Beverly D'Angelo Movies

A Russian immigrant arrives in the Unites States to discover that the American dream has dampened somewhat in writer-turned-director Len Richmond's satirical look at America's preoccupation with all things sexual. Despite enthusiastic Alex's (Michael York) best efforts, the only job he can find upon arriving in the United States is a low-paying stint in a sex-toy factory. When elderly factory owner Eppy (Nancy Fish) takes pity on the struggling newcomer and introduces him to has-been adult film star Catherine (Prunella Gee) in hopes of making a match, the romantic bachelor finds that true love doesn't always arrive in the most conventional form. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Tony Kaye made his feature directorial debut with this dramatic exploration into the roots of race hatred in America. In a shocking opening scene, teen Danny Vinyard (Edward Furlong) races to tell his older brother, neo-Nazi Derek (Edward Norton), about the young blacks breaking into his car in front of the house, whereupon Derek gets his gun and with no forethought shoots the youths in their tracks. Tried and convicted, Derek is sent away for three years in prison, where he acquires a different outlook as he contrasts white-power prisoners with black Lamont (Guy Torry), his prison laundry co-worker and eventual pal. Meanwhile, Danny, with a shaved head and a rebellious attitude, seems destined to follow in his big brother's footsteps. After Danny writes a favorable review of Hitler's Mein Kampf, black high-school principal Sweeney (Avery Brooks) puts Danny in his private "American History X" course and assigns him to do a paper about his older brother, who was a former student of Sweeney's. This serves to introduce flashbacks, with the film backtracking to illustrate Danny's account of Derek's life prior to the night of the shooting. Monochrome sequences of Derek leading a Venice, California gang are intercut with color footage of the mature Derek ending his past neo-Nazi associations and attempting to detour Danny away from the group led by white supremacist, Cameron (Stacy Keach), who once influenced Derek. Director Tony Kaye, with a background in TV commercials and music videos, filmed in L.A. beach communities. Rated R "for graphic brutal violence including rape, pervasive language, strong sexuality and nudity." ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

An international collection of well-known directors contributed to this compilation film, each fashioning a short film inspired by an aria from a famous opera. The approaches vary broadly, from the playful abstraction of Jean-Luc Godard's segment, which illustrates Armide with exercising body-builders, to the more literal approach of Franc Roddam, who transports Tristan und Isolde's story to modern-day Las Vegas. A particular stand-out is Julian Temple's take on Rigoletto, which recasts Verdi as the accompaniment to a contemporary Southern California sex farce. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

It took nearly two years after its completion for Big Trouble to reach the big screen. Peter Falk and Alan Arkin are respectively cast as a shady wheeler-dealer and an uptight family man. Strapped for the cash necessary to send his son to Yale, Arkin reluctantly enters into a murder scheme with Beverly D'Angelo. She is married to Falk, who, though he hasn't got long to live due to a heart ailment, may very well spend every penny D'Angelo has before he expires. Arkin is persuaded to kill Falk before this happens, then split the money with D'Angelo. To Arkin's amazement he finds himself the victim of a carefully prepared confidence scam engineered by Falk and D'Angelo. Now that he has a hold over Arkin, Falk gets the poor fellow mixed up in yet another "perfect crime". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Loretta Lynn was one of the first female superstars in country music and remains a defining presence within the genre; with her strong, clear, hard-country voice and tough, no-nonsense songs about husbands who cheat and wives who weren't about to be pushed around, Lynn introduced a feminist mindset to Nashville years before the phrase "women's liberation" became common currency. Coal Miner's Daughter is a screen adaptation of Lynn's autobiography, starring Sissy Spacek as Loretta Lynn. One of eight children born to Ted Webb (Levon Helm), a coal miner raising a family despite grinding poverty in Butcher's Holler, KY, Loretta married Dolittle "Mooney" Lynn (Tommy Lee Jones) when she was only 13 years old. A mother of four by the time she was 20, Lynn began singing the occasional song at local honky-tonks on weekends, and at 25, she cut (at Mooney's suggestion) a demo tape that earned her a deal with an independent record label. Loretta and Mooney's tireless promotion of the record (including a long road trip through the south in which they stopped at every country radio station they could find) paid off -- Loretta's first single, "Honky Tonk Girl," hit the charts and earned her a spot on the Grand Ole Opry. Stardom called and Loretta never looked back, but success brought with it both joy (a long string of hit records and sold-out concerts and a close friendship with Patsy Cline) and sorrow (a nervous breakdown brought on by overwork and a great deal of stress to a marriage that endured -- but just barely). Sissy Spacek won an Academy award for her vivid, thoroughly natural performance as Loretta (she also did her own singing), and Levon Helm (drummer for the legendary rock group the Band) made an impressive screen debut as her father. Ernest Tubb makes a cameo appearance as himself. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This screen version of Del Shores' play follows a dysfunctional Southern family as they squabble among themselves over the family fortune. As the title would suggest, Daddy (Bert Remsen), the patriarch of a large family in the deep South, is reaching the end of life's journey as his health and energy slip away and he watches midget wrestling on a television that isn't even turned on. Daddy's children have all returned to the family home, ostensibly to show their support in their father's final hours, but mainly because they're eager to know how Daddy's estate will be divided. Sara Lee (Tess Harper) has arrived with her new fiancé, Clarence (Keith Carradine). Evalita (Beverly D'Angelo), the high-spirited "black sheep" of the family, also has her new beau in tow, a pot-addled musician and health-food salesman named Harmony (Judge Reinhold). Orville (Beau Bridges) has brought along his wife, the patient and long-suffering Marlene (Patrika Darbo). And Lurlene (Amy Wright) is a born-again Christian who isn't shy about expressing her views on sin and salvation. As the siblings and their companions bicker, Daddy announces that he can't remember where he put his will, leading to a frantic search. The film was directed by Jack Fisk, who made his name in film as an art director and production designer (he's also the husband of actress Sissy Spacek). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Based on William Bayer's novel Switch, the made-for-TV Doubletake introduced Richard Crenna to his oft-played role of detective Frank Janek. As always, Janek is assigned to a particularly gruesome and profoundly puzzling murder case. A prim lady schoolteacher and a hooker are both killed on the same evening; their bodies are decapitated, and their heads are switched! The first installment of this two-part movie details the early stages of the investigation, as well as the growing relationship between Janek and photographer Caroline Wallace (Beverly D'Angelo), the daughter of a cop who'd died in a mob hit. Part two reveals the "dark side" of the case, exposing corruption in the highest police circles and implicating someone very close to Janek in the double murder. Doubletake was originally telecast on November 24 and 26, 1985, and has since been reissued as a single three-hour film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Mandy's representatives worry about her recent behavior; Turtle promotes an addition to the Queens Boulevard soundtrack. ~ Joe Friedrich, All Movie Guide

In the third-season finale, Ari takes evasive action when The Ramones project -- and his future -- are in jeopardy. Meanwhile, Vince taps an unlikely source to chart his career. ~ Joe Friedrich, All Movie Guide

The boys look forward to R&R in Las Vegas when Vince is slated to make a promotional appearance in Sin City. ~ Joe Friedrich, All Movie Guide

An ordinary woman is driven to the point of violent revenge in this tense thriller. Karen McCann (Sally Field) is a suburban wife and working mother with two daughters. Karen's life is turned upside down when her 17-year-old daughter is raped and murdered, a crime she overhears on her cellular phone. Sgt. Denillo (Joe Mantegna), a bright and resourceful police detective, soon tracks down the culprit, an especially sleazy criminal named Robert Doob (Kiefer Sutherland). However, due to a minor technicality, Doob escapes conviction, even though he's clearly guilty. Karen's husband Mack (Ed Harris) suppresses his grief and tries to go on with his life, but Karen doesn't find this quite so easy; she joins a support group for parents of murdered children, and she discovers that within the group is an underground society that seeks vigilante justice against killers who've slipped through the net of the judicial system. Karen buys a gun, learns how to use it, and begins training in martial arts. She starts keeping tabs on Doob, and learns that he not only intends to kill again, he's targeting her younger daughter. Beverly D'Angelo co-stars as Karen's best friend Dolly, and Philip Baker Hall plays Sidney Hughes. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this slapstick chase-adventure, some unlikely heroes try to outwit each other for possession of a huge stash of cash hidden on the train they are all riding together. The comedy is a little uneven here or at least not to everyone's taste, and the pace is fast-forward frantic. Josef (Ed Lauter) and Georgiana (Pamela Stephenson) manage to break into her father's estate and swipe $5 million in cash from the safe, with plans to spirit the money across country on a train. Meanwhile, Michael (Michael O'Keefe) is a con man being chased by irate women on a roller derby team who have reason to be angry with him. He zips into a second-hand clothing store and dons the disguise of an army uniform, hoping to board a train for New York unnoticed. But when an officer gets suspicious at the station, Michael retorts that he is escorting a nearby coffin -- a coffin that actually contains the stolen $5 mil. The thieves are also nearby, but for reasons of their own, they go along with Michael's charade. Along for the ride are a neurotic woman (Beverly D'Angelo), an eccentric train conductor (David Wayne), a stowaway Vietnam defector, a blond woman of the underworld, a nymphomaniac, and briefly, a crafty con man (Louis Gosset Jr.). From that point onward, episodic vignettes are tossed here and there as the train moves ever closer to New York, and the protagonists try to outmaneuver each other for the money. Viewers may note that along for his fourth cinematic ride is Jim Carrey in a bit part. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide