Sylvia Miles Movies

Indie stalwart Abel Ferrara helms this quirky comedy about the goings-on at a downtown cabaret. Willem Defoe stars as Ray Ruby, the proprietor of a joint where all of the dancing girls have big dreams of working their way up to bigger and better things. But trouble begins to brew when money suddenly comes between Ray and his two associates, played by Bob Hoskins and Matthew Modine. Asia Argento and Drea de Matteo also star. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

Based upon Peter Biskind's book of the same name, this BBC-produced documentary traces the rise of a generation of Hollywood filmmakers who briefly changed the face of movies with a more personal approach that pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable onscreen. Influenced by such European directors as Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, and Federico Fellini, the movement kicked off in the mid-'60s with two films directed by Arthur Penn: Mickey One and Bonnie and Clyde. (The latter had been offered to both Godard and Truffaut before it wound up with producer/star Warren Beatty and Penn.) What really kicked it into gear was the unexpected success of Easy Rider, a biker-road movie that became that rare film phenomenon: acclaimed at the Cannes Film Festival and a huge commercial success. Film school graduates, the first generation brought up with movies as their main cultural reference, flooded the studios (whose own regimes were changing) with production chieftains such as Robert Evans of Paramount and David Picker at United Artists; they approved risky-looking projects and allowed relatively untested filmmakers like Francis Ford Coppola to take on heavyweight movies such as The Godfather or Hollywood newcomers like Britain's John Schlesinger to make quirky stories like Midnight Cowboy. Enriched by success with their TV show The Monkees, producer Bert Schneider and director Bob Rafelson formed a company that produced not only Easy Rider but seminal '70s films such as Five Easy Pieces and the Oscar-winning Vietnam War documentary Hearts and Minds. Another godfather to the new movement was producer Roger Corman, who gave early career opportunities to Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Peter Bogdanovich, and Jonathan Demme on low-budget projects that allowed them to learn their craft.

Two things brought this movement to an end: Some individual filmmakers' personal excesses (such disastrous flops as Dennis Hopper's follow-up to Easy Rider, appropriately titled The Last Movie, and Scorsese's New York, New York), and the studios growing fascination with special effects-driven B-movies. An outgrowth of two box-office and marketing juggernauts -- Jaws and Star Wars -- the resulting films became entertainments rather than personal statements of the directors. Narrated by William H. Macy, Easy Riders, Raging Bulls features vintage clips of Coppola, Scorsese, Beatty, George Lucas, Sam Peckinpah, Roman Polanski, Robert Altman, and Pauline Kael. It also includes original interview material with Penn; Corman; Bogdanovich; Hopper; Picker; writer/directors John Milius and Paul Schrader; actresses Karen Black, Cybill Shepherd, Margot Kidder, and Jennifer Salt (the latter two shared a house in Malibu, a social center for young filmmakers); actors Peter Fonda, Kris Kristofferson, and Richard Dreyfuss; producers Jerome Hellman, Michael Phillips, and Jonathan Taplin; editor Dede Allen; production designer Polly Platt; writers David Newman, Joan Tewksbury, Gloria Katz, and Willard Huyck; cinematographers Laszlo Kovacs and Vilmos Zsigmond; agent Mike Medavoy; and former production executive Peter Bart. Among the films discussed are Rosemary's Baby, The Wild Bunch, Mean Streets, American Graffiti, The Rain People, Midnight Cowboy, M*A*S*H, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, The Last Picture Show, Shampoo, Taxi Driver, and Raging Bull. (Three interviewees -- cinematographer Gordon Willis, critic Andrew Sarris, and writer-director Monte Hellman -- listed in the Variety review of this film, were not included in this version from a screening on Bravo.) ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide

A pair of outsiders in a small Southern town find themselves in unexpectedly hot water in the black comedy Rose's. Rose (Leslie France) was born to Italian-American parents in New Jersey before relocating to a small town in Georgia, where her husband sells cars and she runs a flower shop (named, appropriately enough, Rose's). However, Rose is too high strung and too much the New Jersey native to ever feel truly at home in the South. In addition, her business is not doing well and her husband isn't even trying to be discreet about his infidelity. One day, Rose's anger gets the better of her and she kills her husband, dragging the body to the walk-in cooler in her shop until she can figure out what to do with it. Just when she's desperately in need of some help, into her store strolls Willyum (Wayne DeHart), a sometime blues singer and ex-convict who has just gotten out of prison and is looking for work. Taking care of dead bodies when you're not busy with flowers is not the sort of occupation the average parolee is looking for, and Willyum is no exception, but he needs a job to get back in his wife's good graces, so he reluctantly agrees. Rose's also features supporting performances from Sylvia Miles as Rose's mother-in-law and Glenn Shadix as the town's rather unusual sheriff. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Fascinating documentary of artist and filmmaker Andy Warhol, combining rare footage with interviews with his friends and colleagues, including Dennis Hopper, David Hockney, Taylor Mead, and Sylvia Miles. ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide

Susan Seidelman directed this loose adaptation of Fay Weldon's novel The Life and Loves of a She-Devil concerning the extreme revenge exacted by a dumpy housewife on her philandering husband. Mary Fisher (Meryl Streep) is a best-selling romance novelist of the manner of Danielle Steel or Jackie Collins. One night at a glamorous dinner party, Ruth (Roseanne Barr), the frumpy housewife of Bob (Ed Begley Jr.), accidentally spills wine over Mary's pink evening gown. Bob rushes to Mary's assistance, they look into each other's eyes, and it is lust at first sight. After a few clandestine interludes, Bob abandons his wife and his two smart-aleck kids to live with Mary at her palace by the seaside. As a result, Ruth goes into high gear to seek vengeance. She deposits her kids with Bob and then, with the help of a collection of other abused women -- including Ruth's mother (Sylvia Miles), nursing home attendant Hopper (Linda Hunt), and dim-witted secretary Olivia Honey (Maria Pitillo) -- she systematically sets out to destroy Bob's life. Bob calls Ruth a she-devil, and Ruth plays the role to the hilt; first she destroys his home life, then his career, then his freedom. And when he has nothing left, she proceeds to haunt and stalk him, bringing Bob to his knees. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

In this comedy drama, Spike Fumo (Sasha Mitchell) is a Brooklyn streetfighter with pugilistic aspirations. With Spike's mafioso father in Sing Sing, mobster and former fighter Baldo Cacetti (Ernest Borgnine) looks out for Spike by getting him some bouts and every once in a while convincing the fighter to throw a match. When Spike meets and falls for Baldo's daughter Angel (Maria Patillo), Baldo suddenly sours on Spike. The father wants Angel to marry the college-bound son of a cocaine-snorting congresswoman (Sylvia Miles), and Baldo only envisions Spikes' future as being a mob enforcer. Eventually, Spike moves away from his embittered lesbian mother (Geraldine Smith) and moves in with the Puerto Rican boxer Bandana (Rick Aviles). He soon has two women pregnant in two different neighborhoods as he contemplates his future. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Featuring several gorgeous ballet sequences, Sleeping Beauty is a live-action telling of the classic fairy tale, starring Tahnee Welch as Beauty. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide

This updated version of Cinderella is set in the New York of the 1980s. A very young Kyra Sedgwick stars as Cindy Eller, a shy and awkward teenager burdened with a seemingly insensitive stepmother and two attractive, trendy, and overbearing stepsisters (one of whom is played by Jennifer Grey!). Yearning to attend an upcoming dance with handsome classmate Greg Prince (Grant Show), Cindy receives assistance from an unlikely "fairy godmother" in the form of an all-knowing Central Park "bag lady" named Martha (Pearl Bailey, who won an Emmy Award for her performance). And in the process, our heroine comes to realize that her "new" mother and sisters aren't really so bad after all. ~ All Movie Guide

Peter Ustinov makes his second appearance as Belgian detective Hercule Poirot in this adaptation of the popular Agatha Christie mystery. When noted stage star Arlena Marshall (Diana Rigg) is found murdered while visiting a posh island resort, Poirot is called upon to find the culprit, but given Marshall's shrewish personality and propensity for making enemies, the question isn't "Who wanted to see her dead?" but "Who didn't?" The suspects include Rex Brewster (Roddy McDowall), a writer penning a biography of Arlena that the actress tried to stop; Odell and Myra Gardener (James Mason and Sylvia Miles), theatrical producers who were financially shafted when Arlena refused to appear in a show; Arlena's husband, Kenneth (Denis Quilley); Kenneth's lover, Daphne (Maggie Smith); Patrick Redfern (Nicholas Clay), who was having an affair with Arlena; and Christine (Jane Birkin), Nicholas' wife. Ustinov would play Poirot again three years later in the made-for-TV feature Thirteen at Dinner. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Deadly Thief is the American video title of the Indian feature Shalimar. The title character is played by, of all people, Rex Harrison. He's an eccentric millionaire who assembles the cream of the world's criminal crop for the mother of all heists. They are to steal a valuable ruby-from Shalimar himself. If they fail, the penalty is death-which may be preferable compared to the perils they face in trying to succeed. Interesting variation on themes explored in earlier Harrison vehicle The Honey Pot. The Hindi-language version of Shalimar did OK in Indian theatres, but the English-language version never received British or American release. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the wake of such Satanic-themed thrillers as Rosemary's Baby, The Exorcist and The Omen comes The Sentinel. When New York fashion model (Cristina Raines) splits with her fiance (Chris Sarandon) and moves into an old brownstone, she soon discovers she has more than she bargained for in the lease. As luck would have it, a mysterious blind priest (John Carradine) who lives upstairs happens to be guarding the doorway to Hell, and she has been chosen as his replacement. Incidentally, when the door is finally opened, out spills an assortment of deformed humans whom director Michael Winner hand-picked from hospital wards and circus sideshows. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide

Previously filmed in 1942 as The Falcon Takes Over and in 1944 as Murder, My Sweet, Raymond Chandler's Farewell My Lovely was given its third cinematic go-round under its original title in 1975. Spouting the Chandlerish prose as if it were second nature, Robert Mitchum stars as 1940s private eye Philip Marlowe, hired by the goonish Moose Malloy (Jack O'Halloran) to locate his former girl friend. This involves Marlowe in the theft of a jade necklace, which in turn leads to murder. All roads seemingly lead to adventuress Mrs. Grayle (Charlotte Rampling), wealthily married but far from satisfied. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Heat is one of the more mainstream films produced by Andy Warhol's "Factory" and directed by Paul Morrissey. It is something of a send-up of Sunset Boulevard, with male beauty Joe Dallesandro in the William Holden part. In the film, Dallessandro seeks to advance his career by bedding anyone who is able to help him, from corpulent lady motel owners, to the gay boyfriend of a movie star's ex-husband. His career moves land him in bed with a fading but still-influential movie star (Sylvia Miles), and they enjoy a brief relationship. This ends, however, when Dallessandro decides that he wants to handle his career on his own. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide