Rosemary Murphy Movies

Adapted by Jay Presson Allen from the French farce by Pierre Barillet and Jean-Pierre Gredy, Forty Carats is a standard-issue sex comedy elevated by the performances of its stars. Fortyish Realtor Ann Stanley (Liv Ullman) finds herself attracted to Peter Latham (Edward Albert) - a man literally half her age. After a summer fling in Greece, Ann and Peter come to a parting of the ways, and that, Ann supposes, is that. Imagine her surprise when Peter comes to visit her back in New York. Though at first dismissed as a fortune hunter, Peter turns out to a financial whiz with a lot more in the bank than his lady friend. Both Ann's mother (Binnie Barnes, whose husband Mike Frankovich produced the film) and daughter (Deborah Raffin) are delighted at the prospect of Ann's romance with Peter -- the only one unsure is Ann herself. Lending his considerable comic expertise to Forty Carats is Gene Kelly as Liv Ullman's ex-husband-who also takes a liking to the personable Edward Albert and encourages the May-December romance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Football is the focus of this drama, adapted from Frederick Exley's famous novel. It tells the tale of an aspiring writer obsessed with football. His father was a football star, and the writer, wanting to follow in his dad's illustrious footsteps, constantly berates himself for not having any talent for the sport at all. The young man becomes so distraught, that he winds up in a mental hospital. In time, he comes to accept the fact that he is destined to be only a fan of the game. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The star of the Broadway version of Any Wednesday was Sandy Dennis. Headlining the 1966 film version is Jane Fonda, who imbues her character with enough quirkiness to satisfy both herself and the endearingly mannered Ms. Dennis. Fonda plays the dippy mistress of philanderer Jason Robards, who visits his paramour only on Wednesdays (hence the title). Dean Jones costars as the erstwhile swain who messes up Robards' routine by falling in love with Fonda. Screenwriter Julius J. Epstein does a expert job at expanding Muriel Resnick's play for the screen without robbing it of its inherent charm. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This sequel to the rampaging-rodent chiller Willard stars Lee H. Montgomery as young Danny Garrison, a neglected kid who finds a new little friend in Ben -- an intelligent rat whose furry minions managed to slaughter most of the cast of the previous film. Proving that one can't teach an old rat new tricks -- just variations on the old ones -- Ben displays his affection for Danny by directing his posse to off anyone who torments him... in the sweetest possible way, of course, since this is a PG-rated endeavor. This film's reputation was secured primarily by the inclusion of Michael Jackson's saccharine title tune, which seems to resonate more profoundly when regarded as a love song for a big greasy rat. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

The second film to be made from Woody Allen's successful stage comedy (following a 1969 feature starring Jackie Gleason), Don't Drink the Water is a made-for-television adaptation directed by and starring Allen himself. The fish-out-of-water premise remains the same: Allen plays Walter Hollander, a caterer from New Jersey who takes his family on vacation to a fictional Eastern European country. The trip turns sour when, thanks to a series of misunderstandings involving some inopportune snapshots, they are accused of espionage. The family goes on the run, taking refuge in the American Embassy. There, with the help of a wily young diplomat, they try to figure out a way to return to America without sparking an international incident. Though this version is set 25 years later than the original film, the changes are mostly cosmetic: the visual style is hand-held and more frantic, and the script replaces numerous references to the Cold War with a few glancing nods to present-day politics. Another notable change, the addition of an opening montage parodying newsreels, was reportedly the result of network pressure after Allen's initial cut proved too short for the planned time slot. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

Love and war divide two brothers in a drama from award-winning director Milcho Manchevski, his first since his acclaimed 1994 debut Pred Dozhdot. After an elderly woman (Rosemary Murphy) gets the better of a burglar (Adrian Lester) who has broken into her apartment, she decides to tell him a story about her family to give him a perspective on an individual's legacy to their family. Luke (David Wenham) and Elijah (Joseph Fiennes) are brothers and cowboys in the American West near the turn of the century. Luke and Elijah are both in love with Lilith (Anne Brochet), a woman who works in an upscale brothel, and when Elijah marries her, it puts a permanent rift in his relationship with his brother. Luke leaves the country and travels to Macedonia, where he becomes involved with a group of resistance fighters who are trying to topple Turkish occupation of their land; a skilled gunman, Luke soon becomes a valuable member of the Macedonian nationalist forces, and falls in love with Neda (Nikolina Kujac), a woman fighting alongside the loyalists. However, Luke discovers he can't entirely leave his past behind when he discovers Elijah has become a hired gun who has joined the Turkish forces. Dust was the opening night attraction at the 2001 Venice Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

First aired March 13, 1977, Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years was the brilliant follow-up to the equally praiseworthy 1976 TV movie Eleanor and Franklin: The Early Years. The film is framed in a flashback experienced by first lady Eleanor Roosevelt (Jane Alexander) while accompanying the casket carrying the body of her husband Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Edward Herrmann) to its final resting place in Hyde Park. Elected in 1933, FDR endeavors to pull the country out of the Depression with the New Deal during his first term, while Eleanor emerges as a formidable public figure in her own right during the second term, tirelessly working on behalf of social change and reforms. Ever under the baleful eye of his mother Sara (Rosemary Murphy), Roosevelt tries to maintain family equilibrium in the White House as he seeks an unprecedented third term. Sara dies in December of 1941, two days before Roosevelt, in his "Day of Infamy" speech, declares war on Japan. Despite health problems, FDR successfully pursues a fourth term in 1944; he dies in office in April of 1945, a scant few months before the end of World War II. Despite her long-standing displeasure over her husband's long-ago affair with artist Lucy Mercer (Linda Kelsey), a stiff-lipped Eleanor puts on a brave front when Roosevelt dies in the company of Deakins at a health spa in Georgia. Based on Joseph P. Lash's Pulitzer prize-winning biography, Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years earned Emmies for "Outstanding Special" and for director Daniel Petrie. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Can it have been only two years since Niles (David Hyde Pierce) found his "dream home" at the fashionable Montana Apartments? And now, Niles is facing eviction; it seems he has subleted his apartment to a therapist whose tap-dancing has kept his neighbors up all night. Niles must convince the snooty, sensitive coop board that he is not a menace and to allow him back into the Montana. A few of the characters introduced in the fourth-season Frasier episode "To Kill a Talking Bird" are in attendance here -- though one of them doesn't survive the night! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The renovation of a Manhattan brownstone yields the skeletal remains of a young boy. Further investigation indicates that the unfortunate youngster disappeared without a trace in 1960. The case causes the boy's childhood friend Julie Atkinson (Mary Joan Negro) to suffer the anguish of reliving some horrible, long-repressed memories. This episode marked a reunion between series co-star Michael Moriarty and director Ed Sherin, who'd previously collaborated on Moriarty's debut film, My Old Man's Place (1972). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Through some freakish glitch in the time-space continuum, Magnum (Tom Selleck) awakens in the year 1936. Despite this bizarre displacement, he's still a private eye, and he's still very much for hire. In fact, his latest client is Brenda McCutchen (Anne Lockhart), whose labor-leader father has been framed for the murder of an evil industrialist. Playing the "30s" angle to the hilt, the episode is stylishly written and directed in the manner of an old Warner Bros. detective film, and the familiar Magnum PI characters conform to Depression-era sensibilities: Magnum speaks fluent "Dashiel Hammett", Higgins (John Hillerman) is a Noel Coward-ish bon vivant, and so on. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A dissatisfied Manhattan sportswriter finds more than he expected when he searches for the biological mother of his adopted child in Woody Allen's comedy. Writer-director Allen also plays Lenny, a slightly more relaxed incarnation of his usual neurotic screen persona. Lenny is trapped in a bad marriage to high-strung art dealer Amanda (Helena Bonham Carter), but he finds solace in his relationship with his adopted young son. Indeed, he grows so fond of the boy that he decides to track down the boy's real mother, expecting to discover a brilliant professional. Instead, he finds Linda (Mira Sorvino), a ditzy prostitute and porno star who mingles casual vulgarity with disarming innocence. Despite his initial disillusionment, Lenny soon develops a fondness for Linda and decides to play matchmaker, setting her up with a handsome young boxer (Michael Rapaport) who is equally good-hearted and scatterbrained. While the contrast between the free-spirited Linda and the uptight Lenny provides the bulk of the laughs, hints of Allen's more literary humor are also present, particularly in the scenes involving a roaming Greek chorus commenting upon Lenny's fate. Sorvino received a supporting Oscar for her title role in a well-received movie that is nevertheless not at the level of Allen's best-known classics. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

Having been invited to spend the weekend at a lavish estate, Donald Stuart (John Hudson) is upstairs preparing for dinner when he sees a man (Francis Bethencourt) beating his wife (Narda Onyx) to death. Rushing downstairs, Donald is surprised to see the same couple, happily exchanging affectionate words as if nothing has happened. In truth, nothing HAS happened: the murder which Donald saw won't occur until tomorrow...unless he does something to prevent it. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide