Mary Beth Hurt Movies
American actress Mary Beth Hurt, born Mary Beth Supinger, trained for the theater at New York University's School of the Arts. She then spent a year in London, where she performed with the Questers, a well-known amateur theater troupe. In 1972 she made her professional debut with the New York Shakespeare Festival, then went on to a very successful stage career on Broadway and elsewhere; she won two Obie awards (one for her work in the play Crimes of the Heart) and was nominated for a Tony for Trelawney of the Wells. Her theater work impressed filmmaker Woody Allen, who cast her in a supporting role in her screen debut, Interiors (1978), Allen's first non-comedy. This won her the co-lead in Joan Micklin Silver's Head Over Heels (1979). Hurt has remained primarily a stage actress, appearing in films every two years or so. From 1972-82 she was married to actor William Hurt. She is now married to writer-director Paul Schrader, and co-starred in his film Light Sleeper (1992). ~ All Movie Guide
With The Walker, Paul Schrader unofficially updates themes and tropes first explored by his controversial erotic thriller American Gigolo (1980). Woody Harrelson stars as Carter Page III, an overtly gay, Virginia senator's son, paid as an asexual escort of middle-aged women in the upper-crust circles of Washington, D.C. Carter's regular clients include three politicos' wives: Natalie Van Miter (Lauren Bacall), Abigail Delorean (Lily Tomlin), and Lynn Lockner (Kristin Scott Thomas), to whom Carter is closest - so close that he squires her, regularly, to sexual rendezvous with her lover, the lobbyist Robbie Kononsberg (Steven Hartley). When an unknown perpetrator stabs Robbie to death, and Lynn discovers his murdered body at his condo, Carter attempts to protect Lynn and her husband, Larry (Willem Dafoe), from media intrusion by informing the police that he found the body himself, despite the fact that it makes him an immediate suspect. In time, Carter discovers from the women (during their gossip over a canasta game) that Robbie was involved with a shady insurance company, on the verge of being investigated - and that the investigation would have uncovered dirt and scandal on each woman. To shield Lynn from trouble, and deliver himself from incrimination, Page ultimately decides to investigate the crime himself, with the close assistance of his lover, the German-Turkish photographer Emek (Moritz Bleibtreu). Schrader authored the original script. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Woody Harrelson, Kristin Scott Thomas, (more)
Piper Perabo (Cheaper by the Dozen) plays Jen Marshall, a young girl in her mid-twenties who has more than a few skeletons in her closet, in Irving Schwartz's bittersweet drama release from Empire Pictures. Though she initially appears to be nothing short of a saint - leaving L.A. for Brooklyn to care for her ailing parents as the story opens - Jen, it turns out, has been a bit of a bad girl in Los Angeles and has upset more than a few people thanks to her wild and unrestrained lifestyle and careless attitude. It is a problem that only follows her and risks complicating her life again when she resettles with her parents in the Big Apple - until a tragic accident confines her to a wheelchair and forces her to reexamine her self-centeredness. Mary Beth Hurt The World According to Garpand David Rasche Barbarians at the Gate co-star. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Piper Perabo, Seth Meyers, (more)
When their young daughter is killed in a tragic car accident, a devastated couple goes to extreme measures to bring love back into their lives in a heart-rending family drama starring Adam LeFevre, Valerie Mahaffey, Mary Beth Hurt, and Bridget Fonda. Chris (LeFevre) and Virginia Hytner (Mahaffey)'s once idyllic world has been shattered by the untimely death of their beloved daughter, and now, in order to let go of the past and find happiness once again, they choose to put their future in the hands of Dr. Amanda Gordon (Hurt) of the Center for Reproductive Medicine. Since Virginia is now over forty and the couple's chances of an uncomplicated pregnancy are slim, they have opted to attempt the unprecedented feat of cloning their deceased daughter. When a minor league reporter looking for a major league story (Fonda) transforms the Hytner's desperation into a sensationalistic headline, the firestorm of controversy that follows forces the couple and their doctor into the underground as it compromises the safety of their unborn child. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bridget Fonda, Mary Beth Hurt, (more)
- 1999
Leo may not be able to read, write, or even speak as well as the other animals in his age group, but perhaps with a little time he'll catch up to his peers. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Beth Hurt
- 1998
A story from children's author Kevin Henkes -- whose tales, illustrated with sketches of friendly mice, offer gentle, but important, lessons about understanding others and yourself -- comes to life in this animated video. In A Weekend With Wendell, a little girl learns how to deal with an especially self-centered little boy. Mary Beth Hurt serves as narrator. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Beth Hurt
The second outing in the Boys Life series collects another set of gay-themed shorts. Must Be the Music follows a group of Los Angeles teens, three gay and one straight, through a night of romantic misadventures at a hip dance club. In Nunzio's Second Cousin, police Sgt. Tony Randozzy (Vincent D'Onofrio) turns the tables on a group of homophobes (one of them played by Seth Green) and forces one of them, Jimmy (Miles Perlich), to have dinner with him and his mother (Eileen Brennan). Alkali, Iowa uses the backdrop of a Midwestern agricultural community to tell the story of Jack (J.D. Cerna), a gay teen who discovers tantalizing glimpses of his dead father's life buried on the family farm; Mary Beth Hurt plays the boy's distant, defeated mother. The Academy award-winning Trevor relates the tale of a chunky, effete youngster (Brett Barsky) whose love of Diana Ross is matched only by his obsession with Pinky (Jonah Rooney), a handsome classmate. For Boys Life 2's video and DVD release, The DadShuttle replaced Trevor, which had received a video release of its own. An almost plotless tale that takes place during a single car ride to the airport, The DadShuttle focuses on the emotional distance and between a city-dwelling gay man and his suburban father. Alkali, Iowa director Mark Christopher would go on to direct the Hollywood feature 54, while Nickolas Perry, director of Must Be the Music, would go on to helm the Gus Van Sant-produced Speedway Junky. Before directing Trevor, Peggy Rajski was known primarily as a producer; her credits include the Jodie Foster directorial efforts Little Man Tate and Home for the Holidays. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- 1996
A lawyer is murdered, and high on the list of suspects is the dead man's abrasive girlfriend. Detectives Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) and Curtis (Benjamin Bratt) track down the suspect, only to discover that "she" is really a "he." As if that wasn't baffling enough, another suspect suddenly resurfaces, one who might be protectively shielding the genuine culprit. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1995
- Add From the Journals of Jean Seberg to QueueAdd From the Journals of Jean Seberg to top of Queue
The meteoric rise and tragic fall of actress Jean Seberg is dissected in this fascinatingly complex psuedo-documentary that features actress Mary Beth Hurt playing Seberg as she examines her life. Along the way, filmmaker Mark Rappaport frequently digresses and examines the lives of those famous people around her, including Jane Fonda, Otto Preminger, Clint Eastwood and more. The film begins as Preminger discovers the 17-year-old Seberg during a national talent search and decides to cast her in his ill-fated epic Saint Joan. She was for two years a Hollywood star, and then went on to become a European icon of New Wave cinema. During the late 1960s Seberg was affiliated with the Black Panther movement and became a target of the FBI. Her problems were not helped by her alcoholism and drug addiction. During her life she was married four times, attempted suicide once, miscarried, and at age 40 finally overdosed on barbiturates. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1993
Spacy Callahan (Markus Klemp) has two problems. In the first place, he's a young teen, which is difficult enough. In the second place, he has been placed "for his own good" in an Iowa juvenile facility which has more than a passing resemblance to a military prison. If a boy breaks one of the innumerable rules of the place, they get placed in a situation where the will probably be sexually molested by their jailer Mr. Kibby, while he quotes Bible verses at them. He has a friend, though, a boy named Gary (Elijah Shepard), and together they make the best of things. That is, until it becomes clear that a clueless young inmate could make things really difficult for them - really difficult. The decide to escape their rural confinement and look up Spacy's mother (Mary Beth Hurt), who has finally divorced Spacy's abusive, alcoholic father. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Beth Hurt
- 1993
When Max's neighbors started complaining about the noise, the young musician quickly packed up his bass, trombone, harmonica, flute, xylophone, synthesizer, and symbols. Now the neighbors have realized just how deafening the silence can be, but is it already too late to convince Max to start playing again? ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 1987
This heartrending TV movie stars John Lithgow and Mary Beth Hurt as the parents of a severely handicapped premature infant. Weighing a scant 20 ounces at birth, the baby girl has no esophagus and very few signs of being able to stay alive without artificial assistance. The desperate couple sign away the responsibility of their daughter to the doctors, who feel that they can pull the girl through with extensive experimental medical work. Within a week of this agreement, the cost to the couple is $71,000, an amount that will triple before the situation can be legally resolved. Though not based on any factual case, Baby Girl Scott maintains an uncomfortable reality throughout. The film first aired on May 24, 1987. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Lithgow, Mary Beth Hurt, (more)
The questionable past of a philandering executive returns to haunt him when he least expects it as Tony-award-winning playwright Terrence McNally's tense adaptation of author John Cheever's short story comes to the Broadway stage. When a callous, white-collar power player seduced and fired his beautiful secretary, he never thought he'd be forced to face the consequences for his cold-hearted actions. This is one woman who's not willing to walk away without a fight though, and when the unstable secretary finds herself pushed to the edge of sanity by the rejection, the man in the red power tie discovers why it's always best to leave bedroom antics out of the boardroom. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Beth Hurt, Laurence Luckinbill, (more)
In this Civil War Drama, a Union spy impersonates a Confederate soldier and ends up almost botching his mission when he falls in love with a Southern belle. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1976
Royce, a 60-minute pilot film from MTM productions, enjoyed its first and last network exposure on May 21, 1976. Robert Forster stars as Royce, a Westerner raised by Comanches. In the tradition of Clint Eastwood, Royce is laconic and reclusive; unlike Eastwood, Royce carries no gun. In this installment, Royce helps lady puppeteer Mary Beth Hurt and her two kids travel safely to California, to seek out the lady's husband who abandoned his family back in Kansas. Lensed on location in Arizona. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1976
In the conclusion of a two-part story (originally telecast as a single two-hour episode), Kojak (Telly Savalas) steps up his efforts to help Karen Foster (Marybeth Hurt), whom he believes has been falsely charged with murdering her mother. At the same time, powerful politician Edna Morrison (Geraldine Page) continues pulling strings and calling in favors to prevent Kojak from uncovering the whole truth about the murder. Ultimately, Kojak is framed for another crime to shut him up. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1976
In the first episode of a two-part story (originally telecast as a single two-hour "special"), Lt. Kojak (Telly Savalas) tackles a case of matricide that has remained unsolved from two years. Unfortunately, he meets stiff opposition in the form of Edna Morrison (Geraldine Page), a powerful politician who is determined that the whole truth about the murder will never see the light of day. Featured in the supporting cast as a deputy district attorney is a pre-Murphy Brown Charles Kimbrough. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A serial killer with a sickening knack for showmanship and a keen sense of technological know-how sets up a graphic website to taunt the FBI and display his gruesome handiwork in this dark thriller directed by Gregory Hoblit (Primal Fear and Frequency) and starring Diane Lane. As a cybercimes investigator on the frontline of the war against virtual criminals, Special Agent Jennifer Marsh (Lane) thought she had seen it all. She realizes just how wrong she is, however, when she learns of a technologically advanced psychopath who has set up the world's first-ever snuff website. Audience participation is key on the ingenious killer's website, because the more hits his page gets the quicker he is to dispatch his victims. But how does one catch a killer who has covered their cyber-tracks with the web-savvy skills of a world-class hacker? Now, as the hunt becomes personal, Marsh vows to use every resource at her disposal in order to catch the killer before he logs on for another round of cyber slaughter. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Diane Lane, Billy Burke, (more)
Karen Moncrieff, the Independent Spirit Award-nominated director of Blue Car, assembles a stellar cast comprised of Toni Collette, James Franco, Giovanni Ribisi, and Mary Beth Hurt to tell the tale of one girl's mysterious death, and how the tragic actions of the people who surround her eventually led to her savage murder. When the brutalized and lifeless body of a once-vital young girl (Brittany Murphy) is discovered, a community is scarred by the unspeakable horror of seeing one of their own so viciously desecrated. But the discovery of the body is just the beginning of the story, and now as a wife uncovers her husband's dark secret, a mother searches frantically for her missing daughter, and a series of other, seemingly unrelated occurrences slowly begin to converge, the heartbreaking truth behind a tragic act of violence will shake the very foundation of a once close-knit community. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Toni Collette, Rose Byrne, (more)
This tense urban drama stars Nicolas Cage as Frank Pierce, a paramedic on the brink of physical and emotional collapse. Frank has worked for years in one of New York's most brutal neighborhoods, and the pressure of his job has taken its toll; plagued with self-doubt, he is haunted by the spirits of the people he couldn't save, and while he desperately wants to quit his job, outside forces won't let him walk away. Bringing Out the Dead brought director Martin Scorsese back to the streets of contemporary New York, one of his favorite locations, after three films set elsewhere: Kundun, Casino, and The Age of Innocence. The film also reunited Scorsese with screenwriter Paul Schrader, who scripted Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and The Last Temptation of Christ. The supporting cast includes Patricia Arquette as the daughter of a heart attack victim that Frank has fallen in love with, and John Goodman and Ving Rhames as two of Frank's fellow drivers. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicolas Cage, Patricia Arquette, (more)
Nick Nolte and James Coburn deliver some of the finest work of their respective careers in this powerful but troubling adaptation of Russell Banks's novel. Wade Whitehouse (Nick Nolte) is the sheriff in a small New England town; it's a part-time job with few taxing responsibilities, and Wade fills his many free hours by swilling booze, smoking pot, and thinking back on his nightmarish childhood. Wade's father Glen (James Coburn) was by turns callous, distant, and abusive, and Wade has inherited his addiction to alcohol and inability to deal with others. Consequently, Wade's ex-wife (Mary Beth Hurt) despises him, his daughter is uncomfortable and frightened in his presence, and the only person who can reach him is his loving but long-suffering girlfriend Margie (Sissy Spacek). When a wealthy businessman is killed in a hunting accident, Wade suspects foul play and pursues the case with an obsession that puzzles all around him; meanwhile, Wade's mother dies and his brother Rolfe (Willem Dafoe), the only one in the family to escape Glen's abuse without crippling emotional scars, returns to pay his respects and is caught up once again in the damaged lives of his father and brother. James Coburn) won an Academy award for Best Supporting Actor for his work in Affliction, while Nick Nolte was nominated for Best Actor (he lost to Roberto Benigni). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nick Nolte, James Coburn, (more)
Two socialites find their view of the world changed when a young man takes advantage of their preconceptions in this thoughtful comedy-drama. Flan and Ouisa Kittredge (Donald Sutherland and Stockard Channing) are a married couple who have built highly successful careers as art dealers catering to Manhattan's upper crust. The Kittredges are entertaining friends one evening when a young black man named Paul (Will Smith) appears at their door. Paul says that he's a close friend of their children, with whom he attended boarding school, and he's just been mugged and needs to get off the street for a moment. Flan and Ouisa invite him in, and they are immediately taken by Paul's intelligence and charm; he offers to prepare dinner, regales them with stories about his father, Sidney Poitier, and ends up spending the night at their apartment. However, the next morning Flan and Ouisa discover that they've been had; Paul is actually a con artist from the streets who has been pulling the wool over the eyes of many of their friends -- and his actions are beginning to have serious consequences. John Guare adapted the script from his own successful stage play; the supporting cast includes Ian McKellen, Mary Beth Hurt, Bruce Davison, and Heather Graham. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stockard Channing, Will Smith, (more)
Paul Schrader's brilliant study of another alienated urban denizen skirting the borderline of madness stars Willem Dafoe as John Le Tour, a rich, upscale drug dealer for Manhattan professionals -- "White drugs for white people," as he puts it. John is a recovering addict and for him it's the perfect job, as he can relate completely with the self-absorbed eccentrics he services. But when his boss Ann (Susan Sarandon) tells John that she is planning to abandon the drug business for herbal cosmetics, John's life is thrown into disarray. With no future plans, he sees black clouds heading his way. Coincidentally, he runs into Marianne (Dana Delany), an old girlfriend and former addict who has returned to New York to be with her dying mother. John sees Marianne as his redemption and starts to pursue her, but she doesn't want to be reminded of her past. When the murder of an Upper West Side woman involved in a drug transaction has the police scouring the town for suspects, John thinks they are following him, and the strain upon his life and his hopes for the future become harder and harder to bear. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Willem Dafoe, Susan Sarandon, (more)
In this suspense drama, a lawyer finds out more than she wanted to know about her friends and lovers. T.K. Katwuller (Barbara Hershey) is a lawyer with a firm command of her career but an unstable hold on her private life; she's more single than she'd like to be, and she's become romantically involved with one of her clients, Steven Seldes (J.T. Walsh), a real estate agent. When T.K. bumps into her college roommate Ellie (Mary Beth Hurt), she discovers that Ellie is Steven's wife, which T.K. hardly regards as welcome news. T.K. then learns that Steven has been accused of financing porn movies dominated by underage actors; after an angry confrontation, she bitterly breaks off the affair. The next day, Steven turns up murdered, and T.K. discovers that Ellie is the prime suspect. She agrees to handle Ellie's case, and Ellie is acquitted. However, T.K.'s conversations with police detective George Beutel (Sam Shepard) begin to plant a seed of doubt in her mind about Ellie's innocence. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Hershey, Sam Shepard, (more)
