Carroll Baker Movies
The daughter of a traveling salesman, actress Carroll Baker joined a dance company after one year of college, then worked as a magician's assistant. After a brief marriage to a furrier, she went to Hollywood to act, but was unable to get anything more than a bit role (in 1953's Easy to Love) and so left for New York. At first finding work only in commercials (plus a walk-on in the Broadway play Escapade), in 1954 she enrolled at the Actors Studio; there she met director Jack Garfein, whom she married the following year (they were divorced in 1969). After her appearance in a few TV dramas and Robert Anderson's play All Summer Long (1955), she was noticed by Warner scouts and subsequently cast in James Dean's vehicle Giant (1956). Her success continued that same year when her role as the thumb-sucking wife in Baby Doll (1956) earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. She also delivered anexemplary lead performance in director Irving Rapper's The Miracle (1959). With the success of Marilyn Monroe, Hollywood started looking for other Monroe "types" and producers began grooming Baker for the role, as is evident from her work in such films as The Carpetbaggers (1964); in 1965, she played the doomed title role in the film Harlow, another attempt to cast her in the Monroe mold. However, she never caught on with American audiences; in the late 60s, she moved to Italy and began appearing in Italian productions. In 1977 she made her London stage debut in W. Somerset Maugham's Rain, then made a few Hollywood and UK pictures in the late 70s and 80s, as well as putting in a "camp" appearance in Andy Warhol's Bad (1977) and a more straightlaced role as the mother of Dorothy Stratten in Star 80). ~ All Movie Guide
- 1998
Rebellious teen Niki (Tricia Vessy) has nowhere to go. She doesn't get along with her widowed father (John Shea) or her selfish boyfriend (Scott Caan), and she's about to be kicked out of high school. The school's principal (Zeljko Ivanek) suggests she work counseling troubled children, but she winds up having a confrontation with the program's leader (Marianne Jean-Baptiste). Niki meets with an eight-year-old (Jacob Smith), reexamines her own childhood, gets help from her grandmother (Carroll Baker), rejects her boyfriend, finds a new friend (Ryan Francis), and soon is on the road to recovery, even reconnecting with her dad. Marianne Jean-Baptiste, who appeared as the British optometrist in Mike Leigh's Secrets & Lies, portrays an American in this film. Shown at the 1998 Santa Barbara Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tricia Vessey, John Shea, (more)
- 1997
A modern-day prodigal son, Isaiah Dockett (Rick Schroder) returns to his family farm in Nebraska after a six-year absence. Although he is welcomed back by his ailing mother Edith (Carroll Baker) and younger brother Jacob (Gabriel Mann), and is even able to platonically reconnect with his now-married former girlfriend Susan Doyle (Kim Dickens), Isaiah is unable to penetrate the wall of resentment that his taciturn and unforgiving father Arliss (Richard Crenna) has built around himself. Only when the farm is threatened by a raging flood are Isaiah and Arliss able to come to any sort of an understanding--but will it be permanent, or will it wash away once the waters have receded? Filmed in Alberta, the made-for-TV Heart Full of Rain first aired on October 5, 1997. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1993
Season nine of Murder She Wrote comes to an end as famous romance novelist Sibella Stone (Carroll Baker) descends upon Cabot Cove, home turf of mystery writer Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury). It isn't long before Sibella's assistant is murdered, and at first it appears that the novelist herself was the killer's original target. But when Jessica probes into the situation, she discovers that the dead woman was having an affair with the husband of Sibella Stone's publisher...and there are several other people who would like to have seen the victim get knocked off. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1993
This fact-based made-for-television drama chronicles a 17-year-long police investigation of John List, a New Jersey accountant who became a mass murderer. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Blake, Beverly D'Angelo, (more)
- 1993
The very young computer whizzes in this big-big budget Italian movie are beginning to lose their focus on their assignment: to create a computer-generated Eden. In order to inspire them, an innocent gardener (rock-star and comedian Adriano Celentano) is brought in. For a while, this works, as they start taking their models from nature and make some real progress. Unfortunately, a weird phenomenon sends one of the youths hurtling into the computerized world, and it is up to the gardener and a relative to haul him back out. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adriano Celentano, Kate Vernon, (more)
- 1993
Unique among the many made-for-TV dramas about spousal abuse--most of which are about women victimized by men--Men Don't Tell dramatizes the true story of a loving husband who is terrorized by the violent behavior of his wife. Ed MacAffrey (Peter Strauss) has long endured the physical and emotional abuse heaped upon him by his neurotic wife Laura (Judith Light), not only because he loves her and is concerned over the welfare of his daughter, but also because men are traditionally regarded as weaklings if they allow themselves to be battered by their wives. Even worse, after one of Laura's destructive tantrums brings the attention of the police, Ed is suspected of being the aggressor! Finally, Laura goes too far and Ed tries to defend himself--whereupon Laura crashes through the front window of her home and is rendered comatose, and Ed is arrested for attempted murder. Although the ending of the story could be considered positive and upbeat, it is painfully clear that there are many issues that will never be resolved. First telecast by CBS on May 14, 1993, Men Don't Tell was never rebroadcast on over-the-air television, reportedly because it incurred the wrath of several women's groups. However, the film has since been shown a number of times on cable's Lifetime channel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1992
William (Tim Matheson) is a Harvard psychology professor who is having a hard time dealing with life after the death of his wife when he meets a beautiful woman named Ali (Mimi Rogers). William and Ali strike up a relationship, and he finds the days easier to face. However, she seems oddly secretive about her past, and William can't help but wonder if she's hiding something. When William discovers the police are investigating Ali in connection with a series of murders, he becomes determined to find out her secret so he can clear her name. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1991
The title may be Blonde Fist, but that doesn't mean that the leading characters have yellow hair growing from their knuckles. This British actioner deals with the specialized world of female boxers. People essential to the action bear such monikers as "Crazy Sue" (Susan Atkins) and "Big Alice" (Jane Poter). Veteran Hollywood leading lady Carrol Baker shows up as a don't-mess-with-me promoter. There are some attempts at social satire, contrasting the female pugilists with "proper" British ladies, but Blonde Fist is essentially an excuse to show scantily clad women duke it out and sweat a lot. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Margi Clarke, Carroll Baker, (more)
- 1988
R.O.T.O.R. stands for "Robot Officer Tactical Operation Research Unit" and that means a crime-stopping robot which is unintentionally set in motion and is headed out the door in downtown Dallas, looking for crooks. Its programmed command is "judge and execute," which has its inventors a little concerned (never having been beta-tested!) so they set out to find and deactivate the well-meaning metal guy. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1987
On Fire stars John Forsythe as the chief arson inspector of a major metropolis. After 22 years' service as a firefighter, Forsythe is summarily ordered to retire. He tries to fight this in court, but learns that, although mandatory retirement is illegal on a federal basis, it can be enforced on a local level in cases of life-threatening jobs. While this TV movie starts well with Forsythe's anger and confusion over being cast adrift at age 60, the script descends into by-the-numbers melodrama after a harrowing experience leaves Forsythe more scared and distracted than ever. Carroll Baker, the "Baby Doll" of the 1950s, is cast against type in On Fire as John Forsythe's patient and supportive wife. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The two-part TV movie Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil crystallizes that evil by concentrating on two Berlin brothers. In 1931, Helmut Hoffman (Bill Nighy) a brilliant student and self-styled opportunist, joins Hitler's SS. At the same time, his younger brother Karl (John Shea), a top athlete and idealist, becomes a chauffeur for the "S.A." (storm troopers). When the SS topples the SA from power, Karl ends up in Dachau. He is rescued through his brother's influence--if you can describe sending Karl to fight on the Russian Front a "rescue." As he watches the Third Reich deteriorate, Helmut at long last suffers pangs of conscience. As if the story of the rise of Nazism needed any further melodrama, Hitler's SS shoehorns in a romantic triangle involving Karl, Helmut, and beautiful nightclub-singer Lucy Gutteridge. The all-star supporting cast of Hitler's SS includes Carroll Baker as the Hoffman brothers' anguished mother; Tony Randall as an androgynous entertainer named Putzi (shades of Cabaret's Joel Grey); and David Warner, repeating his Holocaust role as SS head man Heydrich. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Shea, Bill Nighy, (more)
- 1983
Presented in a series of ostensibly farcical or irreverent episodes without any particular connection to each other, and based on short stories written by Yuri Krotkov's own personal knowledge of Stalin, the Red Monarch sketches the infamous Russian dictator as something of a buffoon suffering under the responsibilities of total power. Stalin's many purges of "undesirables" that amounted to millions dead by the end of his reign are not mentioned, and Beria, the chief of the Secret Police (NKVD) responsible for those deaths, is presented in his other notorious persona, that of a vulgar skirt-chasing lecher. Episodes cover a meeting of the Politburo to go over the USSR's loss at a major basketball tournament, and an arm-wrestling context with Mao Zedong. No matter how well Colin Blakely portrays Stalin, he cannot overcome the aspects of the script that trivialize Stalin's criminal record in this failed attempt at a Mel Brooks-style comedy. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Colin Blakely, David Suchet, (more)
- 1980
This 1980 British production is based on the trashy romantic novel of the same name by Jackie Collins. Fabulously-successful advertising executive David Cooper (Anthony Franciosa) is a jet-setting philanderer who has a woman in seemingly every port of call. His long-suffering wife Linda (Carroll Baker) finally gets fed up with his infidelities, and she sets out to even the score. Linda exacts her vengeance by having her own string of affairs at several exotic locations, and also by launching various nefarious schemes to entrap and embarrass her husband. Collins is credited as the screenwriter. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony Franciosa, Carroll Baker, (more)
The disaster genre gets the exploitation treatment in this gruesome tale of survival at sea from director René Cardona Jr. In the wake of a violent cyclone, the remaining passengers of a downed airplane find refuge on a passing boat carrying the survivors of a shipwreck. Without a clue where in the world they are, a shortage of food and water, and the surrounding waters teeming with man-eating sharks, the tensions are soon on the rise. El Ciclon was released in the U.S. as The Cyclone. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
Originally titled D.A.'s Investigator, Kiss Me Kill Me stars Stella Stevens as Stella Stafford, "leg woman" for the LA district attorney's office. The case at hand is the murder of a young, highly respected schoolteacher. Stella is certain that she has the killer dead to rights--but this is before she learns the down-and-dirty about the murder victim's secret life. Supporting Ms. Stevens is an impressive guest cast, including Dabney Coleman, Pat O'Brien, Bruce Boxleitner and Robert Vaughn. First telecast May 8, 1976, Kiss Me Kill Me was the pilot for an intended TV series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1976
A socially deviant man and his friends find themselves to be sacrificial targets of religious cult members. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- 1975
The title of the Italian At Last, At Last refers to sex. In fact, virtually every line of dialogue in this domestic comedy has an erotic tinge. The plot concerns a newlywed couple's attempt to cure the husband's impotence. You guessed it: "outside specialists" are brought into arouse hubby's libido. Carroll Baker, Edwige French, Renzo Montagnani and Ray Lovelock star. Originally titled La Moglie Vergine, the film has also been released as The Virgin Wife and You've Got to Have Heart. Though At Last, at Last couldn't get it up on American TV screens, it stood firm and proud on cable television, where it premiered in 1987. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1974
In this thriller, a wheelchair bound beauty must escape the unwanted attentions of a homicidal maniac. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
This weird, psycho-sexual horror tale -- the kind they do so well in Italy -- is based on an S&M-flavored comic series by erotic artist Guido Crepax, creator of the popular character "Valentina" -- played here by Isabelle De Funes. Valentina is a fashion photographer who comes under the spell of the enigmatic witch Baba Yaga (Carroll Baker), who may in fact be the legendary sorceress of Russian folklore. It is in this magical abode that Valentina eventually becomes a captive, tormented mentally and physically... or is it all the product of her overactive imagination? Director Corrado Farina seems unable to make up his mind either, choosing instead to get lost in the sensual ambiance which only vaguely manages to re-create the dark, hedonistic fantasy-land of Crepax's works. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
