Sterling Hayden Movies
The archetypal B-movie actor, Sterling Hayden was never the superstar many projected him to be; a handsome, gritty performer, at first glance he enjoyed an erratic career, yet on closer inspection his lengthy list of credits contains a number of classic films made with many of the most celebrated filmmakers in cinema history. Born March 26, 1916, in Montclair, NJ, he quit school at the age of 16 to become a mate on a schooner, beginning a lifelong love affair with the sea; indeed, it was often suggested that he was never particularly enamored of the acting life, instead preferring to sail. By age 22, Hayden was a ship's captain, but a desire to buy his own boat prompted him to begin modeling, and in 1940 he landed a movie contract at Paramount. With no previous acting experience, he starred in 1941's Virginia, followed a year later by Bahama Passage. The pictures' successes made him a star, and he also grabbed headlines by marrying actress Madeleine Carroll.Paramount began trumpeting Hayden as both "the Most Beautiful Man in the Movies" and "the Beautiful Blond Viking God," but his career ground to a halt when he joined the Marines to serve in World War II, resulting in a five-year absence from the screen. Upon returning from duty, he continued acting with Blaze of Noon, but after half a decade away from the screen, his career stalled, and apart from a brief appearance later that year in Variety Girl, no other offers came his way for some time. Finally, in 1949, Hayden resurfaced in a John Wayne Western, El Paso, and a film noir, Manhandled. The following year, he starred in John Huston's classic noir The Asphalt Jungle, portraying an ill-fated small-time hood -- a career-defining role. Still, he spent the majority of the early decade in a variety of other genre outings, many of them Westerns (including the 1953 Nicholas Ray cult classic Johnny Guitar). In 1956, Hayden teamed for the first time with director Stanley Kubrick, headlining the oft-imitated and widely acclaimed crime story The Killing.
Hayden's career flagged during the years to follow, however. Saddled with a series of lackluster films, he finally left acting in 1958 to return to the sea, and spent the next six years away from Hollywood. In 1963, he even published an autobiography, Wanderer, detailing his ocean adventures as well as his regret for cooperating with the House Un-American Activities Commission during the McCarthy era. Finally, Hayden returned to film in 1964 to reunite with Kubrick on the brilliant satire Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. Apart from the television feature Carol for Another Christmas, however, he again quit acting to sail, and did not return prior to 1969's Cipolla Colt. He enjoyed another career resurrection with Francis Ford Coppola's 1972 classic The Godfather, and a year later co-starred in Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye. In 1976, Hayden appeared in Bernardo Bertolucci's Novecento, and also published the historical epic Voyage: A Novel of 1896. After working infrequently over the course of the following decade, he died in Sausalito, CA, on May 23, 1986, at the age of 70. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
- 1984
Director Wolf-Eckart Bühler follows up his earlier, lengthy interview with Sterling Hayden in this three-part chronicle of the traumas in the actor's life. Based on Hayden's autobiography Wanderer, Bühler has three different actors deliver segments of the book in a detached way -- focusing on the problems created by sudden national media attention, the nature of intense pressure from high-ranking authorities, and the gradual formation of a betrayal of both ethics and friends. (Hayden was brought before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1951 and named Hollywood colleagues as fellow leftists -- much to his lifelong regret). The literary readings, even when interesting in their own right, do not lend themselves to dramatic cinema, limiting this film to viewers with an avid interest in politics. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Burkhardt Driest, Rüdiger Vogler, (more)
- 1983
Sterling Hayden (1916-1986) is interviewed on his barge on a river in Holland by a West German documentary crew, and reveals his love of the sea, his deep regrets over testifying against other actors when before the House UnAmerican Activities Committee, his disgust with the many "B" movies he made in the 1950s, and how he escaped Hollywood in 1958. Hayden's soul-baring recollections and feelings are supplemented by still photos, newspaper headlines about his "commie hit-man" testimony, and some of his scenes in Dr. Strangelove and the Asphalt Jungle. His long beard and robe and occasional nips from a whisky bottle add a colorful dimension to the Hollywood version of his image. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sterling Hayden
Originally networkcast in three installments, the 8-hour Blue and the Gray is a sprawling adaptation of a story concept by Civil War historian Bruce Catton. The drama begins in 1859, with young war correspondent-to-be John Hammond meeting future Union officer Stacy Keach at the trial of abolitionist John Brown (Sterling Hayden). They are reunited two years later during the presidential campaign of Abraham Lincoln (Gregory Peck) and are eyewitnesses at the battle of Bull Run. Keach marries Julia Duffy in 1862, while Virginia-born Hammond writes his dispatches from the Deep South. A subplot concerning a family torn by North/South loyalties is resolved just before Appomattox. The Blue and the Gray was first telecast November 14, 16 and 17, 1982. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
A big black mamba snake that has gotten loose in a townhouse slithers through a kidnapping plot in this film. Based on a novel by Alan Scholefield, Venom features a big name British cast that seems to be slumming in a B-movie project. Dr. Marion Stowe (Sarah Miles) is a toxicologist who has brought the snake to London to study the properties of its deadly venom. It escapes and terrorizes the inhabitants of the townhouse, where an attempted kidnapping is in progress. Dave (Oliver Reed), Jacmel (Klaus Kinski) and Louise (Susan George) are the villains trying to hold the son of a wealthy family for ransom. Original director Tobe Hooper was replaced by Piers Haggard. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi
- Starring:
- Klaus Kinski, Oliver Reed, (more)
- 1981
- R
When the money-hungry Duke Stuyvesant (Sterling Hayden) orchestrates a phony gas shortage, chaos ensues in a small Midwestern town. ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi
- Starring:
- Donald Sutherland, Susan Anspach, (more)
Judy Bernly (Jane Fonda), a housewife whose husband has left her for his secretary, begins her own secretarial career at a huge corporation. Violet Newstead (Lily Tomlin), a feisty, veteran office manager, instructs her on the perils and procedures of office life -- and of working for Franklin Hart Jr. (Dabney Coleman), their chauvinistic, sleazy boss, and his right-hand woman, the crisp, nosy Roz (Elizabeth Wilson). Meanwhile, Hart's endless attempts to seduce his happily married secretary, Doralee Rhodes (Dolly Parton), lead the entire office to think she's a trollop. When Hart unfairly passes Violet over for a promotion, she drowns her sorrows at a local bar with Judy and Doralee, who regales the others with tales of Hart's epic advances. Later, at Doralee's house, the women smoke pot, eat barbecue, and concoct hilarious revenge fantasies -- a rodeo hog-tie, a Wild West shootout, and a gothic Snow White scenario -- about killing their boss. When a mix-up leads the women to think they have accidentally poisoned Hart's coffee, they hatch a scheme to protect themselves by stealing Hart's body from the morgue. When he turns up alive, never having drunk the coffee, they must kidnap him to prevent him from blackmailing them or calling the police. The women then use the occasion of their boss' absence to effect some changes around the office. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, (more)
Based on a novel by the iconoclastic Richard Condon (of Manchurian Candidate and Prizzi's Honor fame), Winter Kills was one of the vanguard efforts in the "JFK conspiracy" school of literature. Jeff Bridges stars as Nick Kegan, the scion of a powerful Kennedyesque family, who has done his best to make himself obscure after the assassination of his older brother, the former president of the U.S. While working as an oil rigger, Nick is introduced to a terminally ill gentleman who claims to have been "the second assassin." His curiosity aroused, Nick begins digging into what was supposed to be a closed case -- and, predictably, what he finds out isn't pretty. This, however, is the only predictable element of this mesmerizingly mazelike yarn. A failure when first released, Winter Kills fared somewhat better when director William Richert arranged to rerelease the film through his own company and restore several scenes that had been cut by its previous backers. Elizabeth Taylor appears uncredited as one "Lola Comante." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jeff Bridges, John Huston, (more)
- 1979
- R
The ugly conflict between Irish and British forces in Northern Ireland provides the backdrop for this drama set in the early 1970s. Michael Flaherty (Craig Wasson) is an American of Irish descent who, after returning home from a tour of duty in Vietnam, is deciding what to do with his life. Since his childhood, Michael's grandfather Seamus (Sterling Hayden) has told him of his glorious younger days in Ireland, when he fought against the British with the Irish Republican Army. Michael decides to go to Belfast to help the battle for home rule, but he soon finds out that he's not welcomed by many of the locals. He's considered more important as a symbol than as a soldier or an activist -- so much so that the IRA plans to have him killed in a way that can be blamed on British forces in order to help elicit financial support from wealthy Americans. The Outsider was primarily filmed in Dublin, while several of the American sequences were shot in Detroit. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Craig Wasson, Sterling Hayden, (more)
Not surprisingly, this fascinating dissection of Gypsy life in America was vilified by several ethnic special-interest groups, who'd previously delivered their mimeoed missives to novelist Peter Maas, on whose book the film was based. Sterling Hayden is the "king" of a New York-based gypsy tribe, who on his deathbed passes his crown to his reluctant grandson, Eric Roberts. Roberts' scuzzy father Judd Hirsch, envious that he's been passed over, begins plotting the demise of his own son. It appears at first that the boy, a thoroughly assimilated Manhattanite, would be more than willing to give up his invisible throne to Hirsch, but there's something about his heritage that always draws him back to his own people. Several genuine gypsies took part in the film as extras, bit players and technical advisers; reportedly, they also spent much of the shooting time trying to cadge a few dishonest dollars from cast and crew. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sterling Hayden, Shelley Winters, (more)
- 1977
Originally screened as a mini-series on the NBC television network, this epic-length feature combines the entirety of The Godfather and The Godfather Part II with 15 minutes of outtakes from the two films, recutting the material into chronological order (clarifying the complex structure of The Godfather Part II, which jumped back and forth between events that occurred before and after the narrative of the first film). The Godfather 1902-1959: The Complete Epic tells the tale of the Corleone Family, from the arrival of Vito Corleone in the U.S. as a boy and his rise to criminal power as a young man (played by Robert DeNiro) to the decline of his empire decades later. While some of the original material was censored for television broadcast, when The Godfather 1902-1959: The Complete Epic was later released on home video, the altered footage was restored to its original content. However, this proved not to be the final and complete document of the Corleone saga, as Francis Ford Coppola added another chapter to the story nine years later with the release of The Godfather Part III. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Al Pacino, Marlon Brando, (more)
Bernardo Bertolucci's 255-minute 1900 was a gargantuan undertaking, requiring the resources of three European countries and a trio of American movie studios. Set in the Italian town of Parma, the film's continuity backtracks from Liberation Day in 1945 to the occasion of composer/patriot Giuseppe Verdi's death in 1901. We follow the lives of two men born on that day in 1901, who grow up to be Alfredo Berlinghieti (Robert De Niro) and Olmo Dalco (Gérard Depardieu). Wealthy Alfredo sinks into dissipation, while poverty-stricken Olmo becomes a firebrand labor leader and communist. After WWI, Alfredo is allowed to peacefully retain his land holdings by playing nice with the burgeoning fascists; Olmo, on the other hand, engages in a long-standing battle against the minions of Mussolini. The two protagonists are reunited when Alfredo returns to Parma to preside over Olmo's trial for "political crimes." Co-star Burt Lancaster is cast as Alfredo's wealthy grandfather, who hates to see the old values buried beneath the social travails of the 20th century. Many American prints of 1900 were shortened to 243 minutes, rendering the story hard to follow at times. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Robert De Niro, Gérard Depardieu, (more)
- 1974
Fly Me - If You Can Find Me was originally an episode of the weekly, 90-minute TV mystery series Banacek. Detective Banacek (George Peppard), who is called in only when the police are totally stymied, is faced with still another puzzler. A damaged airliner has made an emergency landing at a tiny airfield in the desert. Though supposedly crippled, the airliner vanishes during the night. Sterling Hayden, Jack Kelly, and a pre-stardom Victoria Principal make guest appearances in this February 19, 1974 Banacek installment. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1974
- R
Everything appears to be fine when a pair of strangers (Hayley Mills, Simon Ward) meet up and agree to travel together. However, the news that a mental patient has escaped from a nearby institution begins to cause problems between them. ~ John Bush, Rovi
"It's OK with me...." Applying his deconstructive eye to the "film noir" tradition, Robert Altman updated Raymond Chandler in his 1973 version of Chandler's novel, The Long Goodbye. Smart-aleck, cat-loving private eye Philip Marlowe (Elliott Gould) is certain that his friend Terry Lennox (Jim Bouton) isn't a wife-killer, even after the cops throw Marlowe in jail for not cooperating with their investigation into Lennox's subsequent disappearance. Once he gets out of jail, Marlowe starts to conduct his own search when he discovers that mysterious blonde Eileen Wade (Nina Van Pallandt), who hired him to find her alcoholic novelist husband Roger (Sterling Hayden), lives on the same Malibu street as the absent Lennox and his deceased spouse. As numerous variations on the title song play in unexpected places, Marlowe encounters a shady doctor (Henry Gibson), a bottle-wielding gangster (director Mark Rydell), and a guard aping Barbara Stanwyck (among other stars), before heading to Mexico to stumble onto the truth once and for all. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi
- Starring:
- Elliott Gould, Nina Van Pallandt, (more)
Jon Finch stars as Jerry Cornelius, swinging London's leading scientific genius, in this screen adaptation of the acclaimed science fiction novel by Michael Moorcock. As the world teeters on the brink of collapse following a nuclear war, Jerry discovers that a batch of microfilm containing "the final programme" -- the plan for an ideal, self-replicating human being, which was designed by his father -- has fallen into the wrong hands. With the assistance of Miss Brunner (Jenny Runacre), a voracious and bisexual computer expert, Jerry discovers the programme has been taken by his unscrupulous brother Frank (Derrick O'Connor), and Jerry and Miss Brunner must recover it and put the system to work, leading to the creation of a new messiah (which isn't quite what one would expect). The distinguished supporting cast for this thoughtful bit of satire includes Patrick Magee, Sterling Hayden, and George Coulouris. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jon Finch, Jenny Runacre, (more)
- 1973
The Beginning consists of two hour-long episodes from the weekly TV series Starlost. Created by Harlan Ellison (who later disowned the project), this science fiction effort is set in the 28th century. Keir Dullea stars as a postapocalyptic youth who has been sentenced to prison for speaking his mind. Dullea escapes by stealing a huge space vehicle, Earth Ship Ark, in the company of the girl he loves (Gay Rowan) and his rival for her affections (Robin Ward).This "feature film" is comprised of the following episodes: "Voyage of Discovery", the series' pilot film; and "The Goddess Calabra", written by Ursula K. LeGuin, in which heroine Rachel (Gay Rowan) finds that she is the exact double of an extraterrestrial goddess. Though The Beginning ends on an upbeat note, its impact was dulled by the aimless, directionless series that followed. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Popularly viewed as one of the best American films ever made, the multi-generational crime saga The Godfather is a touchstone of cinema: one of the most widely imitated, quoted, and lampooned movies of all time. Marlon Brando and Al Pacino star as Vito Corleone and his youngest son, Michael, respectively. It is the late 1940s in New York and Corleone is, in the parlance of organized crime, a "godfather" or "don," the head of a Mafia family. Michael, a free thinker who defied his father by enlisting in the Marines to fight in World War II, has returned a captain and a war hero. Having long ago rejected the family business, Michael shows up at the wedding of his sister, Connie (Talia Shire), with his non-Italian girlfriend, Kay (Diane Keaton), who learns for the first time about the family "business." A few months later at Christmas time, the don barely survives being shot by gunmen in the employ of a drug-trafficking rival whose request for aid from the Corleones' political connections was rejected. After saving his father from a second assassination attempt, Michael persuades his hotheaded eldest brother, Sonny (James Caan), and family advisors Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall) and Sal Tessio (Abe Vigoda) that he should be the one to exact revenge on the men responsible.
After murdering a corrupt police captain and the drug trafficker, Michael hides out in Sicily while a gang war erupts at home. Falling in love with a local girl, Michael marries her, but she is later slain by Corleone enemies in an attempt on Michael's life. Sonny is also butchered, having been betrayed by Connie's husband. As Michael returns home and convinces Kay to marry him, his father recovers and makes peace with his rivals, realizing that another powerful don was pulling the strings behind the narcotics endeavor that began the gang warfare. Once Michael has been groomed as the new don, he leads the family to a new era of prosperity, then launches a campaign of murderous revenge against those who once tried to wipe out the Corleones, consolidating his family's power and completing his own moral downfall. Nominated for 11 Academy Awards and winning for Best Picture, Best Actor (Marlon Brando), and Best Adapted Screenplay, The Godfather was followed by a pair of sequels. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
After murdering a corrupt police captain and the drug trafficker, Michael hides out in Sicily while a gang war erupts at home. Falling in love with a local girl, Michael marries her, but she is later slain by Corleone enemies in an attempt on Michael's life. Sonny is also butchered, having been betrayed by Connie's husband. As Michael returns home and convinces Kay to marry him, his father recovers and makes peace with his rivals, realizing that another powerful don was pulling the strings behind the narcotics endeavor that began the gang warfare. Once Michael has been groomed as the new don, he leads the family to a new era of prosperity, then launches a campaign of murderous revenge against those who once tried to wipe out the Corleones, consolidating his family's power and completing his own moral downfall. Nominated for 11 Academy Awards and winning for Best Picture, Best Actor (Marlon Brando), and Best Adapted Screenplay, The Godfather was followed by a pair of sequels. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, (more)
- 1972
For most of this experimental, allegorical French movie, the story is told using a reversed color (negative) developing process for the film itself. The director of the film, Martial Raysse, is a painter and sculptor; this is his first full-length feature. The non-narrative story follows the adventures of a man in a cat-mask. He is seen, variously, rescuing people or raping women, or tenderly reassuring a young girl. In short, he is an unpredictable element. He joins forces with someone (Sterling Hayden) who is taking a raft around the world, or maybe out of the world. Highlights of the film are the short scenes which appear with their color the right way 'round. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sterling Hayden, Anne Wiazemsky, (more)
- 1971
In this French crime thriller, you can leave the mob, but the mob won't leave you. Louis (Jean Yanne) has retired to a Thailand plantation with an Asian wife and child. Back in Marseilles, however, because a no-holds-barred gang war has broken out, Louis' large collateral family is wiped out, and he is family are slated for destruction. Hit-men are sent, and they kill his wife, but fail to get Louis. Now incensed, he returns to Marseilles to set these people straight. They confuse him with a policeman (Sterling Hayden) who is escorting Louis' daughter to Paris, and though they kill his daughter, Louis is able to get through the airport and into town. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
Irvin Kershner directed this comedy-drama about one man's struggle with relationships and himself. Brooks (George Segal) is a middle-aged commercial artist who is at a personal and professional crossroads; he wants to take a stab at a career in fine art, but he can barely land enough assignments to support himself as it is. And while his marriage to Selma (Eva Marie Saint) is starting to collapse, his mistress Grace (Janis Young) suggests that she would like a relationship of greater permanence with him. Hoping to land an important commission from Lepridon (Sterling Hayden), a powerful business mogul, Brooks attends a party at an exclusive private club, but after a few cocktails too many, Brooks gets into a screaming match with one of the club's leaders. Brooks is depressed, figuring that he's blown what could have been a major career opportunity, when word travels through the grapevine that Lepridon was amused and impressed by Brooks' dressing-down of the club's topkick and is ready to give him the job. Brooks is elated, but he wants to keep his good news a secret for the time being; in a celebratory mood, he goes to a party where Selma, Grace, and a number of his friends are also in attendance. Brooks is approached by Nelly (Nancy Phillips), the wife of his neighbor Will (David F. Doyle); Nelly wants Brooks to join her for a quickie, and he eagerly agrees, not realizing that the children's playroom where they've chosen to meet is monitored by a closed-circuit TV camera, with the other party-goers an audience for their lovemaking. Loving garnered many enthusiastic reviews and became something of a cult item among film buffs in the 1970s; Sherry Lansing, who would later become a powerful producer and studio president, appears in a small role as Susan. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- George Segal, Eva Marie Saint, (more)
- 1969
- PG
John Cunningham (James Coburn) is a cold-blooded assassin sent by his superior Ramsey (Burgess Meredith) to murder three people in Europe. He takes off for Spain where he meets a foursome of jet-setting socialites. Sheila (Lee Remick) is a wealthy divorcee who falls for John. Alexi (Patrick Magee) is a former Nazi weasel who has eyes for Sheila. Adrianne (Lilli Palmer) is a social butterfly who plays Cupid for John and Sheila. Sterling Hayden and Claude Dauphin also star in this romantic story of how love can soften a man's stone-cold heart. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- James Coburn, Lee Remick, (more)
- 1969
- PG
The title tells all in this western. The trouble is that it is difficult to tell whether or not the film is a serious venture or a parody. There is certainly plenty of violence. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1969
A family living on a remote island learns an escaped prisoner may be in the area. Allan (Sterling Hayden) is the professor who studies the migratory habits of birds. His wife Clea (Maureen McNalley) has a fascination for all things dead. Her sister Lis (Susan Strasberg) is visiting to break the news of her impending marriage to an older man. Clea leaves tobacco and food out for the unseen escapee. Lis meets the prisoner (Stuart Whitman) on the beach and the two make love. The quiet paradise is interrupted by the escaped prisoner who later suffers a potentially fatal wound while killing another man. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sterling Hayden, Maureen McNally, (more)
- 1964
Charles Dickens' classic tale A Christmas Carol is revisited yet again in this made-for-television holiday drama. Told with a different twist, in this version, a melancholy father spends his Christmas Day mourning the son he lost in World War II. His holiday grieving is interrupted by the visiting ghosts of Christmases past, present and future. Henry Mancini provides the score. ~ Bernadette McCallion, Rovi
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