Kathy Bates Movies
Actress Kathy Bates has been involved in the arts in one way or another since graduating from Southern Methodist University. Among the Memphis native's earliest jobs were a stint as a singing waitress in a Catskill resort and a sojourn as a gift shop cashier in New York's Museum of Modern Art. Bates was type-cast in character roles early on, which assured her a lot more work than the thousands of faceless ingenues in the business. Her film debut occurred with 1971's Taking Off, and she made her off-Broadway debut five years later in Vanities.For a long while, Bates made her name on the stage, only to see her roles go to other actresses in the plays' subsequent film adaptations. In 1983, she was nominated for a Tony award for her stage appearance as a garrulous would-be suicide in 'Night, Mother, a role played on screen by Sissy Spacek. She also appeared as Lenny McGrath in Beth Henley's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Crimes of the Heart, a role played on screen by Diane Keaton. And in 1987, playwright Terrence McNally wrote a part specifically tailored to Bates' talents: the much-abused waitress Frankie in Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, a role which won her an Obie award, and, following a familiar pattern, was played on screen by Michelle Pfeiffer.
Bates finally got to star in a movie herself in 1990. And what a starring role it was: in Misery, she portrayed the psychotic "Number One Fan" of romance writer Paul Sheldon (James Caan), a searing performance which earned the actress an Academy Award and a Golden Globe. Appropriately enough, Hollywood screenwriters subsequently began making more room for Bates in their scripts. She worked steadily throughout the rest of the decade in films of greatly varying quality. Particular highlights included Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), A Prelude to a Kiss (1992), Dolores Claiborne (1995), Titanic (1997), and Primary Colors (1998), the latter of which featured Bates giving an Oscar and Golden Globe nominated performance as a political muckraker. Following her firey, foul-mouthed performance in that thinly veilied political biopic, Bates added a new credential to her resume, that of director. Initially taking the helm for the made-for-cable feature Dash and Lilly, Bates would subsequently direct episodes of the quirky HBO drama series Six Feet Under, simultaniously taking minor film roles before returning to more substantial roles with the CBS Hallmark Hall of Fame entry My Sister's Keeper. Roles in Love Liza and Dragonfly (both 2002) were soon to follow, and with her turn as an extroverted mother who catches the attention of Jack Nicholson in About Schmidt Bates would recieve her third Oscar nomination. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1989
Co-produced by the folks from PBS' American Playhouse series, Signs of Life (alternate title: One For Sorrow, Two For Joy) stars veteran actor Arthur Kennedy as a cranky, set-in-his-ways Maine shipbuilder. Unable to keep apace with the 1980s, Kennedy is forced to close up shop. The film probes the various effects this decision has on Kennedy's employees. Beau Bridges has a wife (Kathy Bates) and four kids to support, with a fifth on the way. Kevin J. O'Connor would like to take a salvage-diving job in another state, but must first break off his long-standing relationship with waitress Mary Louise Parker. And Vincent D'Onofrio, who'd managed to find a job for his retarded brother Michael Lewis at Kennedy's establishment, is forced to consider having Lewis institutionalized. Though screenwriter Mark Malone isn't completely successful in avoiding the Obvious, there is much to cherish in Signs of Life. The film represented Arthur Kennedy's return before the cameras after ten years' retirement; after one additional performance in the independently produced Grandpa, Kennedy died in 1990 at the age of 76. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Arthur Kennedy, Kevin J. O'Connor, (more)
- 1989
- R
Sally Kirkland stars as a good-hearted hooker named Bambi Rose in this odd crime-drama from director Amos Kollek. Bambi is getting a bit long in the tooth, and is at the mercy of a sadistic pimp named Slim (Richard Lynch), who has his fingers in nearly every sort of crime imaginable. When a greedy Wall Street stockbroker (Robert LuPone) shows up on her doorstep after being mugged, Bambi enlists his aid in ripping off Slim and saving her daughter from a life of vice. More interesting than the film is the cast, which -- aside from including some fine performances from Kirkland and Lynch -- features such future luminaries as Kathy Bates and Sarah Michelle Gellar (credited as Sarah Gellar). ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sally Kirkland, Robert LuPone, (more)
- 1989
- PG13
Weighed down by her late husband's debts, widow Beth Macauley (Jessica Lange) is compelled to sell her home and move to a less costly locale. She relocates in Baltimore with her resentful sons Chris (Chris O'Donnell) and Matt (Charlie Korsmo) and takes a job at a ramshackle gourmet food store managed by Lisa Coleman (Kathy Bates). Men Don't Leave offers in Beth an extremely vulnerable, easily discouraged person who can't seem to get a grip on her reduced circumstances. Even so, she and her sons eventually pull themselves together, despite many side trips with Wrong Lovers and False Friends. Some of the film's best moments involve Joan Cusack, playing a mixed-up nurse with whom Chris falls in love. Representing the comeback of director Paul Brickman after a seven-year gap, Men Don't Leave is a slightly more upbeat American version of the French film La Vie Continue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jessica Lange, Chris O'Donnell, (more)
In this sequel to the 1981 hit comedy Arthur, the story picks up where it left off with the bibulous millionaire hero (Dudley Moore) marrying poverty-stricken Linda Marolla (Liza Minnelli) instead of going through with a prearranged wealthy marriage. The vengeful father (Stephen Elliott) of the justifiably jilted bride begins pulling a few crooked strings, and before long, Arthur is broke. Worse still, Linda is pregnant. Will Arthur crawl back into a bottle, or will he save the day? John Gielgud makes a cameo appearance as the ghost of the family-retainer character he played in the first Arthur, while Dudley Moore's real-life wife Brogan Lane shows up in a minor role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dudley Moore, Liza Minnelli, (more)
- 1987
Murder Ordained is the true story of a crime of passion in Emporia, Kansas. Terry Kinney plays the reverend Tom Bird, whose wife Sandy (Annabella Price) was found dead in 1983. At first, it seems as though Sandy was killed in a car accident. But highway patrolman John Rule (Keith Carradine) has a different theory: Rule believes that Bird murdered his wife out of love for his mistress (JoBeth Williams). A second killing in another Kansas county serves to confirm Rule's hypothesis. Filmed on location, the two-part Murder Ordained was originally telecast May 3 and 5, 1987. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Keith Carradine, JoBeth Williams, (more)
- 1987
- R
The lonely wife of a struggling tobacco farmer succumbs to temptation and sleeps with a transient harvester in this drama set in Depression-ravaged North Carolina. The drifter offers her more excitement than the bored young mother has felt in years and it is no surprise that she and he begin plotting to murder her hard-working husband. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lori Singer, Anthony Edwards, (more)
In this excellent thriller, crisply directed by Sidney Lumet, Alex Sternbergen (Jane Fonda), a washed-up, alcoholic actress who never quite made it, wakes up one morning in an unfamiliar, luxurious loft apartment, only to find the corpse of a stranger next to her in bed. Alex can remember nothing of the night before. In a panic, she tries to flee but is unable to get a flight out of Los Angeles, and short of cash, she hitches a ride with Turner Kendall (Jeff Bridges), a disabled former policeman who happens to be fixing his car in the airport parking lot. Alex tries to get rid of Turner and returns to the loft which she cleans in a futile attempt to get rid of her finger prints. Turner continues to take an unappreciated interest in Alex and keeps turning up unexpectedly, much to her annoyance. Finally, desperate and on the run, and never sure that she didn't commit the murder, Alex allows Turner to help her. Alex also confides in and is helped by her ex-husband and friend Joaquin Manero (Raul Julia), the only man she completely trusts. Despite Alex's suspicion of Turner, she slowly falls in love with him. The movie quickly moves to a surprising conclusion, and creates a good deal of suspense, particularly when Alex is confronted with a corpse that just won't stay put. The highlight of the film is the performance by Jane Fonda reminiscent of her magnificent performance as Bree Daniels in Klute. The Morning After never rises to the quality of Klute, but Fonda's performance was strong enough to earn her an Oscar nomination. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jane Fonda, Jeff Bridges, (more)
- 1986
Made for television, Johnny Bull is set in a Pennsylvania mining town, circa 1959. Peter MacNicol, the son of a Hungarian immigrant family, brings home pregnant Suzanna Hamilton, the cockney girl he'd married while a GI in England. Hamilton's movie-generated visions of a glamorous America are dashed by the poverty of MacNicol's parents (Jason Robards, Colleen Dewhurst), and by the fact that her husband is incapable of getting a job once out of uniform. Kathy Bates steals the film as MacNicol's retarded sister, who despises the new bride. Johnny Bull was filmed on location in coal country--not in Pennsylvania, but in Tennessee. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1983
- PG
John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John attempt to rekindle the box office sparks of Grease with this screwball fantasy comedy. The tale begins during a golf match in heaven among four angels --Charlie (Charles Durning), Earl (Scatman Crothers), Gonzales (Castulo Guerra), and Ruth (Beatrice Straight)-- who have been in charge of heaven for the last twenty-five years. But their game is interrupted by God (voice of Gene Hackman), who has now returned to the office and doesn't like what he sees down on earth. God wants to order up another flood and start all over again, but the angels persuade God to reconsider, reasoning that if a typical earth man can reform, it would prove that all mankind is capable of it. God agrees to the scheme and the typical man selected is Zack Melon (John Travolta) a failed inventor who, threatened by loan sharks, decides to hold up a bank. Zack points his gun at bank teller Debbie Wylder (Olivia Newton-John) and she gives him all of the money. But when Zack peers into the sack after the robbery, he sees that Debbie has substituted bank deposit slips for the cash and realizes that she has kept the money for herself. Zack tracks her down to reclaim his stolen money and the two fall in love. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, (more)
- 1982
- PG
Robert Altman directed this low-budget film version of the play by Ed Graczyk, also directed by Altman on Broadway with the same cast. The film takes place in the small Texas town of McCarthy in 1975. Inside of a five-and-dime store, a reunion is planned for the members of a local 1950s James Dean fan club. An odd assortment of women arrive, revealing hidden secrets, as Altman flashes back, showing the women as young James Dean fans, and then jumps forward to present day to reveal the ravages of time and lost innocence. Among the women returning for the reunion is Mona (Sandy Dennis), a disturbed woman who, in the '50s, got a job as an extra on the Giant shoot and nine months later gave birth to a son, who she claims is James Dean's child. There is Sissy (Cher), a wisecracking waitress, and also Joanne (Karen Black), who holds a shocking secret that is revealed at the reunion. Besides the three main players, a collection of supporting characters maneuver around the periphery. They are Stella Mae (Kathy Bates), the wife of a rich petroleum executive; Edna Louise (Marta Heflin), a shy, withdrawn woman with numerous children; Juanita (Sudie Bond), the manager of the five-and-dime store; and Joe Qualley (Mark Patton), a young man who likes to dress up in women's clothing. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sandy Dennis, Cher, (more)
Paroled criminal Max Dembo (Dustin Hoffman) is compelled to withstand the calculated cruelties of slimy parole officer Earl Frank (M. Emmet Walsh). The more Max tries to go straight, the more he is defeated by circumstance or hectored by the sadistic Frank. It becomes clear after a while that neither Max nor his fellow ex-cons will be able to survive looking for legitimate work. Max is too "far gone" as a human being to succeed at anything other than crime. He goes back to his old thieving ways, inveigling reformed crook Jerry Schue (Harry Dean Stanton) into helping him. A climactic "big caper" goes tragically awry, thanks in great part to the tragic flaws in Max's personality. Based on a novel by Edward Bunker, Straight Time is possibly the most realistic cinematic probe into the sociopathic psyche of the career criminal. Famed theatrical director and instructor Ulu Grosbard directed, with an uncredited assist from star Hoffman; it was their second film together, after Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dustin Hoffman, Theresa Russell, (more)
