Danny Lloyd Movies
Danny Lloyd starred in only one major theatrical film -- but that sole credit happened to be Stanley Kubrick's much-debated version of The Shining (1980). After one of Kubrick's assistants conducted a several-month search through the Midwest for an unknown to play Danny Torrance, Illinois-born Lloyd was chosen from 5,000 candidates via a videotaped audition. Despite having no prior acting experience, Lloyd proved eerily effective as the psychic child who senses something seriously wrong at the Overlook Hotel. Whether impassively riding through the hotel corridors on his Big Wheel, fleeing Jack Nicholson in a snowy maze or (most memorably) croaking "REDRUM" through his finger, Lloyd's solemn visage conveyed the young Torrance's unfathomable fear at being subject to forces he can't quite handle. Though reviews were sharply divided over Nicholson's hysteria-pitch performance (not to mention Kubrick's changes to Stephen King's novel), Lloyd remained critically unscathed. Except for an appearance as the young Liddy in the TV film Will: The Autobiography of G. Gordon Liddy (1982), Lloyd has not acted since. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide- 1982
Robert Conrad fills the role of G. Gordon Liddy like the proverbial glove in this macho-driven biopic. Convicted in the Watergate conspiracy, Liddy serves 54 months in prison. At first laughed off by the other cons as merely a white-collar criminal, Liddy proves through various he-man methods that he's the match for any man behind bars. Every highlight of Liddy's autobiography is lovingly detailed, including the blood oath "I will kill for you, Mr.President" and the legendary hand held over the burning flame. Without descending to political partisanship, we note here that Conrad's G. Gordon Liddy is lot more exciting and charismatic than the genuine article. Will: G. Gordon Liddy was first telecast January 10, 1982. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" -- or, rather, a homicidal boy in Stanley Kubrick's eerie 1980 adaptation of Stephen King's horror novel. With wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and psychic son Danny (Danny Lloyd) in tow, frustrated writer Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) takes a job as the winter caretaker at the opulently ominous, mountain-locked Overlook Hotel so that he can write in peace. Before the Overlook is vacated for the Torrances, the manager (Barry Nelson) informs Jack that a previous caretaker went crazy and slaughtered his family; Jack thinks it's no problem, but Danny's "shining" hints otherwise. Settling into their routine, Danny cruises through the empty corridors on his Big Wheel and plays in the topiary maze with Wendy, while Jack sets up shop in a cavernous lounge with strict orders not to be disturbed. Danny's alter ego, "Tony," however, starts warning of "redrum" as Danny is plagued by more blood-soaked visions of the past, and a blocked Jack starts visiting the hotel bar for a few visions of his own. Frightened by her husband's behavior and Danny's visit to the forbidding Room 237, Wendy soon discovers what Jack has really been doing in his study all day, and what the hotel has done to Jack. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, (more)
