Cliff Gorman Movies
The world was a different place in 1968, the year that actor Cliff Gorman created a sensation with his all-stops-out portrayal of "screaming queen" Emory in the off-Broadway hit The Boys in the Band. At that time, Gorman's agents found it expedient to assure playgoers that their client was not the sashaying homosexual he played in Band and to that end commissioned newspaper and magazine pieces detailing Gorman's previous manly-man jobs as trucker, ambulance driver and probation officer; there were also photos aplenty of Gorman's wife and children. The same protecting-our-investment publicity blitz occurred when Gorman repeated his Emory characterization for the 1970 film version of Band. By the time Gorman won his Tony award for his virtuoso portrayal of Lenny Bruce in the 1972 Broadway production Lenny, however, no one really cared about his sexual orientation; it was enough to know that Gorman was one of the finest young actors working in America. Cliff Gorman's subsequent big-screen work has included Cops and Robbers (1973), All That Jazz (1979) and Angel (1984); his television credits include the role of Joseph Goebbels in The Bunker (1982) and his periodic appearances as detective Aaron Greenberg in the TV-movie adaptations of the crime novels of William Bayer (Doubletake, Murder Times Seven etc.) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The down-and-dirty side of building management in pre-gentrification Manhattan sets the stage for this dark comedy. It's 1981, and Joe Peltz (David Krumholtz) runs a newsstand in New York City, where he has recently married Annabelle (Clara Bellar), an exotic dancer from France who isn't in love with Joe but asked for his hand so she could get a Green Card. When Annabelle discovers she's pregnant, the couple decides they need a larger apartment, and Joe finds a flat in the East Village that's on the same block where his great-great-grandparents lived when they first came to America. However, the neighborhood is decaying and ridden with crime, and when Joe and Annabelle move into their new apartment, he's immediately drafted onto the building's co-op board, where he has to deal with a variety of eccentrics of various stripes and must often sleep in the lobby armed with a baseball bat to ward off junkies and burglars. But by far his biggest problem is Carlos DeJesus (Paul Calderon), a bully who has been squatting in the building for eight years with his roughneck teenage son, Segundo (Jon Budinoff). Carlos sees no reason why he should start paying rent, and he's made enemies with practically everyone who lives in the building, wasting no time in adding Joe and Annabelle to that list. So when a gasoline fire guts Carlos' apartment, the question is not who wanted him out, but who actually had the nerve to start the blaze. Based on a novel by Joel Rose, Kill the Poor was written for the screen by Daniel Handler, best known as the author of the popular "Lemony Snicket" books. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Krumholtz, Clara Bellar, (more)
- 1998
The investigation following the stabbing of a female police officer could result in either the re-election or defeat of D.A. Adam Schiff (Steven Hill). Meanwhile, Briscoe's (Jerry Orbach) troubled daughter Cathy (Jennifer Bill) is arrested for drug dealing, and his partner Curtis (Benjamin Bratt) is wounded in the line of duty. Robert Vaughn and Charles Grodin make return appearances as, respectively, vindictive millionaire Carl Anderton and politically ambitious judge Gary Feldman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1998
While investigating the rape of a ten-year-old girl, a grieving detective Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) is afforded the opportunity to avenge the death of his own daughter Cathy. Meanwhile, Assistant D.A. McCoy (Sam Waterston) faces a disciplinary committee to explain the questionable courtroom tactics used in the earlier episode "Under the Influence"; McCoy's assistant Ross (Carey Lowell) may either lose her job or leave it voluntarily; and McCoy and Ross' boss Adam Schiff (Steven Hill) faces stiff opposition (most of it fomented by a couple of longtime enemies) during his re-election campaign. Though the central rape case is resolved, the fates of several series regulars are left hanging in this eighth season finale episode of Law & Order. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1998
After a drunken driver kills three people in the same accident, Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) and Curtis (Benjamin Bratt) deliver the perpetrator to the D.A.'s office. Still grieving over the death of his former partner, Claire Kincaid, in a similar DUI accident, McCoy (Sam Waterston) intends to charge the driver with first-degree murder, a determination which results in conflict between McCoy and his current partner Ross (Carey Lowell). The ensuing trial degenerates into a media circus, helped not at all by the ruthless behavior of a politically ambitious judge. Cliff Gorman makes his first Law & Order appearance as Judge Gary Feldman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1994
A serial killer is on the loose. The only clues he leaves are dried "wallflowers" near or on the body. For Police Lieutenant Janek, the need to find the maniac becomes more urgent after he learns that the latest victim is his own beloved goddaughter. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Crenna, Helen Shaver, (more)
- 1992
Richard Crenna makes his fifth appearances NYPD detective Frank Janek in Terror on Track 9. The villain this time is a serial killer who preys upon women at Grand Central Station. The murderer's modus operandi is to inject his victims with poison. Janek suspects that the perpetrator is a man with a extensive background in chemistry-but he's still whistling in the dark, inasmuch as he has millions of suspects to choose from. Joan Van Ark and Swoosie Kurtz costar. Made for television, Terror on Track 9 debuted September 20, 1992. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1992
This episode marks the first appearance of Sean Culhane (George Hearn) a retired Irish detective now serving on the same Manhattan University faculty as Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury). After being heard threatening the life of an old enemy from the Auld Sod--a contractor who had recently relocated to New York--Culhane is charged with the man's murder. Jessica of course is convinced that Culhane is being framed, and she won't rest until she is proven right. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1990
Michael Gross plays Don Scott, the real-life protagonist of the 1990 TV movie Vestige of Honor It is Scott's mission in life to uphold the governmental assurances made to the Montagnards, a group of pro-US Vietnamese who'd been promised safe conduct to America after the war. But when Saigon fell, the Montagnards were left behind in a refugee camp supervised by a disgraced ex-Green Beret (Gerald McRaney). Forming an uneasy alliance with the military man, Scott battles the new Vietnamese government and an indifferent American bureaucracy in securing freedom for the Montagnards. Partially filmed in Bangkok, Vestige of Honor is well intentioned, but seems more interested in proselytizing than in stirring up emotional involvement in the story. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gerald McRaney, Season Hubley, (more)
- 1990
Richard Crenna returns as New York police detective Frank Janek in Murder Times Seven. This time Janek tackles the case of a mass murder. One of the victims was his ex-partner (an occupational hazard for Janek, who in an earlier film had to turn in his own boss on a murder rap). One of the detective's former lovers (Carolyn Kava) unexpectedly provides a vital clue to the killer's identity. Originally titled Murder X 7, this made-for-TV drama first aired October 14, 1991-though there was a warning in the TV Guide listings that the film risked being bumped by the World Series playoffs (coincidentally, it would have been Game Number Seven!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1990
Richard Crenna returns as Lt. Frank Janek of the NYPD in the TV movie Murder in Black and White. As in his previous appearances in Doubletake (85) and Internal Affairs (89), Janek is called upon to solve a bizarre and baffling murder. This time the victim is Janek's own boss, the new commissioner of police. The lieutenant deduces that this murder is tied in with the killing of a physician, which occurred only a few hours earlier. Diahann Carroll plays the commissioner's widow, who may or may not be privy to a departmental cover-up. Murder in Black and White was the first made-for-TV movie to be telecast in 1990. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1989
The controversial case of a black man killed in Howard Beach, a working-class all white neighborhood of Queens, NY provides the basis of this docudrama. Much of the story centers around the attempts of Joe Hynes, the state prosecutor to bring the case to trial. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1988
Internal Affairs is the second TV-movie based on the works of detective novelist William Bayer. Richard Crenna, who first played NYPD detective Richard Janek in 1985's Doubletake, is back, now as a functionary of Internal Affairs. He has been assigned to solve the murder of a woman who may have been the victim of a kinky serial killer who'd flourished in Saigon 12 years earlier. Meanwhile, Janek's ex-boss (Lee Richardson), now a jailbird, gives the Janek the tip that several cops may be illegally selling guns. Internal Affairs was originally telecast in two parts in November of 1988. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1986
Jessica (Angela Lansbury) enters the rarefied world of art collecting when Julia Marcus Granger (Anne Scheeden), the heiress daughter of one of Jessica's oldest friends, is murdered. The most likely culprit turns out to be Julia's husband Donald (Christopher Allport), a known art thief. But Julia's sister Sabrina (Andra Millian) is convinced that Donald is innocent, and she prevails upon Jessica to prove it, leading our heroine down a twisted trail involving two entirely different sets of clues. This is the final episode of Murder She Wrote's second season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1985
Based on William Bayer's novel Switch, the made-for-TV Doubletake introduced Richard Crenna to his oft-played role of detective Frank Janek. As always, Janek is assigned to a particularly gruesome and profoundly puzzling murder case. A prim lady schoolteacher and a hooker are both killed on the same evening; their bodies are decapitated, and their heads are switched! The first installment of this two-part movie details the early stages of the investigation, as well as the growing relationship between Janek and photographer Caroline Wallace (Beverly D'Angelo), the daughter of a cop who'd died in a mob hit. Part two reveals the "dark side" of the case, exposing corruption in the highest police circles and implicating someone very close to Janek in the double murder. Doubletake was originally telecast on November 24 and 26, 1985, and has since been reissued as a single three-hour film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1984
The original "honor student by day, hooker by night" melodrama, Angel stars Donna Wilkes in the title role. During the daylight hours, the 15-year-old Angel is known as Molly, a model prep school student. Devoid of parents, Molly must find some way to keep up the cash flow, so she hits the Hollywood mean streets as a prostitute. While we thankfully don't see Angel "in action", as it were, the film makes up in violence what it lacks in raw sex. Psycho John Diehl is on the loose murdering prostitutes; detective Cliff Gorman tries to stem the murder spree, but soon the hooker ranks are sorely diminished, leaving Angel the next likely target. With the help of such friends as ex-cowboy star Rory Calhoun and transvestite Dick Shawn, Angel manages to avoid becoming a statistic. We're not giving anything away here: after all, there was a 1986 sequel, Avenging Angel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cliff Gorman, Susan Tyrrell, (more)
- 1983
Cocaine and Blue Eyes was the pilot film for a TV detective series starring former footballer O.J. Simpson (who also produced the film). Playing a private eye in San Francisco, Simpson is hired by a man who ends up seriously dead. The deceased client had wanted Simpson to locate a former girl friend, and in carrying out his assignment Simpson unearths a deadly (and very well connected) cartel of drug dealers. Cocaine and Blue Eyes gathered dust until O.J. Simpson's murder trial in 1994. After that, this tiresome old TV movie became a staple of "Late Late Shows" everywhere. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- O.J. Simpson, Candy Clark, (more)
This exhaustive (and exhausting) 3-hour TV movie dramatizes the last three months of Adolph Hitler's life, spent in his bunker in Berlin. Anthony Hopkins is repulsively riveting as Hitler, while Piper Laurie is even more frightening as fanatical Frau Goebbels. Joseph Goebbels (Cliff Gorman) feeds the Fuehrer's ego as the Nazi empire crumbles, while Albert Speer (Richard Jordan) defies him. The day before his suicide, Hitler legalizes his relationship with mistress Eva Braun (Susan Blakely). The film's plot extends beyond the suicide, with the triumphant allied forces arguing over who has proprietary rights to Hitler's remains. First telecast January 27, 1981, The Bunker was based on Joseph O'Donnell's best seller, which in turn was based on first-hand accounts. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1977
Like 1976's "Part One," Having Babies, Part 2 is a multiplotted TV movie about the effect of parenthood on four couples. The first film concentrated on a natural childbirth class. This second film broadens the subject matter with glances at adoptions and unwanted pregnancies. Among the many new parents are Tony Bill (taking time off from his producing career), Carol Lynley, Wayne Rogers, Lee Meriweather and Rhea Perlman. The film closes on some actual footage of twins being born. One year later, a third Having Babies film was telecast, under the imaginative title Having Babies III. Repeating her role from "Part 2" was Susan Sullivan, whose obstetrician character became the basis of the short-lived series Julie Farr, MD. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1977
Cliff Gorman, the star of such Broadway hits as "Boys in the Band" and "Lenny", guests in this episode as San Quentin guard Earl Mack. Out of sympathy for four model prisoners, Sgt. Mack generously affords them a "time-out" period in the city of San Francisco. The cons return the favor by escaping, whereupon Mack vows to bring them back all by himself--whether Stone (Karl Malden) and Robbins (Richard Hatch) want him to or not. Largely location-filmed on the USF campus, this episode brings the five-season run of Streets of San Francisco to a close. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1976
In this crime drama, two dogged FBI agents are on the case to investigate one of the U.S.'s most infamous bank robberies. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Darren McGavin, Leslie Nielsen, (more)
Originally made as a pilot for a failed television pilot, this action crime drama centers on the exploits of a special strike force that is comprised of a Federal agent, a state trooper (a very young Richard Gere), and a New York City police officer who busted up a ring of drug dealers. The film, a typical detectives-find-the-crooks drama, is appropriately authentic with plenty of the grit, language, and concern for then neighborhood that we have come to expect from New Yorkers. Straight-ahead drama, moderate action, and solid acting mean that this film will not disappoint. Although the recent release on DVD features Richard Gere on the cover, this was one of his very first film appearances, and in a minor role at that. The DVD release does nothing to improve on what appears to be a direct transfer of an older, quite grainy film. ~ Michael Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- 1975
The Silence is based on the true story of Stanley Greenberg, a finer West Point cadet who broke one of the Point's most intimidating traditions. Richard Thomas plays Greenberg, a young man to whom being in the right is something of an obsession. Already an unpopular cadet, Greenberg is accused by of cheating by an upper classman and "invited" to leave West Point. He refuses, whereupon he is subjected to "The Silence:" the other cadets not only refuse to speak to him, but pretend as though he doesn't exist. After two years of this treatment, Thomas hires writer Cliff Gorman to publish the details of his ordeal. The result is the legal elimination of West Point's "Silence;" we should be happy at this, but Richard Thomas' portrayal of Greenburg character is so doggedly obnoxious that we don't care one way or another what happens to him. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1973
The made-for-TV The Class of 63 is set at a ten-year college reunion. Joan Hackett and Cliff Gorman play a married couple who eagerly anticipate meeting old friends at the event. But Gorman's festive spirit dissipates when Hackett's old boy friend James Brolin makes an appearance. In fact, Gorman harbors dreams of eliminating Brolin for keeps. First telecast March 14, 1973, Class of '63 was filmed on location at Princeton University and USC. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Martin Scorsese's seminal 1975 drama Taxi Driver informs this tale of a neglected, Upper West Side outcast who slowly devolves into a potential murderer. John Leguizamo stars as Seymour, the mentally-challenged self-proclaimed "king" of the film's title. He's still in the care of his mother Mona (Julie Carmen), who is a protest organizer against their neighborhood's corrupt police practices. Although Mona lives happily with her lover Joanne (Rosie Perez), her ex-boyfriend Jack (Cliff Gorman) often shows up to antagonize the household, Seymour in particular. His assertion that the unstable young man is faking his malady only sends Seymour into an unpredictable rage. Shortly after the film's production, writer-director Seth Zvi Rosenfeld married his rambunctious star Perez; their friend Annabella Sciorra shows up in a supporting role. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julie Carmen, Cliff Gorman, (more)
- 1999
- R
- Add Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai to QueueAdd Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai to top of Queue
A surreal crime drama told as only Jim Jarmusch could, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai stars Forest Whitaker as Ghost Dog, a hit man living in an unidentified but run-down city in what license plates call "The Industrialized State." Known for his gift of being able to come and go without people noticing him, Ghost Dog is a self-taught samurai who is obsessed with order and his strict personal moral code, drawn from the philosophies of the Japanese warriors. As every samurai needs a leader to whom he swears loyalty, Ghost Dog has devoted himself the service of Louie (John Tormey), a low-level crime boss who once saved his life. When Louie's superiors decide he must be executed, Ghost Dog leaps into action, methodically wiping out his many enemies. Along with a dizzying series of stylized shoot-outs, Ghost Dog also features carrier pigeons, characters who read Rashomon, a French-speaking ice cream man, and a score by RZA from the top-selling hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan, who have their own well-documented obsession with Asian culture. Ghost Dog was screened in competition at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Forest Whitaker, John Tormey, (more)
