Charles Dance Movies

For Your Eyes Only eschews the gimmickry and campiness of earlier James Bond films, concentrating instead on telling the story and maintaining suspense. Roger Moore is back as Secret Agent 007, this time on the trail of Soviet spies while he romances the beautiful Melina, played by Carole Bouquet. Richard Maibaum's screenplay has very little to do with the collection of short stories that made up Ian Fleming's For Your Eyes Only, save for the plotline involving Melina's seeking vengeance for the death of her father. The direction is by John Glen, who'd previously done second unit work on other Bond films. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Saigon: Year of the Cat is a low-budget drama about the fall of Saigon. The film was made for the BBC in 1983. It was one of many television projects that director Stephen Frears (High Fidelity) worked on in the early part of his career. Playwright David Hare (Plenty) wrote the script. Judi Dench plays Barbara Dean, a depressed loan officer working for a British bank in Saigon in 1974. Barbara politely wards off the advances of her Scottish co-worker, Donald (Roger Rees), who does not share her respect for the Vietnamese people. She also avoids getting involved with Frank (Wallace Shawn), an American embassy employee with whom she plays bridge. When she meets Bob (Frederic Forrest), however, she's immediately attracted to him. She soon learns that while Bob poses as a cultural attaché, he actually works for the CIA. When Bob belatedly recognizes her attraction, he opens up to her, and they become lovers. Bob hears from a reliable intelligence source that the North Vietnamese are stepping up their aggression and plan to take Saigon soon. He tries to convince his boss, Jack Ockham (Josef Sommer), and the U.S. ambassador (E.G. Marshall) to prepare for the fall of the city by evacuating the South Vietnamese citizens who have worked most closely with the U.S. government. The ambassador does not want to appear to be abandoning President Thieu's regime. He refuses to credit Bob's report. Meanwhile, as the crisis looms, Barbara is growing despondent because Bob is not spending time with her, and because there's little she can do to help her South Vietnamese friends get out of the country. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

In this standard suspense thriller, Paul Hatcher (Charles Dance) has a habit of spying on the neighbors across the way, something that gets him into deep trouble. Hatcher is a movie critic, and for awhile it looks like his main problem is keeping reality and the silver screen separate. But then a double murder occurs across the street after some mobsters cannot find an incriminating negative. After Hatcher discovers where the negative is hidden, he is bumped to the top on the assassins' hit list. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Trevor Howard, Claire Bloom and Charles Dance are featured in this British suspense/mystery that was made-for-TV. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

Eddie Murphy followed up his Beverly Hills Cop success with this fantasy adventure that plops him right into the land of Ray Harryhausen and Indiana Jones. The plot revolves around a God-like youngster (J.L. Reate) known as a "golden child," who has been sent to Tibet to bring the gift of compassion to humanity. But the devil isn't idle, sending his emissary, Sardo Numspa (Charles Dance) to kidnap the golden child. Sardo absconds with the child and takes off to Los Angeles. In L.A., a beautiful Tibetan priestess named Kee Nang (Charlotte Lewis) seeks out Chandler Jarrell (Eddie Murphy), a social worker and self-styled "finder of lost children." She tells Chandler he has been chosen to rescue the magical child from the devil and save the world from evil. Before Chandler can let go of his first riposte, he finds himself holding a magic dagger, following a sacred parakeet, and under-going several trials by fire. He also falls in love with Kee Nang, who at one point in the film has to be brought back from the dead. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Actress/author Shirley MacLaine described her 1983 book Out on a Limb as the tale of her "personal spiritual quest." In this two-part TV-movie adaptation of the book, MacLaine plays herself, meeting the emotional challenge of passing 40 by entering into an affair with a Socialist member of the House of Commons (fictionalized as "Gerry Stamford" and played by Charles Dance). She also forms a unromantic but deep friendship with an unusual fellow (John Heard) who introduces her to the metaphysical world. Also in the cast are Anne Jackson as feminist Bella Abzug, and real-life "trance channellers" Kevin Ryerson and Sture Johanssen. Part two of this fascinating project finds MacLaine seeking further answers to the riddle of life in the Peruvian Andes. Out on a Limb premiered on January 18 and 19, 1987. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The year is 1908; after centuries of unchecked power, the Ottoman empire is rapidly crumbling. As a result, Turkey's secret agents--those that haven't already been eliminated by downsizing or death--operate in a vacuum, their superiors knowing little and caring less about their activities. One such spy is Ben Kingsley, a minor bureaucrat of no ambition. When ordered to help disreputable English citizens Charles Dance and Helen Mirren in the theft of a precious Greek artifact, Kingsley goes along without question. He is even prepared to follow orders and double-cross Dance the moment the robbery is pulled off. But as the film progresses, Kingsley becomes less and less of a by-the-book government functionary and more and more of an enigma--to Dance, to Mirren, to his country, to himself. More than your usual "caper" film, Pascali's Island has more layers than an artichoke. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this drama, set in the Greek islands, an Interpol agent assists an American embassy worker who is accused of murder. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This adaptation of Gaston Leroux's indefatigable "grand guignol" piece The Phantom of the Opera stars British actor Charles Dance as Erik the Phantom. This adaptation by playwright Arthur Kopit soft-pedals the horrific elements of the story to concentrate on the love the tragic Erik bears toward innocent chorus singer Teri Polo. The film boasts a stronger supporting cast than was usual for a TV movie, including Burt Lancaster (as the masked phantom's father), Ian Richardson and Jean-Pierre Cassel. The 1990 Phantom of the Opera reunited director Tony Richardson and composer John Addison, who'd both won Oscar for Tom Jones. Filmed on location in France, Phantom was originally telecast in two two-hour installments. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This video is made up of four mini-thrillers from a popular television anthology series. The first is "People Don't Do Such Things," about a soured marriage; "Youth from Vienna," centering on a fountain of youth that gives unexpected results; "Skeleton in the Cupboard," about a man with a terrible secret; and "Bird of Prey," the mystery of a dead parrot's giant egg. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Years after the fact, a surveyor tells a story to his friends over dinner about an experience he had while surveying a remote mountain site: The terrain there is forbidding, and a storm comes up, so the surveyor seeks shelter in the first place he can find it. This turns out to be the home of a poor, hard-working and very honest old priest. The surveyor shares a very spartan dinner with the welcoming old man, and the two strike up quite a bond of friendship. He discovers just one incongruity in this frugal setting: all the old man's bedding is of the highest quality. Time passes, and during an illness, the priest explains that the unusually elegant bedding comes from his having grown up in a wealthy family which has long since grown bankrupt. As failings go, if that is what this is, it seems minor enough. Realizing that he is dying, the priest entrusts the surveyor with his will. Later, when the will is read, it comes out that the priest wanted all his savings to go to the building of a school for the poor children of the region. In fact, the priest didn't have any monetary savings: his coin was of another kind. In an auction, the rich people of the area purchase each of the kindly priest's belongings for quite large sums of money, thus endowing the school. This moving story is based on a well-loved novel by the Austrian author Adalbert Stifter. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Arnold Schwarzenegger appears as a pumped-up Shakespearian hero while an announcer bellows, "Something is rotten in Denmark -- and Hamlet is taking out the trash!" This gag sets the stage for the post-modernist action epic The Last Action Hero. The film concerns Danny Madigan (Austin O'Brien), a lonely eleven-year-old boy who escapes from his bleak New York City reality by glorying in the action adventure movies of his favorite film character, Jack Slater (Arnold Schwarzenegger). Danny's friend is an elderly movie projectionist, Nick (Robert Prosky), who lets Danny into the shabby Times Square movie theater where he works so Danny can see Slater's new movie. He hands Danny a magic ticket given to him years ago by Houdini, and when Nick rips the ticket and gives Danny the stub, Danny finds himself catapulted from the theater into the back seat of Slater's speeding sports car in "Jack Slater IV." Danny becomes Slater's helper as Jack battles a trio of nefarious bad guys --Benedict (Charles Dance), Vivaldi (Anthony Quinn) and The Ripper (Tom Noonan). But things get out of hand when Benedict steals Danny's magic ticket stub and transports himself into Danny's reality. Benedict and The Ripper proceed to wreak havoc along Broadway, forcing Slater to cross into reality to get the villains and, in the process, learn about blood and pain. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

A psychopathic building super wreaks havoc upon his tenants in this Spanish-Puerto Rican psychodrama that was entirely filmed in Puerto Rico. A killer on the run. To hide from the authorities he kills the newly hired superintendent of the seedy Paradise Condominiums and assumes his identity. When he meets the condo's lonely manager, he calls himself Quinn. She becomes his first victim after she discovers his true identity. Quinn, though a cold-blooded murderer, has a certain charm and soon everyone is fooled, except for Gus a young attendant at a gas station. When Quinn sets his sights upon Gus' best friend Sara and her mother, who trust their super, a battle ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide