Joseph Cotten Movies
Born to a well-to-do Southern family, Joseph Cotten studied at the Hickman School of Expression in Washington D.C., and later sought out theater jobs in New York. He made his Broadway debut in 1930, and seven years later joined Orson Welles' progressive Mercury Theatre company, playing leads in such productions as Julius Caesar and Shoemaker's Holiday. He briefly left Welles in 1939 to co-star in Katharine Hepburn's Broadway comeback vehicle The Philadelphia Story. Cotten rejoinedWelles in Hollywood in 1940, making his feature-film debut as Jed Leland in Welles' Citizen Kane (1941). As a sort of private joke, Jed Leland was a dramatic critic, a profession which Cotten himself had briefly pursued on the Miami Herald in the late '20s. Cotten went on to play the kindly auto mogul Eugene Morgan in Welles' The Magnificent Ambersons in 1942, and both acted in and co-wrote Journey Into Fear, the film that Welles was working on when he was summarily fired by RKO. Cotten remained a close friend of Welles until the director's death in 1985; he co-starred with Welles in Carol Reed's The Third Man (1949) and played an unbilled cameo for old times' sake in the Welles-directed Touch of Evil (1958). A firmly established romantic lead by the early '40s, Cotten occasionally stepped outside his established screen image to play murderers (Alfred Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt [1943]) and surly drunkards (Under Capricorn [1949]). A longtime contractee of David O. Selznick, Cotten won a Venice Film Festival award for his performance in Selznick's Portrait of Jennie (1948). Cotten's screen career flagged during the 1950s and '60s, though he flourished on television as a guest performer on such anthologies as Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Fireside Theatre, The Great Adventure, and as host of The 20th Century-Fox Hour (1955), The Joseph Cotten Show (1956), On Trial (1959), and Hollywood and the Stars (1963). He also appeared in several stage productions, often in the company of his second wife, actress Patricia Medina. In 1987, Cotten published his engagingly candid autobiography, Vanity Will Get You Somewhere. He died of pneumonia in 1994 at the age of 88. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1981
This film is based on Winston Churchill's memoirs of his leadership of England from Dunkirk to D-Day. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
"Names have been changed to protect the innocent" in this infamous fictionalization of the tragic mass suicide of 914 followers of Jim Jones' "People's Temple" in Guyana in the fall of 1978. Rev. James Johnson (Stuart Whitman) is a charismatic but deeply paranoid man of the cloth who moves his flock from Northern California to a settlement in Guyana, where he intends to create an interracial socialist utopia. Addicted to prescription drugs and convinced he is surrounded by enemies, Johnson rules his colony, "Johnsontown," with an iron fist, torturing anyone who violates his rule, seducing both women and men from his congregation, confiscating money and property from his followers, and forcing them to work long hours in the fields for meager rations. Lee O'Brien (Gene Barry), a California congressman who represents the district Johnson and his followers once called home, has received complaints from friends and relatives of the Johnsontown settlers, convinced something is wrong. O'Brien and a team of reporters fly to Guyana to find out the truth about what is happening; Johnson is convinced O'Brien has seen too much, and armed gunmen ambush his party before they can return to the United States (with a number of Johnsontown residents who wish to leave). After a failed attempt to arrange exile in the Soviet Union, Johnson convinced his followers to perform a "final revolutionary act" before authorities arrive. This oddball blend of fact and fiction also features Joseph Cotten and John Ireland as Johnson's lawyers, Yvonne de Carlo as Johnsontown's press officer, and Bradford Dillman as the doctor who mixes the punch for Johnson's final gathering. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stuart Whitman, Gene Barry, (more)
- 1980
Nick (Mike Conners) is the owner of a luxury liner and casino which cruises its way to action and adventure for those on board. Lackluster direction by Don Chaffey is not aided by a cast including Gary Burghoff, Joseph Cotten, Lynda Day George, Bo Hopkins and Robert Loggia, who seem to all be slightly embarrassed to be in the film. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- 1980
A mid-air jet disaster leaves the one survivor to avenge the deaths of the others. This supernatural thriller follows him on his search for the bomber that caused the disaster. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Powell, Jenny Agutter, (more)
This half-baked but entertaining disaster film (not to be confused with America's The Concorde - Airport '79) deals with the attempts of an evil corporation to sabotage the Concorde before it hurts their own airline business. James Franciscus plays a reporter who teams up with Mimsy Farmer (Macchie Solari) to save the plane and its passengers from certain doom. Venantino Venantini co-stars with Edmund Purdom, Van Johnson, and Joseph Cotton, while cultists should look for porn star R. Bolla (appearing as Robert Kerman) in the tower, and some simply pathetic miniature effects. Kerman was also in Deodato's Cannibal Holocaust and Umberto Lenzi's Cannibal Ferox. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- 1978
In the film, Helen (Laure Dechasnel), a married woman, leaves Paris for Zurich after breaking up with her lover. Near the border, a fellow passenger, mistakenly takes her passport. This sets up a situation which plunges her into the midst of international intrigue, a violent struggle between multinational corporations abetted by national secret agencies. This production features such international stars as Joesph Cotten, Donald Pleasence, Dennis Hopper and Bruno Cremer. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruno Cremer, Donald Pleasence, (more)
- 1978
In this mystery, Scotland Yard sends out its best detective when several powerful business executives turn up dead. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1977
A sequel to the 1977 TV movie Fantasy Island, this film was originally titled Fantasy Island II and slated to air on November, 1977, but was instead re-christened and broadcast as the initial episode of the weekly Fantasy Island series. Once again, six people spend thousands upon thousands of dollars to fulfill their dreams on a lavish island resort overseen by the enigmatic Roarke (Ricardo Montalban) and his dwarf assistant, Tattoo (Herve Villechaize). This time, "de plane" arrives on the island with a passenger roster including Charles Fleming (Horst Buchholz), who allegedly wants to restore the memory of his amnesiac wife, Janet (Karen Valentine); love-struck executive, Benson (George Maharis), and his bitchy boss, Margo Dean (Adrienne Barbeau), whom Benson hopes to woo and win Taming of the Shrew style; and long-married couple Brian and Lucy Faber (Joseph Campanella and Pat Crowley), who yearn to be reunited with the child they gave up for adoption years earlier. Return to Fantasy Island premiered January 20, 1978, on ABC. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1977
Ostensibly a six-hour miniseries adaptation of Bert Hirschfield's novel Aspen, the program actually used only the title of the Hirschfield work; the plot proper was lifted from another novel by a different author, Bart Spicer's The Adversary. Set in the titular Colorado ski resort in the 1960s, the story line incorporated equal amounts of sex, greed, ambition, and murder, with the trial of accused rapist-killer Lee Bishop (Perry King) at the center of the storm, and the efforts by a gangster to grab up the local land, coupled with the amorous misadventures of a jet-setting glamour girl, taking up the slack whenever the plot threatened to lag. Despite a huge and varied cast, Sam Elliott emerged as the star of the proceedings in the role of straight-arrow attorney Tom Keating. Originally shown by the NBC network from November 5 to 7, 1977, Aspen was rebroadcast under the more lurid title The Innocent and the Damned. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sam Elliott, Perry King, (more)
Stretching the Airport concept as far as it will go, this third film in the series sticks a jet full of old actors 50 feet underwater in the Bermuda Triangle. Oxygen (and credibility) grows short, and Jimmy Stewart plays an art collector targeted for a heist. Jack Lemmon is the unfortunate pilot, and Christopher Lee shows up along with Brenda Vaccaro, Joseph Cotten, and Olivia de Havilland. Jerry Jameson, auteur of The Bat People, was selected to helm this entry featuring that film's star, Michael Pataki. George Kennedy, the only man to appear in all four Airport films, is along for the ride as well. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Lemmon, Lee Grant, (more)
- 1976
From 16th century Sicily to the streets of contemporary New York, the Mafia has transcended its humble roots to evolve into one of the most formidable crime organizations ever. Centuries ago, the dreaded Gramignanos family took control over Sicily by launching a vicious campaign of violence and corruption. These days, the objectives may have changed, but the tactics remain the same. Lee J. Cobb, Joseph Cotten, and Edward Albert are all featured in a five-part documentary spanning 400 years of death, deception, and secrecy. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 1976
The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case, based on newspaper coverage, court testimony and eyewitness accounts, was dramatized for television by J.P. Miller. Cliff DeYoung and Sian star as Charles Lindbergh and his wife Anne Morrow Lindbergh. The couple's 2-year-old son Charles Jr. is kidnapped from the family's Hopewell, New Jersey home on March 1, 1932; though the ransom is paid, the child's body is found a few days later. All circumstantial evidence points to German expatriate Bruno Richard Hauptmann (Anthony Hopkins) as the kidnapper/murderer. While never seriously challenging the notion of Hauptmann's guilt, the film raises several questions concerning the fairness of his trial. The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case first aired in a three-hour timeslot on Febrary 26, 1976. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1975
When a couple of ruthless businessmen threaten her logging camp, a defenseless widow is aided by a group of Alaskan lumberjacks. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- 1974
In this rare 90-minute episode of The Rockford Files, Jim (James Garner) is hired by wealthy Warren Jameson, who wants to know something of the background of his future son-in-law Mark Chalmers (Geoffrey Land). Before long, Jim has run afoul of police lieutenant Larry Pierson (Eddie Fontaine), who indicates that any digging into Chalmers' past might prove hazardous to one's health. Before he knows what's happening, Jim is beaten, kidnapped (twice!) and subject to harrassment from the Feds--and he still has no idea why. "This Case is Closed" is sometimes split into two separate episodes for syndication. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A Delicate Balance is the 1973 film adaptation of Edward Albee's Pulitzer Prize-winning play. Katharine Hepburn and Paul Scofield play an old married couple, Agnes and Tobias, who much prefer to be alone. Each time someone visits them, their "delicate balance" is threatened. The first intruder is Agnes' inebriated sister, Claire (Kate Reid). The next is their much-divorced daughter, Julia (Lee Remick). The limit is reached when well-meaning friends Harry (Joseph Cotten) and Edna (Betsy Blair) show up unexpectedly and threaten to stay forever. In keeping with the austerity of the other American Film Theatre presentations, director Tony Richardson eschews his usual cinematographic pyrotechnics here. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1973
John Saxon and Joseph Cotten head the guest cast in this episode, wherein homicide detectives Stone (Karl Malden) and Keller (Michael Douglas) investigate an elaborate scam that has gone fatally awry. Unscrupulous coin dealer Vince Hagopian Jr. (Saxon) has arranged to purchase several valuable "gold eagles" from millionaire collector John R. James (Cotten). Though he is supposed to sell the coins on behalf of Mr. James, Hagopian has hatched scheming to double his earnings by substituting counterfeit coins--a scheme which obliges him to commit murder to cover his tracks. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The final directorial project the legendary Orson Welles completed during his lifetime, F for Fake is less a documentary than an example of cinematic free association on the topic of trickery. Much of the film is in fact drawn from other sources, most notably an unfinished documentary by Francois Reichenbach on the notorious Elmyr de Hory, whose extremely skillful forgeries of famous paintings caused scandals amongst art collectors and experts. In an additional bit of irony, de Hory's interviewer is author Clifford Irving, who became infamous due to a forgery of his own: a falsified autobiography of Howard Hughes. Welles openly re-edits and manipulates this footage, using it as a spine for his own commentary, arguing that there is an extremely close relationship between art and lying, and citing instances from his own career to prove the point. Through a combination of documentary and staged footage, Welles attempts to illustrate the artifice behind all filmmaking, even that of a supposedly non-fiction variety. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Orson Welles, Oja Kodar, (more)
- 1972
In this drama, a wealthy US heiress and her partner embark upon their annual journey to Rome to play scopa, an Italian card game, with a financially struggling couple. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1972
Jeannot Szwarc, the director responsible for so many episodes (both good and bad) of the Night Gallery TV series, was the helmsman of The Devil's Daughter. This small-screen Rosemary's Baby clone stars Belinda Montgomery as a young woman targeted by a group of Satanists. It seems that Belinda's soul was purchased from the Devil when the girl was born, with payment due when she reaches the age of 21. Shelley Winters is at her overbearing best as the head of the cultists, while horror-flick vets Joseph Cotten and Jonathan Frid do their utmost to create the proper demonic atmosphere. Colin Higgins, who moved on to such prestige projects as Silver Streak and Foul Play, conjured up the script for The Devil's Daughter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Belinda Montgomery, Shelley Winters, (more)
- 1972
Olivia De Havilland plays a middle-aged woman who has recently been released from a mental institution after suffering a breakdown. She insists one evening that she can hear the muffled scream of a woman emanating from beneath the ground. Since no one else can hear these screams, De Havilland is dismissed as a crank. But Ms. De Havilland is steadfast in her conviction that the screams are real, and to that end investigates on her own. She discovers--at the peril of her own life--that the screams are those of a woman buried alive at a construction site by her recluse husband. Losing credibility long before the denouement, The Screaming Woman is based on a vastly superior short story by Ray Bradbury, in which the protagonist is not an adult ex-mental patient but a precocious little girl with a reputation for lying. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Long thought dead, the victim of a horrible accident, Dr. Anton Phibes (Vincent Price) still lives, surrounded by art-deco bric-a-brac and attended by mute beauty Vulnavia (Virginia North). Outwardly normal in appearance, Phibes actually wears a rubber mask, covering his hideously deformed countenance; giving away the artifice is the fact that, when he dines, he takes his food through his neck rather than his mouth. Able to speak only when plugging a wire into his damaged vocal chords, Phibes elucidates his plan to murder the medical team whom he holds responsible for the death of his wife. Each of the killings is patterned after the ten deadly plagues. Phibes saves his worst for last: trapping chief surgeon Dr. Vesalius in his lair, Phibes forces the hapless medico into a race against time to save the life of his own son. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vincent Price, Joseph Cotten, (more)
- 1971
This made-for-television feature (which premiered on the ABC Movie Of The Week) attracted slightly more interest than usual, due in part to the presence an unusually recognizable supporting cast (including several players, such as Joseph Cotten, Keenan Wynn and Dewey Martin, who'd had real film careers, going back to the 1940's), and Star Trek's Leonard Nimoy in the lead. Nimoy plays Commander Phil Kettenring, the captain of the nuclear submarine Wayne, which has been assigned a critical, top-secret mission involving a less than completely cooperative scientist (Malachi Throne). What Kettenring doesn't know is that the Eastern bloc enemy (this being the middle of the Cold War) is already on to the mission. They've not only got a fairly clever trap set for the sub in mid-ocean, but have also infiltrated the crew at key points. As the Wayne's and her commander's problems mount, the crew begins to lose confidence in Kettenring, threatening not only the mission, but the safety of the sub. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- 1970
In this drama, the second in the "Ironside" series, the Chief becomes marked for murder after he witnesses the execution of hospital security guard. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1970
When an ancient and invaluable manuscript is found, a girl disappears increasing the mystery. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1970
Irwin Allen, praised in some circles as a science fiction genius and damned in others as a shameless schlockmeister, produced and directed this fanciful TV-movie. Set in the 21st century, the film concentrates on a group of colonists dwelling in a modernistic underwater city called Pacifica. The emphasis is on drama rather than special effects, as we see the deep-sea denizens struggling to cope with the pressures of their new existence--and their own personal animosities. Stuart Whitman heads a large cast of TV veterans, including Time Tunnel regulars James Darren, Robert Colbert and Whit Bissell, and onetime Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea star Richard Basehart (as the US President). Expanded from a short "demo" pilot film, City Beneath the Sea is the one Irwin Allen project that could have matured into a truly worthwhile TV series; unfortunately no network was interested in subsidizing this expensive effort. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
