Howard Da Silva Movies
Howard Da Silva worked the steel mills of Pennsylvania to pay his way through Carnegie Institute. After finishing his acting training, Da Silva went to work for Eva Le Galliene's theatrical troupe. He brought attention to himself by staging a one-man show, Ten Million Ghosts, which led to several years' work with Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre. On Broadway, the stocky, booming-voiced Da Silva created the roles of Jack Armstrong in Abe Lincoln in Illinois (a part he re-created in the 1940 film version) and Jud Frye in Oklahoma. His earliest movie appearance was in the Manhattan-filmed Jimmy Savo vehicle Once in a Blue Moon (1934), but Da Silva didn't gain cinematic prominence until signed by Paramount in the 1940s, where among many other choice assignments he was cast as the bartender in the Oscar-winning The Lost Weekend (1945). As one of most vocal and demonstrative of Hollywood's Left Wing, Da Silva became a convenient target for the House Un-American Activities Commission, and he was blacklisted. Unable to find movie or TV work, DaSilva returned to the stage in the 1950s, not facing the cameras again until 1962's David and Lisa (1962). Among his many memorable portrayals of the 1970s were Benjamin Franklin in stage and film versions of 1776, Nikita Khrushchev in the 3-hour TV drama Missiles of October, and his award-winning supporting performance in PBS' Verna: The USO Girl. Howard Da Silva also appeared in both the 1949 and 1974 versions of The Great Gatsby, playing the tragic garage owner Mr Wilson in the first version, and the Arnold Rothstein-like gambler Meyer Wolfsheim in the second. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 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, Rovi
- Starring:
- Anne Bancroft, Ron Silver, (more)
- 1984
In this stock, low-budget occult horror film, a tiny 2-inch-high Aztecan idol is stolen from a professor and ends up in the experimental hands of three high-school students who use it in some creative attempts to get in touch with the spirit world. Things start to go wrong when a cemetery worker dies during one of these spirit sessions, and everything goes wrong after the Aztecan god possesses the body of a young man who steals the idol for his own purposes. Special effects create the appropriate flying objects and body bulges where needed, and makeup is grotesque enough by anyone's standards, but these pluses cannot erase the lack of interesting characters or situations or the uninspired acting. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Susan Stokey, Warren Lincoln, (more)
When her adoptive mother Joan Crawford died in 1977, erstwhile actress/author Christina Crawford and her brother Christopher were left out of Joan Crawford's will, "for reasons which are well known to them." Industryites have suggested that it may have been this posthumous act of rejection rather than an alleged lifetime of parental abuse that inspired Christina Crawford to pen her scathing autobiography Mommie Dearest. The 1981 film version of this tome was evidently meant to be taken seriously, but the operatic direction by Frank Perry and the over-the-top portrayal of Joan Crawford by Faye Dunaway (whose makeup is remarkable) has always seemed to inspire loud laughter whenever and where-ever the film is shown. According to the film (and the book that preceded it), Joan Crawford was a licentious, child-beating behemoth, who stalked and postured through life as though it was one of her own pictures-more Strait-jacket than Mildred Pierce. This is the film with the notorious "wire coat hanger" scene, just in case you need a reminder. Surprisingly, one emerges from Mommie Dearest with more sympathy for the monstrous but intensely vulnerable Crawford than for her whining daughter (played as an adult by Diana Scarwid, and as a child by Mara Hobel). Our favorite scene: Joan Crawford dazedly replacing her ailing daughter in the cast of a daytime TV soap opera. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Faye Dunaway, Diana Scarwid, (more)
The Greatest Man in the World is based on a genteelly vitriolic short story by James Thurber. Brad Davis stars as a '30s-era aviator who becomes a national hero when he flies solo nonstop around the world. The problem: Davis is an illiterate boor. It's up to the journalists who've elevated Davis to idol status to exercise the "damage control" that will make the aviator public-friendly. Howard Da Silva and Carol Kane co-star in this February 18, 1980, presentation of PBS' "American Short Story." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1980
In this made-for-TV "roman a clef", Joe Don Baker stars as Tommy Vanda, a Hoffa-esque labor leader. Told in flashback, the film recounts Vanda's humble beginnings on the Chicago docks, where he gains fame and notoreity amongst his coworkers and his bosses by spearheading a wildcat strike. Rising to top dog of the Cartage Union, Tommy doesn't care whon he has to crush on the way up the ladder. Inevitably, Tommy's peccadilloes catch up with him, resulting in federal charges, an arrest, and (remember who he's supposed to be) a mysterious disappearance in the night. Written by Ernest Tidyman of The French Connection fame, Power was telecast in two two-hour installments by NBC on January 14 and 15, 1980. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1977
- PG
Larry Cohen's pseudo-biography of J. Edgar Hoover (Broderick Crawford) was virtually howled off the screens upon its release in 1977. Today, with the cross-dressing Hoover so much a matter of historical record that even Oliver Stone didn't bother to make too much of a point of it in Nixon, the Cohen film plays more like a dramatic re-enactment rather than the puerile paranoid fantasy it appeared to be at the time. Unfortunately, Cohen's method is part exploitation and part historical tableau. On the one hand, Cohen dramatizes historical moments in Hoover's momentous life story -- the shooting of John Dillinger in front of Chicago's Biograph Theater, his first arrest -- with a deadening solemnity (even abandoning the backlot facsimiles to shoot on the actual historical locations). On the other hand, Cohen relishes his scenes of Hoover's homosexuality and his propensity for sitting in the dark with a bottle of whiskey, replaying tapes of the amorous liaisons of high government officials -- the decadently homosexual Hoover built his political power base by getting all the dirt he could on the government's movers and shakers -- particularly their sexual liaisons -- and blackmailing them for their support when he could not get it in any other way. A true schizophrenic masterwork in its time, the film is now muted by a reality more incredible than Cohen ever imagined in his wildest dreams. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Broderick Crawford, José Ferrer, (more)
- 1974
This film for the TV series Harry-O was originally telecast under the title Smile, Jenny, You're Dead. David Janssen plays Harry Orwell, a seedy private eye investigating the murder of his friend's son-in-law. The principal suspect is the victim's wife Jenny (Andrea Marcovicci), a photographer's model. Since this is less a mystery than a suspense story, it isn't unfair to reveal that the real killer is a looney photographer (Zalman King, later a prolific producer of film erotica!), who is in love with Jenny and insanely jealous of anyone who gets in his way. The climax takes place on the roof of a high-rise. Guess what happens. The Harry-O series proper debuted in the fall of 1974, lasting two seasons. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- David Janssen, John Anderson, (more)
The 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis is the subject of this made-for-TV effort. Starring William Devane as President John Kennedy, the movie explores the events of the 13-day period when the world stood on the brink of nuclear war. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
This third film version of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic 1925 novel was one of the most hyped movies of the summer of 1974. Robert Redford stars as self-made millionaire Jay Gatsby, who uses his vast (and implicitly ill-gotten) fortune to buy his way into Long Island society. Most of all, Gatsby wants to win back the love of socialite Daisy Buchanan (Mia Farrow), now married to "old money" Tom Buchanan (Bruce Dern). Calmly observing the passing parade is Nick Carraway (Sam Waterston), Gatsby's best friend, who narrates the film. Francis Ford Coppola's screenplay is meticulously faithful to the original novel, but Theoni V. Aldredge's costume design and Nelson Riddle's nostalgic musical score won the film its only Oscars. The huge supporting cast includes Howard Da Silva, who played Wilson in the 1949 Great Gatsby, and a very young Patsy Kensit as Daisy's daughter. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Robert Redford, Mia Farrow, (more)
- 1974
Young filmmaker Halpern does homage in this documentary to a directorial veteran, Nicholas Ray, whose films included Johnny Guitar and Rebel Without A Cause. Ray, who initially studied architecture at Taliesen under Frank Lloyd Wright, was a highly regarded auteur director. At the time the documentary was made, Ray's filmmaking career was virtually over, and he was teaching film at Harpur College in Binghamton, N.Y. The documentary includes clips from several of the director's films, interviews with Natalie Wood, François Truffaut and others, and brief shots of him at work as a teacher and as a director. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
The first independent production of former studio mogul Jack Warner, 1776 was adapted from the hit 1969 Broadway musical by Peter Stone and Sherman Edwards. William Daniels, Ken Howard, and Howard Da Silva are among the many actors who recreate their Broadway roles. The story is set during the first Continental Congress, when the Declaration of Independence was drafted by such founding fathers as John Adams (Daniels) and Benjamin Franklin (Da Silva). The script attempts to "humanize" these remote historical figures by contemporizing them -- particularly the character of Ben Franklin. Blythe Danner's character of Martha Jefferson is expanded for the film version to allow for an elaborate outdoor production number. After 1776, Warner made only one more film, the 1972 "grunge Western" Dirty Little Billy. On an added note: the picture was originally rated G with its theatrical running time of 141 minutes. It was later expanded to 166 minutes; the added scenes caused the MPAA to re-rate it PG (for language) in 1992. Both versions are available on video. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- William Daniels, Howard Da Silva, (more)
Henry Hathaway's film is based on a character from Harold Robbins' The Carpetbaggers, who, in turn, based it on cowboy actor Ken Maynard. Set in the West of the 1890s, the film opens with the torture and murder of the parents of Max Sand (Steve McQueen) by a trio of gunslingers seemingly motivated by their hostility toward the mixed nature of the marriage, since the wife is a Native American. Swearing revenge, the young cowhand enlists the help of itinerant gunsmith Jonas Cord Brian Keith, who teaches him how to shoot while counseling against revenge. Nonetheless, Sand doggedly scours one town after the other before finally running up against one of the murderers, Jesse Coe (Martin Landau). He finally kills Coe in a vicious knife fight, but is severely wounded himself and has to be nursed back to health by Neesa (Janet Margolin), a young Kiowa woman. He next heads for Louisiana where another of the murderous trio, Bill Bowdre (Arthur Kennedy), is serving a prison sentence in a remote swamp. In order to get close to the man, Sand stages a robbery, and is soon among the prison inmates. This was the only film on which McQueen worked with Landau, the only other person admitted to the Actor's Studio out of thousands of applicants in 1957. ~ Michael Costello, Rovi
- Starring:
- Steve McQueen, Karl Malden, (more)
- 1966
Now posing as "Ed Sanders", Kimble (David Janssen) shows up at an electronics demonstration being held in a shopping mall, where he witnesses security guard Pete Dawes (Howard Da Silva) gunning down a teenage thief. Now Kimble must save an innocent man from being accused of the shooting--but he dares not make a move out of the mall for fear of being arrested. Caught in the middle of this dilemma is camera-store employee Marcia (Lois Nettleton), who has offered to provide Kimble a safe harbor from the authorities. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1964
In Volume 44 of a collection culled from the 1963-1965 science fiction anthology television series, an alien being comes to Earth to cut a deal with a scientist: if the human wills the spaceman all his emotions, the creature will give the professor the equations necessary to finish his invention. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
Derived from the classic 1951 Japanese film Rashomon, director Martin Ritt's The Outrage attempts to modernize the original story of rape and murder, transporting from medieval Japan to the American Southwest of the 1870's. The story is told within the framework of three men waiting at a railway station. A con-man (Edward G. Robinson) listens to the account of a trial held recently in the town as told by a prospector (Howard Da Silva) and a preacher (William Shatner) suffering from a crisis of faith in humanity. Three witnesses at the trial of a Mexican outlaw give conflicting testimony. Each version is shown in flashback. The outlaw, Juan Carrasco (Paul Newman), confesses that he bound the husband (Laurence Harvey), raped the wife, and killed the husband in a duel of honor. The wife (Claire Bloom) claims that the outlaw raped her, and then she stabbed her husband when he contemptuously blamed her for inviting the assault. The third witness, an old Indian (Paul Fix), declares that he found the dying husband who stated that he stabbed himself because he couldn't live with the humiliation. As the story continues to unfold, the validity of each of the stories is questioned before the truth is finally revealed. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi
- Starring:
- Paul Newman, Laurence Harvey, (more)
- 1964
In Volume 41 of a collection culled from the 1963-1965 science fiction anthology television series, a robot goes on trial following charges it killed its creator. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
- 1963
- G
- Add It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World to Queue Add It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World to top of Queue
With this all-star Cinerama epic, producer/director Stanley Kramer vowed to make "the comedy that would end all comedies." The story begins during a massive traffic jam, caused by reckless driver Smiler Grogan (Jimmy Durante), who, before (literally) kicking the bucket, cryptically tells the assembled drivers that he's buried a fortune in stolen loot, "under the Big W." The various motorists setting out on a mad scramble include a dentist (Sid Caesar) and his wife (Edie Adams); a henpecked husband (Milton Berle) accompanied by his mother-in-law (Ethel Merman) and his beatnik brother-in-law (Dick Shawn); a pair of comedy writers (Buddy Hackett and Mickey Rooney); and a variety of assorted nuts including a slow-wit (Jonathan Winters), a wheeler-dealer (Phil Silvers), and a pair of covetous cabdrivers (Peter Falk and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson). Monitoring every move that the fortune hunters make is a scrupulously honest police detective (Spencer Tracy). Virtually every lead, supporting, and bit part in the picture is filled by a well-known comic actor: the laughspinning lineup also includes Carl Reiner, Terry-Thomas, Arnold Stang, Buster Keaton, Jack Benny, Jerry Lewis, and The Three Stooges, who get one of the picture's biggest laughs by standing stock still and uttering not a word. Two prominent comedians are conspicuous by their absence: Groucho Marx refused to appear when Kramer couldn't meet his price, while Stan Laurel declined because he felt he was too old-looking to be funny. Available for years in its 154-minute general release version, the film was restored to its roadshow length of 175 minutes on home video; the search goes on for a missing Buster Keaton routine, reportedly excised on the eve of the picture's premiere. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Spencer Tracy, Milton Berle, (more)
This stark and spare look at the world of the mentally disturbed was one of the beacons of the new American independent film movement. Keir Dullea and Janet Margolin star as two adolescents who make contact with each other in a home for disturbed youngsters. Dullea is David Clemens, who is placed in the home by his mother because of his constant fear of being touched. Margolin is Lisa, a 15-year-old schizophrenic who speaks only in rhyme, when she speaks at all. David rejects the help of psychiatrist Alan Swinford (Howard Da Silva) but makes an emotional connection with Lisa. Because of his contact with Lisa, David eventually opens up to Swinford and his mother. But his mother is dissatisfied with his progress and takes him back home. Home life, however, consists of his mother's domineering ways and parental quarrels, so David runs away and returns to the home for disturbed youngsters. But then an argument with Lisa leads to a climactic confrontation. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Keir Dullea, Janet Margolin, (more)
- 1951
It took nerve for director Joseph Losey to attempt a remake of Fritz Lang's classic chiller M, but by and large Losey was up to the challenge. David Wayne steps into the old Peter Lorre role as the compulsive child-murderer who is tracked down and then placed on trial by the criminal underworld. Whereas the original was set in Berlin, the remake takes place in Los Angeles. Syndicate chieftain Marshall (Martin Gabel) organizes his fellow crooks in order to bring "M" to justice, thereby keeping the police off their own backs. Found guilty by his "peers" and sentenced to death, "M" makes an impassioned plea for his life, explaining that he is unable to stop himself from committing his unspeakable crimes. Filmed just before Joseph Losey was banned from Hollywood in the wake of the communist witch-hunt, M features such fellow blacklist victims as Howard da Silva, Luther Adler and Karen Morley. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- David Wayne, Luther Adler, (more)
Henry Hathaway directed this high-tension drama about a man teetering on the verge of self-destruction and how his dilemma affects those around him. Robert Cosick (Richard Basehart) is a desperate and despondent young man who has never gotten along with his parents (Robert Keith and Agnes Moorehead) and believes his girlfriend Virginia (Barbara Bel Geddes) no longer loves him. Cosick creeps onto the ledge of a skyscraper in downtown New York and threatens to jump; for the next 14 hours, Dunnigan (Paul Douglas), a policeman who was passing by, tries to talk him down, searching for a way to convince him that life is worth living. A crowd forms on the street below as Dunnigan talks with Cosick; Danny (Jeffrey Hunter) and Ruth (Debra Paget) meet as they watch the grim spectacle and discover how much they have in common. Meanwhile, in a building across the street, a young woman about to sign her divorce papers (Grace Kelly) finds herself wondering if she should give up on her marriage so hastily as she watches Cosick debate about throwing away his life. Fourteen Hours marked Grace Kelly's screen debut; Ossie Davis and Brian Keith also appear in small roles. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Richard Basehart, Paul Douglas, (more)
- 1950
Wyoming Mail stars Stephen McNally as frontier postal inspector Steve Davis. Assigned to break up a gang of outlaws who prey upon mail trains, Davis goes undercover, posing first as a fugitive from justice. Joining the bandit gang run by the ruthless Cavanaugh (Howard da Silva), Davis discovers that the crooks have an "inside man" within the railroad company itself. Alexis Smith co-stars as the "bad" girl who turns good to save Davis. Universal-International's knack for turning out superior westerns on modest budgets is entertainingly demonstrated in Wyoming Mail. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Stephen McNally, Alexis Smith, (more)
- 1950
The fabled 19th-century clashes between U.S. Marines and the pirates of Tripoli have provided story material for dozens of films. Tripoli stars John Payne as two-fisted marine lieutenant O'Bannon, though top billing is bestowed upon Maureen O'Hara as Countess D'Arneau, who has come to Tripoli hoping to wed a local prince. Also appearing is Howard Da Silva as Captain Demetrios, leader of a band of mercenaries who sell their loyalties to the highest bidder. After a great deal of byplay between the three stars, the action comes thick and fast as the marines and the pirates "have at" each other. Tripoli's strongest selling card is the Technicolor cinematography of James Wong Howe. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Maureen O'Hara, John Payne, (more)
Inspired by the 1949 hit A Letter to Three Wives, this takes the other side of the coin with a deceased playboy leaving letters to the husbands accusing their wives of having had affairs with him. Although the 1949 hit was done as a dramatic treatise on the reactions of the wives to the revelations, this movie is played strictly for laughs as the husbands stumble all over themselves trying to dig out the truth behind the allegations. ~ Tana Hobart, Rovi
- Starring:
- Eve Arden, Ruth Warrick, (more)
- 1950
Written by murder-mystery specialist Craig Rice, The Underworld Story concerns a corrupt newspaperman (Dan Duryea), who is in the pocket of a gangster (Howard da Silva). When he's fired by a big-city paper, the newsman buys an interest in a small-town weekly. It is while thus occupying that man reforms, devoting himself to clearing a black woman falsely accused of murder. Gale Storm co-stars as Duryea's assistant, who helps him expose an intricate and insidious conspiracy of silence. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Dan Duryea, Herbert Marshall, (more)
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