Timothy Hutton Movies
After 19-year-old Timothy Hutton won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in the powerful family drama Ordinary People (1980), he spent the rest of the decade and most of the '90s playing sensitive characters in offbeat, intellectually oriented films, though he also occasionally got to play villains. Hutton was primarily raised in Berkeley, CA, by his mother as she and his father, actor Jim Hutton, best known for playing Ellery Queen in the 1960s, divorced. Young Hutton gained early acting experience in high school and during a summer vacation, toured the country with his father in a road show production of Harvey. Hutton moved to Southern California to live with his dad and break into movies. During his early years, Hutton appeared in television movies such as And Baby Makes Six (1979) and the hard-hitting Friendly Fire (1979). Robert Redford's directorial debut, Ordinary People, was Hutton's feature-film debut. In part, the realism of Hutton's wrenching portrayal of the anguished teen who blames himself for his brother's death was fueled by his grief over his father's recent death from cancer. Hutton was the youngest actor to win in the Best Supporting Actor category. Despite his early promise, Hutton remains a well-respected but not terribly high-ranking star. In part it could be a backlash from Ordinary People, for Hutton was so good at playing the tormented young man that he was relegated to playing similarly troubled youths, though he also occasionally appeared in comedies, sci fi, and other genres. Roles in Taps (1981) and Turk 182 showed that, given the chance, Hutton could indeed expand the boundries of troubled youth niche to compelling results, and though his roles in the following decade weren't always in A-list features, Hutton did impress in such high profile releases as Q & A (1990), The Dark Half (1993), French Kiss (1995) and The General's Daughter (1999). As a general rule, Hutton would frequently avoid mainstream films in favor of smaller roles as deeper characters in such offbeat fare as City of Industry (1997) and Deterrence (1999), though the new millennuim did find him stepping back into the spotlight somewhat with the release of John Sayles' Sunshine State and the Steven King adaptation Secret Window - which found him cast opposite Hollywood heavyweight Johnny Depp. Of course having appeared in the acclaimed thriller The Dark Half this wasn't Hutton's first foray into the King's twisted universe, and in 2004 Hutton would continue to keep audiences' pulses pounding with a role as a college professor who discovers a record of his murder five days before it occurs in 5 Days to Midnight (2004). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
A groom-to-be wanting to put his best foot forward finds that's not so simple in this updated screwball comedy. Isaac Adler (Timothy Hutton) is a straight-laced college professor who is invited to give a lecture in San Francisco on the day before his wedding. Adler accepts the invitation, certain he has plenty of time to get back home in time for the nuptials, but he makes the mistake of leaving his shoes out to be shined -- and only one of the shoes returns. Adler sets out to find his missing shoes, or obtain a new pair of dress shoes before he reaches the altar, but that proves to be a lot more complicated than he expected; along the way, he meets a lovely and free-spirited woman named Aurora (Maria Grazia Cucinotta) who offers to help him, but Aurora's "helpful" ideas include visiting several nightspots, getting tattoos, and eventually spending the night in jail. Is there any hope for Adler -- or his shoes? Just One Night also features Udo Kier and Seymour Cassel. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Timothy Hutton, Maria Grazia Cucinotta, (more)
- 2000
Nero Wolfe (Maury Chaykin) is the world's greatest detective, and like any genius, he has his share of idiosyncrasies -- he loves orchids with an unnatural passion, he weighs a seventh of a ton, and--oh yeah--he never leaves his New York brownstone. Instead, he is aided by an army of foot soldiers headed by Archie Goodwin (Timothy Hutton). The film opens when Pete, a young windshield washer, is begged by a woman to call the police. She is then ushered into a car and whisked away. Thinking that she has been kidnapped, Pete gives Nero the scoop in exchange for half the reward money. When Pete later turns up dead, Nero kicks his investigation into high gear. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Timothy Hutton, Maury Chaykin, (more)
In the early '90s, someone broke into a suburban Washington, D.C., home and shot and killed a woman and a nurse at close range, and then disconnected the woman's handicapped son's breathing tube. The grim tragedy became headlines when the divorced father, music industry insider Lawrence Horn (James McDaniel), now living in Hollywood, was accused of hiring a Detroit hit man James Perry (Clark Johnson) to do the job. First Amendment/free speech scholar Rod Smolla (Timothy Hutton) is brought into the case not to help convict Horn and Perry, but to find the publisher of the book Hit Man, which was used as a blueprint for the crimes, guilty of aiding and abetting. No publisher had ever been convicted of a similar crime. ~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide
A murder on a military base unearths a netherworld of corruption in this thriller based on the novel by Nelson DeMille. General Joe Campbell (James Cromwell) is a respected military leader with a flawless reputation; he's due to retire from the Army soon and is headed for a Vice-Presidential nomination. However, Campbell finds himself in both a personal and political crisis when his daughter is brutally murdered. Captain Elizabeth Campbell (Leslie Stefanson) was beautiful, intelligent, disciplined, and well-regarded, the very model of an ideal female officer; she was also stationed at the same base as her father. Paul Brenner (John Travolta), a warrant officer of the Army's Criminal Investigation Division, is assigned to look into the case alongside CID officer Sara Sunhill (Madeleine Stowe). Brenner and Sunhill were once romantically involved, complicating an assignment that soon offers more than enough complications of its own. Brenner and Sunhill come to realize that, for all her accomplishments, Elizabeth carried a lifetime of emotional scars from emotional abuse and sexual harassment, and that, despite the General's reputation, his relationship with his daughter was not always a happy or healthy one. It also seems possible that the General's second-in-command, General George Fowler (Clarence Williams III), a likely candidate for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, may also be implicated in the crime. The General's Daughter was the second feature film for director Simon West; his full-length debut was Con Air (1997), after a long string of successful television commercials and music videos. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Travolta, Madeleine Stowe, (more)
Peter Falk, Lauren Holly, Timothy Hutton, Freddie Prinze Jr., and Tyne Daly star in this gritty crime drama. Falk plays the owner of a local bar who has taken bets for a Mafia gambling ring for years, watching out for his customers and never letting them get in too far over their heads. But that all changes when a mobster appoints his hot-headed, drug-abusing nephew (Prinze) to be his new collection agent. The young gangster takes a huge bet from an out-of-work alcoholic (Hutton) who has been forbidden from gambling in the past, and when he can't pay it off, he demands the man's wife (Holly) give him her body as payment. The barkeep knows his new partner has gone too far -- but what can he do to stop him without endangering the lives of his family? ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1998
- PG
Actor Timothy Hutton's directorial debut is set in rural New Hampshire of the mid-'60s. Divorced motel owner Mrs. Frankovitz (Cathy Moriarty) has two daughters -- Gwen (Mary Stuart Masterson), who is preoccupied with various boyfriends, and troubled 10-year-old Harriet (Evan Rachel Wood). One day Harriet finds a playmate -- retarded Ricky Schroth (Kevin Bacon) -- after the car driven by his terminally ill mother Leah (Marian Seldes) breaks down while taking him to be institutionalized. When Mrs. Frankovitz dies in an auto accident, Harriet has to take orders from Gwen (revealed to be Harriet's real mother), so Harriet tries to run away from home. Shown at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin Bacon, Mary Stuart Masterson, (more)
- 1998
- PG
More chilling than fiction, this taut drama chronicles the CIA's search to prove that one of its agents has succumbed to greed and is exchanging highly classified government secrets for money. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Timothy Hutton, Elizabeth Peña, (more)
Betrayal and revenge are the key ingredients of this violent, streetwise crime drama. Roy Egan (Harvey Keitel) was once a highly successful thief but has gotten out of the business and now leads a quiet life in the Midwest. He's lured out of retirement by his brother, Lee (Timothy Hutton); Lee figures that he's come to the end of his rope as a small-time thief and wants to pull one last job that will earn him a healthy score. Lee and Roy devise a plan to knock over a jewelry store in Palm Springs and bring along two helpers, even-tempered family man Jorge (Wade Dominguez) and hot-headed driver Skip (Stephen Dorff). The heist goes like clockwork, but afterward Skip turns on his partners and kills Lee and Jorge. Roy is able to escape and swears to avenge his brother's death with the help of Jorge's wife Rachel (Famke Janssen). City of Industry was the debut feature for writer/producer Ken Solarz. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harvey Keitel, Stephen Dorff, (more)
After losing his license to work as a surgeon, synthetic-heroin addict Eugene Sands (David Duchovny) is on a downward spiral into the Los Angeles drug scene. One night, someone is shot in a bar, and Sands performs a life-saving medical maneuver on the spot. Word travels fast. A few days later, a limo drops him off at the Malibu den of counterfeiter-smuggler Raymond Blossom (Timothy Hutton) and his cupid-lipped moll Claire (Angelina Jolie). The bleach-haired Blossom needs someone to stitch up his hemorrhaging henchmen so they won't wind up answering questions at a hospital. He sees Sands as the ideal man to stop the flow of information and blood. It's a deal with the devil, but Sands accepts. Meanwhile, Claire has her eye on Sands, and FBI agent Gage (Michael Massee) has plans to bring down Blossom. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Duchovny, Timothy Hutton, (more)
John Larkin (Timothy Hutton would seem to have the ideal life: A great job, a beautiful home, a happy marriage. Nonetheless, John has always been nagged by the feeling that "something is missing." The truth of this suspicion is violently driven home when John is inexplicably kidnapped from his home in the middle of the night by two sinister strangers. Managing to escape, John makes his way back to his wife (Suzy Amis--only to find out that she's not his wife at all, but instead a doctor for a top-secret government agency. Laboriously putting the pieces together, John realizes that he has never truly existed as a human being since he was nearly killed in a car crash: Instead, he is a semi-android, his brain implanted with false and misleading memories--all part of a master scheme to transform him into a "perfect" government assassin! Not dissimilar to such theatrical technothrillers as Total Recall, the made-for-TV Dead By Midnight (you'll have to see the film to understand the title's grim significance) was first aired by ABC on November 23, 1997. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1996
- R
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A high-school reunion in a snowy New England town brings together a diverse band of former classmates. They include NYC pianist Willie Timothy Hutton who has found only small success playing night clubs and is considering taking a job as a supply salesman. While in town, Willie, who is having relationship problems with his girlfriend, finds himself becoming friends with 13 year-old Marty Natalie Portman. Then there's Tommy Matt Dillon, the aging jock who though seriously involved with Sharon Mira Sorvino, cannot resist the occasional walk down memory lane by sleeping with the former prom-queen Darian Lauren Holly, who is married but believes that her husband won't find out. Paul Michael Rapaport is dumped by his waitress girlfriend Jan Martha Plimpton, in part because of the swimsuit-clad supermodels plastered all over his walls. Paul then becomes attracted to Andera Uma Thurman, who is visiting her cousin Stinky Pruitt Taylor Vince, a local tavern owner. Also among the group -- Gina Rosie O'Donnell, who fancies herself a feminist counselor and who, in one of the film's highlights, delivers a poignant rant against how magazines present unrealistic images of women. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Timothy Hutton, Noah Emmerich, (more)
In this drama, an interracial Virginia couple petition the Supreme Court against the state's miscegenation laws in order to legalize their marriage. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lela Rochon, Timothy Hutton, (more)
In this adaptation of a stage play by Jon Robin Baitz, a successful head of a New York publishing firm unravels after the death of his wife. Isaac Geldhart (Ron Rifkin) is a German Jewish survivor of the Holocaust who has been emotionally scarred by the traumas of his childhood, during which he spent many days hiding in an attic full of books. He has grown into a demanding perfectionist of a businessman, but his company is failing despite a sterling reputation for quality. He becomes obsessed with publishing a four-volume work on the techniques used in the Nazi genocide. His son Aaron (Tony Goldwyn) pleads with his father to try more commercially viable books, especially a hip contemporary first novel written by Val (Gil Bellows), who turns out to be Aaron's lover. But neither Aaron nor Isaac's long-suffering assistant Miss Barzakian (Elizabeth Franz) can dissuade the publisher from carrying out his financially disastrous plan. Aaron calls his two siblings Sarah (Sarah Jessica Parker), a children's TV show personality, and Martin (Timothy Hutton), a college professor, to a family meeting to try to resolve things, but their father blows up. Aaron's siblings sign over their shares in the publishing company to Aaron, effectively freezing out their father, who stubbornly sets up his own company and proceeds with his Holocaust project, which in the end proves a disappointment to him. Isaac's world falls apart as he becomes more belligerent, and Martin moves in with him to take care of him. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ron Rifkin, Sarah Jessica Parker, (more)
An American woman discovers that Paris truly is the city of love -- though not in the manner she expected -- in this romantic comedy. Kate (Meg Ryan) is desperately afraid of flying, so when her fiancée Charlie (Timothy Hutton) flies to Paris on business, she must stay behind. Kate has been having second thoughts about her impending marriage, but that changes when Charlie calls her to say that the engagement is off -- he's met a beautiful French woman named Juliette (Susan Anbeh), and he's fallen in love. Determined to win Charlie back, Kate confronts her fears and hops on board the next flight to Paris, where she finds herself seated next to Luc Teyssier (Kevin Kline), a French thief who stashes some valuable jewelry in her baggage hoping to avoid capture. While Luc simply wants to get his jewels back, he pretends to be willing to help Kate find Charlie and win him back in order to keep her luggage out of harm's way, but to his surprise (as well as Kate's), the two become infatuated as they make their way through the City of Lights. Leading lady Meg Ryan also served as co-producer for this film. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Meg Ryan, Kevin Kline, (more)
A reporter tries to balance his loyalty to friends with his personal integrity in this drama. Martin (Timothy Hutton) is a newspaperman from Detroit who has just published a book on organized crime. Doc (Joe Pantoliano), his close friend, has low-level connections to the Mob, and helped him get much of the information. While working on a story, Martin meets Sara (Michelle Burke), an exotic dancer with a complex story. He and Sara find themselves attracted to one another, and a romance grows between them, but Sara is angered when Martin uses deeply personal details of her story in one of his columns. After Martin promises Sara he'll never again betray her confidence, Doc approaches him with an offer -- a movie studio has expressed an interest in Martin's book, and Doc is having a cash-flow problem that's put him in debt to Mob loan sharks. Why not make Doc the producer on the movie so he can make some quick money and pay off the thugs? While Martin weighs the wisdom of this course of action, a studio chief tells Martin he's interested in his recent column about the stripper; if he can integrate the story into his book, they're certain to make a deal. The Last Word also stars Richard Dreyfuss, Chazz Palminteri, Cybill Shepherd, and Roma Downey. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
The Temp is yet another installment in the 1990s thriller genre of "the conniving woman who gets back at all who stand in her way to success," as seen in The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, Single White Female, Basic Instinct, The Crush, The Babysitter, et al. In this rehash of the perennial formula, Peter Derns (Timothy Hutton), a marketing executive for a cookie company that has recently been bought out by another firm, is forced to hire temporary help when his regular office assistant takes maternity leave. Into the breach comes Kris Bolen (Lara Flynn Boyle), whose efficiency saves the day for the clueless Peter. Unfortunately for Peter's associates, her efficiency extends to killing off Peter's regular assistant upon her return to work by arranging an accident with a paper shredder. But Kris doesn't stop there, and Peter begins to notice a high body count of dead employees falling around him. Peter suspects Kris may be the culprit, but since he has just emerged from treatment for acute paranoia, he can't decide if he is imaging things or not. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Timothy Hutton, Lara Flynn Boyle, (more)
- 1992
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In 1846, a group of over eighty Westward-bound pioneers were headed to the coast of California from Illinois, which had itself only recently been brought up to "civilized" status. They made it to a pass high in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California when they were halted by a truly monstrous blizzard, followed by the snows of one of the worst winters in that century. Their attempts to go forward and backward were thwarted by the deep snow, and, in the small shelter they enjoyed, they slowly starved to death. Eventually, they resorted to cannibalism to survive, and after their story became more widely known, the pass they took shelter in became known as "the Donner Pass." To this day, it is frequently made impassable by heavy snows. Ironically, the forty or so who survived later discovered that, had they only forged ahead about a hundred yards, they would have won free of the deep snow which ensnared them. This documentary has gathered a surprising harvest of photos, notes and drawings in order to tell the pioneers' story. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
Marking the first collaboration between horror legends George A. Romero and Stephen King since 1982's Creepshow, this moody, atmospheric adaptation of King's novel was actually completed in 1991, but the highly-publicized bankruptcy of its distributor Orion Pictures in that same year nearly doomed The Dark Half to distribution limbo. King's story revolves around successful author Thad Beaumont (Timothy Hutton), whose popularity on the college circuit owes a great deal to the financial success of a series of violent pulp thrillers written under the pseudonym of "George Stark." When he decides to cast aside his disreputable alter-ego by "killing" Stark off in a mock ceremony, it precipitates a string of sadistic murders matching those in his pulp novels, which are discovered to be the work of Stark himself (also played by Hutton). Looking like a maniacal white-trash version of his counterpart, Stark is not so willing to quit the writing game -- even if it means coming after Thad's wife (Amy Madigan) and their baby. It's only a matter of time before suspicions turn to Thad, who is the only one who knows the real origins of his hideous twin. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Timothy Hutton, Amy Madigan, (more)
- 1991
- R
Three forms of sexual dysfunction provide the basis of this anthology. The first episode centers on a married couple who can only make love in the presence of a stranger. The second centers on a crazed woman with a constant compulsion to masturbate. The third centers on a voyeur who is planning to marry a woman he doesn't love. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Following Serpico (1973) and Prince of the City (1981), veteran urban crime film director Sidney Lumet completed a thematic trilogy about New York City police corruption with this noir drama. When New York City cop Mike Brennan (Nick Nolte) shoots an unarmed Hispanic drug dealer in cold blood, he quickly plants a gun on his victim and manufactures some eyewitness testimony. D.A. Kevin Quinn (Patrick O'Neal) calls in his assistant district attorney, Al Reilly (Timothy Hutton), to conduct a perfunctory investigation of the incident, but Brennan's obvious guilt during a question and answer session makes Reilly dig deeper. The crusading lawyer is soon uncovering a web of corruption that reaches from Brennan into Quinn's office. At the same time, Reilly learns that his ex-girlfriend Nancy Bosch (Jenny Lumet, the director's daughter), is now dating his chief witness, Puerto Rican drug dealer Bobby Texador (Armand Assante). Q&A (1990) was based on the novel by Edwin Torres, a New York State Supreme Court judge whose two other novels were later adapted into the film Carlito's Way (1993). Lumet would again return to the subject of New York's corrupt criminal justice system with Night Falls on Manhattan (1997). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nick Nolte, Timothy Hutton, (more)
Based on the novel by Ivan Turgenev, this drama tells of a young Russian noble during the mid 19th century who, although engaged to a young pastry chef, falls for a seductive married noblewoman who has arranged to buy his estate. Timothy Hutton, Nastassja Kinski and Valeria Golino star in this period piece. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Timothy Hutton, Nastassja Kinski, (more)
- 1988
- PG13
Martin (William Hurt) and Jack (Timothy Hutton) are World War II soldiers who go from being army buddies to bitter enemies during the war in this uneven melodrama. Not realizing they are brothers-in-law, Martin eventually learns that Jack is married to his sister Josie (Melissa Leo). On their wedding night, Josie's father Jorge (Francisco Rabal) had abducted her in an attempt to dominate her with his old-world ideals of marriage. When Jorge drowns in a lake after the car skids off the road, black-sheep Martin returns home to learn of his father's death, vowing to avenge his father after he learns his buddy is his sworn enemy. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Hurt, Timothy Hutton, (more)
Everybody's All American covers 25 years in the life of college football hero Gavin Grey (Dennis Quaid). When he marries campus sweetheart Babs Rogers (Jessica Lange) and is picked up by the pros, a happily-ever-after denouement is predicted by friends and family. It is clear from the outset, however, that Grey is going to have to do a lot of growing up over the next few decades. Babs does her best to keep in step with her husband's career and mood swings, and in so doing becomes the "parent" in the family. John Goodman also stars as Grey's best buddy, and Timothy Hutton is on hand for a romantic-triangle subplot. Everybody's All American is based on the novel by longtime Sports Illustrated scrivener Frank Deford. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jessica Lange, Dennis Quaid, (more)
- 1987
- PG
Alan Rudolph directed this offbeat, boy-meets-girl romance in which boy dies, dead boy meets dead girl, dead boy loses dead girl, and dead boy tries to find dead girl again. The tale begins is a small Pennsylvania town, where Mike Shea (Timothy Hutton) dreams of escaping small town life and moving to California with his girlfriend Brenda (Mare Winningham). But Brenda leaves him with his motor running and Mike takes off alone. On the way, he rescues a woman and her children from an icy river but perishes himself. He finds himself in Heaven, where he is greeted by Aunt Lisa (Maureen Stapleton), who explains the rules and regulations. Once in the ethereal realm, Mike falls in love with a heavenly lass with flaxen locks named Annie (Kelly McGillis). But their love is torn asunder because Annie has not yet earned her wings on Earth; she must leave on a tour of duty and put in time inhabiting a human body. Mike is beside himself in despair, but the heavenly powers, in the form of Emmett (Debra Winger), chain-smoking and sporting an orange crewcut like a ghostly Laurie Anderson, offer him a deal. Mike can return to Earth, but only on the stipulation that neither he nor Annie will remember each other. They then have thirty years in which to find one another again. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Timothy Hutton, Kelly McGillis, (more)
