Melanie Griffith Movies
The daughter of onetime fashion model Tippi Hedren (Marnie) and actor Peter Griffith, Melanie Griffith witnessed her parents' divorce as a toddler. She relocated from Manhattan to Los Angeles in the custody of her mom at the age of four, when Alfred Hitchcock discovered Hedren and offered her a bid for movie stardom. Hedren soon married her second husband, film producer Noel Marshall, and relocated the entire family (including Griffith) to an Acton, California ranch, but at age 15 (c. 1972), Griffith broke out on her own. She started modeling professionally and struck up a live-in relationship with then-22-year-old Don Johnson. Thus commenced a notoriously rocky, complex romance of four years. It temporarily ended when Griffith and Johnson wed and divorced several months later. In the mean time, Griffith kick-started her acting career with promising films including the Arthur Penn-directed detective saga Night Moves (1975) and the Paul Newman mystery The Drowning Pool (1975).Problems with drugs and drinking followed Griffith and Johnson's divorce. It all came crashing down for the rising star in 1980, when she was hit by a car on Sunset Boulevard and seriously injured, with amnesia that lasted for several days and a fractured arm. Ultimately, she did survive, and launched a comeback in the 1980s, studying acting with the preeminent Stella Adler. Griffith made a distinct impression as porn star Holly Body in Brian DePalma's thriller Body Double (1984), and two years later received a wealth of critical acclaim for her role in Something Wild, a Jonathan Demme comedy. It cast her as a reckless spirit opposite an uptight Jeff Daniels. In many ways, however, 1988 witnessed Griffith's breakthrough; that year, she appeared in Robert Redford's The Milagro Beanfield War and starred in the Mike Nichols comedy Working Girl. For her work in the latter film, as a young career woman trying to conquer the New York business world, Griffith earned an Oscar nomination and no small amount of critical respect. Unfortunately, she then endured a series of less well-received outings, including Brian DePalma's widely panned Tom Wolfe outing The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990), the John Schlesinger mystery Pacific Heights (1990) and director David Seltzer's period meller Shining Through (1992).
While her acting career continued on its highs and lows, Griffith once again wed Johnson in 1989; their second union lasted until 1996. That same year, the actress married Spanish heartthrob Antonio Banderas following a much-publicized romance. She went on to do some of her best work in years in 1997 as the puffy, tragically misguided Mrs. Haze in Adrian Lyne's overlooked adaptation of Lolita. She then signed on to portray drug dealer James Woods's wife in the Larry Clark-directed addiction drama Another Day in Paradise (1998); unfortunately, the film failed to make a significant impact on critics. At about the same time, the actress portrayed a flippant movie star in Woody Allen's Celebrity (1998), and a nutty aspiring actress who totes her dead husband's head around in a hat box in the Antonio Banderas-directed Crazy in Alabama in 1999. Both films received negative-to-mediocre reviews.
Unfortunately, that marked the beginning of a decline in stature for Griffith. Though she continued signing for roles, subsequent projects were of somewhat lower profile. They included participation in the documentaries Light Keeps Me Company (2000) and Searching for Debra Winger (2002), as well as a critically-praised starring turn as a Hollywood prima-donna who falls prey to a guerilla filmmaking ensemble, in John Waters's outrageous black comedy Cecil B. Demented (2000). The actress accepted roles in Eric Styles's romantic drama Tempo (2003) and director Damian Nieman's ensemble crime thriller Shade (2003); she also bowed on television as Bunny Baxter in the way-offbeat musical/thriller series Viva Laughlin (2007) on CBS, which completely failed to connect with an audience and was cancelled after three episodes. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
When a Jewish jeweler is found dead and his store is missing more than one million dollars in diamonds, a New York police detective (Melanie Griffith) goes undercover in a community of Hasidic Jews to find the criminal. Once she is immersed in the community, she falls in love with one of the most devout members, who helps her find the criminal. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Melanie Griffith, Eric Thal, (more)
Kewpie-doll voiced Melanie Griffith does a sexed-up Nancy Drew turn in David Seltzer's adaptation of Susan Issacs' novel Shining Through. Set during World war II, Griffith plays Linda Voss, a spunky New York girl who applies for a job with international lawyer Ed Leland (Michael Douglas). Ed hires her immediately when he finds out that she speaks German fluently. The reason Ed is so interested in Linda's language skills is because Ed is an undercover OSS officer who needs a German translator. Their business relationship translates into love, but when America enters the war, Ed abandons his law practice to become a full-time spy. Utilizing Linda's charms, she travels to Berlin and infiltrates the Nazis as a domestic to try to discover information about "a bomb that can fly by itself." But Linda has personal as well as patriotic motives for agreeing to go undercover, since she has Jewish relatives in Berlin and wants to find out their whereabouts. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Douglas, Melanie Griffith, (more)
Mary Agnes Donohue adapted her French success Le Grand Chemin for this American version, reworked as a vehicle for Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson. Paradise is a coming-of-age story about a 10-year-old boy named Willard (Elijah Wood), who is sent by his mother to stay with her best friend Lily (Melanie Griffith), who lives in the Delta shrimp-fishing country in a town called Paradise. Lily and her husband Ben (Don Johnson) have been living in an unmentioned emotional vacuum since the death of their own three year old boy. Willard makes friends with the local 9-year-old tomboy, Billie (Thora Birch), who teaches Willard to be comfortable with himself. When Willard gains a handle on his own emotions, he can now help Ben and Lily to connect, overcome grief and rediscover themselves. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Melanie Griffith, Don Johnson, (more)
- 1990
- R
Elaine May and Marlo Thomas star in this black comedy taking place in the black comedy capital of the world -- New York City. Elaine May plays Marianne Flan, who moves back to a nightmare New York City from Beverly Hills after her husband, Roger (Peter Falk), has been fired from his job. She hires ditzy psychic Reva Prosky (Marlo Thomas) to redecorate her apartment, and they end up being pursued by a crazed killer. They flee the city and end up at a new-age retreat in upstate New York. Jeannie Berlin, Elaine May's daughter, co-wrote the script with Laurie Jones and appears briefly as the Flan's strumpet neighbor. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elaine May, Marlo Thomas, (more)
Brian De Palma's Hollywood sanitization of Tom Wolfe's scabrous satire stars Tom Hanks as Sherman McCoy, the "master of the universe," a shallow Wall Street investor who makes millions while enjoying the good life and the sexual favors of Maria Ruskin (Melanie Griffith), a Southern belle golddigger. Sherman and Maria are driving back to Maria's apartment from the airport when Maria takes a wrong turn on the expressway and the two find themselves in the South Bronx. She sees a black youth approaching Sherman's car and Maria, frightened, guns the engine, running over the teenager and killing him. The two drive away and decide not to report the accident to the police. Meanwhile, indigent alcoholic journalist Peter Fallow (Bruce Willis), anxious for a story to make good with his editor, comes upon the hit-and-run tale through local black community activist, Reverend Bacon (John Hancock). Bacon plans to use the hit-and-run case as a rallying point for the black community, while Fallow recognizes the press coverage inherent in prosecuting the callow Sherman. As Sherman is brought to his knees, the New York community fragments into different factions who use the case to suit their own cynical political purposes. Finally, Sherman is left without any allies to support him except for the sympathetic Judge White (Morgan Freeman) and the remorseful Fallow. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis, (more)
John Schlesinger directed this upscale horror film about a landlord with the ultimate problem tenant. Patty Palmer (Melanie Griffith) and Drake Goodman (Matthew Modine) are a middle class couple who lie on their financial statement in order to buy an old Victorian house in San Francisco, planning to renovate it and rent it out. Unfortunately, they select as a tenant Carter Hayes (Michael Keaton), a psychotic real estate bargain hunter who plans to drive Patty and Drake into foreclosure proceedings and then buy the house cheap. Carter starts the ball rolling by refusing to pay his rent and driving out a couple who had rented the rear flat by hammering and sawing all night -- and then releasing a tidal wave of cockroaches. What follows is a psychological war between Carter and the Yuppie couple, with Carter succeeding not only in provoking Drake into more extreme means of eviction, but also causing a rift between Drake and Patty. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Keaton, Melanie Griffith, (more)
Originally aired on HBO, Women and Men: Stories of Seduction is a short-film anthology that brings to life three famous short stories. Mary McCarthy's "The Man in the Brooks Brothers Shirt" stars Elizabeth McGovern and Beau Bridges. The second, Dorothy Parker's "Dusk Before Fireworks," features Peter Weller and Molly Ringwald. The third, "Hills Like White Elephants," stars Melanie Griffith and James Woods as a couple trying to convince themselves that her abortion will not affect their relationship. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- 1988
This 1988 episode of Saturday Night Live is hosted by Melanie Griffith and features musical guest Little Feat. ~ Skyler Miller, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Melanie Griffith, Sacheen Little Feather, (more)
It's advisable to know from the beginning of The Milagro Beanfield War that "milagro" is the Spanish word for "miracle". The scene is a rundown Hispanic community in New Mexico, bordering a posh housing development. In full control of the local water rights, the powers-that-be are secure in the belief that they'll be able to expand their development without resistance from the locals. No one can foresee that impoverished farmer Chick Vennera, during a burst of frustrated rage, will accidentally open a heretofore hidden sluice, thereby providing free water for his beanfield. At first, the locals are against Vennera's "insurrection", reasoning that the new housing development will provide jobs. But with the help of John Heard, a burned-out 60s activist who now runs the community newspaper, Vennera becomes the hero of the hour, the spiritual leader of an ever-growing "no development" movement. The evil land developers send their minions to intimidate or coerce Vennera; each time, however, he is seemingly protected from harm by Divine intervention. When Vennera is forced to shoot a trespasser on his land, it looks as though his luck has run out. Chased into the hills by private detective Christopher Walken, Vennera is once more rescued in the nick of time by what appears to be a miracle. And there are more wonders to behold before fadeout time! Whimsical yes, but thanks to its hand-picked ensemble cast (including Sonia Braga, Ruben Blades, James Gammon, Daniel Stern, Freddy Fender, M. Emmett Walsh and Melanie Griffith) the film remains totally credible throughout. Adapted by John Nichols and David Ward from Nichols' own novel, Milagro Beanfield War may be the most likeable "liberal-tract" film of the 1980s. Robert Redford's appropriately Capraesque direction is matched by Dave Grusin's vibrant Oscar-winning musical score. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rubén Blades, Richard Bradford, (more)
Unhappy with her job and her loser boyfriend, Melanie Griffith takes a secretarial post at a major Wall Street firm. Her boss is Sigourney Weaver, an outwardly affable yuppie whose grinning visage hides a wicked and larcenous propensity for exploiting the ideas of her employees. While Weaver is incapacitated, Griffith is compelled by circumstances to pose as her boss. Her inborn business acumen and common sense enable Griffith to rise to the top of New York's financial circles, and along the way she wins the love of executive (Harrison Ford). Things threaten to take a sorry turn when Weaver returns, but it is she who suffers from the consequences of her own past duplicity. Working Girl was Melanie Griffith's breakthrough film, proving than she was more than just the off-and-on "significant other" of Don Johnson. The film was later adapted into a brief TV series, starring a pre-Speed Sandra Bullock. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Melanie Griffith, Harrison Ford, (more)
Stormy Monday is a four-person character study in which style is all that matters. This tautly constructed, deftly executed crime thriller is set in economically depressed Newcastle England. Sting plays Finney, a relatively honest Newcastle jazz-club owner who crosses the path of crass American gangster Cosmo (Tommy Lee Jones). Flaunting his wealth at every opportunity, Cosmo wants to involve Finney in a land development deal -- if only he'll give up his club. Both men are enamored of Kate (Melanie Griffith), who becomes a pawn in their ongoing one-upsmanship. Kate and her lover (Sean Bean) try to prevent Finney from corrupting his own sense of values by wallowing in the gutter with Cosmo. Stormy Monday, the first feature-length directorial effort of former jazz musician Mike Figgis, who also wrote the script and composed the score, tells its story using subtle shadings of character and a vivid evocation of its Newcastle setting rather than through violent action. Figgis's moody direction of his excellent screenplay is quietly effective and brimming with visual nuance and irony -- particularly in its perceptive take on love, money, jazz, and economic necessity. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Melanie Griffith, Tommy Lee Jones, (more)
In this arch sci-fi sex comedy-cum-action extravaganza, a hard-nosed female mercenary helps a hapless yuppie find a new body for his robot girlfriend in the post-industrial wasteland of the American Southwest. In the year 2017, what little remains of civilization feeds off the scrap heap of 20th century waste, while even casual sex has become a matter of regulations and contracts. Like many other members of the L.A. white-collar elite, Sam Treatwell (David Andrews) takes refuge in a quasi-marriage with his beloved sex robot, Cherry (Pamela Gidley). After a soft-focus, bubbly sexcapade short circuits Cherry's body, Sam considers replacing her, but the shoddy production values of modern robots make it obvious that the vintage appliance is irreplaceable. To put it simply, the guy's in love. The wistful romantic therefore heads out to The Zone, a forbidding no man's land, where he hopes to find a new "chassis" in which to insert Cherry's unique personality chip. To do so, he needs the help of a "tracker," and E. Johnson (Melanie Griffith) is just the woman for the job. The gun-toting, red-headed road warrior leads Sam through a dystopian desert landscape full of psychopaths and opportunists toward their final destination: an abandoned warehouse full of antique androids. Along the way, Sam learns what it's like to interact with a woman who has brains and a heart instead of a microchip. Filmed in 1986, Cherry 2000 didn't receive its limited theatrical release until 1988, the same year star Griffith received an Oscar nomination for her role in Working Girl. Griffith and director Steven de Jarnatt previously worked together on the pilot for the 1980s revival of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Ben Johnson, veteran of many a Hollywood Western, appears as E. Johnson's mentor, Six Finger Jake. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Melanie Griffith, David Andrews, (more)
A wildly inventive and entertaining comic nightmare from former Roger Corman prodigy Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs), this screwball odyssey is a ride to remember. Jeff Daniels plays clean-cut New York bond trader Charlie Driggs, who accepts a ride home from a strange but attractive lower-class woman named Lulu (Melanie Griffith). The sexy Louise Brooks lookalike doesn't take him home, but shanghais him for a bizarre roadtrip to Virginia that includes kinky bondage sex, destruction of property, and robbery. Things get stranger when Lulu tells Charlie that her real name is Audrey and takes him home to meet her mother, asking him to pose as her husband. The charade continues until her high-school reunion, where the roadtrip (and the entire film) takes a sharp U-turn into psycho-thriller territory. Audrey's dangerously psychotic ex-con husband, Ray Sinclair (Ray Liotta), shows up. What had been a liberating fling for Charlie turns into a bloody and vicious battle for survival. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeff Daniels, Melanie Griffith, (more)
- 1985
Alfred Hitchcock Presents is the portmanteau pilot film for the subsequent TV revival of Hitchcock's celebrated anthology series of the 1950s and '60s. Four short tales are presented, each of them remakes of earlier Alfred Hitchcock programs. "Incident in a Small Jail," originally presented in 1961 with John Fiedler in the lead, stars Ned Beatty as a traveling salesman who finds himself sharing a jail cell with an accused rapist -- the target of an angry, indiscriminate lynch mob. "Man from the South," based on an oft-adapted Roald Dahl piece, stars John Huston as a cagey gambler who makes a grisly wager with novice Steven Bauer. The original 1959 Hitchcock version of this tale starred Peter Lorre and Steve McQueen; featured in the cast of the remake are former Hitchcock movie leading ladies Kim Novak and Tippi Hedren, as well as Hedren's daughter Melanie Griffith. "Bang, You're Dead" is a taut, tension-filled tale of a child who wanders around town with a loaded gun. The child is a little girl (Bianca Rose), but in the initial 1961 version the protagonist was a boy, played by Billy Mumy (who appears in this remake in a small role). The final playlet, "The Unlocked Window," is an abbreviated version of a story first shown on The Alfred Hitchcock Hour in 1965. Bruce Davidson is featured in a virtual reprise of that beloved old Hitchcock protagonist Norman Bates. Each of the four stories in Alfred Hitchcock Presents had its own director -- in order of appearance, they are Joel Oliansky, Steve De Jarnatt, Randa Haines, and Fred Walton -- and all were narrated by co-star John Huston. The late Alfred Hitchcock opens and closes each playlet via colorized footage from the original series -- a bizarre touch that "The Master" might have approved of. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
To paraphrase 1930s wit Wilson Mizner, Fear City is like a trip through a sewer in a glass-bottom boat. In exploitation-flick fashion, the film exposes the seedy "nether world" of contemporary Manhattan. Unsavory Matt (Tom Berenger) and Nick (Jack Scalia) run a topless bar/booking agency, in direct competition with equally scuzzy Goldstein (Jan Murray). It's hard to imagine anyone lower than these low-lives until we're apprised of a serial killer who dutifully keeps a record of his murders in a diary. The killer's victims are all exotic dancers and hookers, prompting Matt to suspect that Goldstein is behind the crimes, and vice versa. Once they've decided that it's better to unite against a common enemy than to throw volleys at each other, Matt and Goldstein arrange between themselves to insure the safety of the women in their employ. Meanwhile, Matt's ex-girlfriend Loretta (Melanie Griffith), saddened by the murder of her lesbian lover Leila (Rae Dawn Chong), resumes her drug habit, while a dispirited Matt begins harking back to his own sordid past. The one redeeming aspect of Fear City is the ultimate triumph over the odds by Loretta, who by process of elimination emerges as the most likeable character in the bunch. For a film of this nature, Fear City boasts an unexpectedly strong cast, including the aforementioned actors and Billy Dee Williams, Rosanno Brazzi, Joe Santos and Michael V. Gazzo. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Berenger, Billy Dee Williams, (more)
In Body Double, director Brian DePalma pays homage to the Alfred Hitchcock movies Vertigo and Rear Window, adding a few grotesque touches all his own. Craig Wasson plays Jake, a struggling actor who keeps losing jobs because of his claustrophobia. To make matters worse, his girlfriend has walked out on him, so he has no place to sleep. His pal offers him the use of his apartment for the evening. The apartment happens to be equipped with a huge picture window and telescope, enabling him to spy on his beautiful neighbor Gloria (Deborah Shelton) while she undresses. He also bears witness to her brutal murder. And then he meets a porn star (Melanie Griffith), who has just taken a job posing as the late Gloria. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Craig Wasson, Gregg Henry, (more)
- 1981
The infamous casting couch is the center point of this Hollywood behind-the-scenes drama that chronicles the exploits of a movie mogul and the actresses he turns into stars. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1981
Golden Gate revolves around a San Francisco-based newspaper empire run by a family named Kingsley (it could just as well have been "Kane," since the family was based on you-know-what Frisco-based publishing dynasty). Richard Kiley, the cold and commanding Kingsley patriarch, suffers a heart attack. Kiley's long-estranged son Perry King returns to San Francisco to save the newspaper from bankruptcy, and to stave off a hostile takeover by a crooked money man. There's plenty of tense infighting and terse dialogue, courtesy of veteran TV scenarist Stirling Silliphant. Golden Gate may have smelled like a pilot film, but the story was too self-contained to allow for a subsequent series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1981
In this made-for-TV comedy, a group of unprepared young woman sign up with the Army and get themselves into all kinds of trouble when they start their basic training. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- 1981
- PG
Wildlife activist and actress Tippi Hedren starred in this comic family adventure written, directed, and costarring her producer husband Noel Marshall and inspired by the surprise success of Born Free (1966). Hedren is Madeleine, a woman who brings her children (including real-life daughter and future movie star Melanie Griffith) to the African jungle for a visit with her long-estranged husband Hank (Marshall). An eccentric scientist, Hank has dedicated the past several years of his life to fighting for the preservation of endangered species. A snafu results in the family being met not by the environmentalist, however, but a pride of ferocious felines. Roar (1981) managed to pull in just $2 million at the box office, a fraction of its $17 million cost. The production was better known for its accident-prone, behind-the-scenes drama, which included a fire, a flood, and a disease that took the lives of several big cat performers. Resulting schedule delays turned the motion picture into an 11-year labor of love for Hedren, whose real-life commitment to protection of big cats extended to the establishment of her own California game preserve called Shambala, later to be the subject of a book by Hedren and a television documentary. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tippi Hedren, Noel Marshall, (more)
- 1980
- PG
Ever wonder what happens to your car when you give it to a parking lot attendant? Find out in this zany slapstick comedy set in an exclusive Beverly Hills Hotel. There the attendants gleefully smash and bash the expensive cars of patrons while trying to get them parked. The story really perks up when an enamored and fabulously wealthy sheik joins the attendants in hopes of attracting a certain beautiful woman. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1978
Steel Cowboy is one of an overabundance of "trucker" films (made for both TV and theaters) inflicted upon the public in the mid- to late-'70s. James Brolin stars as an independent trucker weighed down with financial difficulties. When first we meet him, he is in danger of losing both his rig and his wife (Jennifer Warren). In desperation, Brolin agrees to haul a cargo of hijacked cattle. The inescapable musical score is evocatively rendered by Juice Newton and The Silver Spur. Steel Cowboy pulled into America's TV screens on December 6, 1978. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1978
Famed for their supporting performances in Sylvester Stallone's Rocky, Burt Young and Talia Shire struck while the iron was hot to star in the made-for-TV Daddy, I Don't Like It Like This. Young also wrote the screenplay for this middling domestic drama. He and Shire play an endlessly bickering middle-class couple; the husband, an ex-boxer, is frustrated by his inability to fulfill his dreams, while the wife is hampered by emotional and intellectual immaturity. Both Young and Shire take out their hostilities on their son (Doug McKeon), who reacts to the ongoing strife by retreating into his own imagination. Daddy, I Don't Like It Like This was the first directorial assignment for Adell Aldrich, daughter of "cult" director Robert Aldrich. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1977
- PG
Robby Benson plays a talented but naive high school basketball star who wins a scholarship to a perfection-driven college. Here he discovers that he's way out of his league, easily outclassed athletically by his opponents and by his own team. In addition, he runs up against the sort of arm-twisting corruption that often occurs in a college where winning is the only thing. Only the support of his new girlfriend Janet (Annette O'Toole) sees him through his first two semesters. He must weather the bullying of his teammates and his mean-spirited coach (played byG. D.Spradlin). There was plenty of shuttling between cast and production staff in One on One. Besides starring in the film, Benson co-wrote the screenplay (with his father Jerry Segal), while director Lamont Johnson portrays Benson's alumni sponsor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robby Benson, Annette O'Toole, (more)
