James Farentino Movies
A product of the Brooklyn parochial school system, James Farentino studied for a theatrical career at AADA. Farentino made his Broadway debut in 1961 as Pedro in Tennessee Williams' Night of the Iguana. Though most of his subsequent professional time would be taken up by film and TV work, he would make frequent return visits to the stage, winning a Theatre World Award for his portrayal of Stanley Kowalski in a mid-1970s revival of another Williams piece, A Streetcar Named Desire. After an inauspicious movie bow in 1963's Psychomania, Farentino was signed by Universal, playing second leads in such films as The War Lord (1965) The Pad: And How to Use It (1966) and Rosie (1968). While still under the Universal banner, he starred in a brace of TV series, playing Neil Darrell in The Lawyers (1969-72) and high-profile private eye Jefferson Keyes in Cool Million (1972). He went on to star as copter jockey Frank Chaney in Blue Thunder (1984), Mary Tyler Moore's boss Frank DeMarco in Mary (1985) and Julie Andrews' veterinarian husband Sam McGuire in Julie (1992); one of his more famous weekly TV assignments was as Dr. Nick Toscannini during the first season of Dynasty (1981). Of his many TV-movie roles, several are standouts, among them the apostle Peter in Jesus of Nazaraeth (1977) and Juan Peron in Evita Peron (1985). James Farentino was formerly married to actress Michele Lee. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 2000
Newly married psychiatrist Mary (Jane Seymour) is identified as the murderer of her husband, Paul (Robert Desiderio), by an unimpeachable eyewitness. Detective Russo (James Farentino) is all for putting the cuffs on Mary, but she convinces him to wait until more evidence is gathered. Conducting her own personal investigation in some of the seamier districts of town, Mary learns that the likely killer is a woman who looks, acts, and dresses very much like her -- and, more disturbingly, our heroine discovers that her husband was leading a most unsavory double life. Capped by a climax straight out of The Perils of Pauline, Murder in the Mirror was directed by James Keach, the husband of star Jane Seymour; the made-for-TV thriller debuted January 19, 2000 on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jane Seymour, James Farentino, (more)
- 1998
The flamboyant novelist who brought the world such deathless literary masterpieces as Valley of the Dolls and Once is Not Enough is the subject of this made-for-cable biopic. Michele Lee stars as Jacqueline Susann, a second-string actress and well-known party girl who turned to journalism after her marriage to producer Irving Mansfield (Peter Reigert). Though constantly surrounded by Show Business Glitterati, Susann would not achieve celebrity status herself until age 47, when she published the lurid best-seller Valley of the Dolls. Though outwardly giving the impression that she was tough as nails and utterly invulnerable, Susann in truth had her share of anguish and tragedy, coping with the challenge of raising an autistic son, struggling against substance abuse, and ultimately waging a long, losing battle against breast cancer. According to studio publicity, star Michele Lee (who also served as executive producer) wore some of Susann's own jewelry and wardrobe in the course of making the film. Largely based on the biography by Barbara Seaman, Scandalous Me: The Jacqueline Susann Story made its USA network debut on December 9, 1998, several months before Bette Midler's theatrically released spin on the Susann legend, Isn't She Great. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michele Lee, Peter Riegert, (more)
- 1997
When America's safety is threatened, America's greatest secret agent comes to the rescue in an action-adventure yarn produced by Roger Corman. Yurdovich (Alexander Ilyin) is a notorious Serbian terrorist who has discovered a diabolical new weapon -- a super powerful nerve gas which can penetrate even the strongest gas masks and toughest anti-chemical suits. After Yurdovich takes out a platoon of American soldiers with the deadly gas and threatens to hit larger targets unless his demands are met, the U.S. security chief (James Farentino) calls in Dylan Pope (Steve Railsback), one of the free world's greatest undercover agents. Pope teams up with top agent Ed Marks (Eb Lottimer) and beautiful but ruthless field operative Delilah Shane (Athena Massey) as they set out to infiltrate Yurdovich's secret compound in the Adriatic Sea. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1996
Benton (Eriq La Salle) strongly suspects that Vucelich (Ron Rifkin) is manipulating the results of his study on the "clamp-and-run" procedure. Elsewhere, rumors buzz throughout the ER that Greene (Anthony Edwards) and Lewis (Sherry Stringfield) are lovers. And Carter (Noah Wyle) risks his career when he goes ballistic while dealing with an alcoholic patient named Nathan (Mark Pellegrino) and Nathan's "enabler" girlfriend, Angel (Charlotte Ross). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1996
Paramedics Shep (Ron Eldard) and Raul (Carlos Gomez) are trapped in an apartment fire while trying to rescue three children. Back at the ER, Shep's lover, Carol (Julianna Margulies), anxiously awaits word on his fate as dozens of burn victims pour in. Elsewhere, Ross (George Clooney) accepts his long-estranged father Ray's (James Farentino) invitation to a Chicago Bulls game, even though he intuitively suspects that Ray will stand him up again, just as he has so many times before. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1996
An already crowded ER is besieged by a dozen very pregnant females, among them a 13-year-old who now regrets her promise to give her child to an adult couple, a nervous crack addict, and a mentally unbalanced woman who insists that she was impregnated by space aliens. Making a bad situation worse, the fourth-floor sprinkler system malfunctions at OB/GYN, meaning that the ER staff will have to deliver eight of the babies -- and an attending physician named Dr. Anna Castigliano (Lindsay Crouse) suddenly goes into labor herself. Amidst all this chaos, is it any wonder that desk attendant Jerry (Abraham Benrubi) can't convince anyone that basketball star Scottie Pippen (playing himself) has dropped into the ER for a visit? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This post-modern comic variation on The Defiant Ones concerns Keats (Damon Wayans), an undercover police detective trying to get the goods on crime kingpin Frank Colton (James Caan). Keats poses as a crook to make friends with one of Colton's underlings, a drug dealer and car thief named Archie Moses (Adam Sandler). Keats is using Archie as part of a sting operation to put Colton away; however, Archie doesn't care for this, and when he finds out Keats's true plan and actual identity, it leads to an altercation that ends with Archie shooting Keats in the head. Several months later, Keats emerges from the hospital with a metal plate in his skull, and he has to bring Archie in. However, now Archie and Keats are both on Colton's enemies list, and the two find themselves on the run in Arizona, trying to outwit Colton's team of assassins, but having Archie on hand doesn't do much good in the outwitting department. Bulletproof was directed by Ernest Dickerson, who got his start as a cinematographer for Spike Lee. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Damon Wayans, Adam Sandler, (more)
Based on a popular novel by Judith Krantz, this sudsy romantic drama features a prominent photographer who heads to Gay Paree, unaware that greedy family members are plotting to bilk her father out of his valuable ranch land. Love blossoms in the City of Light when she encounters a fellow picture taker. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lisa Hartman, Cliff Robertson, (more)
- 1994
When a jury frees a killer, the woman who testified against him fears for her life. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1994
For a couple of years during the mid '90s, the Menendez Brothers, Lyle and Erik, held the country's interest after they stood trial for cold-bloodedly killing their parents. The murders took place in L.A., where both victims had successful Hollywood careers. What shocked the nation was that the nicely dressed, soft-spoken defendants claimed their parents abused them all their life. This sensationalistic dramatization is the first of several TV movies that exploited the brothers and their trial. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jill Clayburgh, James Farentino, (more)
- 1994
- R
A homeless teenager in Los Angeles manages to wind up sharing an apartment in a ritzy complex. One night he sees a beautiful neighbor swimming nude in the pool, when she is suddenly attacked by her crazed, insanely jealous husband. As he is drawn into his neighbor's life, what he doesn't realize is that he is being set up. ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide
- 1992
Based on a true story, this movie deals with a dysfunctional family which becomes increasingly more unstable as the patriarch runs rough-shod over them emotionally and physically. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- 1992
Based on a true story, once again we have a tale of a battered homemaker who seeks help from the deaf ear of bureaucracy when she feels that she must protect herself and her children from her abusive husband. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michele Lee, James Farentino, (more)
- 1992
When his brother is left in a coma after a near-fatal car accident, a young man decides it's time to do something on his own. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rick Schroder, James Farentino, (more)
- 1990
James Farentino plays the chief of a big-city underground narcotics unit. When a drug buy goes awry, a shotgun blows away one of Farentino's best men--and closest friends. As the once-harmonious drug unit disintegrates into recriminations and guilt, Farentino becomes more and more withdrawn, until he's of little further value to the force. A chance for redemption for everyone arrives in the form of another big-time drug bust. In the Line of Duty: A Cop for the Killing was based on a true story, as were all the In the Line of Duty films produced for television in the late 1980s--early 1990s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1990
J. Anthony Lukas' 1985 Pulitzer Prize winning book Common Ground served as the basis of the two-part TV movie Common Ground. Jane Curtin plays Alice McGoff, and CCH Pounder plays Rachel Twymon, two Boston housewives and mothers on opposite sides of one of the city's bitterest racial battles. In 1974, the decision is made to improve the level of education received by Boston's black youth. The solution: bus black kids to white schools, and vice versa, on a quota basis. Spearheading the movement is idealistic Harvard-educated attorney Colin Diver (Richard Thomas). Nobody emerges the winner of this debacle, as newly integrated Charleston High School becomes a battlefield. Part one of Common Ground premiered March 25, 1990 (see separate entry for details on part two). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1990
In part one of the 4-hour TV movie Common Ground (see separate entry for details), the city of Boston embarks upon its 1974 school busing program. Instead of bringing unity and harmony, the buses have brought dissension, divisiveness, and some of the ugliest overt bigotry since the 1950s. The impact of Boston's well-meaning integration program has its most profound impact upon black and white Charleston High schoolmates Cassandra (Erika Alexander) and Lisa (Georgia Emelin). They can see most clearly what the adults are doing wrong-but no one listens. Also starring in Common Ground are Jane Alexander, CCH Pounder, Richard Thomas, and, as beleagured Boston mayor Kevin White, James Farentino. The film strives to be fair to both sides, pointing out the racist behavior of both white and black extremists. For the most part, this impartiality works; what doesn't work are the thick, irritating Bostonian accents adopted by some of the actors. Adapted from the fact-based, Pulitzer Prize-winning book by J. Anthony Lucas, Part Two of Common Ground was first telecast March 27, 1990. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Victoria Principal plays a deputy District Attorney; that we can believe. James Farentino costars as a judge; this is also believable. Opponents in the courtroom, Principal and Farentino are lovers in bed; okay, we'll buy that. Principal is trying to secure a murder conviction for a pimp/blackmailer; we're still with this. But what Principal doesn't know is that the actual murderer is none other than Judge Farentino. Now you've lost us. Naked Lie was first telecast February 26, 1989, an event deemed worthy of a TV Guide cover; one gets the feeling that Victoria Principal could have gotten a TV Guide cover in 1989 by reading the phone book. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A frustrated writer helps save a woman being railroaded by the law -- or is she? -- in this comic mystery with romantic overtones. Phil Blackwood (Tom Selleck) is a best-selling mystery novelist who has run into a bad case of writer's block. Hoping to find inspiration for his next book, Phil goes to the city courthouse and witnesses the arraignment of Nina Ionescu (Paulina Porizkova), a beautiful Romanian immigrant who is accused of killing a man with a pair of scissors. For Phil, it's love at first sight, and after sneaking into jail disguised as a priest, he makes her an offer. Phil offers to let her stay at his house, and he provides her with an alibi -- she can claim that she couldn't have committed the crime, because she was with him at the time of the attack. Nina agrees, but after Phil encounters a handful of dangerous foreign agents, Nina's acrobatic parents, and a highly suspicious district attorney, he begins to wonder if Nina might have committed the murder after all. Her Alibi also features William Daniels as Sam, and James Farentino as Frank Polito; the song "Falling In Love" was written and recorded for the film by Randy Newman. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Selleck, Paulina Porizkova, (more)
- 1988
Artist Jill Clayburgh is divorced by her doctor husband James Farentino. Despite the obvious fact that Farentino is a louse, the loyalties of the couple's friends are divided. Left with precious little money, Clayburgh tries to make a go of it as a single mother, but finds that many of her so-called "close friends" don't want to have much to do with her anymore. Despite its melancholy tone and moments of dead seriousness, the made-for-TV Who Gets the Friends is a comedy, and at times a very funny one. Its bittersweet tone is, however, compromised by an out-of-the-blue happy ending. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1988
In this crime drama, a Manhattan police detective looks into the strange death of a peer who was ritually killed in Chinatown. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1987
Family Sins stars James Farentino as the old-fashioned, disciplinarian patriarch of a large family. Jill Eikenberry co-stars as Farentino's wife, who believes in standing by silently during her husband's tirades. The story's catalyst is Thomas Wilson Brown, the 11-year-old youngest son who is daddy's favorite. Sibling jealousy, coupled with the parents' inability to thoroughly understand what makes their children tick, leads to tragedy. Star Trek's Brent Spiner plays a supporting role in this made-for-TV film, which was first telecast October 25, 1987. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1986
The word for That Secret Sunday would seem to be "irresponsible." Two party girls are horribly murdered, and the police handle the investigation irresponsibly. The reason is that the four investigating cops are guilty of the murder, which stemmed from their own irresponsible behavior. Investigative reporter James Farentino might have been able to nail the cops, but his newspaper behaves with irresponsibility. Made for television, That Secret Sunday was responsible only in prompting viewers to change the channel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1986
Way out in the Pacific Ocean lays the most far flung of America's states. Hawaii is a land of spectacular beauty, with its pristine beaches, rugged mountains, and verdant forests. The travel destination experts at Rand McNally offer their insights and tips for a trip to this land of flowers and abundant wildlife. From the luxury resorts at Waikiki to the hidden waterfalls of Kauai, the armchair traveler discovers the beauty of the landscape, while learning the colorful history of its inhabitants. ~ Rose of Sharon Winter, All Movie Guide
