Brooke Adams Movies
The daughter of actors, Brooke Adams was once praised by the press for her supremely flexible countenance -- with expressions and demeanors to accommodate virtually any emotion or situation. Adams attended New York's High School of Performing Arts and the Institute of American Ballet, and took private acting lessons from Lee Strasberg. At age six, she made her Broadway debut in the 1954 revival of Finian's Rainbow. Eleven years later, she was cast as Burl Ives' teenaged daughter in the extremely short-lived TV sitcom O.K. Crackerby (1965-1966) on ABC.Adams then kept a low professional profile until making her adult off-Broadway bow in 1974, appearing in yet another revival, The Petrified Forest. A great future was predicted for Brooke when she starred as Abby, the romantic bone of contention between Richard Gere and Sam Shepard in Terrence Malick's critically acclaimed 1978 film, Days of Heaven. That same year, she played Elizabeth Driscoll (the Dana Wynter role) in the remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, opposite Donald Sutherland, and in 1979 she was Sean Connery's ethereal leading lady in the Richard Lester-directed Cuba. Any one of those three roles could have spelled superstardom for Brooke -- had she really wanted to be a superstar. Instead, she deliberately avoided the trappings of celebritydom, preferring to measure her achievements by her own standards rather than Hollywood's. And, if that meant accepting "small" but artistically rewarding theatrical projects or teaching acting classics to emotionally disturbed children, rather than accepting a role in the latest Spielberg or Scorsese blockbuster, so be it. Brooke Adams' more notable credits during the mid- to late '80s and '90s included guest appearances on TV's Moonlighting (as single mother and David Addison Lamaze partner Terri Knowles), a role in the Broadway production The Heidi Chronicles, the narration duties for the 1994 miniseries The Fire This Time, and the role of Ione Skye's hardscrabble mother in the Allison Anders-directed Gas Food Lodging (1992). These represented high points, however, and more often than not, Adams found herself relegated to parts unworthy of her, such as the unevenly received 1985 adaptation of Kevin Wade's play Key Exchange (in which she reprised her stage role) and the histrionic TV movies Lace (1984) and Lace II (1985).
In subsequent years, Adams made a greater splash on television, with guest appearances on such series programs as Wings, Monk (both opposite husband Tony Shalhoub), and Touched by an Angel. She also returned to the big screen for supporting roles in several projects, including the 1995 Baby-Sitters Club and the 2007 Griffin Dunne-directed romantic comedy The Accidental Husband. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
In this crime comedy, Donald Sutherland and Paul Mazursky play Reese and Norman, two charming computer whizzes who tie into a bank under construction, and arrange to withdraw a huge sum of money without being caught. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, (more)
After Griffin Dunne's wife Brooke Adams is injured in a car crash, Dunne begins an affair with Adams' nurse Karen Young. You think that takes gall? Dunne also becomes best friends with Young's boyfriend Marty Watt. Believe it or not, Griffin Dunne is the most likeable character in the movie. After testing poorly at 110 minutes, Almost You was whittled down to 96 minutes. Those who have trouble wading through this prime example of mid-1980s self-indulgence are advised to keep an eye out for the brilliant monologist Spalding Gray in a supporting role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brooke Adams, Griffin Dunne, (more)
- 2005
- PG13
Thirty years after realizing that they had they had both found that rare once in a lifetime love, a man and a woman separated by fate decide to take a second shot at romance despite the fact that both had moved on with their lives a long time ago. As children growing up together in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, Mark and Sara were inseparable. As teens it just seemed that the two adolescents were just really close friends, but when Mark's family moves to New Orleans in the early 1970s the letters that he and Sarah exchange reveal that their true feelings for one another run far deeper. Though their love is vividly expressed in a pair of intensely heartfelt letters, any chance for romance is effectively destroyed when Mark's meddling mother Carole (Brooke Adams) intercepts the letters and hides them from her son. Mistakenly believing that each has rejected the other's love, Mark and Sara both manage to move on with their lives despite their initial devastation. Years later, Mark and Sara are both in their forties, living in different cities and locked in unhappy marriages - Mark to a career-driven psychiatrist named Laura (Jessica Hecht) and Sara to struggling alcoholic named Chris (Michael Arata). Mark feels like his life has become hollow, and spends the majority of his time confiding his true feelings in his older brother Earl (M.C. Gainey), an eccentric French Quarter artist. But one day, when Mark discovers the letters that had been hidden by his mother, he sees the opportunity for a new life of happiness and contacts Sara to tell her the truth. The moment the two make contact, it's as if they were both transported back to that special time when nothing else mattered aside from their growing feelings for one another. Neither Mark nor Sara are particularly happy with the way their lives have turned out, and excitedly make plans to rendezvous in New Orleans. Could it be that Mark and Sara were truly meant to be with one another, or did their one chance at a lifetime of happiness actually end with the hiding of those passionate correspondences so many moons ago? ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Martin Donovan, Kelly Lynch, (more)
- 1989
Four women, all high school best friends, are reunited in Minnesota at the wedding of a fifth friend. On the eve of the nuptials, the foursome discuss their lives, their loves and their innermost secrets. Adultery and a surprise pregnancy are choice ingredients added to this TV-movie brew. For the record, the four female chums are played by Shelley Hack, Sela Ward, Stephanie Faracy and Brooke Adams. Bridesmaids was originally telecast February 21, 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In director Richard Lester's Cuba, Sean Connery plays British soldier-of-fortune Robert Dapes, sent to Havana during the last days of the Batista regime. He is supposed to train Batista's soldiers for their upcoming confrontations with Castro's followers. As Dapes becomes increasingly sympathetic towards the rebel cause, he takes a few precious moments to renew his romance with Alexandra Pulido (Brooke Adams), who is now married to Juan Pulido (Chris Sarandon). The basic thrust of the film is that unchecked capitalism is perfectly capable of collapsing under its own weight -- and that lofty idealism can be easily forgotten once absolute power is within one's grasp. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sean Connery, Brooke Adams, (more)
Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven, the long-awaited follow-up to his 1973 debut Badlands, confirmed his reputation as a visual poet and narrative iconoclast with a story of love and murder told through the jaded voice of a child and expressive images of nature. In 1916, Chicago steelworker Bill (Richard Gere, stepping in for John Travolta) flees to Texas with his little sister Linda (Linda Manz) and girlfriend Abby (Brooke Adams) after fatally erupting at his boss. Along with other itinerant laborers, they work the harvest at a wealthy, ailing farmer's ranch, but the farmer (playwright Sam Shepard) falls in love with Abby, and, believing her to be Bill's sister, asks the three to stay on at his elysian spread. Seeing it as his one real chance to escape perpetual poverty, Bill urges Abby to marry the sick man. Marriage, however, has more restorative powers, and the farmer has more magnetism, than Bill had planned. "Nobody's perfect," Linda impassively observes in one of her many voiceovers, after their brief paradise is erased by plagues of locusts, fire, and lethal jealousy. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Gere, Brooke Adams, (more)
- 1974
In a strange blending of reality and fantasy, this is the story of F. Scott Fitzgerald's use of the creative process to try to work out and ameliorize his own marital difficulties, writing the fictional "The Last of the Belles" while trying to work out his own relationship with Zelda during WWI. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- 1995
Aghast at finding a tiny scratch on his otherwise flawless hardwood floor, Frasier calls in a contractor to repair the damage. What begins as a relatively small job mushrooms into a vast and expensive undertaking -- one that threatens to ruin a wine-tasting party being held at Frasier's home. The reason? Well, it all stems back to Niles (David Hyde Pierce), who is jealous over the attention paid by Daphne (Jane Leeves) to handsome hunk contractor Joe DeCarlo (Tony Carreiro). This episode earned an Emmy award for "best sound mixing." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Based on a novel by Richard Peck called Don't Look and It Won't Hurt, Allison Anders's melodramatic coming-of-age tale Gas Food Lodging takes place in Laramie, NM, a small town right off the highway. Nora (Brooke Adams) is a truck-stop waitress who lives in a trailer park with her two teenaged daughters, Trudi (Ione Skye) and Shade (Fairuza Balk). While Trudi sleeps around and defies her mother, Shade spends her time at the local cinema and wishes she could have a dad like a normal family. One day, Trudi hooks up with a visiting geologist (Robert Knepper) and spends a magical evening in a cave with him. However, he turns up missing and Trudi finds herself pregnant. Meanwhile, Shade's romantic advances are rejected by Darius (Donovan Leitch), but she finds something new with film projectionist Javier (Jacob Vargas). Shade's attempts at finding a husband for her mom are unsuccessful, but Nora ends up meeting satellite TV installation man Hamlet Humphrey (David Lansbury). Features a cameo appearance from Dinosaur Jr. frontman J. Mascis, who also wrote the original music. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brooke Adams, Ione Skye, (more)
- 1984
Michael Roemer both wrote and directed the 60-minute TV drama Haunted. Brooke Adams stars as a troubled young woman who returns to her Rhode Island home. Why she does this is a mystery: her childhood was a textbook example of misery, exacerbated by her spiteful adoptive mother and her abusive foster father. Unable to close old wounds with her family, Brooke befriends neighbor lady Trish Van Devere. But her new friend has serious problems of her own, forcing Brooke to mediate between Trish and her resentful daughter Ari Meyers. Haunted was first telecast March 20, 1984, as part of PBS' American Playhouse anthology. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brooke Adams, Jon de Vries, (more)
- 1978
- PG
- Add Invasion of the Body Snatchers to QueueAdd Invasion of the Body Snatchers to top of Queue
This remake of the 1956 horror classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers moves the action from small-town USA to 1970s San Francisco and replaces at least part of the original's psychological horror with special effects. Spores rain forth, unseen, from outer space, and soon strange flowers begin popping up all over the city. After bringing one of these hybrid specimens home with her one night, biologist Elizabeth Driscoll (Brooke Adams) notices that her live-in boyfriend, Geoffrey (Art Hindle), doesn't seem like himself; he's cold and distant and somehow just not quite there. When she turns to her friend Matthew Bennell (Donald Sutherland), a colleague at the Department of Public Health, he convinces her to see his friend Dr. Kibner (Leonard Nimoy), a pop psychologist who argues that the problem is all in Elizabeth's head. Soon, though, Matthew and Elizabeth begin to notice that people all over the city are changing subtly and inexplicably. When their friend Jack Bellicec (Jeff Goldblum) and his wife Nancy (Veronica Cartwright) find a lifeless, half-formed doppelganger covered with plant fibers in the mud baths they own and operate, the group of friends finally begins to understand that a sinister transformation is sweeping their city. Kevin McCarthy and Don Siegel, respectively the star and director of the original film, have small roles in the new version, as does an unbilled Robert Duvall. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, (more)
- 1975
This made-for-TV biography, based on the memoirs of onetime James Dean roommate William Bast, stars Stephen McHattie in the title role of the Hollywood rebel. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1985
- R
Based on a play by Kevin Wade, this comedy stars Brooke Adams as a television producer who demands commitment from her free-spirited lover (Ben Masters). ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ben Masters, Brooke Adams, (more)
- 1976
Kojak (Telly Savalas) is one of several authority figures who dismiss the claims of Julie Winston (Brooke Adams), a young and friendless newcomer to the Big Apple, when she insists that she has been threatened by a "dead" man. According to Julie, her tormenter was a known felon who had previously been reported killed in a house fire. By the time the police realize that Julie was telling the truth, it is too late for the unfortunate girl--whereupon a guilt-stricken Kojak vows to avenge Julie's death. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1984
A notorious, internationally known sex symbol (Phoebe Cates) attempts to track down her birth mother in this glitzy, deliciously trashy melodrama. The mother could be one of three women, all of whom have vowed to never reveal the secret truth behind the child's illegitimate birth. Based on the novel by Shirley Conran. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bess Armstrong, Brooke Adams, (more)
- 1985
In this sequel to the original miniseries, Lili (Phoebe Cates), having discovered the true identity of her mother, now begins looking for her father. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brooke Adams, Deborah Raffin, (more)
Award-winning actor Tony Shalhoub adds the "director" hyphenate to his calling card with this labor of love, starring his wife, Brooke Adams, and written by his sister-in-law, Lynne Adams. Made-Up lightly parodies the reality-TV "makeover" craze as it tells the tale of Elizabeth (Brooke Adams), a middle-aged divorcée who agrees to be made over by her daughter Sara (Eva Amurri), a process which will be documented for eternity by her aspiring-filmmaker sister, Kate (Lynne Adams). A former actress still smarting over her long-since faded stardom, Elizabeth is none too pleased at having her transformation videotaped, but she goes along with it, and soon finds that her "new you" is winning over the affections of a new beau, restaurateur Max (Shalhoub). But self-doubt continues to nag at Elizabeth, to the point where she almost undermines her own chances at romance. Lynne Adams based her screenplay on her own one-woman play; Gary Sinise makes an appearance as Elizabeth's ex-husband. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brooke Adams, Lynne Adams, (more)
- 1987
- R
An agent newly retired from the CIA (Scott Glenn) agrees to become an Italian businessman's bodyguard in this adventure film. Things fall apart though, when terrorists kidnap the Italian's daughter and the agent must rescue her. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Scott Glenn, Jade Malle, (more)
- 2007
Lt. Disher (Jason Gray-Stanford) retires from the force when he inherits a farm from his late uncle Harvey. It isn't long before Disher begins to suspect that his uncle was murdered--along with his prize pig Harvey. Though he recoils at the notion of being stranded on a dusty, dirty farm with dozens of unsanitary animals, Monk swallows hard and agrees to investigate Harvey's death, disguising himself as a migrant worker for the purpose. Aided and abetted by the local constabulary and a friendly farmhand named Oates (James Gammon), Monk is soon harvesting clues left and right--especially the fact that the farm's principal "crop" is of an extremely high value indeed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2002
In the final episode of Monk's first season, the ultra-phobic Mr. Monk (Tony Shalhoub) is forced to take his first plane ride. Galvanized by sheer terror, Monk spends the first part of the flight driving his fellow passengers crazy with his anxious questions. Before long, he really has something to obsess over when he deduces that passenger Stephan Chabrol (Carl Marotte) has murdered his wife in mid-flight--even though a woman claiming to be Mrs. Chabrol is seated right next to him. The topheavy guest cast includes Tony Shalhoub's former Wings costar Tim Daly) as himself; Shalhoub's real-life wife Brooke Adams as a suspicious stewardess; and prolific producer-director Garry Marshall as a garrulous extension-cord salesman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2005
Brooke Adams, the wife of Monk star Tony Shalhoub, appears in this final episode of the series' third season as Abigail Carlyle, the mother of violin prodigy Daniel Carlyle...and a key player in a bizarre extortion plot. Monk is called in to investigate after a 22-month-old kid named Tommy (played by twins Preston Shores and Trevor Shores) shows up carrying a severed human finger in his tiny fist. The clues lead Monk to deduce that the finger belonged to a violin player, and this leads him to a meeting with the Carlyles. It doesn't take long for Monk to realize that "Daniel Carlyle" is an impostor, and that the real Daniel has been kidnapped--and to top it off, THIS crime is inextricably linked to little Tommy's grisly discovery. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1988
In the last episode of Moonlighting's fourth season, Maddie (Cybill Shepherd) returns to work after ending her brief marriage to Walter Bishop (Dennis Dugan). Her first post-nuptual case involves a public-relations man who wants to find his partner's lover, who has proven a major business distraction by penning gushy romantic letters. As Maddie and David (Bruce Willis) react differently to these letters, their assistant Bert Viola (Curtis Armstrong) broods over the fact that the Moonlighting fans have still not warmed up to him! The proceedings close as the entire cast frantically ad-libs a musical number when the writers go on strike. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1988
This week's episode opens as a helpful nurse recaps the previous weeks' activities to an ABC executive who'd been in a coma ever since he found out that David (Bruce Willis) and Maddie (Cybill Shepherd) had still not gotten back together! As it happens, David is ruminating over his upcoming "role" in the birth of Maddie's baby. Perhaps David should enroll in a Lamaze class--a solution that (at first glance, anyway) makes a lot more sense than having him "practice" childbirth with his friend Bert Viola (Curtis Armstrong), who has stuffed a pillow in his shirt for the occasion! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
