Tom Conti Movies
Although many thought his work in such features as Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence and Reuben, Reuben might lead to a high-profile film career, Tom Conti never found the same success in his later work. Equally adept at comedy or drama, the longtime stage and screen actor gave lively, but finely tuned, performances regardless of the medium in which he appeared. Born to an Italian immigrant father and a Scottish mother in Paisley, Scotland, Conti was trained as a classical pianist at Glasgow's Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama before shifting his attention to the stage. He made his stage debut with the Citizen's Theater in the late '50s and flourished in the theater for nearly a decade before making his first film in the 1975 musical drama Flame. As his sensitive and multi-layered portraits of deeply troubled characters began to earn the actor nods from the theater community, Conti began appearing in a series of memorable British television productions (highlighted by The Glittering Prizes [1976] and The Norman Conquests [1977]). In 1979, he was awarded a Tony for his portrayal of a paralyzed sculptor in a stage production of Whose Life Is It Anyway? Thanks to increased international exposure, he began to get more film roles, as well; they were usually only supporting parts in such movies as Galileo (1975) and Eclipse (1976), however, and he had still not landed a role that would leave a lasting impression.All that changed (at least temporarily) with an impressive pair of films in 1983. Conti's unforgettable portrayal of the eponymous character in the war drama Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence almost stole the spotlight from marquee draw David Bowie. That same year, Conti gave an Oscar-nominated performance as a drunken Scottish lothario in Reuben, Reuben. It should have turned the actor into a box-office draw, but superstardom continued to elude him, despite leading roles in such later efforts as American Dreamer (1984), Heavenly Pursuits (1985), and Shirley Valentine (1989). His turn as a Holocaust survivor in Nazi Hunter: The Beate Klarsfeld Story earned Conti a Golden Globe nomination, and he alternated between the stage and screen in subsequent years. He starred in the CBS series The Wright Verdicts in 1995, but it was canceled after only a three-month run. Later roles in such features as Someone Else's America (1995) and Something to Believe In (1998) offered memorable screen appearances sandwiched between Conti's frequent stage roles. He continued to make both film and TV appearances in the '90s, including small-screen roles in such series as Deadline and Friends (in which he played Ross' snooty father-in-law Stephen). ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Filmed in England, Galileo is based on Charles Laughton's 1947 adaptation of the play by Bertolt Brecht, which, like this 1975 film, was directed by Joseph Losey. Israeli film-star Topol plays the 17th century Italian astronomer, whose theories run contrary to the edicts of the Catholic Church. Forced to renounce his ideas about planetary movement, Galileo nonetheless holds fast to those beliefs to the end of his days, certain that time will vindicate him. Brecht's trademarked "alienation" technique, wherein the audience is constantly reminded that it is watching a play, is muted by Losey's cerebral direction. Galileo was one of producer Ely Landau's American Film Theatre presentations. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Topol, Colin Blakely, (more)
British glam rock superstars Slade made their collective acting debut in this downbeat drama about a pop group's struggles with success. In the late '60s, Barry (Dave Hill), Paul (Jim Lea), and Charlie (Don Powell) are musicians who are barely making a living playing pub dates, weddings, and socials backing up egocentric vocalist Jack Daniels (Alan Lake). One night, the boys find themselves opening for a ghoulish show band called The Undertakers, and a prank played on their lead vocalist, Stoker (Noddy Holder), backfires and leads to a car chase which lands both groups in jail for the night. After a long night of thinking, Barry, Paul, and Charlie decide that they have no future with Daniels, and bring new pal Stoker aboard as their singer. Calling themselves Iron Rod, the new quartet clicks musically, but manager Ron Harding (Johnny Shannon) doesn't care for their new style and stops booking the group. Robert Seymour (Tom Conti), a marketing man from a wealthy family who thinks there's quick money in pop music, enters the picture and informs the band that he can make them major stars. Wary of Seymour but eager for success, the group signs a new management deal, and after Seymour changes their name to Flame and gives them an image makeover, the band scores a hit record and is soon playing a series of sold-out shows. But as fame beckons, tensions rise between the musicians and is not at all helped when Harding reenters the picture. Slade members Jim Lea and Noddy Holder wrote a set of original songs for the film, two of which ("Far Far Away" and "How Does It Feel") became hit singles in the U.K. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Noddy Holder, Dave Hill, (more)
- 1976
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A hit with the critics when it first premiered on PBS back in the late 1970s, Frederic Raphael's six-part miniseries details the hopes and fears of an entire generation by following a group of friends who first meet while studying at the esteemed Cambridge University in the 1950s. Later, as the 1950s give way to the turbulent 1960s and the hedonistic 1970s, the once idealistic students find themselves struggling with emotional disillusionment as they attempt to find success on their own terms. Tom Conti and Barbara Kellerman star. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Conti, Barbara Kellerman, (more)
The Duellists is based on a story by Joseph Conrad, variously titled The Duel and The Point of Honour. Keith Carradine and Harvey Keitel play officers in Napoleon's army -- D'Hubert and Feraud, respectively -- who spend their off-hours challenging each other to bloody duels. This goes on for nearly 16 years, with neither man showing any inclination of calling a truce. The final clash finds the gentlemanly D'Hubert getting the upper hand of the obsessed Feraud -- but that's not quite the end of the story. The Duellists was the debut feature for director Ridley Scott; it won the Cannes Film Festival prize for Best First Film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Keith Carradine, Harvey Keitel, (more)
- 1977
The British/Canadian Full Circle is better known by its American title, The Haunting of Julia. The eponymous Julia, played by Mia Farrow, is driven to near-madness by the death of her daughter. Things don't get much better when Julia and her husband move into a forbidding old mansion. The events leading up to her daughter's horrible death threaten to repeat themselves, thereby explaining the film's original title. Based on a Peter Straub story, Full Circle covers familiar ground, but fans of Gothic horror will be generously served. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mia Farrow, Keir Dullea, (more)
- 1980
Playwright Alan Ayckbourn's Norman Conquests trilogy comes to a conclusion with the 106-minute "Round and Round the Garden." Whereas part one took place in the dining room and part two was set in the garden, part three takes place in the garden of the home of Richard Briers and Penelope Keith. Still amorously pursuing his sister-in-law is the eponymous Norman, played by Tom Conti. A newcomer to the proceedings is veterinarian David Troughton, who has a habit of jumping to the wrong conclusion at every possible opportunity. Originally produced for British television, The Norman Conquest was screened in the US over various PBS channels and cable services. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1980
Part two of Alan Ayckbourn's Norman Conquests trilogy is subtitled "Living Together." Though not precisely a sequel to part one, part two finds Norman (Tom Conti) continuing his romantic pursuit of various female in-laws in the parlor of his family home. Heads of the household Richard Briers and Penelope Keith persist in their efforts to maintain decorum in a household full of inebriates and libertines. The 93-minute Living Together was originally produced for British television. It was telecast in the US on various PBS and cable outlets. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1980
Produced for British television, The Norman Conquests was based on a trilogy of stage comedies by Alan Ayckbourn. Each playlet is set in a different room under the same roof: the home of Norman (Tom Conti) and his family. In Part 1, Table Manners, Norman attempts to seduce his two sisters-in-law, a feat that soon becomes an "open secret." Also starring is Penelope Keith as the lady of the house, who tends to treat human beings like place settings at a huge, never-ending banquet. Richard Briers, who co-starred with Ms. Keith in the BBC TV series Good Neighbours, heads the cast list. All three parts of The Norman Conquests were telecast in the US over PBS and various cable services. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1980
In this Dennis Potter-scripted TV film, Donald Pleasence plays Jason Cavendish, a retired Cambridge professor, who lives in a remote country estate with his second wife (Kika Markham), his daughter (Phoebe Nicholls), and his butler/secretary/confidant (Denholm Elliott). Their sleepy routine is disrupted by the arrival of Daniel Young (Tom Conti), who promptly saves the professor's life when the old man collapses in his garden. The grateful Cavendish invites the strange guest to stay for dinner, and the latter claims to be writing a thesis based on an allegorical book written by the professor many years ago. Soon, however, it becomes obvious that Daniel has a totally different agenda that has something to do with Cavendish's past. The movie's original British title, Blade on the Feather, refers to a line in the Eton Boating Song. ~ Yuri German, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donald Pleasence, Tom Conti, (more)
It could be said that without the incredible success of the ABC miniseries Holocaust in 1978, CBS might have thought twice before greenlighting the ambitious, three-hour TV docudrama The Wall four years later. Adapted by Millard Lampell from his own 1960 Broadway play, which in turn was inspired by John Hersey's 1950 novel, The Wall is the heartbreaking but inspiring story of the heroic Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943. When it becomes obvious that every Jew in Poland is doomed to be shipped off to the Nazi work and death camps, some 650 members of the newly formed Jewish Fighting Organization mount a last, brave stand against nearly 3000 German soldiers. The story is told through the eyes of Warsaw Jew Dolek Benson (Tom Conti, in his first American TV appearance), who is a passive observer of the atrocities all around him until he learns the truth about the Nazi's "resettlement" program. Rachel Roberts, cast as a former schoolteacher, made her final appearance in this film; she passed away shortly after production ended. Filmed on location in Sosnowiec, Poland and first telecast February 16, 1982, The Wall earned a Peabody Award the following year. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1983
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A princess from an obscure kingdom (Liza Minnelli) must undergo an unusual test to prove her royal origins in this lively episode from Shelley Duvall's popular, family-oriented cable television series. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1983
Tom Conti stars as a drunken Scottish poet who preys upon the lasses of a New England college town by swooning over them with poetry and bedding them with a passion. He'd probably have continued in such fashion for who knows how long, were in not for his encounter with a lovely homespun gal (Kelly McGillis), who sets his head spinning in a lovesick swirl and forces him to get his life on track. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Conti, Kelly McGillis, (more)
- 1983
Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence was the first English-language project of Japanese director Nagisa Oshima (Death by Hanging, In the Realm of the Senses). In tune with his previous filmic essays on racism and brutality, Merry Christmas concentrates on a war of wills between rebellious POW David Bowie and camp commandant Ryuichi Sakomoto. Assuming that his other prisoners' unwillingness to protest their cruel treatment is a sign of weakness, Sakomoto is most impressed by Bowie's enigmatic defiance. While Bowie and Sakomoto seem to be operating on a high spiritual and intellectual plane, bilingual prisoner Tom Conti (the "Mr. Lawrence" of the title) engages in a more standard adversarial relationship with sadistic sergeant Takeshi Kitano. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Bowie, Tom Conti, (more)
In this farcical look at a female detective/mystery story writer, Cathy Palmer (JoBeth Williams) is an ordinary housewife living in Ohio with a condescending husband who is far from ideal. When Cathy wins a writing contest and has the chance to go to Paris and meet the author of the romance novels she loves, her husband tries to prevent the trip. In the end, Cathy's interests prevail, though her husband still refuses to go with her. After arriving in Paris, Cathy is knocked down by a car and wakes up in the hospital with all memory of her past life erased. In its place, she believes she is Rebecca Ryan, the heroine in the romance novels she has read. Carrying her unconscious role to the hilt, she dresses in elegant clothes and meets the comically rattled Alan McMann (Tom Conti) who becomes her partner, of sorts. Little does she know that Alan is not Rebecca's secretary, but the actual ghost writer of the Ryan novels. Cathy begins to suspect that villains are lurking everywhere, and her intuition in that regard is unerring -- she has doubts about the klutzy leader of the French opposition party (Giancarlo Giannini), and it turns out her doubts are well-founded. As the plot thickens, it becomes apparent that sooner or later Cathy-cum-Rebecca will have to realize the truth about her identity, but in the meantime, much skullduggery awaits. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- JoBeth Williams, Tom Conti, (more)
- 1986
- PG
This is an Italian comedy about a runaway, incognito Pope who makes his way to a village for a temporary stay and tries to bring a few good works to fruition while there. After Pope Leo XIV gets locked out of the Vatican garden one day, he opts for taking off on a small escape from official and bureaucratic burdens. Since he is not in his robes, who's to know? He heads for a remote village in the south of Italy that has no priest. He finds shelter with a former hooker and her mute daughter and then sets to work overcoming the local thugs and repairing a broken aqueduct. Meanwhile, back at the Vatican, the Cardinals are wringing their hands, trying to hide the fact that His Holiness has taken a powder. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Conti, Fernando Rey, (more)
- 1986
Even allowing for her in-and-out Austrian accent, Farrah Fawcett delivers one of her best ever TV-movie performances in Nazi Hunter: The Beate Klarsfeld Story. This fact-based film begins in 1960, when Beate's last name is still Kunzel. A sheltered young miss, Beate has no concept of what went on in the wartime concentration camps--until she meets and falls in love with Holocaust survivor Serge Karsfeld (Tom Conti). Given a crash course in sociopolitical awareness by her husband, Beate herself becomes a tireless hunter of fugitive Nazis. At great personal risk to herself, she travels from Europe to South America to bring to justice Klaus Barbie (Claude Vernier), the "Butcher of Lyon." Filmed in Paris and Nice, Nazi Hunter: The Beate Klarsfeld Story was first telecast in November of 1986, at which time the real Beate Karsfeld was endeavoring to expose UN secretary general Kurt Waldheim as a war criminal. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1986
- PG
A doctor (Tom Conti) and his wife (Teri Garr), recently divorced, are kidnapped and brought to South America by an inept jewel thief (Paul Rodriguez), just in time to help cure a tribal chief's daughter of appendicitis. Then, a series of circumstances brings the entire family together. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
Based on the play by Christopher Durang, Robert Altman's Beyond Therapy is a comedy set in New York City but filmed in Paris, where Altman was living at the time. Arrogant Bruce (Jeff Goldblum) grows bored with his live-in lover, Bob (Christopher Guest), so he looks for a change by placing an ad in the personals. He meets neurotic Prudence (Julie Hagerty) at a French restaurant and they prove to be a terrible match-up. Then Bruce goes to see his therapist, Charlotte (Glenda Jackson), who has a strange disorder herself. In the same building, Prudence goes to see her own bizarre therapist, Stuart (Tom Conti), who believes in sex with his patients. Charlotte and Stuart also have an arrangement where they meet for anonymous sexual trysts. Meanwhile, Bob's mother (Genevieve Page) is worried about her son's relationship with Bruce and she interferes with everything. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julie Hagerty, Jeff Goldblum, (more)
- 1986
- PG13
Vic Mathews (Tom Conti) is a Glasgow teacher who works in a Catholic school for backward students. Though the school is named for Edith Semple, a long-dead Scotswoman who supposedly performed several miracles in her lifetime, Vic is doggedly nonreligious, insisting that it's miracle enough that his students can learn anything. The rest of the faculty hopes to have Edith Semple canonized as a saint, but Vic wants no part of this. After he is diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor, Vic is amazed when the tumor suddenly vanishes, just like...like a miracle. Many other strange happenings occur around Vic, prompting extensive media coverage. Still, Vic steadfastly refuses to believe in divine miracles--which causes no end of trouble with the other teachers, the Vatican authorities, and Vic's new lady friend Helen Mirren. The easy-to-take Gospel According to Vic has also been released as Heavenly Pursuits. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Conti, Helen Mirren, (more)
- 1987
Based on the one-act play by Harold Pinter, Robert Altman's The Dumb Waiter is a short made-for-TV movie originally shown on ABC. This absurdist crime story doesn't follow a traditional plot, but it follows the work of two hitmen: Ben (John Travolta) and Gus (Tom Conti). They hang out in the basement of a deserted rooming house to await their next instructions on who to kill. Thinking the house has been abandoned, things get complicated when they receive information from sources coming from other floors. They bicker between themselves as their anxiety grows about the unknown victim. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
Based on a novel by Louis L'Amour, this made-for-HBO western stars Sam Elliott, an enigmatic gunslinger who comes to the aid of a family traveling through the wilderness. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sam Elliott, Tom Conti, (more)
- 1987
All the charm and joie de vivre of the 1953 Gregory Peck/Audrey Hepburn Roman Holiday is purged from this hollow TV remake. The stunning but lifeless Catherine Oxenberg assumes the Hepburn role of a young princess who escapes the protocol of court life for a romantic fling in Rome. Tom Conti stands in for Gregory Peck as the American journalist who falls in love with the Princess. Ed Begley Jr. takes over Eddie Albert's part of the eccentric photojournalist who acts as comic relief to the leads. Heading the list of mistakes committed in this remake is the fact that Oxenberg behaves more like a bored Danielle Steele character than the impressionable, virginal heroine of the original. Rome may be eternal, but the 1987 Roman Holiday is terminal. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Conti, Catherine Oxenberg, (more)
- 1988
A Massachusetts nurse (Patty Duke) is accused of exercising Fatal Judgment in this made-for-TV movie. While tending a seriously ill cancer patient, the nurse administered a generous dose of morphine. The patient died, which is why the woman is now on trial for murder. Joe Regalbuto and Tom Conti co-star as, respectively, the nurse's loving husband and a two-fisted defense attorney. Based on a true story, Fatal Judgment first aired October 18, 1988--precisely one half hour after the debut of Roseanne, which proved not to be a case of fatal judgment. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Since its London and Broadway stage debut, playwright Willy Russell's Shirley Valentine has proven an excellent showcase for any number of talented actresses (Loretta Swit won the 1989 Sarah Siddons Award for her work in the Chicago production). In the film version of Shirley Valentine, Pauline Collins re-creates the role that had previously brought her theatrical fame and a Tony Award. Spending the bulk of the film speaking directly to the audience, the titular Shirley (Collins), a middle-aged Liverpool housewife, reveals her innermost thoughts and fears in a manner that is both insouciant and poignant. Once an incorrigible anti-establishment rebel, Shirley now chafes under the plodding insensitivity of her husband Joe (Bernard Hill). Her life enters a new and exciting phase when, after her best friend Jane (Alison Steadman) wins an all-expenses-paid vacation to Greece, Shirley is given the opportunity to travel to faraway places without her husband. Shirley Valentine represents the second felicitous collaboration between playwright Willy Russell and director Lewis Gilbert; the first was Educating Rita (1983). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pauline Collins, Tom Conti, (more)
