Lucie Arnaz Movies
American actress Lucie Arnaz was the first child of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. Lucie was a genuine "miracle baby", delivered by C-section after her 40-year-old mother had suffered several miscarriages. In the public eye almost from birth, Lucie and her younger brother Desi Jr. frequently accompanied their parents to the set of I Love Lucy; both children, in fact, made their professional TV debuts as extras on the last Lucy half-hour filmed in 1957. Lucille Ball arranged for Lucie to play bits on her post-Desi TV series of the 1960s, The Lucy Show. When Lucie decided she enjoyed the limelight, her mother agreed to allow her to continue as a full supporting player on her next series, Here's Lucy (1968-74) -- but only on the condition that she kept apace in school and stayed out of trouble. The notion that Lucie would flounder without the support of her parents was quashed when she won a Theatre World Award for her 1978 Broadway debut in They're Playing Our Song. Lucie had earlier established herself as an actress of distinction in the 1976 TV movie Who Is the Black Dahlia?, and even managed to emerge from the painful Neil Diamond version of The Jazz Singer (1980) without any loss of reputation. She has also starred in two short-lived TV series, The Lucie Arnaz Show (1985) and Sons and Daughters (1991). Long married to actor Laurence Luckinbill, Lucie Arnaz has in recent years become the torchbearer of the Lucy/Desi legacy by marketing several reels of the Arnaz' 1940s home movies for TV and videocassette exposure. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1963
Lucy's daughter Chris (Candy Moore) needs 40 dollars to purchase a majorette costume, so she lands a job at Wilbur's Ice Cream parlor. Unfortunately, on the day of the big band parade, Wilbur (Paul Hartman) refuses to let Chris off. Thus it is that Lucy (Lucille Ball) and Viv (Vivian Vance) volunteer to work behind the soda counter--with the expectedly messy results! Also known as "Lucy Is a Drum Majorette,this episode marks the TV acting debut of Lucille Ball's daughter Lucie Arnaz. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Hartman, Lucie Arnaz, (more)
- 1963
Rather than come off as old fogies, Lucy (Lucille Ball) and Viv (Vivian Vance) really try to "mix in" while chaperoning a teenage party held by Lucy's daughter Chris (Candy Moore) at Sandy Cove. Anxious to prove that they're as hip and cool as anyone else, our heroines not only perform a spirited (and off-key) rendition of the old rock favorite "Big Girls Don't Cry", but also participate in an athletic Limbo dance. At the end of the day, however, things get a bit out of hand and it is up to the teenagers to show a little maturity! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don Grady, Lucie Arnaz, (more)
- 1967
Singer Robert Goulet appears both as himself and as his exact double, truck driver Chuck Willis. When Mooney (Gale Gordon) turns Chuck down for a loan, Lucy (Lucille Ball) takes pity on the guy and enters him in a Robert Goulet lookalike contest, for a $5000 prizes. Unfortunately, Chuck loses the contest--but then, so does the real Goulet! Somewhere along the line, Robert Goulet sings his own composition, "Why Be Ashamed?" ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Goulet
- 1967
Totally negating what we were told in the second-season episode "Lucy's College Reunion", Lucy (Lucille Ball) is in danger of losing her job at the bank because, way back in her teen years, she was one week shy of getting her high school diploma. Returning to school to make up for this gaffe, Lucy not only becomes the campus' most popular student, but she also helps out a fellow senior (Robert Pine) who is having trouble passing his courses. In the final scene, a beaming Lucy delivers the valedictory speech at the graduation ceremonies. Among the supporting players in this episode are Lucille Ball's real-life daughter Lucie Arnaz and Lucie's future husband Philip Vandervort. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Doris Singleton, Robert Pine, (more)
The 1975 TV movie Death Scream is based on the shameful Kitty Genovese affair of 1964, in which a N.Y.C. woman was stabbed to death while 38 witnesses locked their windows and doors and pretended not to hear. Raul Julia stars as the detective who investigates the murder and stirs up the guilt feelings of those who refused to help. The film casts celebrity actors in the roles of the witnesses (Diahann Carroll, Cloris Leachman, Lucie Arnaz, Nancy Walker, Art Carney, et al.). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1975
The still-unsolved Black Dahlia murder case, fictionalized in the 1981 theatrical feature True Confessions, is handled on a more factual level in this made-for-TV movie. Lucie Arnaz plays Elizabeth Short, an aspiring starlet of questionable morals, who in 1947 was murdered by person or persons unknown. What made the case particularly unsettling was the fact that Elizabeth's body was sliced neatly in two, with every ounce of blood drained from her body. Efrem Zimbalist Jr. costars as the Los Angeles detective who ends up dedicating a lifetime to tracking down Elizabeth's killer. Who is the Black Dahlia? debuted March 1, 1975. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lucie Arnaz, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., (more)
- 1977
The fourth film starring Tom Laughlin as Billy Jack, Billy Jack Goes To Washington was a loose remake of Frank Capra's Mr. Smith Goes To Washington. The story begins with Billy receiving a pardon for the trumped-up charges that put him behind bars in The Trial Of Billy Jack. To curry favor with youth and minority voters, Billy is appointed to a vacant seat in the U.S. Senate. However, while Billy is told to not makes waves, he discovers Washington D.C. is a hotbed of rampant corruption, and he makes it his mission to bring honesty and justice back to our government. As with his other Billy Jack vehicles, Tom Laughlin wrote and directed the film as well as playing the title role; his wife Delores Taylor also appears again as Jean Roberts, and E.G. Marshall and Lucie Arnaz round out the supporting cast. Billy Jack Goes To Washington never received a theatrical release outside of a few scattered preview screenings, though Laughlin himself recently released the film on home video. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Laughlin, Delores Taylor, (more)
Pop singer Neil Diamond stars in this ill-begotten second remake of Al Jolson's seminal 1927 musical The Jazz Singer. The moth-eaten story concerns a cantor's son who desires success as a pop singer, despite the wishes of his imperious father. The film takes place in the present day with Yussel Rabinowitz (Neil Diamond) playing a young (though middle-aged looking) cantor performing at the synagogue of his father (Laurence Olivier). Yussel is married and has settled down to a life of religious devotion to the teaching of his fath. But on the side, he writes songs for a black singing group, and when a member of the quartet takes ill, Yussel covers for him at one of their gigs by wearing blackface! The nightclub engagement is such a success that Yussel abandons his family -- and his father's synagogue -- and leaves his New York home for Los Angeles, hoping to break into the music business. Almost immediately he is spotted by spunky agent Molly Bell (Lucie Arnaz), who books him as an opening act for a touring comic. Yussel hits it big, but his father resents Yussel's forsaking their traditional Jewish ways. His father disowns him, rending his garments and bellowing, "I hef no son!" ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Neil Diamond, Laurence Olivier, (more)
- 1981
Essentially a light-weight made for TV romance between different classes - this time a female attorney who meets a laundromat owner at a bird-watching retreat. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- 1981
In this made-for-TV movie, a married politician (Richard Jordan) and a spunky congressional aide (Lucie Arnaz) start up an adulterous affair that could land them both in hot water. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- 1983
- PG
In this skewed, unreal view of a woman's choice in men, almost nothing is believable. Amy (Lucie Arnaz) is a savvy, well-educated lawyer in Santa Fe who divorces her husband, an exec in the banking business, to become involved with Will (Craig Wasson) a street musician with the same iron-clad brain as her ex when it comes to women. The musician is regularly picked up by the police for his loitering, though he seems never to fully realize why they are doing this to him. Amy drops him at last, and when she finds out she is pregnant, she goes to the hospital to have an abortion -- and is introduced to a Boris Karloff-type doctor. Before anything further happens, Will comes along and forcibly carries her off to a remote, run-down building in a ghost town where he ties her to a bed intending to keep her there until she has the baby. Hard to believe, but things only get worse from here. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lucie Arnaz, Craig Wasson, (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
While researching her latest novel, Jessica (Angela Lansbury) almost becomes a casualty in the bombing of a jewelry store. It later turns out that the store's owner has been murdered and the priceless Queen of Tara tiara has been stolen. Forming an uneasy alliance with a pair of wisecracking "Cagney and Lacey"-style female cops (played by Lucie Arnaz and Patty McCormack), Jessica follows the trail of clues to the home of a famously reclusive actress named Siobhan O'Dea (played with Garboesque hauteur by Jean Peters). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Lucy Arnaz, daughter of comedy duo Desi and Lucie Arnaz, hosts this intimate retrospective of her legendary parents' lives. Featuring never-before-seen color family movies, as well as a variety of interviews with family, friends, and business associates, this documentary sheds a sometimes painful light on the joyous ups and bitter downs enjoyed and suffered by this couple. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- 1996
Small-town police in Oregon launch a massive search after a multi-millionaire's daughter disappears. She is found and claims to have been kidnapped, but one of her abductors presents compelling evidence in court that she may have partially engineered the incident as a way of breaking away from her tyrannical father. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Katie Wright, Lucie Arnaz, (more)
- 1998
When Aunt Lena is confined to her bed after falling down doing the rhumba, her niece decides to do something to cheer her up. The feature book, When Aunt Lena Did the Rhumba, written by Eileen Kurtis-Kleinman and read by Lucie Arnaz, tells how she puts on a version of a Broadway musical for her aunt. This Reading Rainbow episode presents all kinds of performances, including the Boy's Choir of Harlem and Peter Patovsky, a stand-up comedian. The young book reviewers also check out The Dancing Man, My Mama Had a Dancing Heart, and The Old Man Who Loved to Sing. ~ Alice Day, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- LeVar Burton
This Big Apple-based romantic comedy charts the tumultuous relationship between liberal arts student and budding chef Al (Freddie Prinze Jr.) and his first girlfriend, Imogen (Julia Stiles), a self-possessed freshman who wants to become an artist. After meeting in a bar, the pair jump into a giddy, passionate affair that's grown-up enough to include face time between the young lovers and Al's DJ mom and TV-chef dad (Henry Winkler). After a summer abroad, however, Imogen feels like the relationship is robbing her of her youth, and the couple must struggle with romantic and domestic growing pains. Meanwhile, their wacky friends -- who include porn stars (Selma Blair and Zak Orth), stoners (Rosario Dawson), a mullet-haired lunkhead (Shawn Hatosy), and a Jim Morrison look-alike named Jim Morrison (Ashton Kutcher) -- provide laughs, advice, and sexual temptation. The debut film from writer/director Kris Isacsson, the teen-themed Down to You marked a change of pace for normally grown-up Miramax Films. In addition to a slew of recent rock and pop, the film prominently features music from such downtown New York fixtures of the past decade as Deee-Lite ("Groove is in the Heart") and Cibo Matto ("Moonchild"). ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Freddie Prinze, Jr., Joanna Adler, (more)
- 2002
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Television's first and most influential situation comedy gets a loving tribute in this television special. The I Love Lucy 50th Anniversary Special includes interviews with the writers and directors who helped bring the show to life, a visit to Lucille Ball's hometown with Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz Jr., clips from favorite episodes chosen by the show's fans, a musical tribute to Latin music pioneer Desi Arnaz, and thoughts on I Love Lucy from such celebrity fans as Dick Van Dyke, Cher, Barbara Walters, and Antonio Banderas. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 2003
This two-hour documentary chronicles the spectacular rise and comparatively quiet fall of one of Hollywood biggest TV production factories. Desilu was formed in 1951 by Lucille Ball and her husband Desi Arnaz as the production company for their popular weekly sitcom I Love Lucy. The success of this program, coupled with Arnaz' uncanny business and financial acumen, enabled Desilu to grow and expand, ultimately taking over the studios previously occupied by the couples' former employers, RKO Radio Pictures. Grinding out such successful properties as The Untouchables and The Andy Griffith Show, Desilu remained solvent even after the breakup of the Ball-Arnaz marriage. In 1961 Ball bought out Arnaz and became the first woman ever to run a major Hollywood studio. Displaying a knack for picking winners that almost rivalled her ex-husband's, Ball bankrolled such chancy projects as Mission: Impossible and Star Trek. Her success continued unabatedly until 1969, when, weary of the pressures of being an executive, Ball sold Desilu to the studio's next-door neighbor, Paramount. Ball and Arnaz' daughter, Lucie Arnaz, narrates the documentary, while such latter-day comediennes as Carol Burnett and Roseanne Barr discuss the influence that Lucille Ball has had on their careers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Two sets of crooks -- one of beginners, the other old hands at the game -- are lured by the promise of the big heist in a comedy drama from writer and director James Hausler. Wilson (Robert Forster) has just been released from prison after serving 25 years for armed robbery. While Wilson is edging into retirement age, he still has an old score to settle with Mackey (Robert Loggia), a career criminal who helped put Wilson behind bars. Wilson teams up with Marvin (Richard Roundtree), a fellow ex-con who also has a beef against Mackey, and together they set up a heist in order to hit their rival where it hurts. Meanwhile, Buckely (James Hausler) is a slacker who thinks a life of crime might be easier than holding down a real job. With the help of his pals, Buckley maps out a robbery that should earn him a sizable payday, though it doesn't take long for his inexperience to become an issue. Also featuring Lucie Arnaz and Christopher Clark, Wild Seven received its world premiere at the 2006 Los Angeles Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
