Ali MacGraw Movies
The daughter of artists, actress Ali MacGraw prepared for an art career of her own at Wellesley College. At 22, MacGraw entered the world of high fashion as assistant editor at Harper's Bazaar and went on to work as a photographer's assistant, at least until someone decided that her looks were far too dazzling to be kept behind the camera. Before long, she was adorning magazine covers worldwide and appearing in TV commercials (she's the beach girl in the "Polaroid Swinger" camera ads of the mid-'60s). After an unremarkable movie debut in 1968, she became a full-fledged star in 1969's Goodbye Columbus. Perhaps no one was more impressed by MacGraw's charms than Paramount executive Robert Evans, who fell in love with her and began guiding the destinies of her career (Evans became MacGraw's second husband in 1971). Her next film role was unquestionably the best: Jenny Cavilleri, the charmingly foul-mouthed, slowly dying heroine of the 1970 smash hit Love Story, which earned her an Oscar nomination. Evans continued promoting MacGraw's career even after she'd left him in favor of actor Steve McQueen, whom she'd met while filming Sam Peckinpah's The Getaway (1973), and to whom she was married from 1973 to 1978. After losing the role of Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby (1974) to Mia Farrow, MacGraw took a four-year sabbatical from films. Her 1978 comeback picture was Convoy, which reunited her with Sam Peckinpah; inspired by a CB radio craze, the film was regarded as a great step backward for all concerned. After playing Alan King's long-suffering lady friend in Just Tell Me What You Want, MacGraw confined her infrequent acting appearances to the small screen. She was briefly a regular as Lady Ashley Mitchell on the weekly Dynasty, and starred in the miniseries The Winds of War (1983) and China Rose (1985). MacGraw also appeared in the TV movies Gunsmoke: The Long Ride (1992), playing a character named Uncle Jane, and Natural Causes (1994). In 1991, Ali MacGraw published Moving Pictures, her autobiography. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1997
- NC17
Josh Evans wrote and directed this cynical glimpse at power players and hustlers working the shadowy side of the film industry. After his mother's death, talented eccentric Sonny Daye (William McNamara) arrives on the Hollywood scene. His brother, Franky Syde (Frank Whaley), confident of Sonny's abilities, allows crass, scurrilous producer Sid Dalgren (Tony Danza) to see Sonny's journal. Recognizing Sonny's gift, Sid makes moves to manipulate and exploit him. Sid's girlfriend, Vanessa (Natasha Gregson Wagner), sees Sonny in a different light. The Glam cast includes director Evans' mother, Ali MacGraw. Some of the Glam character names link with characters introduced in Evans' directorial debut, Inside the Goldmine (1994), a film that also featured Wagner, the daughter of Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner. Shown at the 1997 Vancouver Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William McNamara, Frank Whaley, (more)
- 1994
In this political thriller set in Bangkok, a young woman finds herself drawn into a scheme designed to assassinate Henry Kissinger, the former Secretary of State. The film offers wonderful views of the Thai city. The film opens with the death of American Rachel McCarthy, who is murdered in her limo as she travels to the airport to meet her daughter Jessie whom she has not seen in over a decade. Jessie, a bit of an innocent, goes to her mother's estate and discovers that her mother had been part of an international plot. Vietnamese refugees were involved. The point of the conspiracy is to sabotage a treaty between the U.S. and Vietnam. Along the way she encounters many fascinating characters. The most important are U.S state Dept official, Fran Jakes, agent Michael Murphy with the CIA, and Major Somchai, Thai detective. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Linda Purl, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, (more)
This best-selling, intermediate-level yoga video instantly creates a relaxing, energizing mood with stunning photography of the stark desert setting and gentle new-age musical accompaniment. Instructor Erich Schiffmann leads Ali MacGraw and a group of advanced students through basic Hatha yoga postures and more strenuous body-shaping routines. Creative camera techniques let us see each position and movement from a variety of angles for an easy-to-follow workout. You'll be on your way to a lean body and a poised mind in no time. ~ Sarah Welsh, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ali MacGraw, Erich Schiffmann, (more)
- 1992
When a family's boat is capsized by a school of whales, they are left adrift in the shark-infested waters of the Pacific Ocean in this true survival story. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- 1992
James Arness made his first appearance as Marshal Matt Dillon in eight years in the 1993 TV movie Gunsmoke: The Long Ride. Inasmuch as Amanda Blake (Kitty) and Milburn Stone (Doc) had passed on, and Dennis Weaver was disinclined to revive the role of Chester, big Jim pretty much goes it alone in this one. The plot is set in motion by a trio of murderous robbers. Matt Dillon chases after the threesome, while he in turn is being chased by a posse who thinks that Matt is the gang's boss. Featured in the cast are James Brolin as a helpful frontiersmen, and Ali McGraw as "Uncle" Jane Merkel (we're not about to explain that one). Gunsmoke: The Long Ride was originally telecast May 8, 1993. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Arness, James Brolin, (more)
- 1986
An Englishwoman (Ali MacGraw) returns to her native land after losing her meager fortune in America, but finds that a serial killer stalking the countryside is more of a threat. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- 1983
Filmed in Hong Kong, the made-for-TV China Rose stars George C. Scott as an American businessman. Scott arrives in Canton, China, trying to find out what has happened to his rebellious son, who was swept up in China's "cultural revolution". Ali MacGraw plays a freewheeling guide who falls in love with Scott while helping him locate his son. Together, Scott and MacGraw uncover what was described in the original ads as a "shocking secret". The long-in-tooth stars are not ideally suited to their roles in China Rose, but that's only one of the many problems plaguing this murky melodrama. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1983
In the final episode of the seven-part, eighteen-hour miniseries The Winds of War, Ambassador-at-large "Pug" Henry (Robert Mitchum) represents the US in a series of conferences with the intansigent Russian premier Josef Stalin (Anatoly Chauginian). Dallying briefly with his erstwhile British sweetheart Pamela Tudsbury (Victoria Tennant), Pug stays in Moscow long enough to witness the attempted Nazi invasion. Meanwhile, Pug's daughter-in-law Natalie (Ali McGraw) and her Uncle Aaron (John Houseman) are among the Jewish refugees being smuggled into Palestine. And back in the Western Hemisphere, Pug's sons Byron (Jan-Michael Vincent) and Warren (David Dukes) are swept up in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The Winds of War was adapted by Herman Wouk from his own novel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Mitchum, Ali MacGraw, (more)
- 1983
In the third episode of the seven-part, eighteen-hour miniseries The Winds of War, President Roosevelt has dispatched Naval Commander "Pug" Henry (Robert Mitchum) to Germany, there to try to reason with the power-mad Adolf Hitler (Gunter Meisner), whose army has just invaded Poland. Henry also confers with Hitler's ally Benito Mussolini (Enzo Castellari), who proves to be as stubborn as Hitler is obsessed. Also figuring in Henry's foredoomed negotiations is anti-semitic German banker Wolf Stoller (Barry Morse), the proverbial "smiler with the knife", at whose sumptuous dinner party Henry's wife Rhoda (Polly Bergen) almost forsakes her common sense. The Winds of War was adapted by Herman Wouk from his own novel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1983
Set in 1940, the fourth episode of the seven-part, eighteen-hour miniseries The Winds of War finds American troubleshooter Cmdr. "Pug" Henry (Robert Mitchum) heading to England on a secret mission for President Roosevelt. Here he is reunited with his secret love, Pamela Tudsbury (Victoria Tennant) and later has a tense showdown with Winston Churchill (Howard Lang) over policy matters. Barely escaping the Nazi bombs during the first London blitz (a spectacular sequence), Henry survives to fly in a retaliatory raid over Germany--while both the women in his life (the other being his long-suffering wife Rhoda [Polly Bergen]) wait and worry. The Winds of War was adapted by Herman Wouk from his own novel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1983
In the fifth episode of the seven-part, eighteen-hour miniseries The Winds of War, US Naval Commander "Pug" Henry (Robert Mitchum) continues acting as President Roosevelt's emissary of peace in war-torn Europe, even as Hitler (Gunter Meisner) secretly prepares to double-cross Stalin (Anatoly Chaguinian) by invading the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, Henry's neglected wife Rhoda (Polly Bergen) has a fling with handsome Palmer Kirby (Peter Graves). And in neutral Portugal, Pug's son Byron (Jan-Michael Vincent) proposes marriage to the much-older Natalie Jastrow (Ali McGraw), whose Jewish faith may well be an obstacle to the couple's safety in future episodes. The Winds of War was adapted by Herman Wouk from his own novel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1983
The sixth episode of the seven-part, eighteen-hour miniseries The Winds of War takes place in early 1941. Government attache "Pug" Henry (Robert Mitchum) commands a fleet of destroyers escorted a US convoy that is unoffically heading to England, there to aid in the war effort against Germany. En route, Hardy crosses the path of a Nazi U-boat, forcing him to choose between violating America's neutrality or fighting for his life. Meanwhile, Henry's pregnant daughter-in-law Natalie (Ali Graw) and her Uncle Aaron (John Houseman) encounter more anti-semitism as they try to book passage from Europe to the US. The Winds of War was adapted by Herman Wouk from his own novel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Mitchum, Ali MacGraw, (more)
This World War II epic drama, based on the book by Herman Wouk, follows the life and trials of a career naval officer (Robert Mitchum) sent to Germany during Hitler's rise to power, who witnesses the gradual escalation of the war. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- 1983
In the second episode of the seven-part, eighteen-hour miniseries The Winds of War, several of the characters introduced in part one are swept up in the 1939 Nazi invasion of Poland. Among these are Byron Henry (Jan-Michael Vincent), Natalie Jastrow (Ali McGraw) and Leslie Slote (David Dukes), who in true Casablanca fashion must realize that the problems of three little people aren't worth a hill of beans in this crazy world--especially after witnessing the Nazi slaughter of a Polish refugee caravan. Back in the US, Byron's father, Naval Commander Victor "Pug" Henry (Robert Mitchum) is the recipient of personal, highly top-secret orders from President Roosevelt (Ralph Bellamy) himself--orders which may well determine the fate of the free world. The Winds of War was adapted by Herman Wouk from his own novel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1980
- R
In this Sidney Lumet romantic comedy, Max Herschel (Alan King) is a powerful businessman who keeps a bevy of beauties for pleasure to escape his alcoholic wife, Connie (Dina Merrill). His main minx is Bones Burton (Ali MacGraw), a successful television producer who is tiring of Max's lack of commitment. When she takes up with Steven (Peter Weller), Max does everything in his power to win her back. Silent screen star Myrna Loy plays Max's faithful secretary, in her last big-screen role, and steals the show. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan King, Ali MacGraw, (more)
- 1979
- PG
A young man and an older woman wonder if tennis is the only place where love means nothing in this romantic drama. Twenty-something Chris (Dean Paul Martin) is a rising star on the professional tennis circuit. Nicole (Ali MacGraw) is an artist in her early 40s who's involved with a wealthy man. Chris falls for Nicole, but while she's certainly attracted to him, she's not sure if she should give up her life of luxury in order to follow Chris in his uncertain future. Players is loaded with cameos from major tennis stars, including John McEnroe, Guillermo Vilas, and Ilie Nastase; Pancho Gonzales has a major supporting role as Chris' coach. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ali MacGraw, Dean Paul Martin, (more)
- 1978
- PG
The CB (citizen's band) radio fad had nearly run its course when this feel-good action film was made by director Sam Peckinpah. In the story, based on C.W. McCall's song "Convoy", a group of struggling truckers (who stay in touch by CB) run into a situation which ignites their indignation. They arrange to form a truck convoy under the leadership of the man whose CB nickname is "Rubber Duck" (Kris Kristofferson). He is the most aggrieved of the bunch, having been harassed beyond the point of endurance by Lyle Wallace (Ernest Borgnine) a blackmailing traffic cop who pursues him ever more frantically through several states after he fails to submit to the phony speed trap he had set up. As news of the truck convoy spreads, unexpected allies join the line, and the now-gigantic illegal protest becomes the subject of national news reports. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kris Kristofferson, Ali MacGraw, (more)
In Sam Peckinpah's version of Walter Hill's script, from Jim Thompson's novel, an ex-con and his wife go on the lam after a Texas bank heist. Denied parole after four well-behaved years, Doc McCoy (Steve McQueen) sends his wife Carol (Ali MacGraw) to dirty politician Jack Benyon (Ben Johnson) to get him out of prison. Carol secures Doc's freedom, on the condition that he does one more bank job for Benyon. Doc and his accomplices Rudy (Al Lettieri) and Jackson (Bo Hopkins) get the cash, but Doc soon discovers how Rudy intends to keep it all for himself and how Carol convinced Benyon to get him sprung. While Rudy hijacks a veterinarian and his wife (Sally Struthers) to take him to get Doc in El Paso, Doc and Carol make their own embattled way south with the money, threatening to desert each other before reaching a trash dump rapprochement after a harrowing garbage truck episode. All sides converge in El Paso for a shootout, but trust a happily married old-timer (Slim Pickens) to help Doc and Carol have a future. With violence shot in his trademark balletic style, Peckinpah does not hide the damage that Doc can do, whether to a cop car or an enemy. Still, as in such other morally relative outlaw movies as Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and Peckinpah's western The Wild Bunch (1969), Doc may be a criminal and killer when necessary, but his and Carol's loyalty to each other elevates them above their crooked milieu. With its non-traditional traditional couple played by the then hot (and notoriously adulterous) stars McQueen and MacGraw, The Getaway was a substantial hit. It was lackadaisically remade with Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger in 1994. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steve McQueen, Ali MacGraw, (more)
In director Arthur Hiller's hit tearjerker -- based on Erich Segal's novella -- Ryan O'Neal plays Oliver Barrett IV, a comfortably off Harvard pre-law student who falls in love with Radcliffe music student Jenny Cavilleri (Ali MacGraw), a freewheeling, delightfully profane product of a blue-collar Italian-American family. Oliver's father (Ray Milland) heartily disapproves of the subsequent marriage and cuts off his son's allowance. Despite financial travails (the pampered Oliver actually has to go to work!), the couple is blissfully happy....until Jenny is diagnosed as having an unnamed disease that consigns her to an early death. The movie's tagline "Love means never having to say you're sorry" became an iconic American catchphrase, the film's theme a number one hit. One of the early products of Paramount guru Robert Evans, Love Story grossed more money than any Paramount production before it. This enormously successful film inspired a 1978 sequel, Oliver's Story. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ali MacGraw, Ryan O'Neal, (more)
Based on one of author Phillip Roth's shorter works, Goodbye Columbus stars Richard Benjamin as Neil, a young man of humble means who falls in love with Jewish-American-princess Brenda (Ali MacGraw). Their romance is out of the question so far as Brenda's suburbanite parents are concerned, so Neil and Brenda rendezvous in some of the sleaziest motels ever seen in a 1960s film (and that assessment includes The Bates Motel). Unwilling to take birth control pills because they upset her tummy, Brenda opts for a diaphragm, which unfortunately is discovered by her mother. Their rocky relationship comprises the bulk of the film. The trendy, New Wave-influenced direction by Larry Peerce gained a great deal of critical attention in 1969, notably such self-indulgent devices as having a close-up of a girl's navel dissolve into a long-shot of a swimming pool. Far more memorable is Peerce's amusingly straight-on depictions of upper-class Jewish/American social functions. In their film debuts, Richard Benjamin and Ali MacGraw are appealingly awkward; the more memorable performance is delivered by Michael Meyers as MacGraw's adenoidal younger brother. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Benjamin, Ali MacGraw, (more)
- 1968
Schuyler (Kirk Douglas) is a hard-boiled detective who turns in his badge when he believes the criminals are being handled with kid gloves and too much respect. He is hired by prominent attorney Fredericks (Eli Wallach) as a bodyguard for his client Rena (Sylva Koscina), who is accused of murdering her husband. Her playboy boyfriend Fleming (Kenneth Haigh) is also under suspicion. Schuylur keeps one eye on his beautiful suspect while trying to uncover more information about the murder. Fredericks displays a disarming, folksy nature which belies his shrewdness. The detective soon comes to believe that Rena is being framed for the murder. Singer Jackie Wilson delivers the song "A Lovely Way To Die" during the opening credits of this murder mystery. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kirk Douglas, Sylva Koscina, (more)
