Lauren Bacall Movies
Following study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and subsequent stage and modeling experience, legendary actress Lauren Bacall gained nationwide attention by posing for a 1943 cover of Harper's Bazaar magazine. This photo prompted film director Howard Hawks to put her under personal contract, wanting to "create" a movie star from fresh, raw material.For her screen debut, Hawks cast Bacall opposite Humphrey Bogart in To Have and Have Not (1944). The young actress was so nervous that she walked around with her chin pressed against her collarbone to keep from shaking. As a result, she had to glance upward every time she spoke, an affectation which came across as sexy and alluring, earning Bacall the nickname "The Look." She also spoke in a deep, throaty manner, effectively obscuring the fact that she was only 19-years-old. Thanks to the diligence of Hawks and his crew -- and the actress' unique delivery of such lines as "If you want anything, just whistle..." -- Bacall found herself lauded as the most sensational newcomer of 1944. She also found herself in love with Humphrey Bogart, whom she subsequently married.
Bogie and Bacall co-starred in three more films, which increased the actress' popularity, but also led critics to suggest that she was incapable of carrying a picture on her own. Bacall's disappointing solo turn in Confidential Agent (1945) seemed to confirm this, but the actress was a quick study and good listener, and before long she was turning in first-rate performances in such films as Young Man With a Horn (1950) and How to Marry a Millionaire (1953).
Bogart's death in 1957 after a long and painful bout with cancer left Bacall personally devastated, though, in the tradition of her show-must-go-on husband, she continued to perform to the best of her ability in films such as Designing Woman (1957) and The Gift of Love (1958). In the late '60s, after Bacall's second marriage to another hard-case actor, Jason Robards Jr., she received only a handful of negligible film roles and all but dropped out of moviemaking. In 1970, Bacall made a triumphant comeback in the stage production Applause, a musical adaptation of All About Eve, in which she played grand dame Margo Channing, a role originally played by Bette Davis in the film version.
Her sultry-vixen persona long in the past, Bacall spent the '70s playing variations on her worldly, resourceful Applause role, sometimes merely being decorative (Murder on the Orient Express, 1974), but most often delivering class-A performances (The Shootist, 1976). After playing the quasi-autobiographical part of a legendary, outspoken Broadway actress in 1981's The Fan, she spent the next ten years portraying Lauren Bacall -- and no one did it better. In 1993, Bacall proved once more that she was a superb actress and not merely a "professional personality" in the made-for-cable film The Portrait, in which she and her Designing Woman co-star Gregory Peck played a still-amorous elderly couple.
During the filming of The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996), Bacall traveled to France to accept a special César Award for her lifetime achievement in film. For her role in Mirror, which cast her as Barbra Streisand's mother, Bacall earned a Golden Globe award and an Oscar nomination. She continued to work on a number of projects into the next decade, including Diamonds, in which she appeared alongside Kirk Douglas, with whom she last co-starred in the 1950 romantic drama Young Man with a Horn. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In this sentimental comedy, two British World War II veterans (played by English stage and screen veterans Sir Alec Guinness and Leo McKern) have come back to Normandy together to revisit the site of their most harrowing wartime experiences, to look up the gravesite of a fallen comrade, and to look up the prostitute (Jeanne Moreau) who put joy back into their lives. At their hotel, they meet Waldo (John Randolph), an American veteran, who is on a similar mission. Unlike them, however, he is saddled with the company of his disagreeable daughter and her stuffy husband (Geraldine Chaplin and Edward Herrmann) who think they are doing him a favor by coming with him. One highlight of the film is Moreau's rendition of the Edith Piaf classic, La vie en rose. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alec Guinness, Leo McKern, (more)
- 1991
Lauren Bacall hosts this TV-special roundup of Hollywood's most celebrating kissing scenes Ms. Bacall should be an authority on screen kisses: during her long career, she was well and fully smooched by the likes of John Wayne, Gregory Peck, Charles Boyer...and, of course, her first husband, Humphrey Bogart. The collection begins with the 1896 Edison vignette The Kiss, takes us through the torrid twenties (Garbo et. al.), muses over the censorship rules of the 1930s and 1940s (when kisses could last no longer than 3 seconds), breezes through the anything-goes 1960s and 1970s, and closes with current choice examples of cinematic busses. There's no real point to the film, but it's nice to have around. At 47 minutes, Kisses is just long enough to avoid the wearing out of welcome. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The leading lady of the Christmas tale knows just what she wants for Christmas and she lets Macy's Santa know, too. She wants nothing more than the reuniting of her recently divorced parents. Bordering on being a Miracle on 34th Street re-make, this film follows much the same theme, but the kids here get more involved as they thwart any likelihood of romantic success between their mom and her new boyfriend and try ever-so-hard to make Mommy and Daddy love each other again. A reunion does result, but it's a lackluster one and so's this film, which was generally seen as a little too contrived and way too bland. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harley Jane Kozak, Jamey Sheridan, (more)
- 1990
- R
Innocent Victim is a psychological thriller based on the Ruth Rendell novel Tree of Hands. London based, best-selling author, Benet (Helen Shaver), who has just written a controversial novel, lives alone with her young son. Benet's mother, Marsha (Lauren Becall), visiting from the United States, is a manic-depressive who has psychotic episodes. When Benet's young son dies, Marsha kidnaps a local child to serve as a substitute. Benet believes she should return the child but upon investigation she finds out that the child has been severely abused by his parents. After the child's disappearance, the parents are charged with the murder. A more skillful filmmaker might have dealt, as the novel does, with the moral issues of guilt and responsibility and the terrible moral dilemma faced by Benet. Instead, director Giles Foster presents the film in a rather straightforward, nonjudgmental fashion which allows for little character growth and diminishes the impact of what should be an ironic and disturbing ending. Innocent Victim, while at times compelling, and based on an interesting premise, would have been a memorable film if Foster had taken more chances and pushed his actors to give the performances that they are capable of but here are only hinted at. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Shaver, Lauren Bacall, (more)
Adapted from a Stephen King novel, Rob Reiner's Misery cast James Caan as a writer at a career crossroads. The film opens with Paul Sheldon (Caan) completing work on his latest novel, a break from his popular series of novels featuring the character Misery Chastain. He gets into a severe car accident and is saved by Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates), a reclusive woman who nurses him back to health. Annie is a huge fan of the Misery novels, and she finishes reading the new one while Paul is convalescing. She becomes enraged when she discovers that Paul has killed off Misery. Annie injures Paul's foot severely so that he is unable to leave her house, and forces him to write a new Misery novel. A local sheriff (Richard Farnsworth) and Paul's agent (Lauren Bacall) both attempt to track down what happened to the missing author. Misery shot the relatively unknown Kathy Bates to stardom, winning her one of the few Best Actress Oscars ever bestowed for portraying an evil character. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Caan, Kathy Bates, (more)
- 1989
Dinner at Eight is a TV remake of the 1933 MGM film of the same name; both films were adapted from the play by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber. While the basic plot point of a social-climbing woman (Marsha Mason) throwing a "best people" dinner party has not dated all that much, other elements prevalent in the 1933 version were due for an overhaul 56 years later. The aging, near-impoverished stage actress played con brio by Marie Dressler in the original becomes a jet-setting "literary raconteur" (read: "trash novelist") in the form of Lauren Bacall. And the alcoholic matinee idol portrayed by John Barrymore in 1933 is transformed into a Pacino type (Harry Hamlin) with a drug and attitude problem for the 1989 version. While not exactly improvements, these alterations do not stand out like sore thumbs, as do many past attempts at updating old material. Only Ellen Greene, in Jean Harlow's role as the floozielike wife of a corrupt businessman, falls short of the original. Produced by actress Shelley Duvall, the 1989 Dinner at Eight was first shown on December 11, 1989 over the TNT Cable network. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1989
See bloopers that would not make it past the network censors. Star Trek, Gunsmoke, Laugh-In, Peyton Place, Happy Days, The Waltons, The Lone Ranger, Mash, The Newlywed Game and many more shows are featured. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1988
- Add The Hollywood Collection: Gregory Peck - His Own Man to QueueAdd The Hollywood Collection: Gregory Peck - His Own Man to top of Queue
Gregory Peck narrates his film biography complete with movie clips and interviews with friends. ~ All Movie Guide
A young man freshly graduated from Yale (Anthony Edwards) moves to Rhode Island and finds himself with a strange power: the ability to create mild electric shocks through his hands. He begins to make friends around the community, and tries to help those around him by healing several minor sicknesses. Mr. North was the directorial debut for Danny Huston, the son of John Huston. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony Edwards, Robert Mitchum, (more)
- 1988
In this mystery, Peter Ustinov reprises the role of Hercule Poirot, the fussy and flower-tending detective from Belgium created by Agatha Christie. In 1937, Mrs. Emily Boynton (Piper Laurie) is on an archeological dig in Palestine; she inherited the wealth of her recently deceased husband and feels little inclination to share it with her relatives. When she turns up murdered, there are plenty of logical suspects among the people who hated Emily, so which one did the deed? It's up to Poirot to find out. The supporting cast includes Lauren Bacall, John Gielgud, and Carrie Fisher; the film was Ustinov's sixth go-round as Poirot. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Ustinov, Lauren Bacall, (more)
- 1987
This program includes a parade of jingles and authentic advertisements for cigarettes - all from the carefree days when smoking still seemed to be fun and glamorous (before sobering medical information made abstaining from smoking both a prudent lifestyle choice and an inflammatory social cause). Also included are nostalgic clips from TV shows and movies that made the stars look very cool, romantic, tough, and elegant while smoking. Testimonials by John Wayne, Steve McQueen, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, James Garner, and Fred Flintstone are included (some of whom were cancer victims). ~ Alice Duncan, All Movie Guide
Lauren Bacall more or less plays herself in The Fan. Cast as famous Broadway musical comedy star Sally Ross (with an astonishing lack of temperament!), Bacall finds herself the unwilling love object of psychotic fan Douglas Breen (Michael Biehn). As security around Ross tightens, Breen vows that if he can't have Ross, no one else can. James Garner and Maureen Stapleton are underused as, respectively, Bacall's ex-husband and mother-hen secretary. Based on a good novel by Bob Randall, The Fan comes off as a slightly more expensive "stalker of the week" TV movie. Still, the film proved grimly prescient in the light of John Lennon's assassination (which occurred after the film was completed, but before its release) and the ongoing dilemma of current Broadway stars (even the lesser lights) who are forced to hire bodyguards to protect them from worshipful wackos. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lauren Bacall, James Garner, (more)
- 1980
It's nice to know that some of the greatest of the movie stars, while doing some of the most famous and best of Hollywood movies, have feet of clay like the rest of us. This set of outtakes lets us see the human side of celebrities like Bette Davis, Errol Flynn, Kirk Douglas, Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- 1979
In the conclusion of a two-part story (originally telecast as a single "TV movie"), glamorous socialite Kendall Warren (Lauren Bacall) insists upon helping Jim (James Garner) track down the mysterious assailant who has been trying to kill her--and to find out why she has been thus targetted. This case hits a snag when the most likely suspect, gangster Tommy Minnette (Carmine Caridi), ends up murdered himself. And what has become of Princess Irene (Dana Wynter), the woman who hired Jim to protect Kendall in the first place? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1979
This two-part episode (originally telecast as a single two-hour "TV movie") was a byproduct of Robert Altman's theatrical feature H.E.A.L.T.H, in which costars James Garner and Lauren Bacall hit it off so well that Bacall asked to play a guest role on Garner's TV series. The screen legend is cast as Kendall Warren, jet-setting best friend of Princess Irene Rachevsky (Dana Wynter). When it becomes obvious that someone is trying to kill Kendall, the Princess asks Jim (James Garner) to investigate. The trail of clues leads to a lethal costume party, capped by the inevitable arrival of Jim's perennial "bete noire" Lt. Chapman (James Luisi). And keep an eye out for that celebrated socialite "Lord Evelyn Martin"--who looks an awful lot like our old friend Angel (Stuart Margolin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1979
- PG
Robert Altman, the director responsible for M*A*S*H, came up with another acronymic title for his 1979 comedy H.E.A.L.T.H The letter stand for Happiness, Energy And Longevity Through Health--the name given a health-food convention at a Florida luxury hotel. In the tradition of his earlier Nashville and A Wedding, Altman utilizes the hotel as a gathering place for numerous interrelated, interconnecting plot threads. The unifying theme is a satire of corrupt politics, a la Watergate. Playing the unflappable hotel manager, Alfre Woodard stands out in a stellar cast including Carol Burnett, Glenda Jackson, James Garner, Lauren Bacall, Henry Gibson, Dick Cavett, and Paul Dooley (who cowrote the screenplay with Altman and Frank Barhydt). By rights, H.E.A.L.T.H should have been a real crowd pleaser, but the film's preview went so poorly that its release was held up for nearly a year. Virtually thrown away by 20th Century-Fox, H.E.A.L.T.H has appeared recently on The Fox Movie Channel, but never received a commercial video release, which hasn't helped it it attain a following. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glenda Jackson, Carol Burnett, (more)
- 1978
We're not sure who the gentlemen are in this TV movie adaptation of Nora Ephron's Perfect Gentlemen, but there's no doubt as to the identity of the ladies. The plot revolves around three convict's wives. Sandy Dennis owns a bankrupt deli; Lisa Pelikan is pregnant and broke; and Lauren Bacall (in her TV movie debut) is the wealthy wife of an incarcerated labor leader, who has just learned that her husband was cheating on her. Teaming up, the three ladies plan to steal the million dollars that was supposed to secure the release of Bacall's errant hubby. Along for the ride is Lisa Pelikan's mother-in-law Ruth Gordon, a veteran safecracker. Perfect Gentlemen sags a bit a midpoint, but overall is good underhanded fun. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
About ten minutes into The Shootist, Doctor Hostetler (James Stewart) tells aging Western gunfighter John Bernard Books (John Wayne), "You have a cancer." Knowing that his death will be painful and lingering, Books is determined to be shot in the line of "duty." In his remaining two months, Books settles scores with old enemies, including gambler Pulford (Hugh O'Brian) and Marshall Thibido (Harry Morgan) and reaches out to new friends, including a feisty widow (Lauren Bacall) and her hero-worshipping son (Ron Howard). Throughout the film, Books' imminent demise is compared with the decline of the West, as represented by the automobiles and streetcars that have begun to blight the main street of Books' hometown. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Lauren Bacall, (more)
Like many of Agatha Christie's mysteries, Murder on the Orient Express is predicated on an actual event, in this case the Lindbergh kidnapping. In the movie, everyone on board the Orient Express seems to have concluded that hateful financier Ratchett (Richard Widmark) was behind the abduction and murder of the infant daughter of a famed aviatrix. Thus, when Ratchett is himself found murdered, everyone is suspect. Normally, the police would handle the investigation, but the train has been stalled by a snowslide halfway between Istanbul and Paris. Thus, it's up to the insufferable but brilliant Belgian detective Hercule Poirot (an unrecognizable Albert Finney) to activate his "little grey cells" and determine who's guilty. Among the suspects are colorful characters played by Lauren Bacall, Martin Balsam, Jacqueline Bisset, Sean Connery, Wendy Hiller, John Gielgud, Anthony Perkins, Vanessa Redgrave, and Ingrid Bergman, whose performance won her a third Academy Award. (In her acceptance speech, Bergman apologized for her win, insisting that Day for Night's Valentina Cortese deserved the prize.) The first and best in a long line of contemporary Christie adaptations, the film scores on atmosphere, period detail, and richness of characterization. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Albert Finney, Lauren Bacall, (more)
Screenwriter William Goldman has claimed that Paul Newman agreed to do Harper, the film that established the grateful writer's career, only because he was working unhappily on Lady L. (1965) in Europe, and was looking for something as unlike that film as possible. He stars as Lew Harper, a hip L.A. private dick whose business has gotten so bad that he's re-using his coffee grounds. At the suggestion of his friend, attorney Albert Graves (Arthur Hill), the detective takes on the investigation of the disappearance of the wealthy husband of waspish cripple Elaine Sampson (Lauren Bacall). After finding a photograph of former actress Fay Estabrook (Shelley Winters), Harper locates the alcoholic actress in a bar, plies her with booze, and takes her home to search her apartment while she's unconscious. There he takes a call which leads him to another bar to meet Betty Fraley (Julie Harris), a singer with a heroin problem. To curtail his inquisitive behavior, some large and unpleasant gentleman beat him up outside the saloon. Hoping for sympathy from his soon to be ex-wife (Janet Leigh), who has just filed divorce papers, the weary detective is much more successful than he has any right to expect. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Newman, Lauren Bacall, (more)
- 1965
Double Jeopardy was the hour-long pilot for a potential TV detective series titled Pay the Piper. Hugh O'Brian stars as Fred Piper, a jet-setting private eye who takes on cases no one else can solve. Right now he's trying to find out what happened to a missing millionaire, a task made difficult by the millionaire's wife, Lauren Bacall. For some reason, Bacall doesn't want Piper to question her identical twin sister (note the title "Double Jeopardy"). Also featured in this mystery are Tom Poston, likewise cast in a dual role, and Zsa Zsa Gabor as Piper's private jet pilot (How'd you like to be her air traffic controller?) Double Jeopardy was originally telecast January 8, 1965, on NBC's Bob Hope Chrysler Theatre. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Helen Gurley Brown's self-help best-seller was the nominal source for this Hollywood sex romp, directed by Richard Quine, co-scripted by Joseph Heller and David R. Schwartz, and starring Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood. Tony Curtis plays Bob Weston, a writer for the scandal sheet "Dirt," who is working on an article on research psychologist Helen Gurley Brown (Natalie Wood) and her best-selling book Sex and the Single Girl. Bob needs to interview Helen, but she refuses to see him. Bob impersonates one of her neighbors, Frank Broderick (Henry Fonda), as a ruse in order to see her on the pretext of marital counseling. After several meetings, Bob attempts to seduce her; after they fall out of a boat and head back to Helen's apartment to dry out, Bob plies her with martinis. Rip-roarin' drunk, Helen confesses her love for Bob. He assures her it's fine, since he's not legally married, but Helen doesn't believe him and asks to meet his wife, Sylvia (Lauren Bacall). To fill up the breach, Bob mistakenly sends both his secretary, Susan (Leslie Parrish), and his ex-girlfriend Gretchen (Fran Jeffries) to see Helen -- both impersonating Sylvia. When the real Sylvia arrives at Helen's apartment with the two other women, Sylvia has her hapless husband Frank put in jail for bigamy. By this point, Helen has realized Bob's skullduggery and leaves town with her colleague Rudy DeMeyer (Mel Ferrer). Bob chases Helen onto the San Diego Freeway, where they also encounter Frank, who is being followed in a cab by Sylvia. A wild chase ensues as the bickering couples try to make it to their flights at the L.A. airport. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood, (more)
- 1964
In this offbeat melodrama, a crazed gardener is relegated to a mental hospital after he goes berserk and beheads his wealthy boss. The scuttlebutt in the courtroom is that the killer has stolen over a million dollars from his former employer and has hidden it on the estate. A professional actor is hired to feign insanity to get into the home, befriend the maniac, and find out where he hid the cash. Once he is admitted, the hapless actor encounters bedlam as he meets the patients, undergoes electroshock therapy, and suffers through several injections. Eventually he finds himself falling for a manic-depressive woman. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stuart Whitman, Lauren Bacall, (more)
- 1959
Northwest Frontier was the original British title for Flame Over India. When the Moslems attack a British fortress in colonial India, it is imperative that the local Maharaja's son be taken to safety. The man for the job is commander Kenneth More, who uses a rusty old train for that purpose. Among the other fugitives is the boy's British governess Lauren Bacall and the untrustworthy Herbert Lom. A cat-and-mouse session between good and bad guys segues into a heart-pounding chase through the frontier. Welcome comedy relief is in the hands of I.S. Johar as a grizzled old engineer. It looks like a western and sounds like a western, and the original title Northwest Frontier completes the illusion that we're watching Cowboys and Indians rather than Indians and Moslems. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kenneth More, Lauren Bacall, (more)
- 1958
The Gift of Love is a remake of 1946's Sentimental Journey, with Lauren Bacall in the role originated by Maureen O'Hara. Upon learning that she hasn't long to live, Bacall, the devoted wife of Robert Stack, adopts young Evelyn Rudie so that her husband will never be lonely. After his wife's death, however, the pragmatic Stack grows weary of little Evelyn, who prefers a "fantasy world" to real life. Stack returns the girl to the orphanage, whereupon Bacall's spirit intervenes to set things right. The material was maudlin back in 1946, and even more so in 1958; still, it's nice to see that Lauren Bacall could play a sweet, benign role when given the opportunity. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lauren Bacall, Robert Stack, (more)
