers). With the Bicentennial celebration coming up, Creed must find a "Cinderella" opponent for the big July 4th bout -- some unknown whom Creed can "glorify" for a few minutes before knocking him cold. Rocky Balboa was not the only Cinderella involved here: writer/director Sylvester Stallone, himself a virtual unknown, managed to sell his Rocky script (one of 35 that he'd written over the years) on the proviso that he be given the starring role. Since the film was to be made on a shoestring and marketed on a low-level basis, the risk factor to United Artists was small. For Stallone, this was a make-or-break opportunity -- just like Rocky's million-to-one shot with Apollo Creed. Costing under a million dollars, Rocky managed to register with audiences everywhere, earning back 60 times its cost. The film won several Academy Awards, including Best Picture. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The star-director team of Charles Bronson and Tom Gries (Breakheart Pass) combine their efforts again on Breakout. Bronson plays Nick Colton, a reckless pilot who heads to an unnamed South American country, in hopes of rescuing imprisoned Jay Wagner (Robert Duvall). Villain Harris Wagner (John Huston), who has framed Jay, has an unlimited supply of henchmen at his disposal, but they're no match for the dauntless Colton. Jill Ireland, Bronson's real-life wife, costars as Duvall's missus. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Peter Hyams made his feature-film directing debut with this clumsily paced crime film concerning two Los Angeles vice-squad detectives. Michael Keneely (Eliott Gould) is the swaggering non-conformist and Patrick Farrel (Robert Blake) is the cocky follower. The two cops live for their work and spend most of their time busting call girls, massage parlor employees, and homosexuals. Keneely and Farrel eventually come to the conclusion that every criminal act in Los Angeles is due to the efforts of crime lord Carl Rizzo (Allen Garfield). The boys begin to harass Rizzo to the point of distraction, but their singular attempts to arrest Rizzo cause them to become the targets of, not only the criminal population, but the police force as well. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

James Toback made his screenwriting debut with this taut drama, loosely adapted from the story by Dostoevsky. Axel Freed (James Caan) is an intelligent and well-respected professor of literature at a noted New York university, who uses great writing as a springboard for examining moral and philosophical issues in his class. But when he's not in front of the chalkboard, Axel has a serious problem -- he's hopelessly addicted to gambling. Axel will bet on almost anything, and while he lives for the heady rush of winning, it doesn't happen all that often, and Axel's latest losing streak has put him in debt to his bookies to the tune of $44,000, more than a college professor could hope to pay in 1974. Even after tapping his mother (Jacqueline Brookes), his grandfather (Morris Carnovsky), and his girlfriend (Lauren Hutton) for cash, Axel still owes thousands to his bookie Hips (Paul Sorvino), who is quickly losing his patience with Axel, especially when he learns after he finally scored a major winning streak, rather than paying off his bills he used the money to keep gambling ... and lost it all, leading to visits from an increasingly threatening series of underworld "collectors." The Gambler also features supporting performances from Burt Young, James Woods, and M. Emmett Walsh. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Charles Bronson re-teams with director Michael Winner -- sandwiched between their first pairing in the underrated Chato's Land and their seminal collaboration in Death Wish -- in this Lewis John Carlino-scripted actioner. Bronson plays Arthur Bishop, a "mechanic" or hired killer, famed for his efficient and unfeeling contract executions. The young and eager Steve McKenna (Jan-Michael Vincent) teams up with him, hoping that Bishop will teach him the bounty-hunting business. Imparting words of wisdom to Steve like, "Murder is only killing without a license and everybody kills -- the Army, the police," the two undergo a series of adventures as Bishop shows Steve the ropes. Between action scenes, Bronson's wife Jill Ireland makes an appearance as a sexy hooker. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Up The Sandbox is a complex and difficult film, and it is ambiguous on many points, particularly on whether the protagonist Margaret Reynolds (Barbara Streisand) is a women's liberationist, a closet lesbian, or a masochist. Based on the novel by Anne Richardson Rolphe, it follows Margaret's attempts to tell her husband that she is pregnant with yet another child. The everyday events of her life are punctuated by numerous and complex fantasy sequences which reveal her fears and her desires. It is clear that she is afraid that she and her husband Paul (David Selby) are growing apart -- and that he may be having an affair. Despite the increasingly elaborate and frantic nature of her fantasies, her disclosure, when she finally makes it, has happy results. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, based on Jimmy Breslin's novel, a bungling gang of hoods make increasingly ludicrous attempts on the life of a Mafia boss. Each attempt ends in failure. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide