Illeana Douglas Movies

Happy, Texas is a fish-out-of-water comedy about two con men who escape from prison, then pose as gay lovers to hide out in a small Texas town. Mistaken for consultants to the Little Miss Fresh Squeezed Beauty Pageant, Harry (Jeremy Northam) and Wayne (Steve Zahn) go along with the ruse so they can stake out the local bank, owned by Josephine "Joe" McClintock (Ally Walker). The story kicks into high gear as Harry starts falling in love with Joe but cannot let on about his feelings. Also complicating matters is that gay Sheriff Dent (William H. Macy) has the hots for Harry, and Harry must pretend he's interested to keep the cops off his back. Meanwhile, Wayne is getting in touch with his feminine side as he tries his best to teach dance steps and flaming baton twirling to the little girls; he's also lusting after the girls' teacher, Ms. Schaefer (Ileana Douglas). Everything leads up to the big beauty pageant, where the cops are finally on Harry and Wayne's tail. First-time director Mark Illsley received wide media attention for this commercial piece, which sold to Miramax after a very public and intense bidding war. Steve Zahn's performance won him a special acting award at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, where the film premiered in dramatic competition . ~ Arthur Borman, All Movie Guide

With Larry(Garry Shandling) struggling with his desire to ask out Gina Gershon and Hank (Jeffrey Tambor) hitting on the woman who performed his colonoscopy, it once again seems as if the cast of The Larry Sanders Show is feeling a bit lonely. Eager to date Gershon, Larry feels that it would be inappropriate to ask the comely actress on a date without the permission of her ex-boyfriend Jeff Goldblum. Meanwhile, Mary Lou (Mary Lynn Rajskub) is conflicted when it comes to vouching for her close friend Wendy's (Sarah Silverman) standup skills. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Lynda La Plante (Prime Suspect) scripted this TV miniseries about the family life surrounding a Mafia don. Sicilian magnate Don Luciano (Dennis Farina) and his wife Graziella (Vanessa Redgrave) live comfortably at Villa Rosa in Palermo, Italy. Their son Michael (Michael Hayden) has an affair with Sophia (Nastassja Kinski), leaving her pregnant but unmarried. After Luciano refuses to traffic drugs, angry U.S. mob boss Carolla (Tony Lo Bianco) retaliates by having Michael killed. When Sophia secretly gives birth to Luka, her child by Michael, she then marries another Luciano brother and bears twins. Later, Carolla unwittingly adopts the teenage Luka (James Marsden), who is unaware of his own past. Carolla's vengeance continues through the years, and he passes the hatred on to Luka -- who sees that all males in the Luciano family are eliminated. Despite the slaughter, Luca charms the unsuspecting Luciano widows when he arrives at Villa Rosa, claiming to be the son of a wealthy, concerned American. How long before they learn the truth? Film director Peter Bogdanovich is seen in the role of Luciano's American contact, Giancamo. Bella Mafia first aired 11/16/97 and 11/18/97 on CBS. The feature-length video version was edited down to 117 min. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

In this Canadian documentary, two young filmmakers attend the Toronto Film Festival and pitch a film concept to various celebrities. Their film idea, titled The Dawn, concerns a Mafia don who goes for a hernia operation but gets a sex change instead. During the 1996 Toronto fest, they approach Roger Ebert, Norman Jewison (at a packed press conference), Eric Stoltz (leaving a limo), Al Pacino, and others without much success. On a roll, they leave Toronto for Hollywood, getting advice from Arthur Hiller and Neil Simon and finding an agent who expresses interest. Shown at the 1997 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

In this satirical "inside" look at the world of TV scripters, agent Danny (Tom Arnold) gives a 22-episode assignment to depressed, self-destructive writer-producer Brian (Stephen Rea), creatively spent and bereft of ideas. At his weekly poker game, Brian sees a romantic couple on a hotel balcony. When he tells the other writers about this, it triggers an impromptu story session. All four retreat across the street to the bar where Brian sees Georgia Feckler (Illeana Douglas) and decides she was the woman on the balcony. Desperate for ideas, he offers to buy the story of her life. After Brian vanishes with Georgia, his fellow scripters become concerned as to his whereabouts and decide to break into his living quarters. Shown at the AFI/Los Angeles Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

The real-life story of Teddy Roosevelt's role in the Spanish-American war is re-told in this made-for-television movie. Tom Berenger stars as Roosevelt, who in 1898 formed his own volunteer calvary to go into Cuba and fight the expansion of Spanish rule. Thousands of men from all walks of life volunteered, but Roosevelt honed the team down to over 500 fighting men. When they finally arrived in Cuba, they faced a well-equipped Spanish army and squared off in the famous Battle of San Juan Hill. Berenger is strong as the charismatic leader, and the supporting cast shines with familiar names. The film clocks in at four hours and was originally shown in two parts. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide

Illeana Douglas delivers a superb performance as Denise Waverly, a fictional singer and songwriter whose life bears more than a passing resemblance to that of real-life pop star Carole King. Edna Buxton, the daughter of a Philadelphia steel tycoon, aspires to a career as a singer, and when against her mother's bidding she sings a sultry version of "Hey There (You With the Stars in Your Eyes)" (instead of Mom's choice, "You'll Never Walk Alone") at a talent contest, she wins a recording contact and moves to New York City. She cuts a record and gains a new stage name, Denise Waverly; however, she soon finds that girl singers are a dime a dozen in the Big Apple and her career as a vocalist goes nowhere. But she has a knack for writing songs, and eccentric producer Joel Milner (John Turturro) asks her to pen some songs for his upcoming projects. Teamed with Howard Caszatt (Eric Stoltz), a hipster songwriter who wants to express his political and social ideals through pop tunes, she finds both a successful collaborator and husband. While her work with Howard gains Denise writing credits on a string of hit records and respect within the industry, their marriage falls apart, and she becomes involved with Jay Phillips (Matt Dillon), the gifted but unstable leader of a popular West Coast surf music combo. Students of pop music history will have a ball with the various characters modeled after real-life rock legends, and the 1960s-style song score includes numbers written by Joni Mitchell and J. Mascis (of the band Dinosaur Jr.), as well as one-time King collaborator Gerry Goffin; a collaboration between Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach, "God Give Me Strength," led to a full album written by the two great tunesmiths. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Martin Mirkhein (Griffin Dunne) is a failed entrepreneur trying to figure out how to pay a huge tax bill to the State of Florida when he gets a brainstorm -- Daniel Strong, the inspirational men's movement novel by New Age philosopher Luther Waxling (Dennis Hopper), would make a great film. Never mind that Mirkhein doesn't know a thing about making movies -- he decides that this film is his destiny, and he heads out with his girlfriend/personal assistant/aspiring screenwriter Marie (Illeana Douglas) to visit Waxling's representatives, who don't react with much enthusiasm when Mirkhein suggests that he'd like them to give him the film rights as well as the money to produce the movie. In search of financing, Mirkhein finds himself working with Kim Ulander (Christopher Walken), a businessman who doesn't mind if people think he's a gangster (and boy, is he something at karaoke night!), and Ron (John Turturro), a second-rate hood with a severely impaired fashion sense. The first directorial effort from artist David Salle, Search and Destroy was executive produced by Martin Scorsese, who also plays a small role as a tax agent. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

It's 1958, and the producers of the quiz show 21 have a problem. Their current champ, Herbert Stempel (John Turturro), has a phenomenal memory and a broad range of knowledge. He's also a pudgy loudmouth with a grating personality, so Herbert is encouraged to "take a dive" and allow Charles Van Doren (Ralph Fiennes), a handsome and charming college professor, to become the show's new champion. Audiences like Van Doren, and he's certainly not averse to the money he's winning, but the ethics of the situation begin to trouble him, especially when the show's producers begin to give him the questions in advance. Director Robert Redford and writer Paul Attanasio paint a telling portrait of how the network heads and advertising men who manipulated the quiz shows were also able to manipulate the responsibility for the scandal away from themselves. While on the surface a story about the scandal itself, Quiz Show is just as importantly about a turning point in the 1950s when TV and advertising began to change American character and culture. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This is the first mainstream film to deal with the harrowing true story of a Uruguayan rugby team whose plane crashed in the Andes mountains in October of 1972 and who were forced to resort to cannibalism to survive more than two months of isolation. (The only other film to tackle the subject, Rene Cardona's Survive! was a seedy little mess that delighted in exploiting the cannibalism aspect.) The events depicted are primarily based on the novel of the same name by Piers Paul Read. The interview-style prologue features an uncredited John Malkovich as one of the survivors, whose spiritual ruminations on the disaster kick off the film's main action. We are briefly introduced to the characters before disaster strikes, in the film's most horrifying set-piece -- the depiction of the crash in grueling detail. The handful of survivors who manage to extricate themselves from the twisted wreckage seem incapable of working through their panic as they hope against all odds that a rescue party will locate them. One of the survivors, Nando (Ethan Hawke), awakens from a coma and makes a remarkable recovery -- enough to demonstrate level-headed leadership after team captain Antonio (Vincent Spano) begins to lose his nerve. As the weeks wear on and rations are depleted, the survivors are forced into a moral dilemma: the only remaining source of food seems to be the bodies of the dead. Those who choose for religious reasons not to consume their former companions must face the realization that they will soon starve or freeze to death. In the end, three men who choose survival above all else find the strength to set out on a treacherous mission to a ridge, where hopefully one of them will make it to civilization. Director Frank Marshall infuses the proceedings with sufficient intensity to keep the story moving, but the film fails to fully explore the often-recounted spiritual aspects of the ordeal as established in the opening monologue. Ironically, the writers' apparent attempts to remain true to Read's account of events -- resulting in some rather odd stretches of dialogue -- impede the drama even more than the Hollywood glamorization of the story's nominal "heroes," who remain rugged and handsome despite months of malnutrition and severe frostbite. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Martin Scorsese's remake of Cape Fear provided the director with a box-office success to follow up the critical success of the previous year's Goodfellas. After serving a lengthy prison sentence for a sexual assault, Max Cady (Robert De Niro) comes calling on the man who served as his public defender, Sam Bowden (Nick Nolte). Max begins a campaign of harassment against the man and his family because Bowden buried a report that would have in all likelihood acquitted Cady of the charges against him. Bowden's shaky ethics continue in his personal life as he is considering beginning an extramarital affair with colleague Lori Davis (Illeana Douglas), since he and his wife, Leigh (Jessica Lange) have had a difficult time coming back together since he has admitted to previous indiscretions. Cady infiltrates the family most insidiously by cultivating a relationship with the Bowden's troubled teenage daughte, Danielle (Juliette Lewis), who is all the more susceptible to Cady's advances because of her parents' problems. Robert Mitchum and Gregory Peck, the stars of the original film, have cameo appearances in this version of Cape Fear. De Niro and Lewis were both nominated for Academy Awards for their work in the film. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Martin Scorsese explores the life of organized crime with his gritty, kinetic adaptation of Nicolas Pileggi's best-selling Wiseguy, the true-life account of mobster and FBI informant Henry Hill. Set to a true-to-period rock soundtrack, the story details the rise and fall of Hill, a half-Irish, half-Sicilian New York kid who grows up idolizing the "wise guys" in his impoverished Brooklyn neighborhood. He begins hanging around the mobsters, running errands and doing odd jobs until he gains the notice of local chieftain Paulie Cicero (Paul Sorvino), who takes him in as a surrogate son. As he reaches his teens, Hill (Ray Liotta) is inducted into the world of petty crime, where he distinguishes himself as a "stand-up guy" by choosing jail time over ratting on his accomplices. From that moment on, he is a part of the family. Along with his psychotic partner Tommy (Joe Pesci), he rises through the ranks to become Paulie's lieutenant; however, he quickly learns that, like his mentor Jimmy (Robert DeNiro), his ethnicity prevents him from ever becoming a "made guy," an actual member of the crime family. Soon he finds himself the target of both the feds and the mobsters, who feel that he has become a threat to their security with his reckless dealings. Goodfellas was rewarded with six Academy Award nominations including Best Picture; Pesci would walk away with Best Supporting Actor for his work. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide