Sally Kirkland Movies
A former member of Andy Warhol's Factory and an active member in 1960s New York avant-garde theater, actress Sally Kirkland is best remembered in film for playing a famous Czech actress who is forced to lead a degrading life of anonymity in New York in Anna (1987). The daughter of a fashion editor of Life magazine and a wealthy scrap iron vendor, the tall, slender Kirkland started out as a Vogue model and then studied at the Actor's Studio with Lee Strassberg and Uta Hagen. She launched her acting career off-Broadway, but didn't make much impact until she appeared nude and tied to a chair for 45 minutes in the drama Sweet Eros. By 1964, Kirkland was deeply involved in the Big Apple's avant-garde movement and was also an active drug user until an attempted suicide frightened her into cleaning up her life through yoga and painting. As an actress, she next involved herself with Warhol's clique, appearing in several underground films, notably The Thirteen Most Beautiful Women. Though much of her subsequent film appearances have been in low-budget and exploitation films, Kirkland has had a few shining moments as a supporting actress in such movies as The Sting (1973) and Private Benjamin (1980). For her work in Anna, Kirkland received an Academy Award nomination. In addition to her acting career, Kirkland is a minister of the New Age Church of the Movement of Inner Spiritual Awareness. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
20 years ago, Jana Mercer (Brigitte Bako) witnessed the brutal murder of her entire family by a ruthless serial killer, Calvin Hawks (Larry Drake). Today, Jana has isolated herself inside an apartment that's more like a fortress than a home, with her last contact with the outside world being therapy session conducted via computer. However, one day Jana discovers Calvin has hacked his way into her computer system, and with his release from prison imminent, it's only a matter of time until he also hacks into her stronghold ... and her. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Based on the acclaimed children's book The Westing Game, the movie version of this tale, Get a Clue!, draws young viewers into the strange mysteries encountered by 13-year-old "Turtle" Wexler. After moving into a new town, Turtle learns the house next door is the notoriously haunted Westin mansion. Discovering the body of the dead millionaire, the spunky Turtle attempts to solve the case in hopes of receiving a $20 million reward. The live-action adventure stars Ashley Peldon, Diane Ladd, Sally Kirkland, and Ray Walston. ~ Sally Barber, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ashley Peldon, Ray Walston, (more)
In this combination caper comedy and offbeat romance, Emily (Alicia Silverstone) is a wealthy but petulant young woman desperate to get the attention of her millionaire father, Alexander Hope (Jack Thompson). In fact, she's so desperate that she decides to stage her own kidnapping; she sends a ransom note, ties herself up, and locks herself in the trunk of her BMW, waiting for daddy to come to the rescue; however, Emily's timing is a bit off, because ten minutes later, hunky car thief Vincent (Benicio Del Toro) steals the BMW with Emily still in it. Vincent and his partner in crime, Greg (Harry Connick Jr.), eventually discover the car's trunk has an unexpected surprise. When Emily is unable to convince them to help her with her scheme, she becomes a problem the carjackers can't get rid of, especially after Alexander refuses to pay her ransom, and his creepy right-hand man, Raymond (Christopher Walken), heads out to find her. Of course, losing 200,000 dollars in mob money is not making Vincent's life any easier, nor is having the emotionally problematic Emily fall in love with him. Excess Baggage was the first feature from Alicia Silverstone's production company First Kiss. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alicia Silverstone, Benicio Del Toro, (more)
- 1996
Ally Sheedy, John Savage and Nicholas Walker co-headline this barely released indie feature from 1996, which arrived just prior to Sheedy's shattering onscreen rebound in Lisa Cholodenko's High Art. Walker stars as Paul, a sleazy, philandering pastor in an American small town, married to the soft-spoken and backward Martha (Sheedy) but caught up in the throes of a torrid affair with Veronica (Dara Tomanovich), his stepson's teacher. The two have begun meeting up for illicit encounters at a motel run by the nutty Charlene (famed acting coach Sally Kirkland), where Paul regularly registers under a fake pseudonym - the name of a local boy who drowned in the area years earlier. Eventually, Paul grows so desperate to leave Martha and run away with Veronica that he decides to stage his own death at the lake, but at the last minute he falls, hits his head and slips into amnesia, left with no recollection of who he is. Meanwhile, a slimy insurance investigator named Tim (Savage) crops up with the stated intention of investigating Paul's death, and promptly decides to wheedle his way into Martha's bed. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicholas Walker, Ally Sheedy, (more)
- 1995
Jessica (Angela Lansbury) and Seth (William Windom) are invited to the South Carolina plantation owned by Seth's cousin, a wealthy botanist. The visit becomes somewhat less than pleasant when the cousin turns up murdered. Evidently there are several people who would have benefited from this death, but the clues aren't quite so plentiful--but as always, Jessica needs only one or two clues to tighten the noose around the guilty party's neck. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1994
In the television miniseries Picture Windows, a number of acclaimed Hollywood directors and top stars team up for short stories about love. In "Soir Bleu," directed by Norman Jewison, Tully (Alan Arkin) is a clown who has fallen in love with a married woman. To make matters more complex, her husband is the manager of the circus Tully works for. He also beats her, and Tully is desperate to do something to free her from her awful predicament. Peter Bogdanovich directs "Song of Songs," in which George Segal plays Ted, who runs a bakery and has both a wife (Sally Kirkland) and a mistress (Brooke Adams). Soon Ted learns the hard way about the difference between love and lust. And in "Language of the Heart," directed by Jonathan Kaplan, an aging orchestra conductor (Michael Lerner) uses the wisdom of his years to help bring together a poor but gifted busker and a lovely young dancer. Picture Windows was originally produced for the Showtime premium cable network. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
This film opens with a big fat close-up of a sweaty prisoner with a fly (on a string) crawling on his face. The prisoner quickly pops the fly in his mouth and spits it out. Then he leeringly laughs about it to the prisoner next door. Nope. This is not a bad undiscovered Sergio Leone spaghetti western. Rather it is the opening shot Deran Sarafin's Gunmen -- a brainless action film without an original thought in its head. Christopher Lambert is the fly-eater, a man named Dani Servigo, the brother of a dead smuggler and a prisoner in a South American jail, who holds the secret to the whereabouts of $400,000 in stolen drug money. The walls of the prison explode, and Cole Parker (Mario Van Pebbles) makes his entrance. Cole is a mercenary working with the DEA who is in this South American hellhole to mop up the drug traders and to avenge his father's death at the hands of the drug traders. He wants Dani to lead him to the gold. In this love-hate buddy film, the two thrown-together friends/enemies race through the Amazon jungle with ruthless assassins in pursuit, as they all gravitate towards the secret stash of money. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Lambert, Mario Van Peebles, (more)
- 1993
- PG13
In this drama, the life of a social worker undergoes dramatic changes after she is assigned to oversee the case of a welfare mother who is almost unnaturally obsessed with Elvis Presley. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roseanne, Tom Arnold, (more)
The plot in this suspenseful mystery evokes the old westerns while dealing with contemporary issues concerning the further development of the West. It all begins when a stranger rolls into a remote little town and discovers that they are doing their best to keep secret the murder of a civil liberties lawyer who was threatening to prevent developers from exploiting the land. The stranger finds out and takes steps to ensure that justice is done. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Heavener, Martin Landau, (more)
- 1993
- R
The full title of this direct-to-video enterprise is Forever: A Ghost of a Love Story. Though the title suggests that we're in the heart of rip-off country, the film actually has very little in common with either Love Story (1969) or Ghost (1990). Music-video director Keith Coogan prepares to film in a haunted house. Coogan quickly falls under the spell of beautiful female wraith Sean Young. He must also contend with flesh-and-blood females Diane Ladd and Sally Kirkland, who crave his attention, among other things. Forever is silly but effective, with an unusually strong supporting cast. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sally Kirkland, Sean Young, (more)
- 1993
By now, few will remember the tragic kidnapping of the grandson of the man who, in the '60s, was the world's richest man, J. Paul Getty. Getty, a paranoid and miserly man, refused to pay ransom for his handsome, ne'er do well grandson, J. Paul Getty III. He may have believed that the boy engineered it himself, as a means to get some money out of the old skinflint. As a result, the boy was mutilated by his kidnappers (his ear was sliced off) in an attempt to persuade the old man of the seriousness of their intentions. As it happened, the kidnappers made two mistakes: one was to attempt to extort money from the world's richest miser, the other was in their handling of the boy, who managed to escape. Had it not been for those events, the world's media spotlight would probably have passed the otherwise undistinguished young man by. In this documentary, which assumes familiarity with these events, the troubled life and loves of the grandson's wife and her sister, luminous and beautiful twins from Switzerland, are explored in the light of the boy's tragic life. When Gisela married him, he was a handsome, charming, darling of the jet-set, and fully expected to inherit some portion of his grandfather's billions. In the kidnapping and its aftermath, not only did he become melancholy and erratic, ever more prone to dangerous drug use, but he was cut out of his grandfather's will. Angela, who was accused of being a gold-digger, loyally stuck by his side through all their ups and downs. In fact, even after J. Paul Getty III was rendered permanently comatose following an accident, she remained with him. One gathers that the marriage was something of a ménàge à trois, because Gisela's twin, Jutta, rarely left her side. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Getty III
Rod McCall wrote and directed this slice-of-life melodrama about a woman in a mid-life crisis who struggles to preserve her home and family. Sally Kirkland stars as Jenny, who must deal with a serious problem involving her errant husband Henry (James Brolin) as she prepares for the wedding of her youngest daughter Kat (Renee Estevez). Henry has taken off for New Mexico with his most recent lover and business associate Patsy (Laura Johnson), where they plan to pay off Jenny's mortgage, sell the property and split the money. Meanwhile, Jenny's other daughter Samantha (Pamela Gidley) arrives at the wedding with her life in an uproar -- she is undecided whether to stay in New York City and pursue her classical music career or head back home and marry handsome cowboy Bill (Michael Moore). Henry arrives at the wedding only to be slapped by Jenny for his callousness. Afterwards, Patsy, tired of all the internecine family squabbles, denounces Henry for his cavalier ways and threatens to keep their proposed business deal (an auto dealership) all to herself. But heading in the same direction is Jenny and Samantha, with Jenny chaffing at the bit, preparing to let Henry have it in a final cathartic confrontation. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sally Kirkland, James Brolin, (more)
- 1993
Darlene wants David (Johnny Galecki) to move into the Conners' home. Roseanne disagrees at first, but then she meets David's mom, Barbara Healy (Sally Kirkland), and convinces Dan to let him stay. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- 1993
In classic noir tradition, the protagonist of the made-for-TV Double Deception is hard-boiled private eye John Kane (James Russo), who provides the first-person narration for the deliciously convoluted plotline. Kane knew that former call girl Pamela Sparrow (Alice Krige) was a keg of dynamite the minute she uncrossed her beautiful stems in his seedy office. "Please help me," pleaded Pamela in that come-hither voice, "My husband is missing." But the dame wasn't up front at first, failing to mention that her soul-mate was tied in with a 10-year-old murder case. Funny thing: Pamela reminded Kane of his dead wife -- and funnier still, there are some things just don't stay dead. It figured that Kane would get a few lumps on the casaba along the way, and that he'd have a couple of waltz-arounds with the top brass. But a case is a case, and when murder's involved, someone's got to do something about it, or it's bad for business. Double Deception was originally broadcast by NBC on June 21, 1993. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1992
- R
In this erotic thriller (which at the same time parodies many stereotypical elements of the genre), Monica Martel (Sally Kirkland) is a one-time sex symbol whose career has seen better days. Hoping for a comeback, Monica agrees to appear in a steamy murder mystery, but there's a catch: while the script has a number of nude scenes for her character, Monica refuses to appear nude herself. An attractive younger woman named Lisa Shane (Sherrie Rose) is hired to serve as Monica's body double; Monica is less than enthusiastic about this development, especially when her husband and co-star Eric Cline (ndrew Stevens) begins showing a more-than-professional interest in Lisa. Lisa is nearly killed when a bomb causes her car to explode, and many on the film begin to wonder if Monica's jealousy has begun to spin into homicidal madness. Double Threat is available on home video in both R-rated and unrated versions. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sally Kirkland, Andrew Stevens, (more)
- 1992
- R
In this slasher/murder mystery, a serial killer known as the "downtown slasher" is murdering derelicts and other denizens of the city's Skid Row. A freelance video journalist teams up with an ex-cop to try to catch the killer. ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide
- 1992
- R
In this political thriller, an ambitious press secretary discovers that the opposing political candidate has feathered the nest of his campaigns with terrible lies. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Judd Nelson, Justine Bateman, (more)
- 1992
In this made-for-cable TV movie, a man (Bruce Boxleitner) travels to visit his ex-girlfriend (Rachel Ward) and arrives just in time to witness her kill her vicious boyfriend. However, when his lawyer wife (Sela Ward) is assigned to his ex's case, the man finds himself in the problematic role of key witness. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- 1992
- R
Forever: A Ghost of a Love Story was inspired by the unsolved murder of movie director William Desmond Taylor in 1922. High-living music video director Keith Coogan moves into a crumbling Hollywood mansion. Here he is visited by a friendly and very beautiful wraith (Sean Young), who turns out to be the ghost of long-ago screen star Mary Miles Minter, the late Mr. Taylor's lover. Coogan's ectoplasmic romance is complicated by his sexually aggressive--and very much alive--female agent (Sally Kirkland). The film's in-the-know screenplay manages to conjure up the ghosts of silent movie favorites Fatty Arbuckle, Mabel Normand and Wallace Reid, all of whom, like Minter and Taylor, were destroyed under spectacularly scandalous circumstances. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A descent into the world of freelance celebrity photographers, Joseph Blasioli's documentary focuses on Victor Malafronte as he makes his nightly rounds of New York charity events, premieres, and club openings. Malafronte has two current targets: Michael J. Fox and John F. Kennedy Jr., neither of whom will "pose" for him and his fellow photographers as they arrive at and leave public events. Malafonte, admitting he's more aggressive than most of his colleagues, begins to stalk Fox and Kennedy, trying to catch them whenever they leave their homes, even if it's to jog in Central Park. The film also features interviews with other photographers, including the Italian veteran whose legendary 1960 encounter with Anita Ekberg (she came after him with a bow and arrow and then kneed him in the groin) inspired the character Paparazzo in Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita; hence the term "paparazzi" as the plural term for the packs of these celebrity leeches. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide
- 1992
In this documentary, a variety of directors and actors, many of them well known, give answers to questions the viewer never hears -- answers which, on the face of it, call into question the validity of the whole filmmaking enterprise and the culture which spawned it. The narration asserts that the theme is "art versus enterprise," but critics objected that the film is not sufficiently focused to back up that claim. It does, however, reveal a strong anti-Hollywood bias. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Oliver Stone
- 1992
On Christmas Eve, a snowstorm separates the Conner family at different places. Roseanne and Jackie are stranded at the Lunch Box with Bev (Estelle Parsons) and Nana Mary (Shelley Winters). Meanwhile, Darlene learns about David's (Johnny Galecki) terrible home life. Sally Kirkland guest stars as David's mom, Barbara Healy. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
Robert Altman takes a scalpel to Hollywood ethics in the 1990s (or the lack thereof) in his acidic satire The Player, adapted from Michael Tolkin's novel. (Tolkin also wrote the screenplay.) The film concerns a sleek and smooth Hollywood studio executive who starts receiving death threats from a disgruntled writer because he has committed the ultimate Hollywood sin -- he promised the writer he would call him back and he never did. This is particularly ironic because the studio executive, Griffin Mill (Tim Robbins), is considered "writer-friendly," spending his days listening to pitches from such noted screenwriters as Buck Henry, who is pushing "The Graduate, Part II" and Alan Rudolph, who is hawking a Bruce Willis action film described as "Ghost meets The Manchurian Candidate." But The Player finds Griffin's comfortable life style in danger of collapse. He is trying to find a way to unload his girlfriend (Cynthia Stevenson) whose independence and intelligence make her a poor candidate for a trophy wife. More importantly, it seems that Larry Levy (Peter Gallagher), a slippery executive from Twentieth Century Fox, is angling for his job. And then there are those nasty postcards and faxes from a screenwriter threatening to kill him. Altman cast over 65 stars in cameo roles as texture for his scabrous tale. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim Robbins, Greta Scacchi, (more)
- 1992
- R
The ever economy-minded Menahem Golan -- of the legendary and defunct Cannon Films -- directed this gangster saga in Moscow to take advantage of low production costs, even shooting a second gangster film (Mad Dog Coll) at the same time, on the same locations, with the same cast. Hit the Dutchman stars Bruce Nozick as Arthur Flegenheimer, a thief recently released from prison who is recruited by noted hood Jack "Legs" Diamond (Will Kempe). Flegenheimer changes his name to Dutch Schultz and, thanks to his brutal and unscrupulous ways, rises to become Diamond's right-hand man during the bleak days of Prohibition. But Dutch shows no loyalty to Diamond. He first tries to steal Diamond's moll Frances (Jennifer Miller), then he tries to take over his bootlegging enterprise. Diamond retaliates by killing Dutch's friend Noey (Eddie Bowz). It then becomes total war, with Dutch recruiting enough manpower to have a showdown with Diamond's mob. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Nozick, Eddie Bowz, (more)
