Lloyd Bridges Movies
Working from the ground up in stock companies, Lloyd Bridges was a member of the progressive Actors Lab company in the mid 1930s. He made his Broadway debut toward the end of that decade in a production of Othello. Signed by Columbia in 1941, Bridges appeared in everything the studio assigned him, from Three Stooges 2-reel comedies to such "A" pictures as Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941), Talk of the Town (1942), and Sahara (1943). He began freelancing in 1945, accepting the prescient role of a deep-sea diver in 1948's 16 Fathoms Deep, among other films. The most memorable of his '50s assignments was the leading role in the cult science-fiction programmer Rocketship X-M (1950) and the part of the look-out-for-number-one deputy in High Noon (1952).Thanks to his earlier involvement in the Actors Lab and his admission at the HUAC hearings that he'd once flirted with communism, Bridges was "graylisted" during the mid-'50s, able to find work only in lesser pictures and TV shows. He was rescued by producer Ivan Tors, who cast Bridges as diver-for-hire Mike Nelson in the TV series Sea Hunt. Filmed between 1957 and 1961, Sea Hunt was the most popular syndicated program of the era, turning Bridges into a millionaire. Alas, neither of his subsequent series of the '60s, The Lloyd Bridges Show (1962) and The Loner (1965), survived their first seasons. Undaunted, Bridges continued working into the '90s, displaying a hitherto untapped flair for zany comedy in such films as Airplane! (1980), Joe vs. the Volcano (1990), and the two Hot Shots films. Bridges was the father of actors Beau Bridges and Jeff Bridges. A committed environmentalist, he was involved in several organizations including the American Oceans Campaign and Heal the Bay, a Los Angeles-based group. Bridges died of natural causes on March 10, 1998. Shortly before his passing, he had completed work on two films, Jane Austen's Mafia and Meeting Daddy; in the latter film, Bridges co-starred with his eldest son Beau. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The two-part TV movie Cross of Fire is set in the 1920s, when the Ku Klux Klan was at the height of its political power in Indiana. Part One, originally telecast November 5, 1989, details the resurgence of the Klan (which had been created during the Reconstruction era) under the leadership of David "Steve" Stephenson (John Heard). Cloaking himself in the twin veils of patriotism and morality, Stephenson rails against such "deviates" as blacks, Jews and Catholics, gaining political clout and financial kickbacks as his "invisible empire" grows. Part two of Cross of Fire, telecast November 6, traces the fall of Stephenson -- not because his followers have wised up, but because of a 1925 rape and murder charge. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1988
In this suspenseful drama, a prominent publishing executive marries a younger man soon after the death of her husband. After the nuptials, the bride realizes she has made a terrible mistake as her charming groom seems to be planning to murder her. The film is also called Marked for Murder. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
History tells us that would-be automobile mogul Preston Tucker was a silver-tongued con man, who misappropriated his investors' money and played fast and loose with ethics and legalities in the pursuit of his dream. Filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola isn't buying this: to hear Coppola tell it, Tucker was "Mr. Smith Goes to Detroit," a sincere visionary who tried and failed to buck the Big Three auto manufacturers. Moreover, he was a staunch defender of family values, as witness his inseparable relationship with his loyal wife (Joan Allen) and adoring children. It was for his family's sake, rather than any dreams of financial gain, that Tucker created the oddball three-headlight vehicle which he envisioned as the "car of the future". Naturally, the corporate fat cats of 1947 can't abide competition from a rugged individualist; thus, with several politicos in their pockets, they crush the Tucker and the man who built it. We'd have been more inclined to believe the story had Coppola adopted a straightforward Capraesque approach and not utilized all sorts of complicated camera trickery. Somehow, by presenting Tucker in so showoffy a directorial manner, the character comes off more as a sleight-of-hand artist than a bastion of sincerity. Even so, Jeff Bridges does a nice job as Tucker, as does Martin Landau as Tucker's incongruous business partner. Jeff's dad, Lloyd Bridges, appears in an uncredited role as a "bought" senator. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeff Bridges, Joan Allen, (more)
- 1987
- R
When uptight FBI agent Joe Jennings (Beau Bridges) is forced to team up with reluctant local officer Benny Avalon (Bubba Smith), the two must learn to overcome their differences and work together to break up a drug smuggling operation. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Beau Bridges, Bubba Smith, (more)
- 1986
- R
This comedy is set in Hollywood in 1961, where a group of young men join the National Guard in an attempt to escape Vietnam. The men basically do nothing while on supposed weekend duty until they get a visit from the Army, which threatens to ship them out on active duty unless they shape up. Their solution is to hire a troupe of actors to portray convincing soldiers, put on a stage show to impress the Army officers, and make sure that enough winsome nurses are around to satisfy the proverbial lecherous tendencies of a certain colonel. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chris Lemmon, Vic Tayback, (more)
- 1986
This six-part, 12-hour miniseries was a sequel to the 1985 "mini" North and South, and like its predecessor it was based on a novel by John Jakes (Love and War). In the tradition of The Birth of a Nation (but without the negative racist content), North and South, Book II followed the fortunes of two large families during the Civil War: the Hazards of Pennsylvania and the Mains of South Carolina. As former friends Orry Maine (Patrick Swayze) and George Hazard (James Read) find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict, Orry's sweetheart Madeline (Lesley-Anne Down) is left at the mercy of her sadistic husband Justin LaMotte (David Carradine) and Orry's vixenish sister Ashton (Terri Garber), while George's amour Constance (Wendy Kilbourne) was saddled with an equally disreputable family. Though the series was top-heavy with villains, there was enough time left over for the heroes of the war, notably Abraham Lincoln (Hal Holbrook) and Ulysses S. Grant (Anthony Zerbe). First telecast over the ABC network from May 4-8 and May 11, 1986, North and South, Book II was re-telecast in a six-week block from May 13 to June 17, 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kirstie Alley
- 1986
When it was first telecast on November 23, 1986, the made-for-TV Thanksgiving Promise (based on a novel by Blaine and Brenton Yorgason) was advertised as "A Thanksgiving Story as Only Disney Can Tell It." Actually, the film might not have come to fruition at all without the input of the Bridges family: Lloyd, Beau, Lloyd's wife Dorothy, Beau's son Jordan, and Jeff Bridges (uncredited). Jordan Bridges is the central character, a farm boy living in the shadow of his older brothers. Jordan's neighbor (Lloyd) entrusts the boy with a man-sized job: To care for a wounded gosling and fatten up the bird for Thanksgiving dinner. Inevitably, Jordan becomes attached to the bird, and as Thanksgiving approaches, he takes a series of odd jobs, hoping to buy the goose from his neighbor. But Jordan's father (Beau) insists that the boy keep his word and relinquish the goose. In addition to his costarring chores in Thanksgiving Promise, Beau Bridges coproduced and directed the film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1986
A made for TV movie which serves as much a condemnation of the military establishment as a murder mystery, this film revolves around an upper classman who is falsely accused of responsibility for the death of a student when he begins to investigate the mysterious demise of the young gay cadet. Part of a two-part series, the crux for the upper classman is whether he is willing to jeopardize the future of his own military career to investigate the death of the freshman cadet at this prestigious military academy. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- 1985
This live action trip back to Wonderland finds Alice dodging the Jabberwocky and encountering a Wonderland crew including Humpty Dumpty, Tiger Lily, and Tweedledum and Tweedledee. The voice cast is staggering, including (to mention a few) father and son Lloyd Bridges and Beau Bridges, Phyllis Diller, and George Gobel, Ringo Starr, Jonathan Winters, Sally Struthers, Karl Malden, and many, many more. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1984
This short-lived TV series was based on the 1982 television movie of the same name and focused on two young women and their mothers negotiating the New York modeling scene with the rich, the fashionable, and the powerful. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicollette Sheridan, Terry Farrell, (more)
- 1984
Following the lead of the CBS soap opera Capitol, NBC's daytime drama Loving was introduced by a two-hour, prime-time TV movie. Created by Agnes Nixon, Loving is largely set on the campus of the fictional Alden University. The serial's "backstory" is cleverly related by having TV anchorwoman Merrill Vocheck (Patricia Kalember) unearth a hotbed of intrigue while doing a report on Alden. The main plot is spiced up by a murder mystery, and Merrill's meeting with a man who (according to the original prints ads) "will change her life forever." Future Loving regulars Patricia Kalember, John Shearin and Wesley Addy (among many others) share screen space with special guest stars Lloyd Bridges and Geraldine Page. The Loving pilot aired June 26, 1983; the series proper began the following day. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1984
Barry Bostwick plays the Father of Our Country in this 3-part, eight-hour TV miniseries. The Richard Fielder/Jon Boothe teleplay, based on a book by James Thomas Flexner, covers the years 1743 through 1783, tracing Washington from age 11 to his farewell to the troops at Valley Forge. A great deal of screen time is devoted to Washington's alleged early romance with Sally Fairfax (Jaclyn Smith), the wife of George's best friend (David Dukes). Martha Washington, who never goes anywhere near a candy store during the film, is played by Patty Duke Astin. Filmed on the actual locations where the Washington saga occurred, the production earned five Emmy Award nominations. Originally telecast April 8, 10 and 11, 1984, George Washington was followed in 1986 by George Washington II: The Forging of a Nation (see entry 82309) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This 1982 made-for-TV version of the Lewis Carroll classic Alice in Wonderland features an all-star cast. Such celebrities as Donald O'Connor, Maureen Stapleton and Eve Arden struggle to perform while buried under mounds of makeup and tons of eccentric costuming as Carroll's alternate-world loonies. Alice in Wonderland was first telecast Oct 3, 1983, on PBS' Great Performances. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1983
Grace Kelly, the high-society beauty who became an Oscar-winning actress and then a European princess, is the subject of this TV biopic. Cheryl Ladd has the looks and poise of the original Grace, though she isn't quite as charismatic. The early portion of the film retraces the stormy relationship between Grace and her gruff Philadelphia millionaire dad, Jack Kelly. The script suggests that Grace went through life looking for a strong father figure, finally finding one in Prince Rainier of Monaco (Ian McShane), whom she weds. Several "celebrity look-alikes" parade through the film, pretending to be the film personalities with whom Ms. Kelly worked during her brief Hollywood career. Grace Kelly tones down the darker aspects of its subject, and the film is infinitely more tasteful than most other TV biographies of the same period, even when dealing with Princess Grace's untimely death. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1983
A Case of Libel was adapted from the 1953 Broadway play by Henry Denker. The story was inspired by the real-life courtroom battle between journalists Quentin Reynolds and Westbrook Pegler. Gordon Pinsent plays a liberal news correspondent who has performed heroically in World War II. Nonetheless, he is characterized as a drunkard and a Communist sympathizer by ultraconservative columnist Daniel J. Travanti. With the help of brilliant attorney Edward Asner (based on the actual case's Louis Nizer), Pinsent brings a libel suit against Travanti. The climax, in which Travanti is tripped up by his own contradictory writings, was in reality based on a small portion of the Reynolds/Pegler litigation, but it provides a satisfactory "sauce for the goose" third act. A Case of Libel had previously been adapted for television in 1969, with Jose Ferrer and Arthur Hill in the cast. The later version premiered October 17, 1983 on the Showtime Cable service. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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, All Movie Guide
With the Jerry Zucker-Jim Abrahams-David Zucker team absent, this sequel to the cash-cow 1980 spoof Airplane once again finds garrulous man-with-a-past Ted Striker (Robert Hays) compelled to take over the controls of crippled aircraft, all the while trying to patch up his relationship with stewardess Elaine (Julie Hagerty). This time, the first passenger space shuttle is launched into orbit -- and takes off for the moon - but the on-board computer malfunctions and sends the craft hurtling toward the sun, threatening the lives of everyone on board. Lloyd Bridges and Peter Graves return from the first Airplane, while William Shatner, Chad Everett, Sonny Bono, Raymond Burr and Chuck Conners join the cast, as they too lampoon their established images. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, (more)
- 1982
Life of the Party: The Story of Beatrice is a fact-based TV movie starring Carol Burnett and Lloyd Bridges. Burnett plays Beatrice (emphasis on the second syllable: "Be-AT-trice") who compensates for her shyness and lack of self-respect by drinking heavily. Bridges plays Beatrice's husband, who tolerates his wife alcoholic intake until he can stand no more. She begins attending Alcoholics Anonymous and cleans up her act. But that's not the end of the story: Beatrice then sets out to establish a halfway house for other female alcoholics. The domestic scenes between Burnett and Bridges are far more compelling than Burnett's climactic tiltings with bureaucracy during her efforts to realize her dream. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The 1955 film version of John Steinbeck's East of Eden will always be popular because of the presence in the cast of James Dean. Even so, the film covered only a small portion of the original novel. For those Steinbeck completists who prefer a more thorough treatment, we submit for your approval the TV miniseries adaptation of East of Eden, which first aired February 8, 9 and 11, 1981. This eight-hour dramatization begins in the years following the Civil War. Braggadocio union officer Cyrus Trask (Warren Oates) is the father of gentle, loyal Adam (Timothy Bottoms) and hellraiser Charles (Bruce Boxleitner). Enter the bewitching, mean-spirited Cathy Ames (Jane Seymour), who leads both brothers on and causes an irreparable rift between them. Eventually, Adam marries Cathy, taking her and their twin sons to a 900-acre farm in California's Salinas Valley. Cathy rebels against this cloistered existence and runs off to work in a house of ill repute. In Part Three, we finally meet the "James Dean" character: Cal Trask (played by Timothy Bottoms' brother Sam), who can never hope to come up to the standards of his "good" twin brother Aron (Hart Bochner) in the eyes of his father. Cal's "bad" reputation obscures his good intentions, but by film's end he is compelled to reveal to brother Aron that their mother had not died as father Adam has claimed, but in fact has become a hard-bitten bordello "madam". Adapted for television by Richard Shapiro, East of Eden was part of ABC's informal "Novels for Television" series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Timothy Bottoms, Jane Seymour, (more)
- 1980
This film profiles the early career of Marilyn Monroe when she develops a relationship with her Hollywood agent, Johnny Hyde. (AKA This Year's Blonde) ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lloyd Bridges, Constance Forslund, (more)
- 1980
Actress and popular culture icon Marilyn Monroe is the subject of yet another made-for-television movie. This film, which aired as part of the on-going Moviola series, chronicles young Marilyn's (Constance Forslund) relationship in both business and her personal life, with agent Johnny Hyde (Lloyd Bridges) during the early part of her career. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide
- 1980
Up on Bear Island -- somewhere off the northeast American coast -- a U.S. meteorological team discovers German submarines stashed with gold. Though the plot is difficult to follow, it does involve murder and a certain amount of intrigue, though many have felt that this movie version of the excellent Alistair MacLean novel left most of the intrigue between the covers of the book. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donald Sutherland, Vanessa Redgrave, (more)
This spoof of the Airport series of disaster movies relies on ridiculous sight gags, groan-inducing dialogue, and deadpan acting -- a comedy style that would be imitated for the next 20 years. Airplane! pulls out all the clichés as alcoholic pilot Ted Striker (Robert Hays), who's developed a fear of flying due to wartime trauma, boards a jumbo jet in an attempt to woo back his stewardess girlfriend (Julie Hagerty). Food poisoning decimates the passengers and crew, leaving it up to Striker to land the plane, with the help of a glue-sniffing air traffic controller (Lloyd Bridges) and Striker's vengeful former captain (Robert Stack), who must both talk him down. Along the way, we meet a clutch of stock disaster movie passengers like the guitar-strumming nun, a sick little girl, a frightened old lady, and two African-American travelers whose "jive" has to be subtitled. Leslie Nielsen portrays the plane's doctor, launching a new phase of the actor's career that carried him through the next two decades in several similarly comedic roles. The trio of directors Jim Abrahams, Jerry Zucker, and David Zucker responsible for the film would eventually go on to solo careers, but not before making Top Secret! and Ruthless People. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, (more)
- 1979
It's Airplane on the rails in the made-for-TV Disaster on the Coastliner. A crazed engineer holds his employers responsible for the deaths of his wife and daughter. He gets even by setting two passenger trains on an irrevocable collision course. Salvation comes from a most unexpected corner in this otherwise thoroughly predictable disaster flick. The requisite all-star cast includes Mike Connors, Lloyd Bridges, Robert Fuller, Pat Hingle, E. G. Marshall, Yvette Mimieux and William Shatner. Disaster on the Coastliner premiered October 28, 1979. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
