Larry Grusin Movies
- 1996
Jean Townsend (Ann Jillian) is happily married to the dull but dependable Roger (Garrett M. Brown), who does not object to her evenings out to attend various classic-film festivals. On one of these occasions, Jean befriends Tom Doster (Lee Horsley), a fellow film enthusiast likewise mired in a comfortable, conformist marriage. Over the next several weeks, Jean begins socializing with Tom, and it isn't long before the couple is toying with notion of an extramarital affair. But how far will things go--or, to be more specific, how far are Jean and Tom willing to go beyond their own deeply ingrained middle-class values? Essentially a Brief Encounter for the 1990s, the made-for-TV The Care and Handling of Roses was first broadcast by CBS on October 8, 1996. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This screwball comedy casts real-life couple Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn in a film that finds the latter returning to her roots in a role reminiscent of Private Benjamin (1980). Hawn stars as Joanna Stayton, a snooty heiress who summons carpenter Dean Proffitt (Russell) to her lavish yacht, where she wants an expanded closet constructed that will house her valuable wardrobe. When Dean fails to build the closet out of cedar, Joanna haughtily dismisses him without payment. Later, Joanna falls overboard and is struck by another boat, causing amnesia. Seeing her story on the news, Dean constructs an elaborate scheme to pretend that Joanna is his wife Annie. Soon, the former rich snob is cleaning Dean's home and babysitting his four rambunctious boys. Although at first she's a disaster, "Annie" grows into her role and begins to love being a mom and middle-class wife. When her real husband Grant (Edward Herrmann) comes looking for her, however, her memory is jogged, and she must decide between a life of privileged ease and a life of happy housework. Overboard was the feature film debut of writer Leslie Dixon, the granddaughter of famed photographer Dorothea Lange. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Goldie Hawn, Kurt Russell, (more)
Garry Marshall directed this film which starts as a light comedy but moves into heavy-duty drama later on. David Basner (Tom Hanks in a good performance) works in an ad agency, where he enjoys bantering with his co-workers and meets a lot of women. He hasn't been especially close to his father (Jackie Gleason) and never thought about him much until his Dad is left devastated when his wife of 36 years walks out on him. He is soon faced with serious health problems as well. This propels the elder Basner on a downward slide that affects David and their relationship. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Hanks, Jackie Gleason, (more)
- 1986
The old reliable movie title Between Two Women was activated once more for this made-for-TV film. Farrah Fawcett and Colleen Dewhurst star as, respectively, a domineering ex-opera star and a shy schoolteacher. The ads for the film suggested that Michael Nouri played the apex of a romantic triangle between the older Dewhurst and the younger Fawcett. In truth, he plays Dewhurst's son, incurring his mother's wrath when he marries Fawcett. Dewhurst's unwarranted interference destroy her son's marriage--but it is Fawcett who compassionately rushes to her mother-in-law's bedside when the older woman suffers a debilitating stroke. First telecast March 10, 1986, Between Two Women was based on Gillian Martin's novel Living Arrows. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Farrah Fawcett, Colleen Dewhurst, (more)
- 1984
- PG13
This bittersweet comedy is, among many other things, a tour de force for the marvelous Anne Bancroft. The star is cast as Estelle Rolfe, an unconventional divorcee who resides in New York, in close proximity to her grown son Gilbert (Ron Silver) and his wife Lisa (Carrie Fisher). Though his wife yearns to move back to her home state of California, Gilbert cannot quite cut the silver cord that binds him to his mother. Upon learning that Estelle is dying, her dutiful son offers to honor her last request to meet the reclusive actress Greta Garbo. The rest of the film plays wonderful variations on this theme, involving such peripheral characters as a gay Garbo fan (Harvey Fierstein), an elderly Shakespearean actress (Hermione Gingold), a "female Joe Papp" director (Denny Dillon), and an ageing papparazzi (Howard Da Silva). Without giving away the ending, it is worth noting that the divine Garbo shows up in the person of playwright/lyricist/ performer Betty Comden. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anne Bancroft, Ron Silver, (more)
- 1983
In this lightweight made-for-television domestic comedy, a beautiful divorcee, who got the house and the kids, finds herself allowing her husband and his ditzy young fiancee to stay with them after he gets into financial dire straits. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1981
Essentially a light-weight made for TV romance between different classes - this time a female attorney who meets a laundromat owner at a bird-watching retreat. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- 1979
Frank is Frank Miller (Art Carney), a 65 year old newspaper man. His letters are to his oldest son Richard (Mike Farrell), and they're decidedly on the vitriolic side. Frank, you see, was involuntarily retired from his job and replaced by a computer. But with the help and support of his wife Betty (Maureen Stapleton), Frank bucks the system and comes out on top. The script of the made-for-TV Letters from Frank was flexible enough to allow for a wide range of ages in the supporting cast, from seventysomething veterans Margaret Hamilton and Lew Ayres to 19-year-old relative newcomer Michael J. Fox (billed ninth, without the "J"). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
