James Woods Movies
One of Hollywood's most intense supporting and leading actors, James Woods has built a distinguished career on stage, screen, and television. Early in his career, Woods, with his lean body, close-set eyes, and narrow, acne-scarred face, specialized in playing sociopaths, psychopaths, and other crazed villains, but in the 1990s, he added a sizable number of good guys to his resumé.The son of a military man, Woods was born in Vermal, UT, on April 14, 1947. Thanks to his father's job, he had a peripatetic childhood, living in four states and on the island of Guam. As a young man, he earned a scholarship to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; after obtaining a degree in political science, he set out to become a professional actor in New York. While in school he had appeared in numerous plays at M.I.T., Harvard, and with the Theater Company of Boston, as well as at the Provincetown Playhouse on Rhode Island. After working off-Broadway, Woods debuted on Broadway in 1970, appearing in Borstal Boy. Off-Broadway, he earned an Obie for his work in Saved.
In 1971, the actor made his first television appearance in All the Way Home, and the year after that debuted in Elia Kazan's thriller The Visitors (1972). He then played a small part in The Way We Were (1973), but did not become a star until he played a vicious, remorseless cop killer in The Onion Field (1979). Subsequent film appearances quickly established Woods as a scene stealer, and though not among Tinseltown's most handsome actors, he developed a base of devoted female fans who found his rugged, ruthless appearance sexy. This appearance would serve him well throughout his career, notably in one of his first major films, David Cronenberg's Videodrome (1983). Cast as the film's morally ambiguous hero, Woods gave a brilliantly intense performance that was further enhanced by his rough-hewn physical attributes.
Throughout the 1980s, Woods continued to turn in one solid performance after another, earning a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his portrayal of an American journalist in South America in Oliver Stone's Salvador (1986). He gave another remarkable performance as a Jewish gangster in Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America (1984), and in 1989 tried his hand at playing nice in the adoption drama Immediate Family. That same year, he won an Emmy for his portrayal of Alcoholics Anonymous co-founder Bill Wilson in My Name Is Bill W. After beginning the subsequent decade with an Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated performance in the title role of the made-for-TV Citizen Cohn (1992), Woods appeared in a diverse series of films, playing a boxing promoter in Diggstown (1992), H.R. Haldeman in Nixon (1995), a drug dealer in Another Day in Paradise (1998), and a vampire slayer in John Carpenter's Vampires. In 1996, he won his second Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Medger Evers' suspected assassin in Ghosts of Mississippi. In 1999, the actor continued to demonstrate his versatility in a number of high-profile films. For The General's Daughter, he played a shady colonel, while he appeared as a newspaper editor in Clint Eastwood's True Crime, the head of an emotionally disintegrating Michigan family in The Virgin Suicides, and a football team orthopedist in Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1972
- PG
The stars of the witty TV series I Spy were reunited for this downbeat crime thriller, which takes a much darker and more violent look at the lives of two detectives for hire. Al Hickey (Bill Cosby) and Frank Boggs (Robert Culp) are a pair of private eyes who are approached by an attorney to find his girlfriend, who has gone missing. Their investigation leads them to a large sum of money from a Pittsburgh bank robbery. It seems that the woman in question has married the leader of a leftist radical group, which is now trying to find a buyer for the tainted money. An attempt to recover both the money and the girl goes awry when Hickey and Boggs infiltrate a meeting with the radicals; the girl slips away and takes the burgled cash with her. Adding to the disaster, the meeting tips off the identity of the detectives to mobsters dealing with the radicals, and the gangsters execute Hickey's wife in an effort to keep him away from their activities. Hickey and Boggs also features Rosalind Cash, Michael Moriarity, Vincent Gardenia, Isabel Sanford, and James Woods. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bill Cosby, Robert Culp, (more)
- 1972
The Great American Tragedy is a melodrama about an aerospace engineer and his family who struggle to survive after he suddenly loses his job. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- 1972
- R
This melodramatic thriller is not one of Elia Kazan's directorial shining moments. Kazan, who is better-known for such great films as On the Waterfront, made this film, with his friends, on a very low budget. It is probably most notable for featuring James Woods in an early role. Bill Schmidt (Woods) is a Vietnam veteran who has returned home and wants to take it easy. His father-in-law Harry Wayne (Patrick McVey), who hates his guts, takes exception to this. When two other veterans show up looking to harass Schmidt, Harry helps pave their way straight to his door. Bill prosecuted them in Vietnam for murder and rape, and they've just gotten out of prison. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
"Gorgeous goyish guy" meets Jewish radical girl in Sydney Pollack's glossy romance. In 1937, frizzy-haired Red co-ed Katie Morosky (Barbra Streisand) briefly captures the attention of preppy jock Hubbell Gardiner (Robert Redford) with her passionate pacifism, while the writing talent beneath his privileged exterior entrances her. Almost eight years later, the two are reunited in New York, when well-coiffed leftist radio worker Katie spies military officer Hubbell snoozing in a nightclub. Through her force of will, and in spite of his smug rich friends, the two opposites fall in love, sparring over Katie's activist zeal and Hubbell's writerly ambivalence after a failed first novel. They head to Hollywood so that Hubbell can write a screenplay for his buddy-turned-producer J.J. (Bradford Dillman). But the House Committee on Un-American Activities' Communist witch hunt in 1947 tears the pair apart, as a pregnant Katie refuses to keep silent about the jailing of the Hollywood Ten, while a faithless Hubbell decides to save his career. When the two meet again at the dawn of the '60s, TV hack Hubbell and A-bomb protestor Katie feel the old pull, but they have to decide if it's worth the grief. Although blacklisted writers had returned to Hollywood -- and won Oscars -- by the early 1970s, the HUAC sections of Arthur Laurents's screenplay were still considered dicey, resulting in substantial cuts; Laurents reportedly blamed star Redford for not fighting them hard enough. Regardless of the edits, and critics' complaints about the film's schlockiness, 1973 audiences went for the well-executed and still politically tinged weepie, turning The Way We Were into one of the most popular films of 1973 and Redford into a major heartthrob. Streisand won an Oscar nomination for Best Actress and the Streisand-sung title tune won for Best Song. Despite the eviscerated politics, The Way We Were poignantly captures the insoluble dilemma of reconciling private desires with public awareness. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbra Streisand, Robert Redford, (more)
- 1974
A young James Woods delivers a powerhouse performance as Caz Mayer, a brilliant but demented college student. Feeling he has been humiliated in a police-science class conducted by Lt. Kojak (Telly Savalas), Caz vows to get even by proving beyond doubt that he's capabe of committing the perfect robbery--and murder. As icing on the cake, the student arranges the evidence so that Kojak himself will be implicated. Pamela Hensley has a key role as another student who finds herself a helpless pawn in Caz's master scheme. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1974
The first "official" case for private detective Jim Rockford (James Garner)--that is, the first case on the TV-series version of The Rockford Files, rather than the 1974 TV-movie pilot--finds him typically championing the underdog. In this instance, that "underdog" is not some impoverished wretch, but instead the fabulously wealthy Larry Kirkoff (played by a pre-stardom James Woods), heir to a family fortune. Suspected of murdering his parents to get their money, Kirkoff hires Jimbo to prove his innocence, and to nail the guilty party, who may or may not have been the respective ex-lovers of his late mom and dad. Unfortunately, there are some extremely tough characters around and about who'd prefer that Larry remain under suspicion. ~ Hal Erickson, 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
- Starring:
- James Caan, Paul Sorvino, (more)
- 1975
The marital difficulties of two army couples provides the focus of this drama, set in the 1950s. The first marriage is between a black sergeant and his German wife. The other chronicles the difficulty of a married private who is having an affair with an older woman. He doesn't love his wife anymore, but he cannot bring himself to tell her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Benjamin, Eija Pokkinen, (more)
Private eye Harry Moseby (Gene Hackman) is dedicated to his job, but his dedication does not make him happy or powerful in his personal life, and his wife (Susan Clark) is cheating on him. Aging actress Arlene Iverson (Janet Ward) hires Harry to find her trust-funded daughter Delly (Melanie Griffith), distracting Harry from his marital problems as he tracks the lascivious runaway teen to Florida. In the Keys, Harry has an affair of his own with Paula (Jennifer Warren), and he succeeds in locating Delly, even as he learns that finding her is only the beginning of a much larger case. As the "accidental" deaths multiply, Harry discovers that everyone has his or her own motives and that he cannot do much to stem the tide of deep-seated depravity. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Hackman, Jennifer Warren, (more)
- 1975
A gang of scurrilous sailors go into the smuggling business, bringing some valuable jade into the country by illegal means. When a jewelry-store owner balks at the sailors' monetary demands for the contraband jade, the sailors kill the man and begin stalking the only witness, the victim's daughter Meg Foster). Keller (Michael Douglas) is likewise targeted for extermination when he is assigned to escort one of the criminals to prison. The episode's highlight is a bravura display of villainy from a young, pre-stardom James Woods. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1975
Given the title Foster and Laurie and the added fact that the protagonists are two cops, one might deduce that this TV movie was the pilot for a potential series. Not this time: The two leading characters are killed almost before the opening credits fade! In flashback, the film traces the law-enforcement careers of African American Gregory Foster (Dorian Harewood) and Italian American Rocco Laurie (Perry King). Friends as well as partners, Foster and Laurie endeavor to improve community relations in their crime-ridden Lower East Side precinct--which results in their being murdered by three militant extremists, who hope to intimidate the rest of the force (at the time the film was made, this motivation for the crime was still pure speculation). The killings have the opposite effect, as the rest of department rallies against its enemies, inspired by the memory of their fallen comrades. Foster and Laurie was based on the book by Al Silverman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1976
In 1926, flamboyant evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson disappeared for six weeks. At first feared drowned (she'd been vacationing on a California beach at the time she vanished), Aimee finally showed up, wandering barefoot in the Mexican desert. For the benefit of the press, Aimee related a fantastic story of being kidnapped and held for ransom, a story given "credence" by a ransom note which popped up at her Four Square Gospel headquarters. Aimee's tale was full of holes; as more facts became known, it was apparent (to everyone but "true believers") that Aimee had spent those six weeks on a romantic idyll with Kenneth Ormiston, a married radio technician. This made-for-TV movie takes no sides in the controversy, offering generous space to both theories; still, Aimee does not come off as being particularly saint-like. Faye Dunaway stars as Aimee, Bette Davis co-stars as her domineering mother, and William Jordan is man-in-the-middle Ormiston. Written by John McGreevey, The Disappearance of Aimee was the November 17, 1976, presentation of NBC's Hallmark Hall of Fame. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1976
- PG
Alexander Main (Jack Lemmon) is a tired, middle-aged bail bondsman who hears from his former girlfriend Maritza (Genevieve Bujold) for the first time in quite a while. The news isn't good: Maritza is accused of the attempted murder of her abusive lover, and she hopes that Alex can get her out of jail. Alex arranges to have Maritza released into his custody, but while their romance begins to blossom once again, their relationship is still doomed to failure. This downbeat romantic comedy was based on the novel The Bailbondsman by Stanley Elkin. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Lemmon, Geneviève Bujold, (more)
- 1976
This TV movie delves into the unhappy later years of novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald (here played by Jason Miller). Broke and virtually written-out by the late 1930s, Fitzgerald is compelled to accept screenwriting work in Tinseltown where he is frustrated that his work is extensively rewritten and revised -- if not rejected altogether. On a personal level, Fitzgerald must deal with his wife Zelda (Tuesday Weld), now sequestered in a North Carolina mental institution. Seeking some reason for living, Fitzgerald inaugurates an affair with Hollywood columnist Sheila Graham (Julia Foster). Not all that incisive, and saddled with an unsympathetic drunkard as a central character, F. Scott Fitzgerald is still superior to Hollywood's previous version of the Fitzgerald/Graham romance, Beloved Infidel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1977
- R
Loosely based on former policeman Joseph Wambaugh's humorous novel, The Choirboys determinedly explores the stunted interior lives of a large crew of callous, bigoted L.A. policemen. These men get together to lend one another emotional support. However, the means they choose for this do not enhance their sensitivity or their judgement. When one of them has a really bad day, he asks his buddies to come to "choir practice," and they get together for alcoholic benders of fairly epic proportions. When one of them accidentally shoots a homosexual teen cruising a city park, everyone (including higher-ups) gets called on to help with the cover-up. The Choirboys, which was a critical and box-office failure, had an impressive cast list, including such well-known performers as Blair Brown, James Woods, Randy Quaid, Lou Gossett Jr., Perry King and Charles Durning. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Durning, Louis Gossett, Jr., (more)
Raid on Entebbe constitutes one of two all-star made-for-TV reenactments of the Entebbe rescue of July 4, 1976. On June 27, 1976, a jet carrying an international mix of passengers is hijacked by pro-Palestinian revolutionaries. The plane lands in Entebbe, Uganda, where President-for-life Idi Amin (Yaphet Kotto) struts about feigning concern, though his sympathy toward the hijackers is obvious. Many of the passengers are released, but 103 Israelis are kept in custody, and it becomes apparent that the revolutionaries plan to use these unfortunates as a bargaining chip for the release of imprisoned terrorists throughout the world. With virtually no other option, the Israeli government gives the go-ahead for Operation Thunderbolt, a commando raid on the Entebbe airport. The cast includes Charles Bronson as General Shomron, Jack Warden as Mordecai Gur, Sylvia Sidney as ill-fated passenger Dora Bloch, and, as Prime Minister Rabin, Peter Finch, whose performance (his last) won him an Emmy nomination. Raid on Entebbe first aired on January 9, 1977. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Finch, Charles Bronson, (more)
For her dramatic acting debut, singer Marie Osmond chose this sentimental adaptation of the venerable Yuletide short story The Gift of the Magi, previously filmed in 1952 as a segment of the omnibus feature film O. Henry's Full House. Set in turn-of-the-century New York, The Gift of Love casts Osmond as young heiress Beth Atherton, who gives up her life of privilege and luxury to become the wife of poverty-stricken immigrant Rudi Miller (Timothy Bottoms). Though he finds work as a clerk, Rudi is unable to afford a decent Christmas gift for Beth, nor is she able to scrounge enough money from the household budget to purchase a gift for her husband. What happens next hinges on the fact that Rudi is inordinately proud of his gold watch, while Beth takes equal pride in her long, flowing hair. Produced by star Marie Osmond's brothers, The Gift of Love made its ABC network debut on December 8, 1978. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The now-legendary miniseries Holocaust first aired as a presentation in NBC's Big Event series. Written by Gerald Green, the story begins in the Germany of 1935. We are introduced to the family of Jewish doctor Joseph Weiss (Fritz Weaver) his wife Berta (Rosemary Harris), his brother Moses (Sam Wanamaker), his sons Rudi (Joseph Bottoms) and Karl (James Woods), and his daughter Anna (Blanche Baker). We also meet struggling lawyer Erik Dorf (Michael Moriarity), who is urged by his ambitious wife to join the SS. As the Nazis' persecution of the Jews is stepped up, most of the Weiss family is deported to the Polish ghetto--then to Auschwitz, which is overseen by Erik Dorf. Rudi and his Jewish girlfriend Helena (Tovah Feldsuh) witness the 1941 Baba Yar massacre, then join the Russian partisans in their battle against the Nazis. Also appearing in Holocaust is Meryl Streep as Karl Weiss' Christian wife Inga. The winner of eight Emmy awards, Holocaust was originally telecast in four parts on April 16, 17, 18, and 19, 1978. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fritz Weaver, Rosemary Harris, (more)
- 1979
Jonah (Jeffrey Bravin) is a lonely deaf child who has been misdiagnosed as retarded. Jonah's mother (Sally Struthers) and father (James Woods) struggle to establish communication from their withdrawn son. As the specialists shake their heads and cluck their tongues, Jonah's parents finally manage to teach the child sign language, thereby opening up his world both intellectually and emotionally. And Your Name is Jonah is proof enough that Sally Struthers once had potential for greatness, and confirmation that James Woods was on the right artistic track as early as 1979. Despite competition from the network premiere of Taxi Driver, And Your Name is Jonah managed to post excellent ratings upon its original telecast. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Joseph Wambaugh's The Onion Field is based on an actual 1963 case. L.A. plainclothesmen Karl Hattinger (John Savage) and Ian Campbell (Ted Danson) routinely investigate a pair of suspicious types, Greg Powell (James Woods) and Jimmy Smith (Franklin Seales). Unexpectedly, Powell pulls a gun on the cops, then forces them into a deserted onion field, where he kills Campbell in cold blood. Hattinger manages to escape, and through his eyewitness account, Powell and Smith are arrested. But that is not that. Thanks to their knowledge and manipulation of the quicksilver legal system, Powell and Smith manage to evade prosecution for years. Meanwhile, Hattinger goes through hell on earth, tortured with guilt over the fact that he lived while Campbell died so ignominiously. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Savage, James Woods, (more)
- 1979
This made-for-TV effort stars Lindsay Wagner as Meg Laurel, an orphan who graduates Harvard Medical School and returns to treat the sick in her Appalachian hometown in the 1930s. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
Adapted for the screen by novelist Joseph Wambaugh himself, The Black Marble stars Robert Foxworth as a burned-out, hard-drinking cop who is teamed with idealistic lady officer Paula Prentiss. These two polar opposites wade their way through a seamy urban world of corruption and hopelessness. The film is peppered with supporting players, of which include Harry Dean Stanton, James Woods, John Hancock and Barbara Babcock. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Foxworth, Paula Prentiss, (more)
Fresh off the success of Breaking Away(1979), writer Steve Tesich and director Peter Yates re-team on a thriller starring a young William Hurt as a janitor infatuated with television reporter Sigourney Weaver. When she arrives at his building to interview the tenants about a murder that's occurred on the premises, the janitor, having discovered the body, implies that he knows more than he's saying in order to keep the newswoman interested. Although he reveals nothing more, she does become interested in him, and when her nefarious aristocratic boyfriend (Christopher Plummer) learns from the unwitting woman that there's someone with knowledge of the murder, he's more concerned about what Hurt might know than about her relationship with him. Meanwhile, his paranoid, loose cannon of a friend James Woods has managed to get himself incriminated, although he had no involvement in the case. Hurt and Weaver continue to investigate the murder together, and as they become more closely entwined, both of their lives are put in jeopardy. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver, (more)
