Melinda Dillon Movies

Virtually the first third of The April Fools takes place at a trendy party held by sharkish executive Ted Gunther (Peter Lawford). It is here that Howard Brubaker (Jack Lemmon), one of Gunther's employees, makes the acquaintance of the boss' lovely young trophy wife Catherine (Catherine Deneuve). It happens that Brubaker is unhappily wed to Phyllis (Sally Kellerman, who gives an excellent performance in an essentially one-note role) and that Catherine is equally unhappy in her relationship with Gunther. The two lost souls run off together, planning to fly to Paris. There's approximately 25 minutes' worth of plot in The April Fools; much of the leftover time is eaten up by a protracted drunken-driving sequence involving suburban hubbies Lemmon, Jack Weston, Harvey Korman and Kenneth Mars, and by a lengthy episode featuring Charles Boyer and Myrna Loy as a robust, free-thinking elderly married couple. Some good dialogue, notably Lemmon's shaggy-dog story about goldfish and Chinese food, cannot hide the slightness of the piece. Still, a great many filmgoers were charmed by The April Fools. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Adapted by Robert Getchell from Woody Guthrie's autobiography, Hal Ashby's biopic portrays a few pivotal years in the life of the celebrated folk singer and social activist. In the Depression 1930s, Midwesterner Guthrie (David Carradine) plays music locally but cannot make enough as a sign painter to support his wife (Melinda Dillon) and children. With only his paintbrushes, Woody joins the migration westward from the Dust Bowl to supposedly greener California pastures via boxcar and hitchhiking. When penniless Woody is turned back from the California border, he sneaks into the state alone and meets Luther (Randy Quaid), who takes Woody to a farm where hundreds of workers scrounge for a few ill-paid harvesting jobs. When singer Ozark Bole (Ronny Cox) arrives both to entertain and to urge the workers to unionize, Woody joins Ozark in song, fleeing with him after thugs break up the assembly. He lands a job singing with Ozark on the radio, and the two become partners in union agitation. Unable to commit in his personal life as he finds his political voice, Woody brings his family west, but his wife can't tolerate Woody's wandering ways. Reluctant to sell out his ideals for a lucrative career, Woody hits the road again, bringing his songs of freedom and protest to a nationwide audience on his own terms. Opting for atmospheric story-telling over strident polemic, the filmmakers present Guthrie as a complex individual with contradictory virtues and faults. Despite critical praise and nominations for several Oscars, including Best Picture, Bound for Glory proved less than glorious at the box office. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

Paul Newman plays Reggie Dunlop, the coach of a pathetic minor-league American hockey team. His career at a standstill and his marriage in tatters, Dunlop has nothing to lose by taking on a new group of players who are one evolutionary step above Neanderthals. Only when the team begins winning does he decide to get behind these players, and to encourage the rest of the team to play as down-and-dirty as the newcomers. Straight-arrow team member Ned Braden (Michael Ontkean) resents this influx of gonzo talent, preferring to play clean. As the film's multitude of subplots play themselves out, Dunlop does his best to keep the outraged Braden on the team. Slap Shot is the sort of film for which the "R" rating was invented: Its nonstop barrage of profanity and its raunchy action sequences are of such intensity that the film will probably never be shown intact on commercial television. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Critical List divides its four-hour running time between a big city hospital and a courtroom where the hospital heads are battling numerous malpractice suits. Medical director Lloyd Bridges is obliged to juggle the travails at the hospital with his own deteriorating marriage. Prosecutor Buddy Ebsen seems obsessed with bring medicos to justice; his reasons are deep and complex. Prosecutor's assistant Barbara Parkins compromises her objectivity of entering into a romance with Bridges. And head doctor Robert Wagner has a colorful past that he'd like to keep buried. The story concludes with a major health-fund scandal that threatens Bridges' appointment as the first Secretary of National Health. Advertised as a "world premiere movie", Critical List was actually two TV-series pilot films strung together. Both were based on novels by Marshall Goldberg MD. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this drama, an ambitious executive must decide whether or not to have a much needed heart transplant. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Advertised as "Paul Newman's First Film for Television," Shadow Box was more specifically the first TV movie to be directed by Newman. Moving in a slow, deliberate fashion, the film concerns three terminally ill people. Their stories intertwine as the unfortunate spend their last days with their families in a cottage-complex hospice. Christopher Plummer and Joanne Woodward play a pair of ex-spouses, whose chances for reconciliation are strained somewhat by the presence of Plummer's male lover Ben Masters. James Broderick plays a blue-collar worker, sharing precious final moments with wife Valerie Harper. And elderly Sylvia Sidney comes to terms with her daughter Melinda Dillon. Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Michael Cristofer, Shadow Box was co-produced by Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward's daughter Susan Kendall Newman. The Emmy-nominated drama was first telecast December 28, 1980. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this made-for-TV movie, a wedding photographer learns the secrets of marriage while working at several ceremonies. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

In this legal drama from director Sydney Pollack, Sally Field stars as Megan, an ambitious newpaper reporter who, based on information from FBI investigator Rosen, played by Bob Balaban, writes a scathing article that implicates Gallagher, a reclusive business-owner played by Paul Newman, in the recent disappearance of a labor leader. When Gallagher confronts Megan and sets her straight, the two team together to prove his innocence and have a few romantic interludes along the way. Wilford Brimley and Melinda Dillon also star. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

This story about an elderly couple who start a large controversy when everyone learns they plan on committing suicide stars James Stewart as the retired Teddy Dwyer, and Betty Davis is his wife Mini Dwyer. When Mini learns she is terminally ill with a blood disease, the couple decide to end their lives peacefully, at the same time. Mini's mistake was to finally tell her daughter Ruda (Melinda Dillon), and from there, the news eventually leaks out and gets passed on to the media. Right of Way tries to balance precariously between a serious theme and a light-hearted couple, as Teddy continues engrossed in his books and Mini in her long-practiced art of making specialty dolls, with their housecats all around them. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Produced for the Disney Channel cable service, The Juggler of Notre Dame is based on the classic fable by Anatole France. Carl Carlsson plays the title role, an itinerant juggler who can't make a go of it in any "practical" line of work. On Christmas Eve, it is customary for the townspeople to offer presents to the statue of the Virgin Mary at Notre Dame cathedral. Carlsson knows no craft, can sing no song, can write no books. What can he offer the blessed Virgin? The answer is implicit in the title, but even without the element of surprise, The Juggler of Notre Dame is a captivating, heartwarming tale. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A father's descent into alcoholism is chronicled in this powerful made-for-TV drama. Much of the story centers on the devastating effects that his drinking has on his family. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this horror outing, a secret government experiment produces a man capable of using his mental powers to start fires. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide