Harold Gould Movies

British filmmaker Shane Meadows looks back at his own youth in this semi-autobiographical comedy drama that examines skinhead culture in the U.K. It's the summer of 1983, and Shaun (Thomas Turgoose) is a 12-year-old boy edging into adolescence without a father, his dad having lost his life the year before in the Falkland Islands War. A gang of skinheads -- tough guys in their teens and early twenties who shave their heads, wear Ben Sherman polo shirts, and Dr. Martens boots, and listen to ska music -- walk the streets in Shaun's neighborhood, and one day they start picking on him. Shaun, however, shows he can give as good as he gets, and gang leader Woody (Joe Gilgun) takes a liking to the boy. Woody takes Shaun under his wing, and he starts hanging out with the skins, getting advice on dressing right from Woody's girlfriend, Lol (Vicky McClure), and learning about Jamaican music from West Indian skinhead Milky (Andrew Shim). However, the gang begins to change when Combo (Stephen Graham) is released from prison and returns to the neighborhood; like many skinheads, Combo has been recruited by the National Front, an openly racist right-wing political party, and soon the gang begins to fracture, with Combo taking one faction toward violence and petty crime against blacks, Indians, and Pakistanis, while Woody and his friends follow a more benign path. This Is England received its North American premiere at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In the Disney-animated adventure Brother Bear, Joaquin Phoenix provides the voice of Kenai, a young Native American boy whose brother, Sitka (voice of D.B. Sweeney), is killed by a mother bear protecting her cubs. With revenge in mind, Kenai sets out into the woods only to find himself magically transformed into a bear himself. Seeing the world through the eyes of his prey, Kenai is forced to learn a lesson about nature and life. On a comic footnote: Brother Bear also features the voices of Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas as Rutt and Tuke, moose characters reminiscent of their beer-guzzling McKenzie brothers from SCTV and Strange Brew; because this is a family-oriented cartoon - and it would be inappropriate for the moose to quaff beer -- the two moose express a fondness for eating wheat hops instead. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

Dana Carvey ventures into the world of PG-rated, family-oriented entertainment as star and co-writer of this light adventure comedy, which requires the actor to assume more than three dozen different identities. Carvey's primary role in Master of Disguise, however, is that of Pistachio Disguisey, an ordinary waiter with a hidden, mostly untapped talent for transforming himself into any persona he wishes. When his kindly parents, Mama (Edie McClurg) and Frabbrizio (James Brolin), are kidnapped by the evil thief Devlin (Brent Spiner), the usually meek Pistachio is forced to rescue them. Enlisting the help of his grandfather (Harold Gould), Pistachio learns that he is one of a long line of family members to have the power of "Energico," a mystical means of changing one's identity to suit any given situation, and Pistachio learns to use these powers to their fullest to defeat Devlin and win back his folks. Carvey's original idea for Master of Disguise was helped to the screen by executive producer Adam Sandler, a buddy of his from their time on NBC's Saturday Night Live. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide

The fact-based story of an unconventional physician who attempted to heal patients with laughter, based on his own book and mixing equal doses of scatological humor and pathos. Robin Williams stars as Hunter Adams, a troubled young man who commits himself to a mental institution in the late 1960s. His experiences there convince Adams to become a doctor, and he enrolls in medical school, where he is appalled at the cold, clinical professionalism that alienates patients from their caregivers. Determined to provide emotional and spiritual relief as well as medicine, Adams clowns around for his patients, getting to know them personally. Although his efforts seem to work wonders and the hospital nursing staff is grateful for the levity Adams provides, his methods alienate his uptight roommate Mitch (Philip Seymour Hoffman) as well as the staff and faculty of his school. Adams perseveres, however, even starting his own low-cost rural clinic called the Gesundheit Institute, and wooing a pretty fellow student, Carin (Monica Potter). Tragedy strikes, and Adams' career is put in jeopardy, forcing him to defend his style and philosophy before a board of jurists determined to bar him from practicing medicine. Patch Adams (1998) was produced by former M*A*S*H (1972-83) star Mike Farrell, who met the real-life Adams when the offbeat doctor served as an advisor to the actor's popular TV series. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Based on a novel by acclaimed crime writer James Ellroy, this film stars Michael Rooker as Fritz Brown, a former L.A.P.D. detective who was kicked off the force due to his drinking. Now struggling to remain sober, Brown works as a private eye when he can, but he makes most of his money repossessing cars. One day, Brown is offered some detective work by Freddie "Fat Dog" Baker (William Sasso), a golf caddy who has some severe reservations about his younger sister, Jane (Selma Blair) and her relationship with Solly (Harold Gould), a wealthy businessman with mob connections who is old enough to be Jane's grandfather. Brown isn't interested at first, but when "Fat Dog" starts flashing an impressive bankroll, he decides to take the case. Brown's investigation of Solly causes him to cross paths with Cathcart (Brion James), the head of L.A.P.D. internal affairs who was responsible for Brown losing his job. Soon Brown runs afoul of a group of hired thugs and several key figures wind up dead as Brown tries to find out the truth about Solly and Jane. Ellroy wrote Brown's Requiem, his first novel, while he was still supporting himself as a golf caddy and breaking himself of a decade-long addiction to drugs and alcohol. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Still bitter over the fact that his Jewish grandfather Sam (Harold Gould) had opposed his marriage to a Catholic girl named Roseanne (Holly Fulger), archaeologist Henry Moskowitz (Corey Parker) stubbornly resists Sam's attempts at reconciliation. At the same time, Henry is at odds with a group of Navajo Indian elders, who charge him with desecrating sacred ground during his latest archeological dig. As Henry's new research assistant Monica (Roma Downey) and his Native American intern Dillon (Adam Beach) lead a boycott against him, tragedy strikes--and only then does Henry awaken to the true meaning loyalty and tradition. Real-life Native American activist Russell Means plays a key role in this episode. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In El Salvador in the late '70s, the wealthy few rule the impoverished many. To maintain the status quo against peasant insurgents and labor organizations, the military regime brutalizes the populace, in particular, rebels who espouse Marxism. Assassinations, executions, and disappearances become commonplace. When the Vatican elevates conservative Oscar Arnulfo Romero (Raul Julia) to archbishop, the military rulers believe he will quiet the masses and the activist priests who support them. "Blessed are the peacemakers," he will preach. At first, that is precisely what he does. But when soldiers thwart voters, shoot indiscriminately into crowds, torture dissidents, and kill a dedicated priest and friend of Romero, the archbishop condemns the regime in radio messages, rebukes quisling bishops, and leads a peasant march into a church occupied by soldiers. He also insults and defies the El Salvadoran president (Harold Cannon), an iron-fisted general, who, ironically, has the same last name as the archbishop Romero, but is not related. The country by this time is in the throes of civil war. In 1980, when military death squads continue their reign of terror even though the government institutes so-called reforms, Romero continues to speak out, gaining international attention. The film then builds to its climax, a scene recreating the events of Monday, March 25, 1980, when Romero is saying mass for his recently deceased mother. Attendees include four men who have no intention of reciting mea culpas or receiving the Holy Eucharist. ~ Mike Cummings, All Movie Guide

Mrs. Delafield Wants to Marry was especially written by playwright James Prideaux for Katharine Hepburn. It would have been impractical to attempt a live staging, so the script was committed to a TV movie, under the direction of Hallmark Hall of Fame veteran George Schafer. Hepburn plays another variation on the indomitable elderly lady that has become her forte in the past decade. Here she is Margaret Delafield, a wealthy WASP widow who falls in love with the divorced Jewish doctor (Harold J. Stone) who has saved her life. The clucking tongues of both her family and the doctor's will not dissuade her: Mrs. Delafield stands her ground in a climactic scene reminiscent of the actress' earlier Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (67). Mrs. Delafield Wants to Marry is formula all down the line, but every latter-day Katharine Hepburn performance deserves to be treasured (though the film itself hardly warranted the three-page TV Guide article written by Ms. Hepburn herself). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy drama, three exuberant high-school graduates finally find a direction in life when they decide to fix-up a ramshackle Catskill resort and turn it into a little slice of rock & roll heaven for teens. They work hard to make the repairs and pay the over $8,000 in back taxes. When locals hear of their plans, they misunderstand and try to stop the young men as do wicked industrialists and the corrupt president of the town council who want to use the locale to dump toxic wastes. The lively soundtrack features songs by Phil Collins, Julian Lennon, Arcadia, and Pete Townshend. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Originally and imprudently titled The Whorehouse Sting, this fact-based, made-for-TV melodrama casts Beau Bridges as federal agent Frank Powell, who makes it his mission to bring slick but deadly racketeer Oliver Sully (Harold Gould) to justice. This undertaking requires Powell and his fellow government functionaries to set up a phony San Francisco brothel (total price tag: $450,000), thereby setting the stage for an intricate extortion "sting". Putting her life on the line along with Powell is professional call girl Kathy Dunne (Farrah Fawcett), who agrees to pose as the brothel's madam. Laced with moments of unexpected humor and capped by an unexpected denoument, The Red-Light Sting debuted April 5, 1984, on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The cast of the Old Globe Theater's acclaimed early-'80s revival of Thornton Wilder's Pulitzer Prize-winning classic reunited to re-create their roles for this made-for-TV production, taped for PBS's anthology series American Playhouse. The Skin of Our Teeth follows the often funny and occasionally tragic circumstances of the Antrobus family, who have learned to persevere and even thrive through any number of natural and personal crises, including war, flood, disease, and even a plague of locusts. The distinguished cast of The Skin of Our Teeth includes Blair Brown, Rue McClanahan, Harold Gould, Sada Thompson, Larry Drake, and John Houseman. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A career woman is so desperate to conceive a child that when her boyfriend the sportswriter comes up short, she goes looking for a fertile stranger in this made-for-TV comic outing. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

For the first (and thus far the only) time in his career, Chevy Chase plays a genuinely sympathetic character in Neil Simon's Seems Like Old Times. This time around, Chase is a divorced novelist who is abducted by crooks and set up as the fall guy in a bank robbery. Arrested, Chase manages to escape and to make his way to the home of ex-wife Goldie Hawn, now a highly respected liberal defense attorney. Chase's unexpected arrival coincides with an important dinner party on behalf of Goldie's current husband, district attorney Charles Grodin. At first making every effort to give Chase the boot, Hawn, ever the champion of the underdog finally decides to help him out of his dilemma--much to the discomfort of her politically ambitious husband. Wisely, Grodin does not play his character as an unpleasant stuffed shirt; he is as likeable as Chase and Hawn, giving the farcical plot convolutions a tinge of reality. We care about the people involved, thus the laughs spring as much from characterization as they do from the situation. If only Seems Like Old Times didn't have that lame-brained final close up..... ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide