Patricia Clarkson Movies

Like the TV series that shared the same title, The Untouchables (1987) was an account of the battle between gangster Al Capone and lawman Eliot Ness, this time in the form of a feature film boasting big stars, a big budget, and a script from respected playwright David Mamet. Kevin Costner stars as Ness, a federal agent who has come to Chicago during the Prohibition Era, when corruption in the local police department is rampant. His mission is to put crime lord Capone (Robert De Niro) out of business, but Capone is so powerful and popular that Ness is not taken seriously by the law or the press. One night, discouraged, he meets a veteran patrolman, Jimmy Malone (Sean Connery), and discovers that the acerbic Irishman is the one honest man he's been seeking. Malone has soon helped Ness recruit a gunslinger rookie, George Stone (Andy Garcia), and, joined by nebbish accountant Oscar Wallace (Charles Martin Smith), the men doggedly pursue Capone and his illegal interests. At first a laughingstock, Ness soon has Capone outraged over his and Malone's sometimes law-bending tactics, and the vain mobster strikes back in vicious style. Ultimately, it is the most unexpected and minor of crimes, tax evasion, which proves Capone's undoing. All of the credits for The Untouchables boasted big names, including music from Ennio Morricone and costumes by Giorgio Armani. Director Brian De Palma continued his tradition of including a homage to past masters of the cinema with a taut stairway shoot-out reminiscent of a similar sequence in Sergei Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin (1925). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

On the occasion of wealthy patriarch Burt Lancaster's 77th birthday, his Long Island home is invaded by well-meaning family members. Lancaster is bored by the well-meaning interference of his grown children, but he thrives on the company of his grandchildren, especially 5-year-old Macaulay Culkin (in a terrific pre-star performance). To the kids, Lancaster reveals what he really wants as a birthday present: an old-fashioned Viking funeral! From this point on, the ending of Rocket Gibraltar is a "done deal", but getting there is all the fun. A superb, hand-picked cast--including Suzy Amis, Sinead Cusack, John Glover, Bill Pullman and Kevin Spacey -does full justice to Amos Poe's whimsical, often deeply touching script. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An outwardly decent and upright family man is found in Central Park, beaten senseless by a baseball bat. The police investigation reveals that the victim was a customer of wealthy socialite Laura Winthrop (Patricia Clarkson), who keeps solvent by running an expensive "escort service." At her subsequent trial, Winthrop may beat the rap thanks to the power of public opinion; after all, isn't prostitution a victimless crime? But the D.A.'s office has a trump card in the form of one of Winthrop's girls, who has tested positive for AIDS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Tune in Tomorrow is based on Mario Vargas Llosa's novel, Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter. In New Orleans, circa 1951, a news writer for a local radio station, Martin Loader (Keanu Reeves), meets and falls in love with his aunt Julia (Barbara Hershey), a divorced woman who is looking for a new husband. Meanwhile, new-in-town eccentric radio-soap-opera writer, Pedro Carmichael (Peter Falk) has been hired to help boost the station's bad ratings. Pedro begins manipulating Martin and Julia's affair and using it as the basis for his radio show. Director Jon Amiel uses the same story-within-a-story construction from The Singing Detective, the miniseries that he directed for British television. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide

In 1977, Alex Haley's groundbreaking mini-series Roots became one of the most watched programs in television history, telling the story of seven generations of the author's mother's family, from their capture in Africa and enslavement in the United States to their eventual emancipation more than a century later. With 1992's Queen, Haley, who passed away before completing the source material, presents the story of his father's family, focusing on his paternal grandmother, a mulato. Halle Berry stars as the title character, the daughter of a slave and a plantation owner. Amidst the Civil War and up through the turn of the century, Queen finds herself struggling to find acceptance from blacks as well as whites. With an all-star cast that also features Martin Sheen, Danny Glover, Dennis Haysbert, Ossie Davis, and Ann-Margret, Queen was directed by John Erman and originally aired in February of 1993. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

Michael Ontkean stars as Zack Resnick, an honest Chicago cop drawn into a political assassination who discovers some shocking information about himself and his family. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

Made for cable television, this frothy western spoof chronicles the exploits of a citified optometrist who exchanges his well-ordered Big Apple life for a wild and woollier version in Tombstone, Arizona. Once there, he is thrilled to meet his hero Wyatt Earp. Unfortunately, the heroic Earp he admired in the many dime-store novels he read is totally different from the real McCoy who turns out to be myopic and continually skunk drunk. Still with the optometrist's help, the sheriff is able to clean up the town. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This fascinating historical drama, set in 1862 during the Civil War, chronicles the coming of age of a young Kentucky farm boy. The story begins in Meshack Creek, KY, a tense town where loyalties were sharply divided. Sarah Anders and her son were living there on an isolated farm while her husband was off fighting with the Confederates. They are one day jeopardized by the sudden arrival of Union-Army captain John Hull Abston and his ragged regiment. While they stay, Sarah and the captain begin a begrudging friendship based on mutual respect. Both of them have lost loved ones in the conflict, and the two are emotionally vulnerable. When one of the soldiers is seriously wounded during an accident, the regiment is forced to remain longer on the little farm. Conflict ensues between the captain and his men, when they keep stealing livestock from impoverished enemy farmers. Meanwhile the narrator, then a boy, is forced to use his gun against another human. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Crafted in the mold of his classic play-cum-films Plaza Suite and California Suite, the legendary Neil Simon authors London Suite, a made-for-television movie that took its first bows in September 1996. As in the prior films, Simon presents a series of couplets that unfold in and around a single hotel, this one in the city of Big Ben and Westminster. Of the four sketches, the first stars Julie Hagerty (Lost in America) and Michael Richards (Seinfeld) as husband-and-wife Mark and Anne Ferris, who journey to Wimbledon for the matches, only to suffer gravely when they lose their tickets and Mark injures his back; matters go from difficult to unbearable when Mark takes a trip through comic hell at the hands of a sadistic chiropractor. Episode two features Seinfeld's Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Weekend at Bernie's star Jonathan Silverman as Debra and Paul Dolby, honeymooners who lose track of their suitcases and then each other. In episode three, Frasier's Kelsey Grammer and Far From Heaven's Patricia Clarkson portray divorcees Sidney and Diana Nichols, who meet up in London town, where Diana hopes to promote her new television program and Sidney schemes to wheedle money out of his ex, to pass it along to his gay lover, Max. In the final segment, the late Madeline Kahn (Blazing Saddles) plays Sharon Semple, an American on a London shopping spree with her daughter, who meets and falls in love with Dennis Cummings, "The Snorting Scotsman," (Empty Nest's Richard Mulligan), only to contend with his penchant for Ferraris and his obnoxious laugh. London Suite is helmed by Jay Sandrich, veteran director of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show, and Laverne and Shirley. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

An airy romance in the tradition of classic Hollywood comedies of the Depression Era, Simply Irresistible (1999) also presses into service the food-obsessed magical realism of Like Water for Chocolate (1992). Sarah Michelle Gellar stars as Amanda Shelton, the chef at Southern Cross, a trendy Tribeca restaurant she inherited from her legendary mother. Not the most inspired of culinary artists, Amanda is running the establishment into the ground, until a cab-driving, Cupid-like guardian angel (playwright Christopher Durang) intervenes with a magical crab that puts Amanda in the path of slick spin master Tom Bartlett (Sean Patrick Flanery). Tom is opening a restaurant for his boss Jonathan Bendel (Dylan Baker), who wants to assure the eatery is no less than a four-star affair, but the temperamental French chef is giving fits to Bartlett and his secretary Lois (Patricia Clarkson). Enter Amanda, who falls head over heels for Tom, love suddenly bestowing upon her the gift of infusing her dishes with powerful amorous emotions that overwhelm diners with a rapturous ecstasy. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Director Frank Darabont, who made an acclaimed feature film debut with The Shawshank Redemption (1994), based on a Stephen King novel set in a prison, returns for a second feature, based on King's 1996 serialized novel set in a prison. In 1935, inmates at the Cold Mountain Correctional Facility call Death Row "The Green Mile" because of the dark green linoleum that tiles the floor. Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks) is the head guard on the Green Mile when a new inmate is brought into his custody: John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan), convicted of the sadistic murder of two young girls. Despite his size and the fearsome crimes for which he's serving time, Coffey seems to be a kind and well-mannered person who behaves more like an innocent child than a hardened criminal. Soon Edgecomb and two of his fellow guards, Howell (David Morse) and Stanton Barry Pepper), notice something odd about Coffey: he's able to perform what seem to be miracles of healing among his fellow inmates, leading them to wonder just what sort of person he could be, and if he could have committed the crimes with which he was charged. The Green Mile also stars James Cromwell as the warden; Michael Jeter, Sam Rockwell, and Graham Greene as inmates awaiting dates with the electric chair; and Harry Dean Stanton as a clever trustee. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This historical comedy-drama is based on the true story of Joe Gould, a bohemian eccentric who was a fixture in New York's Greenwich Village from his arrival in 1916 to his death in 1964. Gould, who claimed to be a graduate of Harvard, would cadge drinks and subsist on catsup as he regaled patrons of neighborhood saloons with stories, poems, opinions, and his imitation of a seagull. In a 1942 New Yorker profile by journalist Joseph Mitchell, Gould spoke of his life's work, a book entitled An Oral History of Our Times, which he claimed would be eleven times longer than the Bible, contain a variety of overheard conversations from throughout the years, and document the decline of 20th century culture. Mitchell kept tabs on Gould, and tried to introduce him to publishers who might put his work into print, but nothing ever came of it, and it wasn't until Gould's death that Mitchell discovered the surprising truth about his friend. Directed by Stanley Tucci, Joe Gould's Secret stars Tucci as Mitchell and Ian Holm as Gould; Hope Davis, Steve Martin, Susan Sarandon, and Patricia Clarkson highlight the supporting cast. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In the first half of Frasier's ninth-season opener, Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) finds himself on familiar territory as he is torn between two loves: Claire (Patricia Clarkson), with whom he'd vacationed in Belize in the series' season-eight finale, and Lana (Jean Smart), a troublesome but undeniably fascinating lady from his past. As he mulls over the dilemma, Frasier reflects upon all the loves of his life -- including (in dream sequences), his ex-wife Lilith (Bebe Neuwirth) and his Cheers inamorata Diane Chambers (Shelley Long). Originally telecast as a one hour-special (and moved from September 18, 2001, to September 25 due to network coverage of the 9/11 tragedy), this episode has since been reedited as two half-hours for syndication. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide