Susan Dey Movies
Like her TV contemporaries Ron Howard and Valerie Bertinelli, actress Susan Dey grew up before the eyes of America. In 1970, the eighteen-year-old Dey was cast as Laurie Partridge on the popular sitcom The Partridge Family, garnering excellent reviews from critics who otherwise wrote off the series as a waste of time. As early as the 1975 TV movie Cage without a Key, Susan was struggling to break away from her goodie-goodie Partridge image. She almost succeeded with her nude love scene in the 1977 theatrical feature First Love, but audiences still preferred to see Susan in such roles as Jo March in the 1977 made-for-TV Little Women. Also in 1977, she starred in the obscure television series Loves Me, Loves me Not. In 1986, she accepted the role of no-nonsense attorney Grace Van Owen in the courtroom television drama LA Law, and in 1992, Susan was permitted to flex her comedy muscles once more as Wallace Porter in the weekly sitcom Love and War, though she grew dissatisfied with her role and left the series in 1993. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1987
In Angel in Green, an unlikely alliance between a Jesuit missionary and a trained-for-combat Green Beret trooper is formed to help protect the island natives from insurgent-spawned violence. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1992
When a poor waitress shoots her abusive husband, she is forced to battle the courts for custody of her children while waiting for a verdict on her trial for murder of her husband. Based on a true story, it does a credible job in the depiction of the abusive relationship but some of the impact is diminished when the film moralizes that the husband's latent homosexuality was the cause or as culpable as the physical abuse he inflicted upon his wife. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Susan Dey, Chris Cooper, (more)
- 1994
A woman lives in fear as she hides from her abusive husband in this made-for-television thriller. Susan Dey stars as Joanna Matthews, a woman who lives under an assumed name in order to hide from her husband Bradley Matthews (Richard Dean Anderson). A well-liked cop, Matthews has a dark side that only Joanna knows about, and she must fight to expose his true ways in order to survive. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide
The rocky relationship between two brothers is told in flashbacks in this made-for-television coming-of-age drama from Hallmark Entertainment. Based on the novel by Ethan Canin, a long-lost brother (Jerry O'Connell) comes back to his dysfunctional family and unearths his younger brother's mixed feelings. Emmy nominee Richard Welsh (The Piano Lesson) served as executive producer. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide
- 1975
Susan Dey inaugurated her long and successful campaign to shuck her Partridge Family image in the made-for-TV Cage Without a Key. Dey plays a teenager mistakenly convicted for murder (some mistake!) She is sentenced to a grim woman's penal institution straight out of a Linda Blair movie. As she struggles against the iniquities of prison life, her friends and relatives on the outside fight for justice. A shockingly substandard effort from accomplished TV director Buzz Kulik, Cage Without a Key is credible only in its exterior scenes, filmed at Las Palmas School for Girls in City of Commerce, California. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This eerie cable-TV movie begins as married couple Jim and Patty (played by one-time L.A. Law costars Harry Hamlin and Susan Dey), accompanied by their children, drive through the Nevada desert in their SUV. Through an unfortunate set of circumstances, the family finds itself marooned in a deserted (and uncharted) town called Weaver. Or is it truly deserted? The spectral images encountered by Jim and Patty may be the spirits of Indians interred in a local burial mound, or they might be the hideously misshapen victims of a botched nuclear test. Whatever the case, it is what the audience doesn't see that induces the goose pimples. Filmed in Australia, Disappearance originally appeared over the TBS cable service on April 21, 2002. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This bittersweet comedy looks at the denizens of Echo Park, a decaying section of Los Angeles popular with struggling actors and musicians, largely because of its (relatively) low rents. May Greer (Susan Dey) is a single mother and aspiring actress who makes ends meet by tending bar (the most lucrative job she's been offered in show biz is as a combination stripper and singing telegram girl). Her neighbor August (Michael Bowen) is a body-builder from Austria who dreams of becoming a movie star like Arnold Schwarzenegger, though these days he's supporting himself by doing low-budget TV commercials for deodorant. May and August have an on-again, off-again relationship, which has more to do with sex and loneliness than love. Hoping to stretch her budget a bit, May rents out a room to Jonathan, a wannabe singer/songwriter who makes his money delivering pizzas. May takes a liking to Jonathan, and her son Henry (Christopher Walker) sees Jonathan as the benevolent father figure that's been missing from his life. The supporting cast includes cult figure Timothy Carey and Cassandra Peterson, best known as princess of the dark Elvira. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1977
- R
It's hardly likely that anyone will confuse 1977's First Love with the 1939 Deanna Durbin musical of the same name. In the earlier film, Durbin received her first screen kiss from Robert Stack. In the 1977 film, no one stops at kissing. College boy Elgin (William Katt) falls for coed Caroline (Susan Dey, light-years removed from The Partridge Family), despite Caroline's deep involvement with an older man. 1950s leading lady Virginia Leith makes a comeback appearance in a minor role. Critics applauded the sensitive direction by Joan Darling, even while carping that the title First Love seemed to be a misnomer: neither Katt nor Dey appear to be inexperienced in sexual matters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Katt, Susan Dey, (more)
- 1989
A misdiagnosis of a curable disease tests the bonds of love between a couple in this true story drama. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1986
Though the series proper debuted on Friday, October 3, 1986, L.A. Law was heralded by a two-hour TV movie, which aired Monday, September 15. The Steven Bochco production gets off to a good start, with no fewer than three cases resolved within the first installment. We first meet law-firm partner Michael Kuzak (Harry Hamlin) compromising his personal values with an odious client; our introduction to Arnold Becker (Corbin Bernsen) finds him personally involved in a divorce settlement; and Ann Kelsey (Jill Eikenberry) and Douglas Brackman Jr. (Alan Rachins) spar over a pro-bono case. Also starring is Richard Dysart as senior partner Leland McKenzie, and Jimmy Smits as tyro lawyer Victor Sifuentes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This two-hour TV movie served as a reunion for the cast of L.A. Law, a popular NBC legal series which originally aired from 1987 to 1994. Virtually all of the series' regulars were back on the job, with the noteworthy exception of Jimmy Smits. Most of the story takes place within the walls of the high-powered McKenzie-Brackman legal firm, which since the retirement of Leland McKenzie (Richard A. Dysart) had been controlled by the rule-bound Douglas Brackman (Alan Rachins). The main plot strand zeroes in on lawyer Michael Kuzak (Harry Hamlin), who in his efforts to save a former client from execution is pitted against his former partner -- and lover -- Judge Grace Van Owen (Susan Dey). Meanwhile, legal eagle Arnie Becker (Corbin Bernsen) is in the throes of a divorce action brought about by his wife (and ex-colleague) Abby Perkins (Michelle Greene); attorneys Stuart Markowitz (Michael Tucker) and Ann Kelsey (Jill Eikenberry) are being defrauded out of their life savings; and Roxanne Melman (Susan Ruttan) copes with the imminent death of her ailing ex-husband. Known variously as L.A. Law: The Movie and L.A. Law: Return to Justice, the film was telecast by NBC on May 12, 2002. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Christina (Susan Dey) is a cocaine addict in a tumultuous relationship with an equally drug-addicted boyfriend. When she becomes pregnant, the baby is born not only prematurely but with the chemical dependency of its mother. Now Christina is in a fight to make her life clean and stable so that social services will allow her to have custody of her daughter. But first, she'll have to convince not only her jaded case worker, but herself, that she can. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Susan Dey
The third filming of Louisa May Alcott's novel is this made-for-TV effort, which follows the hardships faced by the March family during the Civil War. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Meredith Baxter-Birney, Susan Dey, (more)
This fun, silly thriller written and directed by Michael Crichton manages to combine the dramatic murders of beautiful models, a secret conspiracy to use TV commercials for mind-control, and an unusual seeing-eye device which makes the wearer invisible. Plastic surgeon Larry Roberts (Albert Finney) becomes the prime suspect after two models on whom he operated are killed. Larry becomes suspicious because both of the women came into his office asking for very precise and seemingly unnecessary physical alterations. Agreeing to operate, because the women's jobs depended on the surgery, Larry must now clear his own name and save his life and career. With the aid of a friend and model Cindy (Susan Dey), Larry discovers and foils the plot led by corporation-head John Reston (James Coburn). Larry must then fight for his life against Reston's thugs who are equipped with the devices, called "Lookers." This is good, if silly fun and Albert Finney does his best with a somewhat implausible script. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Albert Finney, James Coburn, (more)
- 1984
This made-for-Disney drama is the fact-based account of Morris Frank (Timothy Bottoms), who, during the 1930s, trained America's first seeing-eye dog. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1993
When a rebellious young woman's cocaine habit results in an addicted premature baby, authorities whisk the infant away. Devastated, the young mother realizes that she will have to prove herself worthy and capable of motherhood and so sets out to clean up her act. Unfortunately, it may be too little too late as far as the courts are concerned. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Susan Dey, Lorraine Toussaint, (more)
- 1983
Malibu is a two-part, four-hour adaptation of William Murray's best-selling novel. William Atherton and Susan Dey play a green-as-grass married couple from Milwaukee who take a vacation in Malibu. Amidst the elite and their million-dollar beach houses, Atherton starts up an affair with divorcee Valerie Perrine, while Dey fends off the attentions of TV star Steve Forrest before succumbing to the charms of tennis pro Chad Everett. Other Southern California satyrs and nymphs wandering in and out of Malibu include James Coburn, Eva Marie Saint, Ann Jillian, Kim Novak, Richard Mulligan, and (who else?) George Hamilton. The multiple story lines all come to a head during a climactic tennis match. Malibu is trash, true, but it's trash cultivated from the highest-quality refuse heaps. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1977
Mary Jane Harper Cried Last Night stars Susan Dey as a young mother with a history of mistreating her 3 year old daughter. Ms. Dey's erratic behavior is rooted in her own unhappy childhood and her failed marriage. Tricia O'Neil plays the doctor who endeavors to help both Dey and her daughter, despite the interference of well-meaning bureaucrats. Joanna Lee's script for this TV movie would have been twice as effective had it not relied so heavily on character stereotypes. The title character of Mary Jane Harper Cried Last Night was played by little Natasha Ryan, who portrayed several battered children during her short career. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1992
This 1992 episode of Saturday Night Live is hosted by Susan Dey and features musical guest C+C Music Factory. ~ Skyler Miller, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Susan Dey, C+C Music Factory, (more)
Sky Terror is the reissue title for Skyjacked, a 1972 MGM all-star adventure based on a novel by David Harper. Charlton Heston mans the controls of a Los Angeles-bound commercial airliner which is hijacked to Russia by an unknown miscreant. Even when the skyjacker, revealed to be passenger James Brolin, is subsequently subdued, the crew must contend with a hidden time bomb. The film is graced with a who's who of MGM contractees past and present, including Yvette Mimieux, Walter Pidgeon and Mike Henry. A flashback sequence contains one of the first examples of an American film coming to grips with how rudely our Vietnam veterans were ignored upon returning home; alas, this compassion quickly degenerates into the odious "crazed Vietnam vet" cliche. Footnote: The first network showing of Skyjacked was boycotted by TV stations owned by the Storer Corporation, which had a hard and fast rule against screening any film concerning a hijacked plane. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charlton Heston, Yvette Mimieux, (more)
In this made-for-TV comedy an unemployed stand-up comedian is tossed out by his girl friend and so gets a job driving a limo. He is still determined to win her back, and nothing, not even his inadvertent involvement with two hit men, will stop him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1973
Terror on the Beach stars Dennis Weaver and Estelle Parsons as the parents of a family vacationing on the shores of California. A gang of vicious, marauding teenagers invade the campsite and proceed to make the family's life hell. Weaver resists giving into violence until the fierce climax, where he proves just as capable of evil as his tormentors. The highlight of this grim charade is a dune-buggy chase, far better staged and photographed than most of the violent set-pieces. Made for television, Terror on the Beach was filmed on location at California's Pismo Beach. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1989
- R
Fans of movie industry satire will want to see That's Adequate, an all-star production which spoofs the popular series of documentary films honoring MGM's musical comedies, That's Entertainment. Narrated by Tony Randall, this mock-history chronicles the film output of the second-rate "Adequate Film Studios" during its six precarious decades of existence. At times the humor gets very broad, including a fair amount of vulgarity. We see clips from such Adequate Studios monstrosities as "Singing in the Synagogue," and "Sluts of the South." Some of the stars enlivening these parodies are Bruce Willis, Robert Downey, Jr., James Coco, Anne Meara, Professor Irwin Corey, Jerry Stiller and Robert Vaughn. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tony Randall, James Coco, (more)
- 1976
Kurt Russell, Tim Matheson, and Susan Dey star in this TV-movie follow-up to the western The Quest. Russell and Matheson play brothers out to rescue their sister from American Indians. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- 1980
Made for television, a former professional baseball player (John Ritter) coaches a team of misfits to the little-league crown. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
