John Heard Movies
A veteran of Chicago's free-form Organic Theatre, the boyish, personable John Heard won the Theatre World Award for his performance in the 1976 play Streamers, and two years later was the recipient of the Obie Award for two separate off-Broadway productions. He made his film bow as the harried correspondent for an underground newspaper in Joan Micklin Silver's Between the Lines. In Silver's 1979 Head Over Heels, Heard again received top billing, this time as the obsessive ex-lover of Mary Beth Hurt. One of his first "mainstream" leading roles was in Paul Schrader's erotic thriller Cat People (1981). Heard was agreeable, if a little bullheaded, as Macaulay Culkin's dad in the two Home Alone films; less agreeable was his portrayal of Tom Hanks' abrasive business rival in Big (1988) On television, Heard was seen as the tormented Reverend Dimmesdale opposite Meg Foster's Hester Prynne in the PBS production of The Scarlet Letter, and was heard as one of the celebrity voices on the made-for-cable Dear America: Letters Home From Vietnam (1987). John Heard was at one time married to actress Margot Kidder. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Charles Purpura scribed this semi-autobiographical tale about his experiences in a Brooklyn Catholic school of 1965. The film focuses on several Catholic school boys who get into ever increasing amounts of trouble with the presiding priests of the Catholic school, St. Basil's. Andrew McCarthy plays Michael Dunn, a newly arrived student who latches onto the class egghead Caesar (Malcolm Danare), who is constantly picked on by the class bully Rooney (Kevin Dillon). Rooney intimidates Michael and Caesar to become his erstwhile chums and, along with a few other quiet students, they receive corporal punishment for minor infractions, disrupting communion and confession and, ultimately, their antics inspire changes in the strict school hierarchy. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donald Sutherland, John Heard, (more)
Martin Scorsese's After Hours is a dark, tragi-comic tale of a fish out of water, centering on an uptight, white-bread computer consultant from uptown Manhattan who finds himself in the nightmarish and incomprehensible (to him) world of Soho after dark. The ordeal begins when Paul Hackett (Griffin Dunne) gets lonely and decides to leave the posh East Side and search the Soho streets for some loving from Marcy (Rosanna Arquette), the pretty young woman he met in a downtown cafe. He has her phone number and works up the nerve to call. She wants to see him, and so Paul grabs $20, hails a taxi and sets out. The weirdness begins when he loses his money during the high-speed cab ride. His visit to Marcy's loft, where he meets her crazed artist roommate Kiki (Linda Fiorentino), is a disaster, as is his encounter with the beehive-wearing retro waitress Julie (Teri Garr). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Griffin Dunne, Rosanna Arquette, (more)
- 1985
- R
This grim exploitation drama follows the cruelty of New York gangsters who prey upon young, naive actresses by inviting them to fancy parties where they are to be viciously raped. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- J.C. Quinn, April Daisy White, (more)
Adapted by Horton Foote from his own television play, A Trip to Bountiful is set in 1947 Houston. Forced by circumstances to live her loathsome son (John Heard) and daughter-in-law (Carlin Glynn), elderly Geraldine Page wants nothing more out of life than to return to her home town of Bountiful. Escaping from her family's clutches, Page boards a bus to Bountiful, where she makes the acquaintance of young Rebecca DeMornay. The two women immediately hit it off, and their trip is a most pleasant one. Eventually, sheriff Richard Bradford, ordered to find Page and bring her back to her family, catches up with the old woman just 12 miles from Bountiful. Feeling sorry for Page, Bradford permits her to complete her sentimental journey, even though he knows full well that Bountiful is now a ghost town of empty ruins and dilapidated shacks. It doesn't matter, though: Page sees Bountiful just as it was when she left it, and for the first time in years she is truly happy and at peace with herself. After several near-misses, Geraldine Page finally won an Academy Award for A Trip to Bountiful (incidentally, the original TV production, which still exists in kinescope form, starred Lillian Gish and Eva Marie Saint). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Geraldine Page, John Heard, (more)
People are disappearing all over the Big Apple. Nobody cares, though, because most of the missing are homeless. But when investigative reporter Murphy (J.C. Quinn) tips off principled photographer George Cooper (John Heard) to a government conspiracy involving the dumping of nuclear waste beneath the streets, Cooper decides to dig a little deeper. Soon he discovers the existence of C.H.U.D.s, or "Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers," derelicts who have become grotesque monsters after being exposed to the mountains of hazardous waste. Meanwhile, Captain Bosch (Christopher Curry), a cop whose wife is among the missing, forms an unlikely alliance with the Reverend (Daniel Stern), a leftist soup-kitchen cook who knows the score. Murphy, Cooper, Bosch, and the Reverend soon run up against the stonewalling tactics of Wilson (George Martin), a government toadie. As the titular monsters begin to tire of their underground habitat, the protagonists -- including Cooper's wife, beautiful model Lauren Daniels (Kim Greist) -- face a race against time to defeat not only the C.H.U.D.s, but the government's cover-up. The debut, and only film, from writer Parnell Hall and director Douglas Cheek, C.H.U.D. was followed by 1989's C.H.U.D. 2: Bud the C.H.U.D. Co-stars Stern and Heard would later appear together in the first two Home Alone pictures, while Curry would appear in the third. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Heard, Kim Greist, (more)
- 1983
Based on the autobiography of actress Frances Farmer, Will There Really Be a Morning? was originally telecast on February 22, 1983 -- only a few months after the "rival" Farmer biopic Frances hit movie-theatre screens. Whether Susan Blakely is superior to Frances' Jessica Lange is open to debate. It is certain that Morning adheres more closely to the facts, principally because adaptor Dalene Young (a specialist in such true-life "perseverance" TV movies) drew her inspiration from Farmer's own words. The premise of the TV movie is that most of Frances' well-documented personal problems, including her drug abuse and mental illness, can be traced to her stormy relationship with her mother (Lee Grant). Joe Lambie plays Frances' movie-star husband Leif Erickson (here called "Bill Anderson," Erickson's real name), while John Heard is playwright Clifford Odets, whose rocky romance with Farmer fueled the flames of her neuroses. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1983
John Heard and Levon Helm play a couple of frizzy-haired leftovers from the sixties. Living by their wits in Spain, Heard and Helm get mixed up in an multimillion-dollar Moroccan drug deal. Their intentions are more honorable than they seem: at stake is the life of a kidnap victim. But as the story develops, the boys discover that they've been set up as fall guys by a smarmy gangster. Eluding the Law, Heard and Helm lay the groundwork for retribution. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1983
Legs is a made-for-television backstage saga of the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes. As in musical films of old, the plot concentrates on three young hopefuls who aspire to fill one vacancy in the famous 36-member precision dancing troupe. The heroines are played by Shanna Reed, Deborah Geffner and Maureen Teefy, none of them star names but all of them excellent dancers. Gwen Verdon is right in element as the Rockettes' choreographer (and so far as we're concerned, it's her fabulous legs that are alluded to in the title). Filmed on location in and around the Music Hall, Legs first tapped its way into our hearts on May 2, 1983. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In this loose adaptation of the 1942 horror classic of the same name, a 2001-style opening montage establishes some sort of sacrificial, mystical union between panthers and an ancient tribe of humans. Flash forward to 1980's New Orleans, where waifish Irina (Natassja Kinski) meets her older brother, Paul (Malcolm McDowell), a minister, for the first time since their animal trainer parents died and she was sent to a series of foster homes. Paul's Creole housekeeper, Female (Ruby Dee), helps Irina settle into her brother's home, but Paul himself disappears. Cut to a fleabag motel where a blasé prostitute finds an angry panther instead of a client; after mauling her, the cat is captured by police and a team of zoologists: Oliver (John Heard), Alice (Annette O'Toole), and Joe (Ed Begley Jr.). The next day Irina finds herself in the zoo where these scientists work; drawn to the newly captured panther, she befriends Oliver and takes a job in the gift shop. Shortly after the panther's violence turns deadly, it escapes, and soon Paul turns up spouting an unbelievable story about his family's were-cat heritage and his inevitable sexual union with little Irina. On the run from her dangerous brother, Irina takes refuge in a sexually frustrated romance with Oliver, afraid of what might happen if she consummates their passion. Astute viewers will notice that the zoologist characters refer to the film's panthers as leopards; "panther" is actually a generic term for any large cat, especially a black one, but Cat People's panthers are in fact leopards whose black color comes from a recessive trait known as melanism. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nastassja Kinski, Malcolm McDowell, (more)
After emigrating to the United States in 1969, Czech-born director Ivan Passer finally broke through to American audiences with his fourth film, a unique blend of mystery and social commentary. Cutter's Way is set in Santa Barbara, CA, a community of wealth and power. Its main characters, however, are among the town's have-nots: Richard Bone Jeff Bridges, a beach-boy gigolo starting to go to seed; Bone's best friend Alex Cutter (John Heard), a Vietnam veteran maimed in body and spirit; and Mo (Lisa Eichorn), Cutter's alcoholic wife. When Cutter spots one of the community's most prominent citizens in the act of covering up a murder, Bone insists that the police would never take their word over that of a man of wealth and prestige. Cutter seizes the opportunity to blackmail the killer, as a means of striking back at a system he thinks sent him off to an unjust war and ruined his life. The film was fortunate to fall into the hands of United Artists Classics, a new division of the company crippled by the financial disaster of Heaven's Gate. UA Classics adroitly marketed Cutter's Way, riding a wave of rave reviews and good word-of-mouth among more discriminating filmgoers to modest box-office success. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeff Bridges, John Heard, (more)
- 1980
- R
John Byrum wrote and directed this loosely based biographical tale of Beat author Jack Kerouac and Neal and Carolyn Cassady. John Heard stars as Jack Kerouac, and the film chronicles the Beat lifestyle that shaped the literary and social forces brewing and overflowing in Kerouac's imagination, resulting in the publication of Kerouac's seminal novel On the Road. Nick Nolte and Sissy Spacek play the Cassadys, enmeshed in a love-hate relationship that forms the backbone of the film. Kerouac drifts in and out of their lives as the Cassadys take up residence in San Francisco. Ray Sharkey is also on hand as the manic Ira, a thinly veiled character based on Alan Ginsberg. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nick Nolte, Sissy Spacek, (more)
- 1979
- PG
Joan Micklin Silver's writing and direction are at the heart of this wistful recollection of a romance, based on Ann Beattie's novel Chilly Scenes of Winter. The film concerns Charles (John Heard), who recalls his love affair with Laura (Mary Beth Hurt). It has been a year since Laura has left him and returned to her husband Ox (Mark Metcalf) and stepdaughter Rebecca. But Charles thinks about her all the time and even has imaginary conversations with her. Charles met Laura in the filing room at Utah's Department of Development in Salt Lake City, and it was love at first sight. Laura was married but had moved out of her house six weeks before. Charles musters up the courage to ask her out, and soon after they are living together. Living with Charles, Laura has never been happier. But she feels she doesn't deserve her happiness, since she has walked out on a family who had done nothing wrong to her. She can't understand why Charles loves her so much, "You have this exalted view of me, and I hate it. If you think I'm that great then there must be something wrong with you." So Laura decides to move back in with Ox. As Charles muses, Laura is more comfortable with "someone who loves you too little over someone who loves you too much." Charles becomes obsessed with winning her back from her family, watching her pick up her daughter from school, driving past her house, and becoming friendly with her flirtatious fellow worker Betty (Nora Heflin) in order to find out more about Laura. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Heard, Mary Beth Hurt, (more)
- 1979
- R
In this melodramatic prison flick a convicted killer makes a bad impression on his fellow inmates after he causes trouble with the leader of the prisoners. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Heard, Thomas G. Waites, (more)
This production closely follows Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1850 novel The Scarlet Letter. In Boston, shortly after its founding in 1630, the Puritan citizenry order Hester Prynne (Meg Foster), a beautiful young woman, to wear a scarlet letter "A" (signifying "adulteress") on her dress for life after she bears a child in the absence of her husband, who has delayed his trip to the New World to conclude business. Despite intense questioning, Hester refuses to identify the father, Arthur Dimmesdale (John Heard), a respected minister who cannot muster the courage to acknowledge his sin in public. After Hester's husband (Kevin Conway) arrives unrecognized by anyone but Hester, he, too, fails to extract the name from her. So he assumes another identity, calling himself Roger Chillingworth, in order to ferret out the wrongdoer and gain revenge. Meanwhile, Hester, a seamstress, bears up with dignity even though she and her child, Pearl (Elisa Erali), suffer continual ridicule. Dimmesdale, on the other hand, suffers gnawing guilt, and his health declines. Chillingworth, a scholar familiar with medicinal remedies, provides potions to Dimmesdale while gathering clues that evenutally implicate the reverend as the culprit. All the while, Chillingworth, monomanical in his quest for revenge, becomes corrupt, and Dimmesdale, distraught with remorse, develops heart problems. But Hester, stronger and wiser for her experience, carries on and earns the respect of the people. When Hester and Dimmesdale meet alone, they agree to set sail together and begin anew. But after Dimmesdale delivers a rousing sermon on a holiday, his guilt causes him to mount a scaffold to speak to the people Viewers then learn whether he has finally gathered the courage to reveal himself as Pearl's father. ~ Mike Cummings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Meg Foster
- 1977
- R
Director Joan Micklin Silver's follow-up to her acclaimed debut, Hester Street, is a more ambitious film that manages to be both an entertaining comedy and a pointed look at the corrupting power of money on an idealistic enterprise. Writer Fred Barron's characters are all associated with a weekly alternative newspaper in Boston, modeled after the Phoenix. (Silver did once work on the Village Voice, but this enterprise is several rungs below that esteemed paper.) Harry (John Heard) is an ambitious reporter romantically involved with Abbie (Lindsay Crouse), the paper's star photographer. Michael (Stephen Collins) is a writer trying to work on a novel and stay faithful to his loving wife, Laura (Gwen Welles), while Max (Jeff Goldblum), the paper's rock critic, shamelessly uses his job to try to pick up women. Lynn (Jill Eikenberry), a typist who is the paper's mother-hen figure, is also its most principled employee. When a publishing mogul (Lane Smith) buys the paper and promises changes that will compromise its aggressive political stance in favor of more "lifestyle" articles, Lynn resigns, and it's clear to the group that their carefree days are behind them. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Heard, Lindsay Crouse, (more)
- 1977
- R
It's hardly likely that anyone will confuse 1977's First Love with the 1939 Deanna Durbin musical of the same name. In the earlier film, Durbin received her first screen kiss from Robert Stack. In the 1977 film, no one stops at kissing. College boy Elgin (William Katt) falls for coed Caroline (Susan Dey, light-years removed from The Partridge Family), despite Caroline's deep involvement with an older man. 1950s leading lady Virginia Leith makes a comeback appearance in a minor role. Critics applauded the sensitive direction by Joan Darling, even while carping that the title First Love seemed to be a misnomer: neither Katt nor Dey appear to be inexperienced in sexual matters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Katt, Susan Dey, (more)
This Audubon Society documentary, narrated by actor John Heard, gives viewers a closer look at the intriguing lives of colorful, graceful wild ducks, with special attention to the dwindling numbers of these lovely waterfowl. Wildlife experts discuss the effects of hunting and examine the unfortunate impact that some industrial and agricultural practices have had on the natural wetlands that are necessary to the ducks' survival. ~ Alice Duncan, All Movie Guide
