Mia Farrow Movies
American actress and long-time Woody Allen muse, Mia Farrow was the third of seven children born to film star Maureen O'Sullivan and director John Farrow. She enjoyed the usual pampered Hollywood kid lifestyle until she fell victim to polio at the age of nine; her struggle to recover from this illness was the first of many instances in which the seemingly frail Farrow exhibited a will of iron.Educated in an English convent school, Farrow returned to California with plans to take up acting. With precious little prior experience that included a bit part in her father's 1959 film John Paul Jones, she debuted on Broadway in a 1963 revival of The Importance of Being Earnest. The following year, she was cast as Alison McKenzie in the nighttime TV soap opera Peyton Place, which made her an idol of the American teen set. That people over the age of 18 were also interested in Farrow was proven in the summer of 1965, when she became the third wife of singer Frank Sinatra, 30 years her senior. The marriage provided fodder for both the tabloids and leering nightclub comics for a time, and while the union didn't last long, it put Farrow into the international filmgoing consciousness. (She and Sinatra remained close, long-time friends after their divorce).
Farrow's first important movie appearance was in Rosemary's Baby (1968) as the unwitting mother of Satan's offspring. She was often cast in damsel-in-distress parts -- capitalizing on Rosemary's Baby -- and in "trendy" pop-culture roles for several years thereafter. During this period, she married pianist André Previn and starting a family. Her skills as an actress increased, even if her films didn't bring in large crowds; Farrow's performance as Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby (1974) remains one of the few high points of the largely disappointing film. By the early '80s, a newly divorced Farrow had taken up with comedian/director Woody Allen, for whom she did some of her best work in such films as Zelig (1983); Broadway Danny Rose (1984), in which she was barely recognizable in a brilliant turn as a bosomy blonde bimbo; The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985); Hannah and Her Sisters (1986); Radio Days (1987); Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989); and Husbands and Wives (1992).
Farrow and Allen were soul mates in private as well as cinematic life; she had a child by him named Satchel, who was Allen's first son. In 1992, ironically the same year that she starred as Allen's discontented spouse in Husbands and Wives, Farrow once more commanded newspaper headlines when she discovered that Allen had been having more than a parental relationship with her adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn (whom he later married). Farrow and Allen then engaged in a long, well-publicized court battle for custody of their adopted and biological children; in the aftermath, Farrow wrote a tell-all memoir entitled What Falls Away. She also continued to appear on the screen in such films as Widows' Peak (1994), Miami Rhapsody (1995), and Coming Soon (1999).
Farrow stayed out of the limelight at the beginning of the next decade, but brought back memories of one of her best films, Rosemary's Baby, when she appeared as the nanny guiding the evil Satan child Damien in John Moore's adaptation of The Omen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1968
Director Anthony Mann's final film (Mann died during the filming, and the production was completed by the film's star, Laurence Harvey) is a kitchen-sink espionage drama with Harvey as Eberlin, a Russian spy and double-agent, homesick and pining for the Russian steppes. It is in this risky mood that Eberlin falls in love with the emaciated Caroline (Mia Farrow). Complications arise when he is directed to kill a Russian spy -- but the Russian spy happens to be himself. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laurence Harvey, Tom Courtenay, (more)
Stockard Channing stars in this made-for-cable comedy-drama as Dr. Beth Noonan, a female psychiatrist trying to hold her life together as she guides four of her patients through personal turmoil. Lauren Travis (Elle MacPherson), a respected lawyer, finds her sexual identity thrown into question when she discovers she's attracted to another woman, Casey (Kate Capshaw). Helen McCormick (Glenne Headly) is forced to spend a week with her two estranged sisters, Kathy (Allison Janney) and Kim (Rebecca DeMornay) after the death of their mother. Nia Morgan (Lynn Whitfield) is convinced her husband is being unfaithful to her; she hires Rachel (Linda Hamilton) to lure her spouse into infidelity, but Rachel learns that Nia's husband is actually involved with Betty (Mia Farrow), an older and unglamorous waitress. And after Dr. Noonan decides she can't handle the deep neuroses of Suzanne Nabor (Camryn Manheim), Suzanne snaps and takes the doctor hostage, along with three other people. It's a Girl Thing also stars Scott Bakula, Buck Henry, and Bruce Greenwood; it first aired in two parts on the Showtime premium cable network in January, 2001. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stockard Channing, Elle MacPherson, (more)
- 1982
- PG
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Woody Allen brings a diverting whimsy and a hopeful innocence to this period roundelay, based upon Ingmar Bergman's Smiles of a Summer's Night and Jean Renoir's Rules of the Game. Allen plays Andrew, a Wall Street broker and eccentric inventor who is having frigidity problems with his wife Adrian (Mary Steenburgen). Adrian and Andrew are the hosts, at their summer house in the country, of a wedding party for Ariel (Mia Farrow) and Leopold (Jose Ferrer), a famed academic who is Andrew's cousin. Over the weekend, another couple converges at Andrew's summer home -- the sly, lady-killer of a doctor Maxwell (Tony Roberts) and his date, the deliciously ditzy nurse Dulcy (Julie Hagerty). Through the course of the weekend, sexual partners are exchanged and magical fairy tale moments are shared. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, (more)
Robert Altman's over-frenetic satire on American marriage rituals and hypocrisy concerns the upper-crust marriage between Dino Corelli (Desi Arnaz Jr.) and Muffin Brenner (Amy Stryker). As the film begins, a senile bishop forgets the lines to the wedding ceremony and Nettie Sloan (the groom's grandmother) drops dead in an upstairs bedroom. Nettie's death is not disclosed to the two families who converge at the wedding reception. As the two sets of in-laws slam into each other, the bride and groom disappear in the ensuing whirlwind of chaos as both extended families vie for sexual favors and try to keep hidden never-discussed family secrets. Regina Corelli (Nina Van Pallandt) is revealed to be a drug addict, while Luigi, is endeavoring unsuccessfully to keep his Mafia connections under wraps. Meanwhile, the bride's family, although more down to earth, are revealed to be no better. Tulip Brenner (Carol Burnett) begins to flirt with one of the wedding guests, Mackenzie Goddard (Pat McCormick), while Snooks Brenner (Paul Dooley) acts like a lout and drinks heavily. And flying around the edges of the action like Tinkerbell is Buffy Brenner, the Brenners' youngest daughter, who is pregnant by the groom. As other characters bang into each other -- sexual degenerates, hard-nosed radicals, raw-boned emotional wrecks -- the wedding reception heads for its inevitable nuclear explosion. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carol Burnett, Paul Dooley, (more)
Woody Allen's character study of a well-kept, upscale Manhattan woman (Mia Farrow) takes the title character on a journey through a Wonderland of her own making, in which she learns some truths about herself, her relationships, and the universe in general. Alice leads a comfortable life, except for some nagging aches and pains, but when she visits the mysterious Dr. Yang (Keye Luke), he discovers that what really ails Alice is her own lack of true human experience. Alice has been married for sixteen years to Doug (William Hurt), an emotionally detached stockbroker, and she lives a perfectly maintained life in a perfectly maintained apartment, with a pair of children and the requisite support staff. All that changes when a chance meeting with a neighbor (Joe Mantegna) leads Alice to consider an affair. Dr. Yang, seizing the opportunity, gives Alice herbal potions that make her both invisible and seductive, allowing her to free herself from her inhibitions. Plunging into her new fantasy world, Alice ultimately comes to terms with her family, her husband, and her life. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mia Farrow, Joe Mantegna, (more)
- 1997
A tale of lost-love, idealism and steadfast commitment that alternates between comedy and drama. Passionate and tragic Angela Mooney (Mia Farrow) is a woman prepared to die for her ideals and attempts suicide rather frequently, something that never fails to draw a crowd. Outwardly, her reason for killing herself centers on the local creamery, a business run by her husband, who has spent his life building it up, that is about to be taken over by the America-based Little Rooster Corporation. Angela is afraid that the American company will destroy the quaint character of the town. Unfortunately, Angela is alone in her struggle as everyone else supports the buy-out. Angela's real reasons for fighting are revealed via flashback and have to do with the handsome young Scottish soldier to whom she gave her virginity when she was an impressionable young girl. He was an idealist and transferred his sense of justice to her. Later he was run out of town and so moved to America where he became a wealthy tycoon. Years pass and now the soldier/business magnate prepares to return to the village, something that has caused a flurry of activity amongst the townsfolk. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mia Farrow, Brendan Gleeson, (more)
Grad-school administrative head Marion Post (Gena Rowlands) is in the midst of writing a book. The walls are thin in the apartment she's taken for work purposes, and soon Marion begins listening to the sessions conducted by her neighbor, an analyst. One of the patients is Hope (Mia Farrow), whose marriage is in tatters. As Hope prattles on, Marion begins flashing back to highlights (and lowlights) of her own marriage. Her musings are constantly interrupted by the memory of the man (Gene Hackman) she'd once ardently loved. Later on, chance encounters with old friends force Marion to face the fact that she has lived her life sheltering herself from her true emotions. Director Woody Allen's career-long indebtedness to Ingmar Bergman is underlined in Another Woman via Bergman's frequent cinematographer Sven Nykvist. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gena Rowlands, Mia Farrow, (more)
On the heels of his first foray into romantic comedy, versatile French filmmaker Luc Besson breaks new ground yet again with this computer-animated, family-friendly adaptation of his own children's book Arthur and the Minimoys. Arthur is a wide-eyed ten-year-old whose vivid imagination is fueled by the colorful bedtime stories his grandmother reads to him each night. His dreams are filled with images of African tribes and the remarkable inventions detailed in the enigmatic book that his grandfather left behind after mysteriously disappearing four years ago. Arthur and his family are in danger of losing their home to an unscrupulous real-estate developer, but if there is any truth to the tales of a treasure hidden deep beneath their garden and the tiny, fairy-like creatures that his grandmother so frequently sketches, there may still be hope of saving their home before it's too late. Now, with nothing to guide him but the clues left behind by his grandfather, Arthur will set out to find the mythical world of Seven Kingdoms, where the Minimoys are said to dwell, and ensure that his troubled family always has a place to call home. An imaginative children's fantasy in the vein of J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan, Arthur and the Invisibles features the voices of David Bowie, Snoop Dogg, Madonna, Mia Farrow, and Freddie Highmore. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Freddie Highmore, Mia Farrow, (more)
- 2008
Over twenty years after one-in-eight Rwandans were senselessly butchered in a horrifying wave of genocide, two young women come face to face with the men who slaughtered their families and attempt to summon the strength to reconcile the past. As the Rwandan court system becomes hopelessly overwhelmed by a massive backlog of court cases related to the 1994 tragedy, over 50,000 genocide perpetrators are forced by the government to return to the very neighborhoods they once vowed to destroy. In a vacuum of justice, the only hope for the survivors who wish to forget about those dark days is reconciliation. But how do you forgive the people who destroyed everything you ever loved? Rather than focusing on the despair that still lingers strong in Africa, director Laura Waters Hinson and narrator Mia Farrow instead focus on the rebirth of Rwanda by tracing the stories of Rosaria and Chantal, two women who are willing to relive the pains of their past if it means that their fellow countrymen can have the opportunity to learn from the mistakes of their past. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 1978
When an "I'm-just-makin'-money" developer plops his new ski lodge at the foot of a mountain, the locals warn him about snowslides. So it's not too long before a gigantic avalanche buries the lodge and all the snow bunnies in it. Rock Hudson plays the ski lodge owner and Mia Farrow is his couch-hopping wife in this disaster film. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rock Hudson, Mia Farrow, (more)
When a bumbling movie lover becomes magnetized while attempting to sabotage a local power plant and accidentally erases all of the videotapes in the small video store where his best friend works, the pair attempt to keep the store's loyal customer base by remaking as many of the top-renting movies as possible. Mike (Mos Def) is an employee at Be Kind Rewind, a modest mom and pop video store that is owned by Mr. Fletcher (Danny Glover). Mike's best friend Jerry (Jack Black) works in an auto garage/junkyard directly adjacent to a local power plant. Lately Jerry has become increasingly paranoid about the effects that the power plant is having on his health. Convinced that he has developed a brain tumor from working in such close proximity to the power plant, Jerry attempts to sabotage the plant. Unfortunately for Jerry, his brain is magnetized in the process. The next time Jerry goes to visit Mike at Be Kind Rewind, the powerful magnetization emanating from his brain erases every videotape in the store. Now the only way for Mike and Jerry to be sure that Be Kind Rewind stays in business is to remake every film on the shelves before the customers notice. But when word gets out that Mike and Jerry have remade such Hollywood classics as Back to the Future, Robocop, The Lion King, and Rush Hour without permission, the store is threatened with copyright violations and forced to close its doors. In the aftermath of the closing, Mr. Fletcher and his employees discover just how loyal their customers really are when the entire neighborhood pools their resources to transform the junkyard into a legitimate movie studio and produce an entirely original film detailing the incredible adventures of a local jazz legend. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Black, Mos Def, (more)
A smaller, amusing comedy from writer/director Woody Allen, Broadway Danny Rose begins with a bunch of show business vets sitting around a table at New York's Carnegie Deli and reminiscing about the legendary titular character, a loser of an agent who would represent anyone, including blind xylophonists, piano-playing birds, and has-been crooners with drinking problems. Allen plays Rose as a befuddled, warm-hearted schlub who finally has a shot at getting somewhere when he signs washed-up lounge singer Lou Canova (Nick Apollo Forte) and nearly brings his career back to life. Danny gets him a date at the Waldorf, where Milton Berle is in the audience, looking for guests for his TV special. Canova has a complicated love life, juggling both a wife and a girlfriend. so he enlists Danny to take the girlfriend, Tina Vitale (Mia Farrow), to the concert. But Canova and Tina have a fight, she goes back to her Mafioso boyfriend, and Danny winds up getting chased halfway around New York and New Jersey by the Mob. And of course, once Canova gets his big break, he dumps Danny for another agent. Allen, Forte, and especially Farrow all do strong work with characters that could have easily become stereotypes, and the film has a lighter, warmer touch than the Allen films that preceded it (Stardust Memories and Zelig). ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, (more)
Coming Soon is yet another youth comedy about the sexual misadventures of a group of high school students, but with a difference -- this time, it follows three teenage girls who are in search of sexual and romantic fulfillment. Nell (Tricia Vessey), Jenny (Gaby Hoffmann), and Stream (Bonnie Root) are three friends enrolled at a respected private school, busy finishing up their senior year and trying to get into good colleges. But academia is not the only thing occupying their minds, especially when Stream admits to her friends that she's never had an orgasm. Jenny and Nell quickly decide they must find Stream a boyfriend who can solve this problem once and for all. But neither of them has been doing much better; while both have had their share of significant others, none has been especially concerned their pleasure, leaving both young women unsatisfied. Stream's fling with big man on campus Chad (James Roday) deprives her of her virginity but leaves her no closer to her stated goal; however, she meets Henry (Ryan Reynolds), a guy who is too much the individual to fit in at school but seems interested in her; he is also, for a change, not obsessed with himself. The supporting cast includes Spalding Gray as a guidance counselor and Ryan O'Neal and Mia Farrow (reunited nearly 35 years after appearing together on TV's Peyton Place) as Stream's parents. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tricia Vessey, Gaby Hoffmann, (more)
Woody Allen spent most of the 1980s and '90s veering between comedy and drama, and he rarely combined the two with greater success than in Crimes and Misdemeanors, in which he weaved together two stories, one deadly serious, one often funny, both ending in sadness. Martin Landau plays Dr. Judah Rosenthal, a prominent ophthalmologist with a successful practice, a loving family, and a reputation for generous charity work. But Rosenthal also has a secret: his mistress, Dolores (Anjelica Huston). What began as a casual fling has become uncomfortably intimate, and as he tries to break off the relationship, Dolores threatens to expose his infidelity to his wife and some unorthodox financial arrangements to his colleagues. Fearful that Dolores will make good on her threats, Judah confesses his secret to his brother Jack (Jerry Orbach), who has ties to organized crime and offers to "make the problem go away." Meanwhile, Cliff Stern (Woody Allen) is a filmmaker working on his pet project, a documentary about philosopher Prof. Louis Levy (Martin Bergmann). However, films about philosophers don't pay the rent, so Cliff's wife Wendy (Joanna Gleason) arranges for him to make a documentary for public television about her brother Lester (Alan Alda), a famous TV comedian whose vapidity is exceeded only by his arrogance. While Cliff tries to bite the bullet and finish the film, he finds himself falling in love with PBS producer Halley Reed (Mia Farrow). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Martin Landau, Woody Allen, (more)
Peter Ustinov began his long association with the Hercule Poirot character of murder mystery novelist Agatha Christie with this lavish but financially disappointing follow-up to the popular Murder on the Orient Express (1974). During a luxurious pleasure cruise down the Nile aboard a lavish vessel populated with wealthy passengers, widely despised heiress and home wrecker Linnet Ridgeway (Lois Chiles) is murdered. Also aboard is famed Belgian detective Poirot (Ustinov) and his taciturn traveling companion, Colonel Race (David Niven). Poirot undertakes an investigation into Ridgeway's killing. Among the colorful suspects are Salome (Angela Lansbury) and Rosalie Otterbourne (Olivia Hussey), Doctor Bessner (Jack Warden), Mrs. Van Schuyler (Bette Davis), Miss Bowers (Maggie Smith), and Jacqueline De Bellefort (Mia Farrow). As more bodies pile up, however, it appears that nearly everyone aboard has a motive. The script for Death on the Nile (1978) was adapted by Anthony Shaffer, the writer of Sleuth (1972) and the identical twin brother of Amadeus (1984) author Peter Shaffer. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Ustinov, Jane Birkin, (more)
- 1972
Docteur Popaul, or Scoundrel in White is a black comedy by Claude Chabrol. It tells of the life and proper comeuppance of Dr. Paul Simay (Jean Paul Belmondo), an unusual sort of ladies' man. At his hospital, there is a bet to see who can seduce the most ugly women. Paul is confident he can win, because he already woos ugly women exclusively. He says he gets much better results from them. When he woos and finally marries Christine (Mia Farrow), buck-teeth, leg-braces and all, he eventually discovers that he has more than met his match. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Mia Farrow, (more)
- 1999
Based on Living in the Labyrinth, the autobiography of Diana Friel McGowin, the made-for-TV Forget Me Never stars Mia Farrow as McGowin, a successful middle-aged legal secretary. Upon her realization that she is in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, Diana courageously attempts to hide her affliction from her husband, Jack (Martin Sheen), and her children, but it isn't long before the truth becomes painfully obvious. Seeking to bond with others suffering from Alzheimer's, Diana forms a strong and unassailable friendship with ex-professor Dr. Albert Morelli (Colm Feore), who is in a more advanced stage of the disease. Mia Farrow earned a Golden Globe nomination for her performance in Forget Me Never, which made its CBS network debut on October 3, 1999. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1977
The British/Canadian Full Circle is better known by its American title, The Haunting of Julia. The eponymous Julia, played by Mia Farrow, is driven to near-madness by the death of her daughter. Things don't get much better when Julia and her husband move into a forbidding old mansion. The events leading up to her daughter's horrible death threaten to repeat themselves, thereby explaining the film's original title. Based on a Peter Straub story, Full Circle covers familiar ground, but fans of Gothic horror will be generously served. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mia Farrow, Keir Dullea, (more)
- 1971
Though Mia Farrow came to prominence as costar of the TV series Peyton Place, much was made by network publicity flacks of Ms. Farrow's TV-movie debut in Goodbye Raggedy Ann. She plays an aspiring actress whose spectacular lack of good fortune in New York utterly destroys her will to go on. Mia is on the verge of suicide, when writer Hal Holbrook arrives on the scene and tries to talk her out of doing herself in. With Holbrook's guidance, Ms. Farrow realigns her notions of true success and gives life a second chance. Mia Farrow has always been a variable actress, but she's on target for most of Goodbye Raggedy Ann--whenever she isn't undermined by the corniness of Jack Sher's teleplay. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Richard Attenborough stars as a stalwart sergeant-major, stationed in British colony in Africa. When the colony declares its independence, Attenborough is assigned to keep the peace during the governmental transition. Trouble begins when an insurgent African officer (Errol John) attempts to overthrow the new, British-approved rulers. As the political situation becomes more and complex, Attenborough finds that his deeply entrenched values and beliefs are no longer valid. Based on a novel by Robert Holles, Guns at Batasi is what used to be called a "thinking man's adventure film." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Attenborough, Jack Hawkins, (more)
A Woody Allen Manhattan mosaic, Hannah and Her Sisters concerns the lives, loves, and infidelities among a tightly-knit artistic clan. Hannah (Mia Farrow) regularly meets with her sisters Holly (Dianne Wiest) and Lee (Barbara Hershey) to discuss the week's events. It's what they don't always tell each other that forms the film's various subplots. Hannah is married to accountant and financial planner Elliot (Michael Caine), who carries a torch for Lee, who in turn lives with pompous Soho artist Frederick (Max Von Sydow). Meanwhile, Holly, a neurotic actress and eternal loser in love, dates TV producer Mickey (Allen), who used to be married to Hannah and spends most of the film convinced that he's about to die. Appearing in supporting parts are Lloyd Nolan and Maureen O'Sullivan (Farrow's real mom), as the eternally bickering husband-and-wife acting team who are the parents of Hannah and her sisters. The film begins and ends during the family's traditional Thanksgiving dinner, filmed in Farrow's actual New York apartment. Unbilled cameos are contributed by Sam Waterston as one of Wiest's brief amours and Tony Roberts as one of Allen's friends. Hannah and Her Sisters collected Oscars for Michael Caine, Dianne Wiest, and Woody Allen's screenplay. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, (more)
This video compiles screen tests of actor and actresses that went on to become icons and stars. Included is footage of Dustin Hoffman, Julie Andrews, Ann-Magret, Raquel Welch, and Sean Connery. The DVD release of this collection offers interviews. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
This film showed up on TV as Forbidden Paradise, but you can't fool us. It's really The Hurricane, producer Dino De Laurentiis' ill-advised remake of the 1938 Sam Goldwyn production of the same name. The story of the casual cruelties imposed by the white ruling class on the natives of the isle of Manakoora had the advantage of timeliness in 1938; forty-one years later, the story plays like a Gilligan's Island amateur production of Uncle Tom's Cabin. Playing the old Jon Hall role of the native lad whose rambunctiousness incurs the wrath of the provincial governor, the uniquely ungifted Daton Kane makes Hall look like Sir John Gielgud. Even the expensive hurricane finale (which ate up most of the film's $22 million budget) isn't one-tenth as exciting as the corresponding sequence in the earlier film. The saddest aspect of the 1979 The Hurricane is that it was directed by Jan Troell, who showed flashes of brilliance in his earlier The Emigrants and Zandy's Bride; perhaps significantly, Troell hightailed it back to Sweden after wrapping up his obligation to Dino De Laurentiis. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jason Robards, Jr., Mia Farrow, (more)
