Rob Lowe Movies
American brothers Rob and Chad Lowe became actors in childhood (Chad would ultimately win an Emmy for his TV work). Rob was acting from the age of eight in 1972; seven years later, he was a regular on the TV series A New Kind of Family, playing the teenaged son of star Eileen Brennan. That series was shot down quickly, but Lowe's film career picked up when newspaper and magazine articles began aligning the handsome, sensitive young actor with the burgeoning Hollywood "brat pack," which included such new talent as Molly Ringwald, Matt Dillon, Charlie Sheen, and Anthony Michael Hall. Along with several fellow "packers" (Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, and Emilio Estevez), Lowe starred in 1985's St. Elmo's Fire; this film and the earlier Hotel New Hampshire (1984) represent the most memorable projects in Lowe's otherwise negligible film output. In 1989, Lowe's already flagging film stardom received a severe setback when he was accused of videotaping his sexual activities with an underage girl (the evidence has since become a choice item on the sub-rosa video cassette circuit). Arrested for his misdeeds, Lowe performed several hours' worth of community service, then tried to reactivate his career. Since then, Lowe has matured into something of a brat-pack George Hamilton, successfully lampooning his previous screen image in such comedies as Wayne's World (1992) and Tommy Boy (1995).Though his comedic endeavors would continue throughout the 1990s in films such as Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) and its sequel, Lowe gained notice for such dramatic roles as that of the mute and strangely plague-immune Nick Andros in the long-anticipated TV miniseries adaptation of Stephen King's The Stand (1994). Lowe's roles throughout the '90s may have not been the prominently featured roles in A-list films that his early shooting-star may have suggested, though he did maintain steady work in an interesting variety of small-budget projects. Lowe's casting on the popular political drama The West Wing brought the actor back into the public eye in what many considered to be one of the most intelligently written dramatic series on television. His turn as quick-witted liberal speechwriter Sam Seaborn brought Lowe through the dark days of his scandalous past, back to an audience who may have forgotten his charm as an actor. He would stay with the series until 2005, all while continuing to pick new projects that involved creativity and an open mind. He tested his limits with roles in films like Salem's Lot and Thank You For Smoking, and in 2004, he began starring in his own TV series, playing Dr. Billy Grant on the crime drama Dr. Vegas. The show lasted until 2008, by which time he had already signed on for the prime time dramedy Brothers & Sisters, starring alongside Calista Flockhart. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1975
This traditional fairy tale, as told by Pyotr Yershov in his 1834 book, was first animated in 1947 in Russian by director Ivan Ivanov-Vano, and was remade by the same director in 1976. Ivanov-Vano was a distinguished artist and animator who was 76 at the time this film was released. It tells of the adventures that befall a wily, honest peasant boy who, after capturing a flying horse, is given three horses and a set of instructions by the flying steed. The first two horses are beautiful and are his to sell or give away, and the last, a tiny pony, he must keep. Following these instructions, and others he receives from the little pony, the boy becomes a prince and marries a beautiful princess after bringing about the death of an evil old Tsar. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rob Lowe, Hector Elizondo, (more)
- 1980
In one of his earliest TV appearances, Rob Lowe stars in this ABC Afterschool Special as Charles Elderbury, a teenager whose summer girlfriend, Daisy (Dana Plato), has become pregnant. Once the child is born (an event which Charles learns about only by reading the newspaper birth notices), the story shifts into gear -- but not in the manner that one might expect. Reversing the usual TV-movie situation, Daisy wants to put her child up for adoption...while Charles, hoping to compensate for the loneliness he experienced growing up in a fatherless home, insists upon raising the kid himself. Schoolboy Father is handled in a commendably unpatronizing fashion, arriving at a logical and wholly credible conclusion. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rob Lowe, Dana Plato, (more)
- 1981
A young Rob Lowe plays a supporting role in this Emmy Award-winning ABC Afterschool Special. The main focus, however, is on high-school senior Lisl Gilbert (Karlene Crockett), who must reconcile herself to her mother's terminal cancer. In the agonizing months that follow the initial prognosis of her mom's illness, Lisl is forced to draw upon the inner strength and resourcefulness that she never knew she had. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Karlene Crockett, Rosemary Forsyth, (more)
Teen rivalry in a small Southern town sets the stage for this dramatic interpretation of the novel by S.E. Hinton. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, The Outsiders tells the story of the ongoing conflict between the Greasers and the Socs in rural Oklahoma. C. Thomas Howell stars as Ponyboy, the youngest of three orphaned boys who pal around with the local hoods known as the Greasers. When Ponyboy and his friend (Ralph Macchio) get into a deadly confrontation one night, the two go on the run from the cops, and they grow up quickly and soon realize the insignificance of their petty posturing. Matt Dillon stars as the tough-as-nails leader of their group and Patrick Swayze appears as Ponyboy's oldest brother. A host of other 1980s Brat Pack celebs fill out the cast. Dillon later appeared in another Coppola adaption of a Hinton book, Rumble Fish. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- C. Thomas Howell, Matt Dillon, (more)
With a plot that is a cross between a teen, low-brow farce and a coming-of-age story, Class opens with scenes of two best friends -- nerdy whiz Jonathan (Andrew McCarthy) and carefree jock Skip (Rob Lowe) -- going around in lingerie; they also barf on a double date, break into a quiet meeting at a girls' school, and generally behave as emotional throwbacks. But when the nerd Jonathan is picked up in a Chicago bar by Skip's mother Ellen (Jacqueline Bisset), the tone changes completely. The affair between the student and the older woman is torrid until they rendezvous in New York and Ellen dumps Jonathan because she finds out he is not a Ph.D. candidate from Northwestern University. Meanwhile, Jonathan does not know who Ellen is until Skip brings him home for the Christmas holidays and the two clandestine, September-May ex-lovers come face to face with the truth. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rob Lowe, Jacqueline Bisset, (more)
- 1983
Thursday's Child is full of woe in this made-for-TV drama. Rob Lowe was given "and introducing" billing in the role of a teenaged athlete in dire need of a heart transplant. As Rob's parents Gene Rowlands and Don Murray prepare to face the possibility that they may lose their son, his aunt Jessica Walter remains relentlessly optimistic and cheerful. For various reasons, the debut of Thursday's Child was twice postponed. The film finally aired February 1, 1983. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1984
- PG13
This is an uneven modern remake of A Yank at Oxford (1938) from writer-director Robert Boris, the man behind such diverse earlier productions as Some Kind of Hero (1981) and Doctor Detroit (1983). Rob Lowe stars as Nick Di Angelo, an American hustler and parking attendant in Las Vegas who falls in love at first sight with a beautiful, classy British woman, Lady Victoria (Amanda Pays). He follows her back to England and learns that she is a student at the prestigious Oxford University. Intent on wooing the object of his affection despite their obviously different locations in the social strata, Nick manages to finagle his way into an admission at the school by paying a computer hacker for some illegal tampering. With his arrogant manner and self-centered worldview, Nick quickly offends nearly everyone he encounters, except fellow American expatriate Rona (Ally Sheedy), who becomes his only friend. Nick also secures a spot on the rowing team, an experience that builds his character. A typical example of the mid-'80s "Rat Pack" film, Oxford Blues featured a soundtrack with several forgettable rock songs written expressly for the movie, interjected at intervals into the narrative through music video-style sequences. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rob Lowe, Ally Sheedy, (more)
This macabre, whimsical, erotic, dark, seriocomic film is a complex tale about an eccentric family and the psychological and emotional maelstroms that follow them around from New England to New York to Vienna, where the Hotel New Hampshire is located. Writer-director Tony Richardson worked from the convoluted novel by John Irving that covers most universally saleable topics -- homosexuality, death, incest, abandonment, Nazis, masochism, terrorists, rape, mental instability, and anarchists. The children in the family are the main focus: John (Rob Lowe) is a womanizing high-school student with a deep-rooted desire for his own sister; Franny (Jodie Foster) is the eldest daughter, a victim of a gang rape, now morbidly fascinated by one of the rapists, and equally attracted to her brother with incestuous desire; Frank (Paul McCrane) is the younger gay brother; and Lilly (Jennifer Dundas) is the little sister who blossoms into a famous author. Associated with the family is Suzie the Bear (Nastassja Kinski) who is not secure enough to come out of her bear suit. One friend of the family, Freud (Wallace Shawn), has been blinded by the Nazis and is running the Hotel New Hampshire in Vienna when he asks everyone to come and help him out. By this time, the plot has run out of room, and the climactic endings to several unresolved relationships happen in quick succession. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jodie Foster, Beau Bridges, (more)
Post-collegiate angst, '80s style, is the subject of this coming-of-age ensemble piece, which traces the fortunes of a group of Georgetown grads as they enter the real world and grapple with work, infidelity, and adulthood. The most outwardly upscale member of the gang, Jules (Demi Moore), hides a plethora of emotional baggage behind a chic wardrobe, an expensive apartment, a fashionable drug habit, and lots of meaningless casual sex. Her friend Wendy (Mare Winningham) has the opposite problem; a trust-fund baby with body-image issues and little sexual experience, she's hung up on Billy (Rob Lowe), a no-good, sax-playing drunkard who can't face up to his responsibilities in the job market or at home with his wife and young child. Such open infidelity is anathema to Alex (Judd Nelson), who must maintain a sense of propriety even while engaging in compulsive womanizing; after all, the Democrat-turned-Republican's nascent political career requires the sort of picture-perfect relationship he shares with girlfriend Leslie (Ally Sheedy). That doesn't sit too well with tortured writer Kevin (Andrew McCarthy), who toils away at a newspaper job and pines away for the unattainable Leslie. Unrequited love also dogs Kirby (Emilio Estevez), a law-school student whose greatest wish is to romance classy doctor Dale Biberman (Andie MacDowell), who is, alas, way out of his league. Co-written by director Joel Schumacher and his studio intern, Carl Kurlander, St. Elmo's Fire spawned the number one pop hit "St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)," which was credited to John Parr but co-written by music producer David Foster. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, (more)
Rob Lowe stars as the title character, a young hockey prodigy with a gift for scoring, but no such penchant for pugilism -- when the gloves drop, so does he. Despite his fragility, Coach Chadwick (Ed Lauter) takes him on the roster for his stick-handling ability alone. However, he ends up being sent home after being singled out by a particularly nasty goon, Racki (George Finn), who pummels the "pretty boy" in brutal fashion. Disheartened, Youngblood heads back to the rural Canadian farm he calls home, where his father (Eric Nesterenko, a former player for the Chicago Blackhawks) and older brother (Jim Youngs) teach him the invaluable lesson that hockey is "no place for a nervous person" (to quote a famous NHL announcer). Overseen by his elders, he immediately begins a combat-training regimen to prepare for his return and imminent showdown with the evil Racki; meanwhile, he strikes up a relationship with the coach's daughter (Cynthia Gibb). ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rob Lowe, Cynthia Gibb, (more)
David Mamet's play Sexual Perversity in Chicago was adapted for the big screen by fellow Chicago citizen Tim Kazurinsky and became About Last Night... The film stars Rob Lowe as Danny and Demi Moore as Debbie. The pair meet and engage in a torrid sexual relationship, but then slowly negotiate if there is anything more between them. Lowe seeks advice from his loudmouthed friend Bernie (Chicago native James Belushi), whose offers little more than outrageous tales of his randy exploits. Debbie confides in her best friend Joan (Elizabeth Perkins), a bitter, single kindergarten teacher who has lost any hope of finding the right person on the dating scene. Although Danny and Debbie talk, they have trouble communicating. The film ends on a coda that suggests the pair are still unsure as to where their relationship may be headed. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, (more)
- 1987
- PG13
Gemma (Winona Ryder) is a young teen raised by her crusty grandfather Dillard (Jason Robards) in this drama of a young woman's coming of age. When she goes to the city to spend the summer with her estranged mother Juanella (Jane Alexander), she falls for Rory (Rob Lowe), a rural rube of less-than-average intelligence, but her only true friend in a hypocritical town. Gemma's promiscuous mother delights in reminding the emotional Gemma that her father could be any one of several men, and Gemma's frustration leads to an inevitable confrontation between mother and daughter. Deborah Richter plays the town floozie Gwen. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jason Robards, Jr., Jane Alexander, (more)
Rob Lowe stars in this screwball comedy as Richard Dice, the college dropout who comes back home to St. Augustine, Florida to get his act together. He is selected for jury duty and falls for the defendant Molly Gilbert (Colleen Camp), a young woman he later recognizes as his grade-school sweetheart. Richard tries to gather the evidence that will lead to her acquittal. He is not alone in his pursuit of an elusive audiotape that recorded the murder for which Molly is on trial. Jessica James plays Richard's mother, who is courted by Freddie Boneflecker (Rick Jason). Johnny Cash sings some tunes co-written with director Peter Bogdanovich. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rob Lowe, Colleen Camp, (more)
American-born French film director Bob Swaim directed this sordid tale of greed, deception, machinations and murder. The darkly beautiful Meg Tilly stars as Olivia Lawrence, member of the Hamptons social elite and heiress to a vast fortune, who becomes attracted to dangerous newcomer Tim Whalen (Rob Lowe). She unwittingly falls into his web of deceit, as he and her stepfather (John Glover) plot her murder in order to gain the $3,000,000 in her trust fund. Inspired in plot by the film noir classics of the '40s, Masquerade lacks the style and originality of the originals. The film noticeably lacks suspense; there is no sustained tension, and many of the characters seem included simply for the sake of bizarreness. However, Tilly manages to carry the film all on her own with her considerable talent and natural screen presence. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide
- 1990
This 1990 episode of Saturday Night Live is hosted by Rob Lowe and features musical guest the Pogues. ~ Skyler Miller, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rob Lowe, the Pogues, (more)
Successful LA marketing analyst Michael Boll (James Spader) seemingly has it all-except a sense of self-confidence. Enigmatic drifter Alex (Rob Lowe) enters Michael's life and immediately begins to exert a negative influence. As Michael's self-esteem zooms (aided by generous dollops of sex and drugs) he allows himself to be dragooned into a life of crime by the demonic Alex. The "doppelganger" aspects of Bad Influence, and the film's many unexpected twists and turns, echo films of Alfred Hitchcock, especially Strangers on a Train. The film's boldest stroke is to cast the likeable Lowe as the bad guy (albeit a charming one) and the often villainous Spader as the malleable milquetoast. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rob Lowe, James Spader, (more)
- 1990
- PG
A wallflower who makes her living dressing haute-couture models by day is a fantastic shoe designer by night. Unfortunately, no one has ever seen her work, not even her arrogant fashion-designer boss. This romantic comedy follows what happens when she does someone a good deed and is visited by a fairy godmother who turns her into a great beauty who at last catches the eye and the love of her employer. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rob Lowe, Jennifer Grey, (more)
- 1991
- R
In this action film, Hammer (Rob Lowe) and Dean (Gale Hanson) meet and become fast friends at a Navy training school. When the impulsive Hammer marries the woman (Tracy Griffith) Dean is pining for, the two go their separate ways. However, when the United States suspects Iraq of possessing the capability of launching biological warfare, the two friends are brought together again for one last mission. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- 1991
This discussion video features defense experts who offer their views on the ability of the Iraqi military and features a comparison of the weaponry used by the U.S. ~ All Movie Guide
Writer/director Adam Rifkin's The Dark Backward is set in a dark, grimy, garbage-strewn urban netherworld, where a company named "Blump's" apparently owns everything. Marty Malt (Judd Nelson of The Breakfast Club) is an unhappy garbageman who moonlights as an atrociously unfunny standup comic. His best friend and fellow trash collector, Gus (Bill Paxton), is the only one who laughs at his jokes, and his sincerity is questionable. The obnoxiously exuberant Gus plays an accordion, which he always carries with him. Marty is seeing Rosarita (Lara Flynn Boyle), a waitress, but she doesn't seem too interested in him, either. One day, Gus convinces a talent agent, Jackie Chrome (Las Vegas circuit staple Wayne Newton), to check out Marty's act. Jackie isn't impressed. Marty's luck seems to take a turn for the worse when a large lump starts growing on his back. He goes to a quack doctor (James Caan), who calls him a wimp and puts a Band-Aid on the lump. The lump continues to grow, eventually becoming a full-sized arm. While Gus uses Marty's newfound freakishness to impress his obese girlfriends, a horrified Rosarita breaks up with Marty, and he gets fired from the club where he does his act. Marty is despondent until Gus brings him to see Jackie, who, it turns out, has always dreamed of finding a real three-armed comic. Re-christened "Desi the Three-Armed Wonder Comic," and with Gus now providing musical accompaniment, Marty gets a fresh start on his career. The Dark Backward received devastating reviews upon its initial release, but has since developed a minor cult following. The film also stars Rob Lowe and King Moody, who was the original Ronald McDonald. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Judd Nelson, Bill Paxton, (more)
- 1992
Produced for the PBS anthology series Great Performances, this adaptation of Tennessee Williams' Suddenly Last Summer constrasts sharply with the previous 1959 Hollywood version. Shorn of the movie's operatic screenplay and the star power of Katharine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift, PBS simply offers us the original one-act play, faithfully rendered. In 1937 New Orleans, millionaire matriarch Violet Venable (Maggie Smith) invites a psychiatrist (Rob Lowe, who is exceptional) into her mansion. Violet's son Sebastian died in Spain the previous year under very questionable circumstances. Now she is anxious to have the psychiatrist lobotomize her institutionalized niece Catherine (Natasha Richardson), who witnessed Sebastian's demise. Violet insists that this radical procedure would be in the best interests of the girl; but the psychiatrist suspects that the old woman merely wants to ensure Catherine's silence concerning "l'affaire Sebastian". Suddenly Last Summer first aired January 6, 1993. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Based on the Saturday Night Live sketch of the same name, Wayne's World is a wacky, irreverent pop-culture comedy about the adventures of two amiably aimless metal-head friends, Wayne (Mike Myers) and Garth (Dana Carvey). From Wayne's basement, the pair broadcast a talk-show called "Wayne's World" on local public access television. The show comes to the attention of a sleazy network executive (Rob Lowe) who wants to produce a big-budget version of "Wayne's World"--and he also wants Wayne's girlfriend, a rock singer named Cassandra (Tia Carrere). Wayne and Garth have to battle the executive not only to save their show, but also Cassandra. Director Penelope Spheeris, Myers and Carvey hang a lot of silly, but funny, jokes on this thin plot, and the energy of the cast--as well as the wild pop-culture references--make Wayne's World a cut above the average Saturday Night Live spin-off movie. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, (more)
Everyone's favorite headbangers from Aurora, Illinois, are back in this sequel to the 1992 hit comedy Wayne's World. The success of their TV show allows Wayne Campbell (Mike Myers) and Garth Algar (Dana Carvey) to finally move out of their parents' homes, but now they have to figure out what to do with their lives. Wayne's girlfriend, up-and-coming rock star Cassandra (Tia Carrere), is enjoying a career boost thanks to her new manager Bobby Cohn (Christopher Walker), but Garth thinks that Bobby is more interested in her body than her place on the charts. Meanwhile, Wayne is visited in a dream by the late Jim Morrison (Michael A. Nickles), who convinces him to promote a massive rock festival, "Waynestock," featuring Aerosmith as headliners. Garth, on the other hand, is finally relieved of his pesky virginity by femme fatale Honey Hornee (Kim Basinger), though it turns out that Honey has a hidden agenda. Drew Barrymore, Harry Shearer, and Charlton Heston play cameo roles in Wayne's World 2, and Jay Leno, Rip Taylor, and Todd Rundgren appear as themselves. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, (more)
Originally aired as a television mini-series, this all-star filmization of Stephen King's gripping epic of good versus evil chronicles the episodic adventures of a disparate group of people who struggle to reestablish civilization after a man-made catastrophe wipes out most of the world's population. The world abruptly ends when a deadly virus accidentally escapes from a government sponsored biological warfare laboratory. Soon people are dropping like flies from the plague, but a few survive and find themselves strangely compelled to head into the West. Good-hearted people follow the voice of an ancient black woman and head for Boulder, Colorado. Bad people follow the enigmatic Walkin' Dude to Las Vegas. It is only a matter of time before the two sides are forced into a climactic battle over the final fate of humanity. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gary Sinise, Molly Ringwald, (more)
Rob Lowe and Bill Paxton star as Frank and Jesse James, who, after the defeat of the South in the Civil War and the pointless murder of their younger brother, seek their own brand of justice. As outlaws, they gain fame for their daring hold-ups of banks, trains, and stagecoaches -- and make sworn enemies of lawmen, who are determined to see them dead. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rob Lowe, Bill Paxton, (more)
