Jill Clayburgh Movies
American actress Jill Clayburgh was fortunate enough to find work in her field of endeavor directly after graduation from Sarah Lawrence University. She acted with the Williamstown Theatre Festival, the Charles Playhouse in Boston, and, with such future film luminaries as Al Pacino she appeared in several off-Broadway productions A tentative stab at film acting in The Wedding Party, filmed at Sarah Lawrence in 1963 but released in 1969, might have been forgotten save for its roster of celebrities-to-be: Jill Clayburgh, Robert DeNiro and director Brian De Palma. Otherwise, Clayburgh's "official" stepping stones into stardom would include her continuing role on the TV daytime drama Search for Tomorrow and her Broadway appearances in such successes as The Rothschilds and Pippin. The actress' earliest mainstream films-- Portnoy's Complaint (1972) and The Thief Who Came to Dinner (1974)--were not exactly vehicles for her talent. It would take her vivid performance as a battered prostitute on the 1974 TV-movie Hustling to make audiences aware of her extraordinary talents. Unfortunately, her turn as Carole Lombard in the unsuccessful 1976 Gable and Lombard set her back a few steps. It helped to be in the box-office winner Silver Streak (1977), though the actress wasn't served well playing second fiddle to Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor; she was given a better chance to shine opposite Burt Reynolds and Kris Kristofferson in Semi-Tough (1977). In 1978 came the turn-around: An Unmarried Woman, in which Clayburgh's richly textured performance as a thirtyish divorcee trying to make sense of her disoriented life should have won her an Academy Award. It didn't, but Clayburgh was now firmly an "A"-list actress. Bucking the usual trend, she decided not to complacently go the "moneymaking vehicle" route but risked her success to stretch her talent in such films as director Bernardo Bertolucci's Luna (1979) and Costa-Gavras' Hannah K (1983). As expected, these non-blockbuster appearances put her career in the doldrums, compelling her to toil for her paycheck in such indifferent films as the 1986 thriller Where are the Children?. But Clayburgh is one of those rare American film stars to whom the work itself is more important than the fame. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A New York wife learns about the satisfactions of single life in this landmark 1970s "woman's film." Unlike her dysfunctional friends, vibrant Erica (Jill Clayburgh) seems to have it all: a nice Upper East Side home, a well-adjusted teenage daughter (Lisa Lucas), a job at a Soho art gallery, and a loving husband, Martin (Michael Murphy). Erica falls apart, however, when Martin leaves her for a younger woman. Finally, at her female therapist's urging, Erica ventures out into the world of singlehood, finding solace in female bonding and even casual sex. As she adjusts to her new life, Erica realizes that she likes her freedom and independence. But when she falls in love with sensitive bearded artist Saul (Alan Bates), Erica must decide whether to turn down a lucrative job to spend the summer with her man in Vermont or forge ahead with her new existence. One of a group of new "women's pictures" made in the wake of post-1960s feminism, including Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974) and The Turning Point (1977), An Unmarried Woman updated the genre's concern with relationships and love by turning the heroine's unwedded status into a positive growth experience. The great female stars of the past like Joan Crawford and Bette Davis may be gone, as Erica and her friends mourn, but so is the all-consuming suffering of classical weepies, as writer/director Paul Mazursky ends the film on a note of reserved affirmation. While some critics (including feminists) complained that Saul was too much of a romantic fantasy, An Unmarried Woman was praised for Clayburgh's performance, and earned Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay. A hit with 1978 audiences, An Unmarried Woman provoked viewer debate over Erica's final choice and its meaning for women. Either way, An Unmarried Woman astutely pointed to how far the new 1970s woman had come -- and how far she still needed to go. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jill Clayburgh, Alan Bates, (more)
- 1990
As nearly as anyone can figure, this first-time directorial effort by the American actor Ben Gazzara was never released in the United States. It was produced in Italy, shot in England, and uses a large cast of big-name American actors. However, reviewers have said that its style owed a bit too much to the meditative, home-video style of the director's friend John Cassavetes. In the story, a big-time businessman (Gazzara) throws in the towel on his company and high-tails it out to Bali just as its stock is about to be publicly offered. There, he tries to avoid the insistent phone calls coming from Manhattan and records his philosophical ponderings about this mid-life crisis on videotape. Before long, he is partying with another burnt-out businessman (Treat Williams) and avidly avoiding the attentions of colleagues (including Jill Clayburgh who have come to Bali to try and get him to come back to Manhattan. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ben Gazzara, Treat Williams, (more)
- 1997
At times it is hard to tell whether this made-for-TV movie is supposed to be taken seriously or if it is nothing more than a John Waters-style spoof. Yasmine Bleeth and Jill Clayburgh are respectively cast as ambitious beauty contestant Danielle Stevens and her even more ambitious mother Cathy. It is clear from the outset that this pair will stop at nothing to win a prestigious beauty pageant, which naturally casts suspicion on both mother and daughter when the first runner-up is killed. But can it be that the murderer is the boyfriend of the victim, who happened to have been carrying said boyfriend's baby? Crowned and Dangerous made its ABC network debut on September 21, 1997. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1989
Alexandra Maynard's (Jill Clayburgh) nightmare begins when her wallet is stolen by a psycho. In possession of Alexandra's identification and credit cards, her tormentor is able to follow her all over town, anticipating her every move. Adding to Alexandra's agony are those mocking phone calls from her ubiquitous stalker. But then...then Alexandra's friends and family form a united front, and the stalker finds himself the stalkee. Made for television, Fear Stalk debuted December 17, 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1993
In 1991, Oakland, California was ravaged by brush fires. This made-for-television feature tells some of the harrowing and heroic stories of those that fought and survived the blaze. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- LeVar Burton, Jill Clayburgh, (more)
The election of Sandra Day O'Connor to the Supreme Court rendered the premise of First Monday in October anachronistic before the picture was even released; ignoring this, however, the film is supremely entertaining (no pun intended). Jill Clayburgh stars as Ruth Loomis, the first lady justice ever appointed to the Court. She's a conservative, while her principal foe on the bench, Dan Snow (Walter Matthau), is an old-line liberal. The film glides along on a predictable Tracy-Hepburn course until Snow comes to Loomis' defense when her late industrialist husband is accused of improprieties which might compromise Loomis' effectiveness. First Monday in October was adapted by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee from their own Broadway play, which starred Henry Fonda. Actress Martha Scott co-produced the film, while several other Hollywood veterans, including Herb Vigran and Ann Doran, dot the supporting case. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Walter Matthau, Jill Clayburgh, (more)
Two relative strangers try to turn a one night stand into a marriage in this romantic comedy. Alex Whitman (Matthew Perry) is a designer from New York City who is sent to Las Vegas to supervise the construction of a nightclub that his firm has been hired to build. Alex is a straight-laced WASP-ish type who, while enjoying a night on the town, meets Isabel Fuentes (Salma Hayek), a free-spirited Mexican-American photographer. Alex and Isabel are overtaken by lust at first sight and end up spending the night together; however, their immediate attraction doesn't last in the cold light of day, and they don't see each other for another three months. When they do meet again, it's because Isabel has some interesting news for Alex: she's pregnant with his child. Alex and Isabel decide that they should do the right thing and quickly get married (with an Elvis impersonator serving as witness), but after Isabel meets Alex's mom (Jill Clayburgh), and Alex is confronted by Isabel's father (Tomas Milian), both start to wonder if "doing the right thing" was just that, especially as Alex tries to balance his career in New York with Isabel's desire to continue working in Nevada. Fools Rush In gave Matthew Perry his first big-screen starring role following his success on the TV series Friends. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Matthew Perry, Salma Hayek, (more)
Real-life recovering anorexic Tracey Gold stars in this emotional drama, which is more than your average disease-of-the-week fare. Based on the true story of college-student Nancy Walsh, this above-average TV-movie focuses on the family dynamic issues often found at the core of the eating disorder known as anorexia. Viewers watch Nancy as she slowly transforms from healthy and outgoing college freshman into a secretive and withdrawn young woman, starving herself in response to pressure. Her frantic parents (Jill Clayburgh, William Devane) try everything possible to save her from the slow suicide and ultimately go to the courts to legally force their daughter into getting help. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide
- 1998
Bill Campbell guest stars as Dr. Clint Webber, a new "call-in" radio personality hired by station KACL. Dr. Webber's slick, smooth delivery and flawless dispensation of advice pleases everyone at the station -- everyone, of course, but rival radio shrink Dr. Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer), who worries that the "perfect" Webber will end up as his permanent replacement. Elsewhere, Niles (David Hyde Pierce) must straighten things out when his dad Martin (John Mahoney) is ejected from a gourmet pet-food shop. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The love affair between two of Hollywood's greatest stars of the 1930s and '40s is recounted in this biopic. Clark Gable (James Brolin), the tough but quick-witted leading man often called "the King of Hollywood," meets tart-tongued comic actress Carole Lombard (Jill Clayburgh) at a party, and while the attraction between them isn't immediate (in fact they hate each other at first), as fate keeps bringing them together, they fall deeply in love. Gable is married at the time, and studio chief Louis B. Mayer (Allen Garfield) is afraid that his affair with Lombard will lead to a scandal that will destroy the career of his most valuable star, but Gable and Lombard weather the storm of negative publicity, and after Gable's wife grants him a divorce, he marries Lombard. However, their happy marriage is cut short by Lombard's tragic death as she was selling defense bonds during World War II. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Brolin, Jill Clayburgh, (more)
- 1997
Two men return home from the Army to find that their attitudes on life, love, and the town where they grew up have changed in this bittersweet coming-of-age drama. Sonny Burns (Jeremy Davies) and Gunner Casselman (Ben Affleck) are two guys from Indianapolis who were drafted during the Korean War. In high school, Gunner was a football player and big man on campus, while Sonny was a social outcast who kept to himself. Sonny spent most of his hitch in the Army in Kansas City, while Gunner was stationed in Japan and found his perspectives changed by exposure to Asian philosophies. Gunner and Sonny run into each other on a troop train as they return to Indiana in 1954. While they were never close in school, Gunner finds himself reaching out to Sonny, believing that Sonny is a deep thinker, though Sonny spends a lot more time thinking about girls than his place in the universe. Sonny has a girlfriend, Buddy (Amy Locane), who would like to get married; Sonny's mother Alma (Jill Clayburgh) is almost as eager as Buddy to see her son head to the altar, but Sonny doesn't find Buddy very interesting, and he's not sure if he wants to settle in Indianapolis. He's far more attracted to Gail (Rose McGowan), an exotic looking brunette who appeals to his girly-magazine fantasies, but while he can make love to Buddy, he's struck with impotence when Gail offers to sleep with him. Meanwhile, Gunner has fallen in love with Marty Pilcher (Rachel Weisz), a sexy Jewish woman, but Gunner's mother Nina (Lesley Ann Warren), who seems inappropriately fond of her son, doesn't care for Marty and spouts anti-Semitic venom at her son in hopes of driving him away from his new girlfriend. Like Sonny, Gunner finds himself thinking that his destiny lies outside of his home town. Dan Wakefield wrote the screenplay for Going All the Way, based on his own novel. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1976
Jeff Griffin (Peter Falk) is dying of cancer. Sarah Phoenix (Jill Clayburgh) is suffering from terminal leukemia. Ignored or reviled by their respective families, Griffin and Phoenix turn to each other for emotional support. Deciding to live their last months to the fullest, they indulge in outrageous, childish public behavior and vent their anger at their conditions full-force, knowing full well that they won't have to answer for their silliness or rage. They also fall in love with each other. The only proviso to their relationship is that Griffin must promise not to visit Phoenix in her final days, and vice versa. Written by John Hill, Griffin and Phoenix: A Love Story was first telecast on February 27, 1976. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Falk, Jill Clayburgh, (more)
- 1983
- R
In this political drama, Hannah Kaufman, a Jewish-American attorney, must defend Selim Bakri, a young Palestinian suing Israel for the right to live on his Left Bank ancestral land. The government's lawyer, a cocky Israeli attorney, is Hannah's lover and the father of her unborn child. Conflict ensues when Hannah and Selim also become lovers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jill Clayburgh, Jean Yanne, (more)
- 1994
For a couple of years during the mid '90s, the Menendez Brothers, Lyle and Erik, held the country's interest after they stood trial for cold-bloodedly killing their parents. The murders took place in L.A., where both victims had successful Hollywood careers. What shocked the nation was that the nicely dressed, soft-spoken defendants claimed their parents abused them all their life. This sensationalistic dramatization is the first of several TV movies that exploited the brothers and their trial. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jill Clayburgh, James Farentino, (more)
Jill Clayburgh plays, as one character calls her, "a pill-popping dingbat" in this film adaptation of television producer Barbara Gordon's autobiographical account of her addiction to prescription drugs. Clayburgh plays Gordon in the film as a successful television documentary filmmaker whose mounting pressures force her to pop a Valium or two for nerves. She then ingests a few more pills after an argument with boyfriend Derek Bauer (Nicol Williamson). And thus begins her slow and steady compulsion to keep taking more and more Valium. Finally realizing her addiction, Gordon makes a disastrous attempt to go cold turkey but fails miserably, finally having to undergo a painful rehabilitation in an institution. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jill Clayburgh, Nicol Williamson, (more)
- 1984
This compilation documentary covers the massive anti-nuclear peace march held in New York City on June 12, 1982, including the preparations that led up to the march and interviews with concerned and knowledgeable people on the issue of peace, as well as Japanese survivors of the atomic bomb attacks on Nagasaki and Hiroshima in World War II (see No More Hibakusha). The producers, Robert Richter and Stan Warnow have smoothly spliced-together views of the protest march, its speakers and musicians, filmed by more than 40 separate individuals. Among the noted artists who either were there to lend their presence or contributed their talents in one way or another to the success of the protest (estimated at 1,000,000 people) are Pete Seeger, James Taylor, Carly Simon, Peter, Paul, and Mary, Jerry Stiller, Anne Meara, Roy Scheider, Orson Welles, Ellen Burstyn, Joan Baez, Judd Hirsch, Bianca Jagger, Susan Sarandon, Jill Clayburgh, and others. Meryl Streep and Anne Twomey did a moving voiceover of the testimony of the Japanese atomic bomb blast survivors. Among the non-artistic notables adding stature to the event were Dr. Benjamin Spock, and Helen Caldicott, representing Physicians for Social Responsibility. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dr. Helen Caldicott, Benjamin Spock, (more)
