Dennis Christopher Movies

When former dancer and single mother Claire Vin Blanc (Anita Morris) is in danger of losing her daughter, Baby, to the welfare authorities, she attempts to pull herself together and create a model home life, complete with a husband. This film was based on the play Just Like the Pom Pom Girls. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

This Spanish horror movie steals ideas from at least three different major films including Alien, Predator, and The Andromeda Strain as it tells the story of three American teens on vacation in Spain who drive their RV into a tiny Spanish town where a large piece of Skylab has fallen and infected the town with a parasitic alien microbe that drives human beings insane and turns them into horrible mutants. At the same time, a scientist from NASA arrives to his agency's secret location beneath an ancient Spanish castle to meet with the member of the original team who survived the microbe. He shows the new scientist the ruined body of one of the men. During the examination, some of the dead man's blood gets on the survivor and suddenly he is infected. The scientist wants to use him to create a serum, but the victim panics and kills himself. The scientist finds the tourists, and then to test out his vaccine infects himself with the virus. He promptly orders the American military to fire-bomb the town so that none of the residents will escape and spread the horrible microbe. He then injects the youths with his serum and dies. Just before the military drops the deadly napalm, the youths in their RV manage to crash the blockades in the town. They make it to a gas station and there find themselves assaulted by a terrifying alien being who bursts from the chest of a dead attendant. The creature tries to scale the RV's windshield. Fortunately, the clever driver simply turns on his windshield wipers, knocks it to the ground and then runs it over several times. The survivors begin to celebrate, until they realize that their driver has a nose bleed. This means that he too has been infected and all is lost. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Many observers consider the 60-minute Bernice Bobs Her Hair to be the best-ever filmed adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Bernice (Shelley Duvall), a shy retiring girl of the Roaring 20s, yearns to be popular. On the advice of her flapper cousin Marjorie (Veronica Cartwright), Bernice cuts her unfashionable long hair into a short bob, begins dressing more stylishly, and learns the Most Valuable Rule: "When you're with a man, there are only three topics of conversation: you, me and us." Bernice Bobs Her Hair first aired on PBS' American Playhouse on April 5, 1977. It was telecast in tandem with a dramatization of Sherwood Anderson's oft-adapted I'm a Fool. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dennis Christopher stars as a recent high school graduate in Bloomington, Indiana, who is caught with his friends -- Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern, Jackie Earle Haley -- coasting between high school and deciding what to do with the rest of their lives. The four friends are snobbishly looked down upon by the college students of the town as "cutters," since they were born in Bloomington and their parents worked in the local limestone quarries that built the university. Dennis Christopher's character Dave wants to be a champion bicycle racer and he idolizes the Italian racing team -- so much so that he speaks, thinks, and acts Italian, all to his father's (Paul Dooley) forlorn exasperation. Dave falls for a college girl (Robyn Douglass), but is ashamed to admit he is a cutter and poses as an Italian exchange student to impress her. Dave is particularly excited when his heroes -- the Italian racers -- come to town for a race. But they are even more snobbish than the college students and rely on dirty tricks to keep Dave from winning a race against them. After that ordeal, Dave throws away his false identity and convinces his friends to enter the university's "Little 500" bicycle race against the college students. This light-hearted and heartwarming tale was a surprising word-of-mouth success at the box-office and won several awards, including an Academy Award for "Best Screenplay." ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Based on a true story, Chariots of Fire is the internationally acclaimed Oscar-winning drama of two very different men who compete as runners in the 1924 Paris Olympics. Eric Liddell (Ian Charleson), a serious Christian Scotsman, believes that he has to succeed as a testament to his undying religious faith. Harold Abrahams (Ben Cross), is a Jewish Englishman who wants desperately to be accepted and prove to the world that Jews are not inferior. The film crosscuts between each man's life as he trains for the competition, fueled by these very different desires. As compelling as the racing scenes are, it's really the depth of the two main characters that touches the viewer, as they forcefully drive home the theme that victory attained through devotion, commitment, integrity, and sacrifice is the most admirable feat that one can achieve. (Ian Holm was nominated for an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor in his role as Abrahams' coach), and this powerful film ended up with four Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Costume Design, and Best Original Score. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

Set in a grim post-WW III America, this sci-fi fantasy tells the story of a woman attempting to sell black-market computer chips that allow patrons to experience the nearly forgotten pleasures of sex and drugs. She is hanging out with the gang she works for in a local nightclub when the police raid the joint. She manages to escape and decides to double cross her gang and sell the chips for herself. But first she must escape both the police and the gangsters and make it to the New York underground. She is helped out when she runs into Plughead, an android covered with electrical outlets. He uses these to tap in to the fantasies of other people. The soundtrack by Deborah Holland provides a highlight. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

There are murderous goings on at a sweatshop that specializes in lingerie. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This heartwarming tale of courage and devotion is set during the Vietnam war and centers upon a young medic who makes extra money on the side dealing drugs. His life is forever changed when he meets an Army doctor who persuades him to help her save a group of war orphans. First she appeals to his sense of guilt; then she blackmails him into assisting. The children are cared for by a few Vietnamese nuns. The doctor and the medic bring them badly needed food and supplies. To do this, the brave duo must face enemy bombs and the resistance of the US government. This is based on a true story and though wrenching, it is not syrupy or sentimental. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The first volley in the never-ending "Presley movie" blitzkrieg, the made-for-TV Elvis: The Movie stars Kurt Russell as the King, Season Hubley as Priscilla, Pat Hingle as Col. Parker, Shelley Winters as Elvis' mom, and Bing Russell (Kurt's real-life father) as Elvis' dad. The film recounts Presley's life from age ten to his 1969 Vegas comeback. Presley imitator Ronnie McDowell expertly dubs in Kurt Russell's renditions of "Love Me Tender," "Heartbreak Hotel," et al. When first telecast on February 11, 1979, the ratings for Elvis: The Movie went through the roof, even beating out a competing telecast of Gone With the Wind. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An impressive cast drives this early episode of Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre. Dennis Christopher -- best known from the 1979 sleeper hit Breaking Away -- is Jack, a boy who acquires a handful of magic beans in exchange for his poor family's cow. His mother, Soap's Katherine Helmond, is furious and throws the beans into garden beside the house. However, the beans grow overnight into a magnificent beanstalk that reaches into the clouds. Jack climbs the beanstalk only to find that it leads directly to the castle of a fierce yet wealthy giant. Elliot Gould and Jean Stapleton star as the giant and his equally gigantic wife. ~ Carrie Downes, All Movie Guide

This romantic drama is about Adam, a young coal miner (Dan O'Shea) and Terry (Jennifer Runyon), the high-class model he falls for when she has a photo shoot at the mine where he works. Terry's mother and her sleazy agent would both prefer Adam stay away from her, while his job and his position in life are on a very different level than hers. But Adam still chases after the woman of his dreams; he ends up kidnapping her and they go on a lark to Hollywood, where more adventures are in store. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

John (Dennis Christopher) is a legal assistant who investigates divorce cases in this offbeat comedy drama. He looks forward to marriage to his fiancee Sally (Edita Brychta), but his daydream is interrupted when a model plane crashes through his window. A bratty kid enters the room, followed by the child's parents, another brother, two daughters and the grandmother. The family ignores John's protests and threats to call the police. Although he has never seen these people before, everyone assures John he is among friends. He is seduced by the oldest daughter, and the son make a pass at Sally before the youngest daughter makes a pass at John. His once-predictable world is turned upside down with the arrival of his mysterious "friends." ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide